First Graders learn and work together to build a healthy city ecosystem!

This school year has been challenging for so many reasons. With the global pandemic there has been remote learning, hybrid learning and in person learning with precautions like students six feet apart, masked and no shared materials. It has been a challenge to design projects that are hands-on and collaborative for students with all of the restrictions. The first graders study the idea of community, their school and neighborhood communities and our Chicago city community. The Covid pandemic has also brought to our attention the inequity in our cities, towns and communities.

I spent time thinking and planning a project that would connect with the study of community. I also wanted to incorporate some hands-on building and a way for students to be collaborative. As I started to think about the last year and make connections with the topic of communities and think about the designing and redesigning process, the idea of rethinking our city and community started to form and this reminded me of a wonderful picture book biography I had purchased for the school library a few years back, Walking in the City With Jane: The Story of Jane Jacobs. Jacobs poses the question “What does a city need to be a healthy ecosystem?” This was the big question first graders tackled for this project!

Students started with reading the book Walking In the City With Jane: The Story of Jane Jacobs  by Susan Huges. The story shares the life of Jane Jacobs, an urban thinker and activist. Jacobs believed that cities were amazing places to live and that they should be ecosystems designed for all people. Students talked about what the parts of an ecosystem are, the living and nonliving things. Then in small groups students explored other books including The Curious Garden about the Highline in New York and the 606 in Chicago. Some groups read the book The Secret Subway, the story of the origins of the NYC subway system. Students made connections with the idea that building a train underground was originally thought to be an impossible idea and that sometimes ideas that seem impossible end up being ideas that work. Students also explored books about bridges around the world, free little libraries, wind and solar energy and water systems in cities. Throughout this process students collected information and ideas about what were essential parts of a healthy ecosystem, they were “actively contributing to group discussions” (Learner III D.1) as well as “developing new understanding through engagement in a learning group” (Learner III A.3.)

Next, first graders worked together to think about how they could reimagine and rebuild the city of Chicago as a healthy urban ecosystem. They started by brainstorming what is needed in a healthy city for every person living there to be healthy, happy and safe. Students shared ideas about housing, transportation, water, green spaces, food, stores, places to work, exercise and entertainment spaces. They also talked about how to use green energy like solar panels and wind energy to take better care of the earth. First graders brainstormed ways to make sure everyone has a place to live, food to eat and transportation. We used Jamboard to collect student ideas and connections, using this collaborative tool allowed students to see each other's ideas, make connections and build on them to come up with an extensive list of ideas on how to build a better future city of Chicago. This was a way of “establishing connections with other learners to build on their prior knowledge” with these new ideas students were able to add to their understanding and their design plans “creating new knowledge” (Learner III B.2.)

Then first graders were given the challenge to design and build their neighborhood in the future of the city of Chicago. Students drew out plans for their neighborhood ecosystem. With their ideas down on paper, first graders were ready to start prototyping their neighborhood ecosystems. The library team put together a maker cart full of building materials including different cardboard shapes with connectors to make buildings and structures, pipe cleaners, puff balls, different colored construction paper and tissue paper, feathers, foam shapes, and more. First graders started building! They built roads and waterways, future transportation systems, gardens on top of buildings, amazing playgrounds and houses, farmers markets and robots that deliver food to everyone. Students were creative in the materials they used and the designs they created. First Graders also worked with classmates to connect their neighborhoods together.

Finally, first graders made videos explaining their neighborhoods, what they built and why their designs were a healthy, happy and safe ecosystem for everyone. All of the neighborhoods were placed together in the library to create a giant 1st grade prototype of the future City of Chicago, a website was created to share the videos, photos and the project and a bulletin board was created outside the first grade classrooms. Students were so creative and thoughtful as they designed a space that is a wonderful future ecosystem for our city. Throughout this project students used a variety of resources including books, web searches, online databases and each other to learn more about healthy city ecosystems. They designed and then built their prototypes using a variety of materials to make their ideas and designs come to life. Finally they recorded videos and images to contribute to a collaborative website to share their projects with the whole community. Through this project the school library “modeled the use of a variety of communication tools and resources” (School Libraries III B.1.) Also giving students the opportunities to brainstorm, share ideas, talk about their designs and share, the school library illustrated how to “cultivate networks that allow learners to build on their own prior knowledge and create new knowledge” (School Library III B.2.)