Students investigate what it takes to build a community by mapping local places, studying community roles and responsibilities, and exploring how people work together to solve problems and care for one another. Through a yearlong sequence, they gather information from neighborhood walks, community partners such as the San Diego River Foundation, Old Town, MTS, museums, sports teams, and family helpers, then use research, discussion, art, drama, music, dance, and STEAM design to imagine a better future for San Diego. They create and revise drawings, maps, letters, and scaled models that lead to a shared exhibition of a model city and messages to local politicians. The experience helps students build social studies, literacy, science, and arts skills while strengthening collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and a sense of belonging in their community.

Students will use maps, simple grids, timelines, and observations from a neighborhood park walk and community partner visits to identify where places are, how communities change over time, and how urban, suburban, and rural areas meet people’s needs. They will research community helpers and local organizations such as MTS, the San Diego River Foundation, Old Town, museums, sports teams, and family-connected workers to explain roles, responsibilities, and how people work together to solve problems and care for one another. Students will design, draw, critique, revise, and build scaled models of a “perfect city,” using STEAM, art, dance, drama, music, writing, and digital displays to communicate ideas about land use, public spaces, tools, and services. They will collaborate across classes, give and use feedback, and create a public exhibition with model cities and letters to local politicians that share their vision for the future of San Diego.

Students will create neighborhood maps, timelines, field sketches, interview notes, and shared class charts as they investigate places, community helpers, land use, and local problem-solving. Across the year, they will design and revise city plans through labeled drawings, grid maps, scale models, STEAM prototypes, dramatic scenery pieces, movement or dance responses, and simple digital slides or photo displays that show their research. They will also write letters to local politicians and create short collaborative presentations that share what communities need and how people work together to meet those needs. The culminating product will be a student-designed “future San Diego” model city, displayed in a public exhibition with artist statements, maps, and explanations of how its parts help care for the community.

Begin with a neighborhood walk to the park near campus where students carry simple maps or clipboards to notice landmarks, helpers, natural features, and community spaces. Back in class, students work in teams to create a large shared map of what they saw, sort images of urban, suburban, and rural places, and generate questions about what communities need and who helps meet those needs. Invite a community partner or family helper such as a firefighter, MTS worker, lifeguard, or park staff member to join the debrief so students can hear how people care for a community and solve problems. End by introducing the yearlong challenge: design and build a model of a future San Diego community and write to local leaders about what children think their city should include.

Host a “Future San Diego” community showcase where students present their perfect city model, display semester-one maps and storyboards, and explain how different community roles work together to meet people’s needs and solve problems. Invite families and partners such as the San Diego River Foundation, MTS, the Natural History Museum, Old Town, the San Diego History Center, local sports teams, and family community helpers to visit student stations, ask questions, and give feedback. Include an art, music, drama, and dance component in which students perform short pieces about community helpers, local places, and problem solving, alongside a gallery walk featuring drafts, critiques, revisions, and final models. End with students sharing letters to local politicians and a collective message: “Children are the future—this is what the future of San Diego looks like.”