Day 5-7: Neighborhood Brochure

Lesson Summary

During this lesson, students will be creating a brochure about their neighborhood, answering research questions: 

• How many people live in your neighborhood? Who lives there?

• What are some popular places to visit and things to do? Restaurants, parks, and other activities. 

• If anything, what’s in the news? 

• How has it changed over time? (Positive and/or negative). 

• What new changes would you reverse or make to preserve and better your neighborhood?

The teacher will begin class by reading Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood, to get students thinking about their neighborhoods, community connections, what makes their neighborhood beautiful, and what students can do to add beauty to their neighborhood. The teacher will then introduce the project and students will conduct informational and archival research about their neighborhood, gathering information from online, (researching like this has been taught to students in a mini lesson/throughout their social studies class so far). Students will work on their brochures for two days: Day 5 and Day 6, sharing their finished projects on Day 7.

Objectives

Students will be able to compile historical information about their neighborhood through research.

Students will be able to determine the positive and negative changes that have taken place in their neighborhood over time.

Students will be able to construct a community brochure highlighting their neighborhood.

Standards

Social Studies: 6 – P4.2.3 Participate in projects to help or inform others.
ELA: W.6.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

Resources

In this picture book, Mira, a little girl living in a gray city, decides to share her artwork with the people in her community and hang it on a building wall.  Soon everyone joined in, transforming the neighborhood into a colorful and inviting place.

Campoy, F. I., & Howell, T. (2016). Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood. Boston: HMH Books for Young Readers.

Students may use a variety of archival or primary resources when gathering their research, however the teacher may provide some to get students started, such as:

Michigan History Center's  Michiganology.

Archival sources from across the state: Michigan Memories. 

The Neighborhoods Channel. (n.d.). The Neighborhoods: The Spirit of Detroit.

 

How to make a brochure:

This video shares several ways to make a brochure, including a half fold, classic tri fold, and single gate fold which the teacher may show students how to do themself. The teacher will show students a whole video to give them ideas and get them thinking creatively. Students may also come back to the video to learn folds.

You may also need access to a printer so students may print out pictures and/or text, access to a laptop or desktop computer, art supplies (crayons, colored pencil, markers, paper, etc.), students will need their research notebooks to keep track of their neighborhood research, rubric for brochures.

 

Teaching Strategies

Inquiry-based learning and project-based learning. Students will gather information about their neighborhoods, gathering inquiry about where they live and answering the questions briefly described in the lesson summary. Students will work on their projects independently. Although some students may live in the same neighborhoods, it is important for them to find and interpret information on their own. This also allows students to create their brochures utilizing their personal strengths. 

 

Assessment

Students will share their research notebooks with the teacher when they are done collecting information about their neighborhood. The teacher will look over the notes for organization, thoroughness, and over all to check that students were staying on task. The teacher will also observe students work through the entire working process.

Students will present and turn in their brochures on day 7. The teacher will check to see if students have covered all the information required and for their creativity.