This fall, grade 2 students in Allison Mitchell’s class at Phoenicia Elementary School engaged in a social studies inquiry about the communities we live in, exploring the very idea of “community” itself. Appropriately enough, they started with their own neighborhood!
Students first examined a map of the hamlet of Phoenicia. Using Google Earth, the curious investigators first looked here, then at other places around the country and then at other places around the world. They thought critically about the various characteristics that make Phoenicia different from other types of places and applied their skills in geography to determine if each location was urban, suburban, or rural.
During a walking field trip on October 24, the students enjoyed an informative stroll into downtown Phoenicia, where they were able to meet and interview several different types of community members and develop questions about the area. “This is the best way to really get an idea of our community,” said Mitchell. “The people in a community are what make it work, and meeting and talking with them is to understand that.” It was the perfect time to explore Phoenicia since it was decked out for Halloween, and according to Ms. Mitchell, “the scarecrows were a big hit!”
The first stop was the Phoenicia Post Office. Students had already harkened back to the older days of “snail mail” by writing a letter to either a friend or family member from locations as close as Phoenicia, to farther away in California and Oklahoma, and even as far away as Scotland!
“It was fun putting the letter in the slot at the post office,” remembered Bryce Rabuffo. “But I think I may have pushed the letter too hard!”
While speaking with the postal director, students learned about how postal workers sort mail and what a post office does. This includes sorting all the mail that comes in and delivering it to either a residence or post office (PO) box. They also asked about some of the weirdest, biggest and smallest packages that the postal workers have ever encountered, and were surprised to learn the answer — the largest package ever was a prosthetic leg, and the smallest was a potato! The community-explorers left the post office with a special coloring book and headed to their next destination — Ulster Savings Bank.
Here, the students learned some very exciting and adult-like skills. From the manager of the Phoenicia branch of Ulster Savings Bank, Samantha Awand-Gortel, they learned about what it means to deposit and withdraw money and even did some “money math” while they were there. As a bonus, students also got to take a peek into the money vault and were given a bag filled with pens, flashlights, coin purses and other fun things to take home.
“I learned that there is a hundred dollar bill,” said Vivian Swineheart of the experience. Will Lynch commented, “I liked the bank best because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You don’t get to see inside a vault very often!”
The final stop was the Phoenicia Library, where Director Liz Potter entertained students with some fun read-alouds of books with some very interesting characters, including The New LiBEARian by Alison Donald and The Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. Afterwards, the excited youngsters visited the children’s section, where they played “I-Spy” and learned more about the books in this area. In addition, they visited the upstairs room that features local fly-fishing maps, artifacts and gear. Again, the community explorers left with plenty of swag — this time getting bags filled with books, a small, stuffed reading buddy and other fun items.
“They were so excited to get books that, as soon as we returned to the classroom, they sat right down and began reading them,” remarked an impressed Mitchell. “And some were writing stories to send to the library. All on their own!”
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