Geography Activities: Types of Communities
Most kids love to share stories and facts about their life. Especially their home. Grab a cup of coffee and a pen! Here is a collection of ideas for teaching urban, suburban, and rural Communities for 2nd graders that will get them excited to learn.
These activities and resources are low-prep and are part of my Types of Communities Worksheets and Activities unit.
Teaching Urban, Suburban, and Rural Communities: Lesson Plans
Before you begin teaching urban, suburban, and rural communities, look at the standards your grade has to cover. When I write out my lesson plans, I like to give myself a week to cover the topic.
This helps me stay on track so that I can fit in every concept throughout the year. If you’re looking to save some time, my Types of Communities Worksheets and Activities unit has premade lesson plans already made and ready to go!
Vocabulary Activities
Teaching vocabulary might not be the thing that jumps first to your mind, but it has huge benefits when teaching urban, suburban, and rural communities to kids.
Some Vocabulary words that I like to cover are:
- Community
- Neighborhood
- Population
- Census
- Urban
- Suburban
- Rural
Teaching students vocabulary will help students better understand the unit you are teaching. I love to throw in real-life photos to help them visualize the words too.
Characteristics of Urban, Suburban, and Rural Communities
In second grade, students need to learn how to identify the differences between the three types of communities. I like to use slides or reading passages that describe the different characteristics of each.
Three Types of Communities: Mini-Project
My class always loved to draw pictures and take notes, any excuse to use markers and crayons. Once we went over the difference between the three types of communities, my class would work on a fun flipbook to show what they learned.
Videos For Teaching Types of Communities
Here are some of my go-to videos when teaching urban, suburban, and rural communities to second grade.
FREE Social Studies Pacing Guide
The lesson plans and resources shown in this post are part of this Types of Communities Worksheets and Activities Bundle.
Be sure to save this pin so that you can easily come back to these ideas when you are ready to teach about communities.
For more second grade geography activities, visit these posts:
Happy teaching!
Sarah
