"Our Neighborhood" Project

As you start your summer programs, the "Our Neighborhood" project introduces kids to structured ways of thinking and expressing ideas about the people, places and things that matter most to them. The lessons build on the information and experiences that the children and the instructors already have about the culture around them.

Goals

Children doing this project will achieve the following goals:
1) Increased vocabulary as they describe and come to understand some of the people, places, events and things in their family, peer group and community
2) Increased ability to perform such social skills as sharing, listening, taking turns and helping others
3) New factual and qualitative information about the people and places in their neighborhood that are important to children
4) Increased ability to present concrete and abstract information in multimedia formats
5) Increased skill in using multimedia authoring software and the Internet.

Children who participate in "Our Neighborhood" should be organized into groups with no more than a three-year age span. The activities are not recommended for 5-year-olds (or for any children who have not yet enrolled in, or completed, first grade) because the activities require beginning reading skills, the ability to work independently for short periods of time and the ability to work in a group and with a partner. Because levels of skill and maturity vary, adult facilitators should exercise their best judgment when placing children into groups.