What makes a community click? - Social Studies Now

Instructor, Sept, 1994 by Michelle Abel Berger

Start the year with these activities that help children understand the ties that bind us together.

From the first day of the school year on, my new group of students and I begin to form a community. We work together on projects, settle disagreements that crop up, learn to appreciate one another as individuals, and do our best to fulfill our classroom responsibilities. Launching a cross-curricular study on communities at this time comes naturally and spontaneously, and can set the tone for smooth sailing throughout the year. Here are some of my favorite activities that delve into the concept of community, and link math, creative arts, language arts, and science.

COMMUNITY MEANS COOPERATION

These activities illustrate how people in communities resolve differences, work together, and depend on one another.

MORE THAN THE SUM (Primary)

To show students that by working together, communities create things that no one person could have done alone, I read Orchestranimals by Vlasta Van Kampen (Scholastic, 1990). It's about a panicked penguin conductor who sweats it out as his musicians stroll in and take their places just minutes before curtain time. We talk about how the penguin can't make music by himself, how each member of the orchestra has a role to play, and how the conductor provides leadership.

To reinforce the concept of interdependence I read This Year's Garden by Cynthia Rylant (Macmillan, 1984), a story about the responsibilities each family member has in taking care of a garden. Afterward, we talk about how upholding one's responsibilities is an important part of being a member of a community and make a list of the people, places, and professions communities need to function.

WE'RE BETTER TOGETHER (Primary and Intermediate)

To help students understand that all community members can contribute to the common good if they come to a consensus, I relate the fable of the glassmakers of the medieval town of Gurven who, legend has it, teamed up to create the first stained-glass window. The story goes that as the town's cathedral is being built, the glassmakers--each of whom makes one color of glass only--feud over whose colored glass will decorate the church's windows. The glassmaker who makes yellow glass thinks his would be best because it's as beautiful as the sun; the glassmaker who creates glass as green as the forest argues his will be better; and so on. Finally, the craftsmen resolve to set aside their differences and work together to create multicolored stained-glass windows that they agree are more impressive.

After I tell the story, students and I make a list of all the jobs, including glassmaking, that go into the building of a cathedral. Then we discuss the glassmakers' disagreement, imagining how each craftsman must have felt as he lobbed for his color. We talk about the prons and cons of each argument and of collaboration.

Afterward, students take on the roles of the different glassmakers and work together in groups to create colorful stained-glass panels from oak tag and tissue paper. We also build a cathedral from blocks.

NO KID IS AN ISLAND (Primary)

The Piggybook by Anthony Browne (Knopf, 1986) is a lively story about the Pigott family who take for granted all the work More does until, in her absence, they start looking suspiciously more and more like pigs and their house goes to shambles. After reading the book, students and I create a Pigott family chores chart that lists each family member and the tasks he or she carries out. After asking children if they think the distribution of chores is fair, I have them offer solutions for a more equitable arrangement and we make a new job chart.

As a follow-up we discuss the children's and my responsibilities in the classroom, focusing on how, if each of us does his or her job, the class will run smoothly.

SEWING THE SEEDS OF UNITY (Intermediate)

To help students understand that communities can fragment, but function best when everyone collaborates, we read Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt by Lisa Campbell Ernst (Lothrop, 1983). This delightful tale is about Sam, a 19th-century farmer who discovers that he enjoys sewing while repairing the awning over his pigpen. Because he's ridiculed by his wife and her smirking friends when he asks to join their all-women quilting club, he forms a separate men's club. The two clubs plan to compete in a quilting contest until a twist of fate forces them to cooperate.

After reading the book, I lead a class discussion about clubs: why people belong to them, who sets club rules, and so on. I also take an opinion poll to find out whether students agree or disagree with the women's decision not to let Sam join their club and why.

To illustrate how working together saves time and effort, I ask kids to keep track of the time it takes them to make several 1-foot square quilt patterns out of fabric or paper. (Use the patterns depicted on the borders of the pages of Sam Johnson). Then I have students calculate how long it would take one person to make a 5-by-7-foot quilt, how long it would take two people, and how long it would take a group the size of our class. Afterward, we discuss cooperation, focusing on how we work together in our classroom.