The second and third-grade classes at P.S. 132 have been learning about different types of communities (for example, urban, suburban and rural); different kinds of architecture; and New York City. With Teaching Artists Elizabeth Leonard and Scott Lilly, the students have studied physical patterns within the community as well as patterns with words, such as rhyme and anaphora.
During this particular lesson, the teaching artists asked the students to imagine and create their ideal communities, thinking about what kinds of things and places their communities would have. They used this as a writing prompt for the start of an anaphora poem about community.
Murad is a student who joins Class 2-302 from a self-contained class. While he has a tough time articulating his ideas in words and often does not seem to understand the task at hand, his drawing is elaborate and clearly shows the details he found difficult to capture in his writing.
Students were also asked to imagine the kinds of things they would love to have in a community that they created. Most students drew their school, houses or a park. Elizabeth and Scott were especially proud of Kenny’s example because he drew in so many details that a story emerges from his folder.
