Grassroots Unit Planning (Map A)

Unit Theme / Topic / Problem?

Urban Planning and Community Development

Grade 5

Unit Relevance? (Why is this topic important for students to study / act upon?)
It is our hope that by engaging students in a Critical Thematic Unit of Study centered around Urban
planning and community development, that we will be creating an environment that fosters the analysis
and investigation of their community through cross curricular activities and research.

Duration
6 weeks

Essential Questions? (Brainstorm 2 to 4 driving ?s)

1.
2.
3.
4.

Why is community important?

What makes your community unique?
How can you be an asset to your community?
How can you contribute to change your community?

Essential Threads? (Place an X for those that apply)

class(ism)
Culture X
Economics
Gender

Labor
Land / geography
X
Migration X
Oppression

politics / gov. X
race(ism) X
Resources X
Resistance

Culminating Learning Action / Product / Assessment?

(What will students do to present their learning and take action?)

Learning Product #1:

Students will learn what a community is and understand

what a community needs to function.
Learning Product #2:

Students will learn how to identify assets within the

community that they live in.
Learning Product #3:

Students will understand the role they play in their own

community and determine how they can make a change in
their community.
Other Understandings Students Will Gain?

Applicable Disciplines and Specific Standards?

Local: Current and/or Historical Understandings

Students will research their community and
understand how the community they live in was
formed.
Students will examine changes that have
occurred in their community over time.
Students will understand what organizations
have helped or hindered their community and
what resources are available to them in their
community.
Global Connections (Current / Historical)
Students will understand how changes in their
community affect the city at large.
Students will examine how their community has
evolved over time and make connections to how
other states or the country as a whole has
changed over time (what patterns are evident
throughout history?).
Main Texts? (readings, video, photos, art, music, etc.)

Place an X for applicable disciplines (write in details)

Language Arts X
Mathematics X
Media / Tech X
Music

Natural Sciences
X
Psychology
Social Sciences
X
Theater / Drama

Visual Arts X
Specific subject:

Key Competencies (Common Core, ACT, or ILS)

(use Skills Cluster Maps for additional planning)
Illinois State Standards
18.B.2a Describe interactions of individuals, groups and
institutions in situations drawn from the local community
18.B.2b Describe the ways in which institutions meet the
needs of society.
Common Core State Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.7
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.8
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1

Albany Park by Myles Golde

Seed Folks by Paul Feischman
Chicago Tribune
Murals/Artwork evident in community
Albany Park Scavenger Hunt (available at library)
Using Maps to Create Geographic Awareness by ____

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.OA.A.2
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.B.7
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.6
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.A.1
NGSS Science Standards:
NGSS EARTH'S SYSTEMS
3-5-ETS1-2

E-SS3-1

Critical Vocabulary Terms?

Primary Instructional Approaches?

Community
Pattern
Asset
Shape
Demographics
Organization
Neighbor
Environment
Infrastructure
Carbon Footprint
Greenhouse Gases
Climate Change
Positively Affect
Negatively Affect

Ongoing assessment/research with hands-on projects and

real world application of content

Modifications / Differentiation?

Community connection? (field trips, speakers, events)

-Students will work in groups to complete tasks

appropriate to their learning level and ability
-Students will work on tasks in a variety of ways to
allow them to access all aspects of learning

-Visit community garden

-Visit North River Commission (NRC)
-Visit forest preserve
-Visit local businesses (possibly have expose where local
businesses come in and talk to the class-students can visit
and speak with different tables)
-Invite someone who grew up in the community to come in
and speak about how the community has changed over
time
-Visit a public library in the community and explore
available books/use time to research (show students what
they can do when they come on their own)

Scope and Sequence (a list of key activities / steps towards the learning project / action)
Prior to first lesson:
-Students will be thinking about the terms community and assets through identifying assets people can bring to a
community.
-Students will be using a variety of different text such as Seedfolks and Albany Park that will be used as supplementary texts
throughout the entire unit.

-Students will begin to apply the content of their texts to the real world in terms of aspects of their communities.
-Discussions will be had pertaining to what a community is as well as people, places, and objects located within their
community.
Creating a "Fakebook" Lesson will be one of the first lessons in the unit. This lesson will start off by creating a basic
understanding of the words "community" and "asset." This lesson will act as a basis for the rest of the unit by providing us with
the first formative assessment of the students' ability to apply key vocabulary, as well as, forming and justifying arguments.
Students will create a fake "Facebook Page" of a place within their community that they believe to be an asset and justify their
reasoning.
Prior to the first Math lesson:
-Students will have a concrete understanding of what the terms community and asset mean.
-Students will have an understanding of fractions, patterns, and shapes, and how to incorporate and apply them to real world
math problems.
-Students will be using their Math notebook as a text and reference to generate the idea for an asset based improvement
project.
For the Asset Improvement Math lesson students will write a proposal in which they present and solve an idea in the form of
mathematical content to support and better this asset. Students will reference the activities done in class as well as the
sources used in week 1 when identifying real world math. This will gauge how students view their community as well as how
they can apply the three skills taught over the past three weeks. Students should model the broad to narrow scope that they
were taught in. The teacher will explain that AT LEAST 2 math problems per skill should be in their proposal (6 equations in
total).
Prior to this science lesson, students will be made familiar with the relationship between animals and their habitats. As an
example students will have examined worms in dirt, noticing how they not only live in the dirt; but also process it. This involves
students understanding that a habitat is more than just a home; it is half of a mutual relationship. Students will begin to draw
connections between animals, their habitats, and humans habitats.
This sample lesson is a part of a larger science unit on climate change as it relates to both humans and other organisms. This
lesson specifically integrates the NGSS standard 5-LS1-1 in which students design solutions to a specific problem. This lesson
is taught approximately three quarters into the unit. At this point, students have developed the knowledge that humans have
created an imbalance with our planet. At first, students view this knowledge through a wide lens, looking at the effect on our
planet. By this point they are looking through a community lens, looking for evidence of this imbalance in their neighborhood.
Build a Community Lesson will be the final lesson in the unit. This lesson will also culminate and connect all previous lessons
to students and community. This lesson also leads way to the summative assessment for this unit. Students will create and
present a community organization, demonstrating their knowledge of what a community is, what their community needs, and
how they can contribute to change in their community. The social studies final lesson includes a variety of other activities that
allow students to be actively involved in a mock government community council. This also ties in to how they create and
present their community council. They will practice making decisions for their community as if they were community members.
Students will also interview and talk to different community members and workers about how a community council would work
and how decisions that affect the community are made. This not only allows students to research their community but also
have a better understanding of what the decision making process is like and how they can make a change in their community.
The more experience students have, the better able students will be to continue seeking to make changes in the future.