Discuss the different types of buildings that make up a neighborhood. Write the three types of properties -- homes, businesses and community spaces -- on the board. Have the students contribute by naming different types of buildings that fit into each category. For instance, "restaurants" can be placed under the "businesses" heading and "libraries" can be placed under the "community spaces" heading. They could even list specific buildings found in their communities to personalize the list, including classmates' homes or specific businesses.
List essential elements for every neighborhood, including a post office, schools, housing, grocery stores and parks. Provide the students with this information when they begin constructing and designing their neighborhoods.
Create a map of the neighborhood immediately surrounding the school. Be sure to include streets that have all three types of buildings represented. Do not list the buildings, but rather provide a blank outline of the streets that the children can fill in.
Pass out clipboards with the maps attached to them to each student or group of students. Then, walk around the neighborhood surrounding the school, using the map as your guide. As you walk, have the children fill in the different buildings they see in the neighborhood on their maps.
Return to the classroom and have the children tally how many different types of buildings they saw in the neighborhood. This will help the children learn about the density of housing versus community spaces and businesses. Ask the children to think about where the businesses and community spaces were in relation to the housing, as well as any possible concerns people might have if businesses or community spaces were located too close or too far from their homes.
Divide the students into three groups that relate to the different categories of buildings found in neighborhoods. Each group must work with the other groups to design a neighborhood that has the appropriate amount of housing, businesses and community spaces to accommodate the class. Remind the students of the community essentials list so that they incorporate these elements into their designs.
Have each group create buildings out of shoeboxes relating to the type of properties they are creating. Each shoebox should represent one type of building, and the students should construct a shoebox building for each residence or business in their community. Students working in the community spaces group can use green construction paper to make parks.
The students can decorate the boxes to resemble buildings with construction paper, glue and colored pencils or markers.
Have the students arrange the box buildings into blocks to form a neighborhood in a large, open space. Allow each group to discuss the best placement for each of the buildings, and the various shoebox buildings can be moved around based on the input of all the groups of community planners. This will complete a large, visual neighborhood, with blocks filled of various types of shoebox buildings. Once the neighborhood is complete, have each group discuss why they chose to include the buildings that they did and why they put them in the specific places that they did.