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Canterbury Kindergartners Discover Different Communities
Model of Cedar Lee Theater
Nov. 8, 2018 -- Kindergartners at Canterbury Elementary School are building community by learning about communities. Their recently completed unit focused on what makes a community, the various rules and roles in a community, and all the different types of communities we can belong to.

They enjoyed two field trips, to Lake Farm Park and the Children’s Museum of Cleveland, to learn about different types of communities. The young children were surprised by how much space there is between houses out in the country and by how different a rural community is from the more compact inner-ring suburban community they’re used to here in the Heights. But while we may have more people, we sure don't have the diversity of animals they saw on their drive to Lake Farm Park!

At the Children’s Museum, they studied blueprints and how communities come to be, whether they’re planned in advance or happen spontaneously. And of course, they focused on the community they know best: their school. Parent volunteers accompanied the students as they toured their building, studying the various purposes and roles of each space. They took photos to create a large scale map of the school community. 
 
Poster of Canterbury with map and photos

The culminating activity was the creation of 3-D models of the various places in our community, featuring everything from the library to Whole Foods Market to the Cedar Lee Theater. Students then went on a “gallery walk” to view each other’s creations. According to teacher Lisa Stewart, “they had a wonderful time learning about the places we live, work, play and learn.”
 
Model of Cleveland Heights ice rink