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WEEK of February 11, 2008
@BFS! archives

A Place of Our Own: First Graders Build Funky Town and Peach Village

The urban planners of tomorrow (otherwise known as BFS first graders) showed off their block neighborhoods to parents and friends in December. The two wooden cities, named “Peach Village” and “Funky Town,” were carefully constructed by the children within the space of two weeks; the mini-metropolises welcomed visitors to miniature versions of schools, parks, office towers, homes, and a slew of stores.

The first grade neighborhood study began with the children reading several books that talk specifically about the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood and then visited those sites, such as the Promenade, the Pierrepont Street Playground, and the New York Harbor. Then they took walking trips to the busy and thriving Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. The children were asked to make observations and answer the questions, “What is a neighborhood?” and “What does a neighborhood need?” They discussed and recorded the many people, places, and things that they observed on their trips, and organized the list according to the type of needs they fill in the neighborhood, such as the need for food, for entertainment and personal services, for safety and security, and for shelter, education, religion, and health.

Also on their field trips, the children take digital photos of the sites they observe. Back at school, they use the photos for a project in which they “draw out” from a central photographic image to create their own unique visions of a neighborhood. “The children have to draw and extend the photograph’s image based on what they know could be on either side and above/below the image shown in their photograph,” explained teachers Laura Leopardo and Jill Fiengo. “Through this exercise and others, the children learn the skill of mapping—how to read and draw a map. They learn about the compass rose and the cardinal directions of North, South, East, and West, and they learn about symbols and how they can be a universal language.” 

Then it’s down to the business of building. Each student selects his or her own building or site to construct and name. They use blocks, legos, crinkles, clay, and paint for their buildings. In addition, each student draws a footprint of his or her building (a bird’s-eye view). They categorize the buildings they saw on a trip into the needs of a neighborhood and make a six-foot by three-foot mural representing these types of buildings. They also enjoy brainstorming possible names for the Block Town and then voting for their favorite name. Within the block neighborhood you can visit Leo’s Sushi Restaurant, Happy Paws Pet Store, Peach Village Park, Get Up and Go Gym, Chloe’s Book Store, Bob Wow Do Bowling Alley, So NY Bakery, the Candy Drop; Rise for the Phone (phone store), I See Toys, and Lemon Drop Bakery.

What’s the favorite part of this curriculum, from the teachers’ point of view? “We like the fact that the study allows for many hands-on and interactive activities; such as brainstorming, observing, recording, drawing, and creating and building and giving them the opportunity for them to work with various art materials such as clay, paint, legos and blocks,” said Laura and Jill. “There’s also a sense of satisfaction that comes with realizing that the children have pulled together all the information they have learned and constructed an exemplary model neighborhood.”

First grade parents and family members thoroughly enjoyed visiting the model neighborhoods, guided by the students who acted as tour guides. Each student had a tour guide sheet and had to escort their guests around the room showing them the various things to see and then check off the items seen. Attached to each sheet was a map of the neighborhood that included a map key and the first graders’ universal symbols for the buildings in Funky Town and Peach Village.

“The neighborhood study is an incredibly rich curriculum that combines social studies and language arts with mapping, math, and the best ingredients for learning—enthusiasm, team work, creativity, and fun,” said Lower School Head Jackie Condie. “We are proud and appreciative of our first graders and their teachers, Laura Leopardo, Jill Fiengo, Anita Pahuja and Yumiko Higaki for sharing their extraordinary neighborhood with us.”