Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Teacher Clip Art, Literary Resources, Classroom Ideas

Communities Explored: Busy Town!

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Today I’m sharing an idea for teaching about communities.
This is a big part of our social studies curriculum, and the way it’s done is authentic and interactive!
Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works. 
How do you teach about communities and professions?
Our school creates a town to make it an authentic experience.
The idea is simple : each student is assigned a profession and a space in the class or hallway to represent a “profession” in a town.
After practicing their jobs, parents (or another class) will be invited in to be the “customers” to explore the town and learn about each profession. There are many forms this can take, but ours is called “Busy Town”, and it’s become quite an event!

Teaching about communities with busy town in your classroom
Our Kinder teacher brought this idea to our school several years ago and it’s been a big hit ever since. SO many learning goals are covered in this fun afternoon! Here’s a brief overview of how you could try this idea at your school:
 Teaching about communities with Busytown. Each student chooses a role to play in our town, and then parents come to visit.

How to Begin

Assign a small group of students to each profession, and ask their parents to put together a table with the appropriate signs and props, and encourage lots of costumes and creativity! 
(And of course all of the signs, props and costumes can be saved for use again next year, so each year there are fewer thing to prepare.) 

Parents are also responsible for taking the shops down and rehearsing with their children. Students do practice in class, but the teacher is more of a supervisor once it begins.

Invite Visitors to the Community 

When each “store” is set up and students have practiced their “jobs”, parents are invited in! As they arrive, they are greeted by the mayor and purchase some “Busy Bucks” to spend while shopping. Money collected helps to buy the items sold, such as flowers or popcorn, or to pay for other things. 
Students have an opportunity for some authentic experiences regarding community helpers and how a town is run with everyone working together. There are lots of great discussions and writing opportunities that come naturally as a result of this fun afternoon!

It really is a busy little town! 

Here are some pictures we took this year:
 
Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 

Learn about communities authentically by creating a town where everyone has a job! Here are some pictures of how it works.

 Older Students

 

This can be meaningful for older students as well. In this case, the set up is similar to science fair. Each student creates a display, only the topics are local professions rather than a science experiment. Each students is responsible for educating visitors about the profession and it’s role in the community.
 
How to create a little town within your classroom to teach about communities in an authentic way! Check out the cute pictures from our school to see how it's done.
 If you’re having trouble finding what you need for math, literacy or clip art, you can grab this handy Clickable Catalogue for everything available in my TPT store – a big time saver! Tuck it away for when you need it!
Clickable Resource Catalogue WWT

Click to download this clickable resource list for your files!


Comments

  1. Sally says

    Oh my goodness this looks like so much fun! The kiddos absolutely LOVE dressing up in any way they can! I'll bet the parents loved it too! Your pictures are adorable! (I love the little nurse taking notes) 🙂

    Sally from Elementary Matters

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