Kid Boss Town and Happyvale were just some of the creative names for imaginary cities that Cumberland kindergarten students invented after learning directly from Sunnyvale City Planners about how they work to help a city flourish.
The school’s youngest students took over the multi-use building the morning of Feb. 17 to showcase their completed city planning projects to each other and to their families.
Schools, a library, a doctor’s office and neighborhoods of homes were just some of the things students made sure to include in their designs. Giant laminated maps of their towns were laid out on tables for families to admire. Families were prompted to ask certain questions about what an inhabitant of the town could expect to find there.
The projects began when City of Sunnyvale city planners came to talk to the kids in January about how they work in partnership with the community to help a city become a great place to live, work, and play.
The children participated in an activity discussing ideas on the types of buildings, uses, and components that make up a city. The activity included a felt board exercise in which children volunteered to arrange buildings and uses within a community.
Students later went on a walking field trip to take pictures with their iPads of the school’s neighborhood to get inspiration for their own town.
Once they had some ideas in mind, they began designing their own neighborhoods in teams and then recorded a short video using Book Creator to convince others why their neighborhood is the best neighborhood to live in.
Article by Sunnyvale School District Communications Coordinator Alia Wilson.
