Comparing Communities

Social Studies

Children will interview a classroom visitor to learn about another community and discover what it has in common with their own.

What You Need

Newsprint
Masking tape

What to Do

Create a take-home letter asking family members if they know of anyone who has recently moved to the area from another community who would be willing to share information about that community with the class.
Once you have contacted this person, suggest that he or she bring to class memorabilia of his or her former community: maps, picture post cards, photographs, newspapers, and so forth.
In preparation for the visit, have children think about questions they might ask their visitor about his or her original community. Explain that the questions should help them learn in what ways their community and the other community are alike and how they differ. As children volunteer ideas, write them on newsprint taped to the chalkboard.
Sample questions:
- What kind of community do you live in? A small town, city, or suburb?
- Does it have more people or fewer than our community?
- What do you have more of: trees, fields, houses, or big buildings?
- How big are the schools? How many playgrounds are there?
- Are there any traffic lights there? Parks? Museums?
- What kinds of transportation do people use?
- What kinds of businesses are there?
- What landforms are there? Is it hilly or flat? What bodies of water are there?
- What is the climate like? Does it snow in the winter? Is it very hot in the summer?
- Suggest that children welcome the visitor by sharing information they have learned about their own community that might be helpful to a newcomer. Children might do any or all of the following:
  - Draw pictures of interesting places in their neighborhoods and label them
  - Draw up lists of interesting things to do or see in the community
  - Share photographs and picture post cards
  - Display a map of the area, perhaps with trips to special sites highlighted in different colors and labeled
  - Make a booklet of children's writings about special events and celebrations held during the year
Have children interview their visitor in a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere. This might include supplying a comfortable chair and refreshments. If possible, have the children seated informally, for example, in a semicircle on the floor. Pre-select children to ask the questions you have prepared. You may wish to make an audiotape of the interview.

Teaching Options

For an oral summation, ask children to explain if they would like to visit the community described by their visitor, and to tell why.
Ask children to show what they have learned by comparing their community with the one their visitor described. Create a comparison chart of the two communities. On newsprint, make two columns, one for SAME and one for DIFFERENT, and have children dictate what information should be in each column.
Have children write thank-you notes to their visitor, in which they tell what they especially enjoyed about his or her visit.
If you find you have more than one choice for visitors, you may wish to repeat the activity with another guest, especially if that person's former community is quite different from the first visitor's.