Neighborhood and School History
Students investigated and explored the history of the Roxborough and
Manayunk Neighborhood near the Levering School. Their investigation lead
them to focus on 4 specific buildings which were architecturally or
socially signigicant to the neighborhoods history.
7/8th Grade
Fall Semester, 1-1/2 Hours/Week
Activities:
- Neighborhood walk to discuss and begin to see the elements that make
up a neighborhood. Descriptions of the
walk.
- Research at the school and local libraries and on the internet to
find information on the neighborhoods history.
- The students selected a building to focus their research. They
selected these buildings:
- Neighborhood walk, each student was the guide, describing the
building that they were focusing on.
- The students wrote brief reports and did a drawing of their building.
- The students visited WHYY studios to film a video segment about the
project they worked on. They talked about neighborhood and specific
buildings.
- what makes a neighborhood significant
- what is significant about their specific building
- what is the use of their building originally and currently
- who used or uses it
- what is the building made of
- when was it built
- has the building changed over the years
- why is a historic building a valuable element in a community
- what did you learn from studying old buildings
- The students viewed the raw footage from the filming to assist in the
editing process. This enabled them to participate in how the story of
their neighborhood is communicated in the piece.
