Amelia the Pigeon: Lesson 4 (3-4)

From a Distance
   

Grade Level: 3-4 About the Lesson

Students interpret aerial photography, learning how to use shapes and patterns
Time Estimation: Allow one
to describe urban, suburban and rural communities.
class period of approximately 45
Engage
minutes.
Ask the students to think about their neighborhood and get a mental picture of
Students will:
their community. Ask the students to think abut what they see? What does their
 Observing community look like? What types of buildings are located there? What type of
 Interpreting shapes and patterns do you see? Accept all reasonable answers.
 Analyzing Ask the students what buildings are in their neighborhood. Record those answers
Materials: on the board or chart paper. Go back through the list, what shapes would each
of those buildings look like?
 Paper
Explore
 Pencil
 Color pencils or crayons Distribute the aerial photograph cards of the urban, suburban, and rural
communities. Have students work in cooperative groups and ask the students to
 Chart paper
look at the shapes in the pictures. What could the different shapes represent?
 Markers
Note which shapes are buildings. Look at the buildings in the grid areas. Have
 Set of aerial photograph students count the number of buildings inside the grid areas in each photograph.
cards (3) with grids Record the number of buildings.
o Urban
 
o Rural
o Suburban Explain
After the students have finished counting the number of buildings in the grid,
Grouping:
discuss some similarities and differences in each photograph. Guide student
The students work in groups of discussion to relate the number of buildings to the number of people in the area.
3 or 4 Which photograph has the most buildings? Which photograph has the most
people or highest population?
Which photograph may represent a city? Which may represent a country area?
What does the third photograph represent? Introduce the terms urban, suburban
and rural. Discuss these terms in relation to population. Share with the students
that urban refers to a city environment; suburban refers to the area right outside
the city where houses and small open spaces are mixed; and rural refers to the
country, where there are very few houses. Discuss with the students what major
features are found in urban, suburban and rural communities.
Expand
Ask students to look at the three photographs again. What additional features do
they see in each community? Are their any similar structures to their own
community or neighborhood? Randomly ask groups which community in which
they live.
What other features do they see in the photographs? Are there similar features
in all three communities? What features are unique to only one community?
Evaluate
Have the students draw an urban, suburban or rural community. Encourage
them to include shapes and patterns in their drawings. Invite them to exchange
their drawings with other students in their cooperative groups, and then with the
entire class.
 
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