Urban, Rural, & Suburban Communities

3rd Grade

A third grade unit that compares and contrasts urban, rural, and
suburban communities using language arts, mathematics, and science
lesson plans and including resources and suggestions for further
integration.
Bridget Delaney
EDU 300
December 13, 2016

Table of Contents
Rationale... Page 3
Content Outline... Page 4
Concept Map... Page 5
Language Arts Lesson Plan.. Page 6
Mathematics Lesson Plan.... Page 10
Science Lesson Plan.... Page 13
Peer-Interview Sheet (Language Arts)... Page 16
Graphs (Math).. Page 17
Model of Scientific Gizmo (Science).. Page 20
Appendix. Page 21
Glossary.. Page 23

Rationale

The standard chosen for the whole of this unit is: Ohio State Standards. History/Social
Studies. Geography 3.5: Daily life is influenced by the agriculture, industry and natural resources
in different communities.

Since urban, rural, and suburban communities are the three major environments people
subside in, they explain much about different types of people as well as the different ways they
contribute to society. Therefore, it is important for children to understand how these living
environments affect their own lives as well as the roles these communities play in our society.
The study of urban, rural, and suburban communities is relatable to students. Each student will
likely be able to determine which type of environment he or she lives and will thus be able to
make personal contributions to the classroom discussion. Once children are able to share stories
and information about their own lives within a classroom setting, they will likely feel a sense of
belonging among their classmates. This unit also prompts students to make comparisons and
contrasts among each type of living environment. By a teacher showing students how to compare
and contrast, he or she is assisting them in practicing higher-order thinking skills, strengthening
their memories, and increasing their overall comprehension.

Lastly, comparing the different environments in which people live is fun! Children have a
natural desire to explore the world around them. This unit allows students to do that by the way it
encourages them to dig deeper into what they already know about their world and sharing their
new discoveries with their peers.

Urban, Rural, & Suburban Communities Unit Content Outline

I.

Language Arts Lesson

A. This lesson will introduce what urban, rural, and suburban communities are as well as
their similarities and differences. The goal of this lesson is to familiarize students with
this concept and the common facts and characteristics of people who live in these three
types of communities.
a. Peer-interviews will be conducted to allow students to share and discover
differing common characters of people who live in different communities.

II. Mathematics Lesson

A. This lesson will involve the students using and creating graphs to understand the
differences in urban and rural populations.
a. Students will complete a worksheet featuring a graph that shows the number of
people living in an imaginary town over one-hundred years, and then create their
own graphs that represent the community in which they each live.
III. Science Lesson
A. This lesson will involve the introduction of pollution created from overcrowded cities,
how it negatively affects water quality, and how water can be filtered for people to drink.
a. Students will play with the scientific gizmo related to overcrowded cities.
b. The instructor will conduct a science experiment on the filtration of water.
IV. Conclusion of Unit
A. Students will demonstrate what they learned by creating a class poster of the three types
of communities with an urban community in the center, a suburban community in the
middle, and a rural community on the outside.
a. Students will work together to create and draw cutouts of buildings, roads,
farms, people, cars, animals, etc., to glue on the poster.
b. Instructor will hang the poster up in the classroom when the students are
finished.

Urban, Rural, & Suburban Communities Unit Concept Map

Language Arts

Discovering
Unique
Community
Characteristics

Math

Study of
Population
Graphs

Science

Experimenting
Filtration of
Dirty Water, a
Result of
Pollution

Conclusion: Create a
poster containing all three
types of communities
complete with buildings,
people, animals, etc.

Urban, Rural, & Suburban Communities - Language Arts Lesson Plan Utilizing the 6E
Model
Ohio State Standards. History/Social Studies. Geography 3.5: Daily life is influenced by the
agriculture, industry and natural resources in different communities.
Grade 3
Licensure Area: Early Childhood
1. Objectives:
Students will be able to gain an understanding of the comparisons of different types of
communities and engage in class discussions on urban, rural, and suburban environments.
Students will be able to write in their journals the major similarities and differences
among urban, rural, suburban communities.
Students will be able to conduct interviews with their peers, acting as a person from a
specific type of community.
Students will be able to gather information from their peers and decide whether it
matches the information they wrote about urban, rural, and suburban communities.
2. Common Core Standards:
CCSS. Language Arts. Reading: Informational Text. RI.3.1: Ask and answer questions to
demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the
answers.
CCSS. Language Arts. Reading: Informational Text. RI.3.8: Describe the logical
connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison,
cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).
CCSS. Language Arts. Writing. W.3.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a
topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
a. Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations
when useful to aiding comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

CCSS. Language Arts. Speaking & Listening. SL.3.1: Engage effectively in a range of
collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners
on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly.
c. Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic,
and link their comments to the remarks of others.
d. Explain their own ideas and understandings in the light of discussion.

Engage

3. Motivation: At the beginning of the lesson, the instructor will conduct a class discussion,
asking the students in which type of environment they live (the city, the country, a
neighborhood). The instructor will then grasp the prior knowledge of the students by
asking them what makes the places they, and other children live, different and similar to
one another. This discussion will lead into the introduction of urban, rural, and suburban
communities.
4. Instructional materials: Smart Board, topic-related pictures and video (see Teacher
Resources), student journals, writing utensils, peer-interview sheet (see page 16).
5. Procedures:

Engage

Have students sit at their respective tables. Begin the lesson by asking students in which
type of environment they live (the city, the country, a neighborhood). Encourage as many
students as possible to engage in the discussion by calling on those with raised hands.

Explore

Ask the students what makes these types of living environments different and similar to
one another (some are quiet, some are loud, some of have lots of people, etc.)

Explain

Orally introduce what urban, rural, and suburban communities are.

E-Learn &
Elaborate

After this, show the students definitions and the example pictures and video on the Smart
Board to further expand on the topic. The discussion is open for the students to ask
questions and share personal experiences of visiting urban, rural, and suburban towns.

Explain

Next, ask the students to take out their journals and independently list major
characteristics of the three different types of communities and what they consider to be
pros and cons of each.
Organize the students into groups of three so that each student is grouped with two other
students with whom they do not normally work.
Hand out small pieces of paper to each student that indicates whether he or she must
pretend to be someone who lives in the city, the country, or a suburb, so that each group
has a member from a different community. (If there are any groups that have more than
three members, allow there to be two of the same character in one group - this will allow
the students to see the different ways two students act out the same type of character.) In

addition to the character assignments, hand out peer-interviewing sheets, which provide
spaces for questions, answers, and a conclusion, to each student.
Encourage the students to act like their assigned character from a particular community,
but not enough to reveal who they are to their group members.

Explore

The members within each group will take turns acting as the interviewer and asking one
of the other members questions about his or her character, such as, What kind of job do
you have?, How many of your neighbors do you know?, Do you have any pets?, or
What kind of chores do you have?

Explain

The interviewer will use a few words to sum up the interviewees answers, and
comparing the answers to the interviewers own notes if necessary, the interviewer will
decide and share with the other group members in which type of environment the
interviewee lives.
After the interviews are conducted, a whole class discussion concluding what the
students learned through the lesson and one another will occur.

Evaluate

6. Classroom Discussion: At the end of the lesson, ask the students to orally list the three
types of living environments as a class. Then, as a follow-up, create an open discussion to
allow students to share what they learned from their interviews and group collaborations.

Explore

7. Academic vocabulary: As the words urban, rural, and suburban are introduced, the
instructor should describe what each means using real-life examples. This can be done by
using the description one of the students gave about where he or she lived, and matching
it to the correct environmental word (whether its urban, rural, or suburban). The
instructor may also share what type of living environment he or she lives in and why.
Lastly, the instructor should assist the students in matching each word to a place they
already know (e.g., New York City is urban, my grandparents farm is rural, my best
friends house is in the suburbs).

Evaluate

8. Assessment and Evaluation: After the concluding class discussion ends, encourage the
students to keep an eye out for urban, rural, and suburban places they go so they may
notice more similarities and differences. In addition to using class discussion and student
observation for means of assessment, collect the students journal entries on the different
living environments as well as the peer-interview sheets. A students independent as well
as peer-shared understandings of urban, rural, and suburban communities should be
clearer within these written works.
9. Value Added:
1. Resources:
Burke, Barry N. (2014). 6E Learning by DeSIGN Model: Maximizing Informed
Design and Inquiry in the Integrative Stem Classroom. The Iteea. Retrieved from
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http://www.oneida-boces.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?
moduleinstanceid=1290&dataid=2862&FileName=6E%20Learning%20by
%20Design%20Model.pdf (This article gives an overview of what the 6E Model
is, how it can be used in the classroom, and how it has changed the role of
technology in the classroom.)
[jennamurphy]. (2009, April 11). Urban, Suburban, & Rural. [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuF2o7SaRWU
Alber, Rebecca. (2012). Deeper Learning: A Collaborative Classroom Is Key.
Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learningcollaboration-key-rebecca-alber
2. Universal Design for Learning:
a. ELL Students: For English Language Learners, the instructor may discuss the
English words urban, rural, and suburban and the languages they derive from
to possibly make connections between the English words and the native
language of the ELL. The instructor may also encourage the class to share
what different types of living environments are like in other cultures with
which they are familiar so they may further compare and contrast and include
all cultures of the classroom.
b.

Students with Dyslexia: Students with dyslexia may have a difficult time
trying to read a textbook or words in a PowerPoint at a quick enough speed.
This is why providing a video with a speaking narrator and visual images may
better gain the students attention and produce proper understanding.

c. Students with Hearing Impairments: For students with hearing impairments

who have a difficult time reading lips, a sign language interpreter may be used
in the classroom. However, if this is not possible, the video and images
presented on the Smart Board could have subtitles that are large enough for
the student to read. In addition, while the interviews are being conducted, a
peer can assist the student with hearing impairments by writing down the
interviewees answers on the interview sheet. After this, the student with
hearing impairments may compare the notes from the interview and his or her
own notes about communities to deice for him or herself what character the
interviewee is.

Urban, Rural, & Suburban Communities - Mathematics Lesson Plan Utilizing the
Backwards Design Model
Ohio State Standards. History/Social Studies. Geography 3.5: Daily life is influenced by the
agriculture, industry and natural resources in different communities.
Grade 3
Licensure Area: Early Childhood

Stage 1

1. Objectives:
Students will be able to gain an understanding of how the population of urban areas
differs in number from the population of rural areas.
Students will be able to gain an understanding of different types of graphs and how they
can be used to record data of rural and urban populations.
Students will be able to use different graphs, interpret information from them, and
perform math problems based on the graphs data.
Students will be able to create their own graph based on their discoveries of their own
communities.

Stage 1

2. Common Core Standards:

CCSS. Mathematics - Traditional. Numbers & Operations in Base Ten. 3.NBT.A.2:
Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place
value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.
CCSS. Mathematics - Traditional. Measurement & Data. 3.MD.B.3: Draw a scaled
picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve
one- and two-step how many more and how many less problems using information
presented in scaled bar graphs.

Stage 3

Stage 3

3. Motivation: The students should already have an understanding of the main similarities
and differences of urban, rural, and suburban communities from previous lesson(s). At the
beginning of this lesson, the instructor will briefly review the main concepts of urban,
rural, and suburban communities, and ensure the students do not have any questions from
past concepts before he or she transitions into data of populations of different
communities.
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4. Instructional materials: Smart Board, pictures of different population-related graphs

(see Unit Resources), Population Growth worksheet (see Unit Resources), writing
utensils, graph paper.

Stage 3

5. Procedures:
Have students sit at respective tables. Begin the lesson by reviewing what urban, rural,
and suburban environments are. Answer any questions the students may have about this
concept. Allow students to share any additional information they have learned while
observing different communities outside of class.
Introduce the meaning of population, and how urban areas have larger populations
than rural areas.
Explain how populations may be recorded and presented through different types of
graphs.
Show the students examples of different graphs and how they can be used to record
increases or decreases in population and how urban and rural populations may be
compared through graphs.
Show the students how each graph should be read and how the information within them
can be further analyzed through math problems.
Hand out Population Growth worksheet and give instructions on how the population
graph should be in read in order to answer the questions on the worksheet. If a student
needs help, encourage him or her to team up with a peer.
Once the worksheet is completed, create an open discussion and ask students to
volunteer their idea of whether they think the population graph records a more urban or
more rural town and why.
Next, provide a sheet of graphing paper for each student and encourage all the students
to draw any type of graph of their choice to present information on the community where
they live (e.g., the estimated percentage of houses vs the estimated percentage of land,
what times of day the neighbors are the loudest, which animals seem to be the most
popular among the neighbors). For timing purposes, the students may need to finish
these graphs at home, and if so, are encouraged to show their finished products to the
instructor the next day.

Stage 2

6. Classroom Discussion: Other than the class discussions implemented throughout the
lesson, it is encouraged to provide a follow-up discussion open to all students who would
like to share what they learned from this lesson and what types of graphs they most
prefer.

Stage 3

7. Academic vocabulary: As the word population is introduced, the instructor should

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describe what it means using real-life examples. Such an example may be: The
population, or the number of people in Ohio is about 11 million, while the population of
the USA is about 318 million, because the USA is a larger mass of land and is able to
hold more people. With the word graph, and the introduction of each type of graph, a
visual image of the particular graph should be shown so the students may immediately
make the connection to what the instructor is describing.

Stage 2

8. Assessment and Evaluation: (See Classroom Discussion for information on how to

conclude the lesson.) In addition to using classroom discussion and observation as a
means of assessment, collect the students worksheets and graphs for assessment. The
students basic understanding of populations and how they can be recorded through
various types of graphs should be clearer through these written works.
Value Added:
1. Resource:
Tasmanian Department of Education. (2005). Principles of Backward Design.
Retrieved from https://www.wku.edu/library/dlps/infolit/documents/
designing_lesson_plans_using_backward_design.pdf (This website discusses the
Principles of the Backward Design Model and what the expected outcomes are of
each stage as they are implemented in the classroom.)
Michael Priestly. Population Growth. [PDF file]. Scholastic Teaching Resources.
Retrieved from http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/
60/0439297060_e014.pdf (This is the Population Growth Worksheet.)
2. Universal Design for Learning:
a. Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Many students with
ADHD find it difficult not only to sit still and focus on the lesson, but also to
remember the content that was taught earlier in the lesson. In this lesson, the
instructor may provide these children with a sheet that provides examples of
different graphs the class learned about, and how to read each one. They may
use this while completing the worksheet and drawing their own graph.
b. Students Who Are Gifted: Students who are gifted and feel more confident
about the concepts being taught may find the worksheet problems to be
somewhat simplistic. For these students, the instructor may provide separate
worksheets with more challenging problems that match their learning abilities.
c. Students with Emotional Behavioral Disorder: These students often have
trouble establishing relationships among their peers as well as staying focused
and avoiding distraction. To accommodate these needs, the instructor may
place these students in desks at the front of the classroom and away from
students they tend not to get along with or who distract them.
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Urban, Rural, & Suburban Communities - Science Lesson Plan Utilizing a Scientific Gizmo
Ohio State Standards. History/Social Studies. Geography 3.5: Daily life is influenced by the
agriculture, industry and natural resources in different communities.
Grade 3
Licensure Area: Early Childhood
1. Objectives: Students will be able to gain an understanding of how urban communities can
become overcrowded and often produce pollution. Students will be able to gain an
understanding of what pollution is and how it affects urban and rural environments. Students
will be able to perform an experiment that tests how water can be recycled through filters.
2. Content Standards: Ohio State Standards. Science. Earth and Space Science. ESS.3.3.1:
Some of Earths resources become limited due to overuse and/or contamination. Reducing
resource use, decreasing waste and/or pollution, recycling and reusing can help conserve
these resources.
3. Motivational Techniques: As an introductory to the lesson, the students will all receive a
chance to play with the scientific gizmo and witness how quickly urban areas become
congested. The teacher will then review the similarities and differences the students
previously learned about urban, rural, and suburban communities in their Language Arts and
Math lessons.
4. Instructional Materials: Science gizmo, SmartBoard, pollution video (see Value Added),
dirty water, a 2 L clear, plastic bottle cut in half horizontally, beaker or clear, tall container,
gravel or stone, coarse sand, fine sand, a coffee filter, a rubber band.
5. Procedures:
The teacher will begin the lesson by asking the students to share what they have already
learned about urban and rural communities and create a discussion among them.
Then, the teacher will release tables of students one at a time to play and experiment with
the scientific gizmo by moving buildings around on the board. The goal is to create a path
as short as possible from Point A to Point B and touch every building with a string
representing telephone wires all the way around the board. The students may have to try a
few times until they are successful.
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 After all the students have had a turn with the gizmo, the teacher will ask them what they
thought of the game, whether they thought it was challenging, and if so, why.
The teacher will then explain that the game was a challenge because there were many
buildings and only a small space on the board, and that this is an example of an
overcrowded urban community.
Then, the teacher will explain the concept that overcrowded cities that contain factories and
many means of transportation release pollution into the air.
The video on pollution will be played on the SmartBoard.
The teacher will allow a few students with raised hands to share what they learned from the
video and then form a discussion on how pollution affects water and often makes it too
dirty to drink.
The teacher will then ask the students raising their hands if they know what a water filter
is, if their family has a water filter at home, and if they would like to experiment with one
today.
Now, the class will begin the recycled water experiment by attaching the coffee filter with
the rubber band to the neck of the plastic bottle. Turn the bottle upside down and place it in
the beaker so the top of the bottle is not touching the bottom of the beaker. Have the
students place a layer of stones, then coarse sand and finally fine sand in the bottle. During
all of this, ensure that different students are working together to complete different jobs so
that as many students as possible get a chance to participate.
Help the students pour some of the dirty water into the empty bottom half of the plastic
bottle.
Ask students if they think the water will come out the other end, and if so, what it will look
like. Once the students have made their predictions, help them gently pour the rest of the
dirty water through the filter.
Once enough water has run through the filter, allow the students to compare the dirty water
in the bottom half of the bottle with the newly filtered, clear water. Ask them why they
thought the water came out clear.
Have students return to their seats and explain what took place during the experiment and
how filters are useful in filtering polluted water.
To close the lesson, ask the students to write in their journals 2-3 sentences on what they
learned from the experiment and one other way they think pollution can be prevented.
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6. Classroom Discussion: Discussion will be promoted among the students at the beginning of
the lesson to review previous lessons, as well as throughout the lesson, to answer questions
about the gizmo, the video, and the experiment.
7. Academic Vocabulary: To review the words urban, rural, and suburban, the teacher will
ask students with raised hands to provide definitions they previously learned. All other
academic words such as, overcrowd, pollution, and filter, will be introduced with real-life
examples and simple describing words so the students may understand their definitions as
clearly as possible.
8. Assessment and Evaluation: Formative assessment is used several times throughout this
lesson by the teacher verbally asking the students questions about the content as they are
learning it. The main form of assessment, however, are the journal writings on the
experiment and pollution that the students write individually at the end of the lesson.
9. Value Added:
1. Resources:
[Smart Learning for All]. (2015, May 30). Air Pollution for Kids. [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAKyhfxxr7s
[Home Science Tools]. (2013, May 9). Water Filtration Experiment. [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMZpzcItQkc
2. Universal Design for Learning:
a. Students with Orthopedic Impairments: For students who are physically
handicapped, the classroom will be cleared of obstacles and the experiment table
will be at their arms length so they may easily access all functions of the
lesson.
b. Students Visual Processing Disorder: For students who have trouble reading
faraway or unfamiliar words on the SmartBoard, the teacher will read all wording
in the pollution video out loud.
c. Students with Autism: Students with Autism often have difficulty following along
with auditory explanations or directions. For these students, the teacher will write
important words or concepts on the board.

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Peer-Interview Sheet for Language Arts Lesson

Interviewer name:____________________________________
Interviewee name:___________________________________
Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

How many of your neighbors do you know?

How far away is your work?
What kind of job do you have?
Do you have any pets?
Is it noisy where you live?
What do you like to do for fun?
What kind of chores do you have?
How do you exercise?

Answers:
1. __________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________________
4. __________________________________________________________________
5. __________________________________________________________________
6. __________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
7. ___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
8. __________________________________________________________________
Circle the community you think the character you interviewed lives!
Urban

Rural

Suburban
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Graphs to Present in Math Lesson

Image from www.newgeography.com

Image from www.s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

17

Image from www.ons.gov.uk

Image from www.china-profile.com

18

Image from www.math-only-math.com

Image from www.s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

19

Model of Scientific Gizmo for Science Lesson

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Appendix
Teacher Resources:
A brief slideshow that introduces the basic facts of urban, rural, and suburban
communities that teachers may want to share with their students:
AlQahtani, R. (2013). Community Types for Kids (2nd Grade). Retrieved December 12, 2016,
from http://www.slideshare.net/antarcticaroma/community-types-for-kids-2nd-grade
Some tips for conducting peer-interviews in the classroom:
Manna, Ruth. (2016). Learning to Interview. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/
lesson-plan/learning-interview
Video on Urban, Rural, and Suburban communities used in Language Arts lesson:
[jennamurphy]. (2009, April 11). Urban, Suburban, & Rural. [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuF2o7SaRWU
Video on the causes and effects of pollution used the in the Science lesson:
[Smart Learning for All]. (2015, May 30). Air Pollution for Kids. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAKyhfxxr7s
An article that contains several resources and downloads that provide tips and techniques for
promoting an inquiry-based classroom:
Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning. (2016, January 7). Retrieved
from https://www.edutopia.org/article/inquiry-based-learning-resources-downloads
Video that demonstrates the water filtration experiment on the Science lesson:
[Home Science Tools]. (2013, May 9). Water Filtration Experiment. [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMZpzcItQkc

Student Resources:
A website that provides activities for children about urban, rural and suburban communities:
Urban, Rural, and Suburban. (2016). Retrieved from https://educators.brainpop.com/bp-jr-topic/
rural-suburban-and-urban/
A website that provides third grade practice problems for interpreting bar graphs:
Practicing Third Grade Math: Interpret Bar Graphs. (2016). Retrieved from https://
www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/interpret-bar-graphs
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A website that provides third grade practice problems for creating bar graphs:
Practicing Third Grade Math: Create Bar Graphs. (2016). Retrieved from https://
www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/create-bar-graphs
A website filled with images, cartoons, and videos as Tiki the Penguin discusses pollution in a
way directed at children:
Pollution: A Guide for Kids by Tiki the Penguin. Retrieved from http://tiki.oneworld.org/
pollution/pollution_home.html
An image that provides some ideas of what students could add to the communities poster at the
conclusion of the unit:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d2/4e/38/
d24e384ee693ce8850c52f9d828f6a59.jpg

Childrens Literature:
Base, Graeme. (2004). The Water Hole. London: Puffin Books.
Brett, Jan. (2003). Town Mouse, Country Mouse. London: Puffin Books.
Cummins, Julie. (2002). Country Kid, City Kid. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
Fine, Ariah. (2010). Clean Water For Elirose. CreateSpace Independent Publishing.
Murphy, Stuart J. (1997). Lemonade for Sale (MathStart 3). New York: HarperCollins
Publishers.
Murphy, Stuart J. (2003). Less Than Zero (MathStart 3). New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Pilutti, Deb. (2008). The City Kid & the Suburb Kid. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

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Glossary
Characteristic - A feature or quality belonging typically to a person, place, or thing and making
it what it is.
Community - A group of people living together or in the same environment or who share interests
or a sense of identity.
Environment - All the physical surroundings on Earth. The environment includes everything
living and everything nonliving.
Filter - Something that separates solids from liquids, eliminates dirt or impurities, or allows only
certain things to pass through.
Graph - Drawings that show mathematical information with lines, shapes, and colors. Graphs are
also known as charts. People use graphs to compare amounts of things or other numbers.
Overcrowd - To group together to an undesirable or uncomfortable amount.
Pollution - Any contamination of air, soil, water and environment by waste, chemicals, and other
harmful substances. There are three main forms of pollution: air, water, and land.
Population - The whole number of people living in a country, city, or area.
Rural - Living in or characteristic of farming or country life.
Suburban - A residential area located on the outskirts of a city. It is mainly made up of houses
and neighborhoods in which people live.
Urban - In, relating to, or characteristic of a city or town, particularly with large populations.

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