Bell Today
I. Tell Me A Story-
Begin the unit by introducing My Town by
Rebecca Treadys to the students. Ask the class what kind of book this might
be. ( picture book) Have them predict what the book is about and why they
think the author wrote this type of book. Ask the students the following
inquiry questions: “What is a map? What would a map of a city look like?
How would it change over time? Why is it important to know about your town,
past and present?” Since this a very “busy” book loaded with lots of pictures
and vocabulary about a generic town, students would benefit immensely if
the material in the book is presented in segments and projected on an overhead
with color images. To kick off the unit, go over the beginning part of
the story, paying much details to the map of the town.
The following text from the story gives a good working definition of maps and map keys: “You can use the maps to find where things are in and around my town..Colors, letters and little pictures on the map all mean different things. A key tells you what they all stand for...This is my town. Lots of people live and work here. Do you live in a town? Does your town have the same things in it as my town? What other things do you find in towns?” Discuss/chart answers about things students would find in their own town.
Continue with inquiry questions about the town in the book: “What kinds of things are in this town from the story? Is the school North or South of the Park? Does the railroad run North & South OR East & West? What streets are close to Main Street? What kinds of things (colors, objects, shapes) do you see on the map?” Using this key, what is the symbol for School? Bank, River, Park, ?”
What makes a town? What is a community? Have students
do a quick write of what they think a community is? (A town is smaller
than a city but larger than a village.) Have students work in pairs to
Pair /Share/Discuss their answers. Have the entire class come up with one
definition for community. Ask “What can you tell me about our community
of Bell?”
Pre-Assessment
Ask students to write down things they know about
their community today in terms of the name of a Business, a type of mass
Transportation, general Housing (house, apartment, mobile home, townhome),
the name of a place of Entertainment (i.e. video arcade, play place, or
an annual community Event, and the People of Bell (Population) . The time
period will be “Present - 1998”, or you may also wish to write down “End
of the 20th Century”. Generally, the students are to provide the names
of places in their community of Bell that they ALREADY know about. Some
students may have general information about the places in their community
or they may not be able to think of any information about Bell, at all.
The teacher can then work from this assessment.
II. Mapping The Community
With the class working in pairs, pass out current
copies of the map of Bell. You may wish to also use a Thomas Bros. Map
and have pages 675 & 705 taped together to show entire map. Explain
symbols and keys. Check for understanding by reviewing questions about
color, shape, and letters of each symbol. Question/Discussion with class:
1.) What is the symbol for the park, Post Office, City Hall, Shopping Center? What does the box with the flag on top on it stand for? Is it the same symbol for all schools? Is the Post Office East or West of the Library?
2.) What landforms ( bodies of water) do we see on the map of Bell? (river)
3.) What are some routes people can use to travel to Bell? ( by what freeway? -- Bell is just west of the 710, Long Beach Freeway; by what major streets? -- Atlantic & Gage, Atlantic & Florence Avenue.)
4.) What other cities are Bell’s neighbors to the North? (Maywood) South? (Cudahy) East? (Bell Gardens) West? (Huntington Park)
5.) Locate Corona on the map. What is its symbol?
On what street is our school located? (Review addresses: 6635 Bell Avenue
is the address for our school, it gives a specific number and street name
for a specific place on the map) Have students try to locate their home
street name on the map. Have them locate certain Public and City businesses,
such as City Hall, Police Station, James George Bell Historic House, Bank
of America, Hometown Buffet, Little Bear Park, Savon’s, Lucky’s Grocery
store.
III. Picturing the Community
Pass out grid paper. Students will create an abridged
map of Bell. Have students complete the map by adding the following items:
6.) Neighboring cities to the North (Maywood),
South (Cudahy),
East ( Bell Gardens) &
West (Huntington Park)
7.) Bell Library, Bell Post Office, Corona Ave.
School,
Bell High School, Bell Fire Station, Bell Police
Station,
City Hall, James George Bell Historic House,
Bell Palm Plaza, Little Bear Park
8.) Major Streets: Atlantic Blvd, Florence Blvd,
Gage Blvd, and Bell Ave,
Pine Ave, Corona Ave, Bear Ave, Riverside Ave
(Pictures of some of these places can be presented
to the class on overhead transparency, or photo copies;)
NOTES : As the students are writing about the population of Bell, pass out a copy of the March 9, 1997 Los Angeles Times article, “Community Profile -- Bell”. Examine and analyze the graphs about population, area in square miles, ethnic makeup, work force, median age, and average household income. Have students write down the total number population for Bell. Also, it might be helpful to point out Bell on a Regional Map of Southern California, California Map, and US Map.
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Corona Ave. School