Our year-long study of communities is the focus of our social studies curriculum in second grade. This study provides the children with real-world experiences and knowledge while exploring the needs and wants of our local neighborhoods and communities around the country.
This past fall, the second graders explored the importance of the individual roles in our Dwight-Englewood community. We learned about the history of our campus, the significance of the buildings, and the deep-rooted traditions that are still in place today, as well as new ones that are being created. We then moved off campus to learn about urban, suburban and rural communities, as well as a focus on the residential and commercial spaces in the community of Englewood. We utilized Google Earth to visit the town of Englewood to see the different areas within the community. The highlight was our field trip to the Englewood Fire Department. The children prepared questions to ask the firefighters, and they were intrigued by all they shared with us about how they keep our community safe. The class loved eating pizza at Cassie’s, a local business in our community.
This winter, the children learned about economics in our community. We had great discussions about how money works, why we need money, how money is made, bartering, as well as producers and consumers. We also talked about taxes and how tax money is being spent in our local communities. We wrapped up our economics discussions talking about goods and services, needs and wants and how they differ based on the needs of different communities.
Every year the second graders look forward to learning about Canine Companions (CC). This will be our 12th year partnering with CC. We had discussions with the children about people that have disabilities, as well as alternative athletes and how all of these individuals can overcome so many obstacles with the help of a service dog. In early March our neighbor, Caryl Swain, came to speak to the classes about how she volunteers by training service dogs for this wonderful organization. We also met her new “student,” Lila who showed us some of the new commands she is learning to prepare for “puppy college.” We also discussed the different types of dogs and their roles: guide dogs, service dogs, SAR (Search and Rescue) dogs, therapy dogs and medical dogs. This week, the second graders went to Canine Companions training facilities in Medford, Long Island to get a private tour and to see all of the hard work that goes into training service dogs.
Communities keep us connected and they teach us the value of relationships and hard work. Our focus on collaboration, compromise and cooperation help the children to be better classroom citizens and daily problem solvers within our D-E community and their local communities. Our study teaches the children to embrace diversity, and as our mission statement says, we encourage them to “meet the challenges of a changing world and to make it better.”