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Curriculum Unit

Geographies of Home

How can we deepen our relationship with our surroundings? How can we help young people attune to their local environment? By giving students opportunities to engage with their spaces, both physical and emotional, in creative new ways, we hope to bring their worlds alive to them and help them reflect on the ingredients that combine to create meaning. Throughout this unit, learners will be interacting with the idea of home through the practice of mapping, and understanding place through different artists who attempt to answer the same questions.

SUBJECTSArt, Geography, Social Studies
GRADES3 - 5
LESSONS10
Illustration of a home set within its surrounding landscape

Research Spotlight

Lesson sequence

  1. 1

    Mapping exploration

    Learners rotate through mapping stations, starting to define their understanding of space and place through different modalities including geography and art literacies.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  2. 2

    Connecting to Special Places

    Learners brainstorm special places and think about what makes it special. Learners use inspiration from various artists to bring their chosen places alive.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  3. 3

    Sound maps

    Learners explore representations of different sounds as they create sound maps.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  4. 4

    Home in Place

    Learners collaboratively build a story map of their school or surrounding area.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  5. 5

    We Went Looking for Home

    Learners begin to understand the idea of home is hard to contain. Learners brainstorm all the feelings, sensations, images, and memories that come up when they think of home.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  6. 6

    Home is a Foreign Place

    Learners take inspiration from Zarina Hashimi’s Home is a Foreign Place and create block print symbols of home.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  7. 7

    Are Maps Always Truthful?

    Learners understand that maps can be inaccurate and explore artists who work to capture the true spirit of a place when maps fail us.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  8. 8

    Dream Maps

    Learners create multimedia maps of their dream places and worlds inspired by decolonial mapping.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  9. 9

    Community Maps

    Learners understand that people make home and create their own community maps of the people they hold near.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies
  10. 10

    Final Project

    Learners work to memorialize some of their favorite places through collaborative art.

    3rd Grade·Art, Geography, Social Studies

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