Map Making and Unexpected Visitors

We had a lot of fun today doing a hands-on map making activity to demonstrate for the kids how towns grew and changed as a result of the Industrial Revolution.  The kids really caught on quickly to both the positive and negative results of Industrialization and their maps all turned out great!  In fact, I felt like each of their maps kind of reflected their different personalities!

At first the towns were small and rural with just a few small homes, a few roads, a river and a bridge.

Then the towns grew as a result of factories.  Large homes were added.

Factories and pubs were built as well as tenement buildings.

The towns quickly became crowded.  More jobs and bigger homes were created, but workers were often injured and unhappy with the unsafe factory conditions.

Nonetheless, the kids were proud of their little growing towns.

They worked hard and had great discussions about Industrialization.

Yet, many were frustrated.  Ethan did not like how crowded his town became as a result of industrialization.

Riley wasn't too thrilled either.  She liked her town better before all the factories arrived.

The class did an awesome job though and their towns will be on display in our hallway soon along with reflections on their learning.  They were able to see both the positive and negative impacts that came with the Industrial Revolution, and they had fun doing it!

Not only did we have fun making maps today, but in the last 10 minutes of the day, we had some very exciting and unexpected visitors!  There were two UofL basketball players visiting the first graders in our hallway who were nice enough to come say hello to us too!  The kids were SO excited!!

Mangok Mathiang & Anas Mahmoud

Just another awesome day with an amazing group of kids!  :o)