4th Grade Kansas City Exploration

Hannah VanAusdal, Hailee Stover and Kate Kanli: 

Our fourth grade scholars are very interested in the community that they live in- Kansas City.  We teach at Pathway Academy, a charter school that serves high poverty students.

After a recent field trip to Crown Center, we were shocked at their lack of familiarity with their own city. The scholars had many conversations about how they would like to learn more about what is available to them within the Kansas City community.

We would like our scholars to learn more about Kansas City. We want to take them on a bus tour around Kansas City where they can have authentic experiences and learn about the different neighborhoods. This will provide an opportunity for their eyes to be opened to opportunities that they are not aware of.

We plan to take them to the Downtown Kansas City Public Library for a presentation about Kansas City neighborhoods. Following the library visit, we would like to take them to the City Market in the Rivermarket district to learn about locally grown foods and also to experience the City Market. We would then like to eat lunch at a local restaurant, where they can see the food being prepared and also experience eating in a restaurant, which many of them have not. Following lunch, we would go on a bus tour of the different neighborhoods studied, including Loose Park, Hyde Park, the Plaza and Westport. 

The students would then participate in a culminating project where they each build a model of a neighborhood presenting the resources, culture and various information about their learning to the other students within our school community.