Home-School Connections (HSC)

Learn Indirectly What Families Know and Do

Neighborhood Walks

Parent Leaders shared their knowledge of the local neighborhood by mapping routes for teachers to follow. On these neighborhood walks, teachers took photographs of the buildings, physical environments, and natural landscapes that were familiar to children.

Examples of Neighborhood Walks

East Boston Neighborhoods

Parent Leaders designed these routes in East Boston to show teachers the physical environment and landscapes children saw on a daily basis.

The photographs below show that children built block structures reflecting what they saw in their neighborhoods.

Building bridges with multiple support from pillars.

Building pathways like highways in the community.

Examples of Neighborhood Walks

Downtown/Chinatown Neighborhoods

Parent Leaders designed these routes in the Downtown/Chinatown neighborhoods of Boston to show teachers the physical structures and environments children saw on a daily basis. The photographs below show that children built block structures reflecting what they saw in their neighborhoods.

Building tall block structures that mimic skyscrapers in the community.

Note the elderly figures added to the structure reflecting the children’s keen observations of what they saw as they passed by the nursing home that was next to the preschool.