Involving students in the greater community fosters their connection to place and encourages them to take responsibility for the space. One way to do this, with elementary aged children is to connect them to the land by taking them out and having them participate in authentic and meaningful engagements within the area that surrounds the school ie. community mapping!
These maps do not have to focus only on the geographical features, they can extend to include; neighbourhood mapping (above is a map of the places that I walk my dogs around my neighbourhood), sound mapping, species mapping, color mapping, mapping that records special places in the community, safe routes to school, green spaces and as a way to identify and deal with local issues. The possibilities are endless but the result of community mapping is always creating deeper relationships between students , their community and the land.
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