Suburban Communities

Ages 5–7 · 9 minutes

Explore suburban communities in this lesson

There are three types of communities. This lesson focuses on suburban communities and some of the characteristics associated with suburban life.

Part of

Types of Communities

Standards alignment

Common Core State Standards

D2.Geo.6.K-2 — Individually and with others, students… Identify some cultural and environmental characteristics of specific places.
D2.Geo.2.K-2 — Individually and with others, students… Use maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them.
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
D2.Eco.6.K-2 — Individually and with others, students… Explain how people earn income.

Alabama

SS10.1.7 — Describe how occupational and recreational opportunities in the local community and state are affected by the physical environment. (Alabama)
SS10.2.10 — Identify ways people throughout the country are affected by their human and physical environments.

Alaska

1 — know that places have distinctive geographic characteristics;
2 — analyze how places are formed, identified, named, and characterized;
AH. PPE 5 — comparing and contrasting the differing perspectives between rural and urban areas. [DOK 2] (H. B1b, C. E4)
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events, and with prompting and support, provide additional related details.

Arizona

1.G1.1 — Use, explore and construct maps, graphs and other geographical representations to support content focus. • Key concepts include but are not limited to physical features (rivers, lakes, mountains, landforms, desert) and human features (dams, cities, parks, hospitals, schools, railroad tracks, farms, factories, houses)
1.G3.2 — Compare places past and present as it relates to content focus.
1.E3.2 — Explain how people in our community earn income.

Arkansas

G.1.1.2 — Describe the physical and human characteristics of a place including roads, buildings, and borders using maps, globes, and photographs.
G.1.2.2 — Describe the physical and human characteristics of a place using geographic tools such as maps, globes, and charts.
G.1.K.2 — Identify and describe the physical characteristics of a place such as rivers, mountains, and forests using maps, globes, and photographs.

California

2.2.4 — Compare and contrast basic land use in urban, suburban, and rural environments in California.
1.2.4 — Describe how location, weather, and physical environment affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and recreation.
2 — Students identify the human and physical characteristics of the places they are studying and explain how those features form the unique character of those places.
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Colorado

SS.1.2.2 — Describe the characteristics of a community and how they are influenced by the environment.
RWC20-GR.K-S.1-GLE.2-EO.a — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
SS.K.2.2 — Identify how the environment influences the way people live.
PGS.4 — Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

Connecticut

GEO 1.2 — Use maps, graphs, photographs and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them.
GEO.K.2 — Use maps, graphs, photographs and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them.
ECO 1.4 — Explain how people earn income.
GEO 1.3 — Use maps, globes, and other simple geographic models to identify cultural and environmental characteristics of places.

Delaware

G.3.K-3a — Students will identify types of human settlement, connections between settlements, and the types of activities found in each. Grade 3
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
H.4.K-3b — Students will develop an awareness of major events and people in United States and Delaware history. • Who lives here and how did they get here? (immigrants, demographics, ethnic and religious groups) • Important people in our past • Different kinds of communities in Delaware and the United States

Florida

SS.1.G.1.6 — Describe how location, weather, and physical environment affect the way people live in our community.
SS.K.G.2.1 — Locate and describe places in the school and community.

Hawaii

SS.1.2.14.3 — Investigate cultural and environmental characteristics of your community
K.SL.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Idaho

3.SS.2.3.3 — Compare and contrast city/suburb/town and urban/rural.
2.SS.5.1.1 — Compare your neighborhood/community with others in various parts of the world.

Illinois

SS.2.G.2 — With guidance and support, identify some cultural and environmental characteristics of your community and compare to other places or regions.
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Indiana

1.G.4 — Identify and describe physical features and human features of the local community, including home, school, and neighborhood.
K.G.5 — Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.
2.G.3 — Compare neighborhoods in your community/region, and explain how physical features of the community affect people living there. (E)

Iowa

SS.1.17 — Describe how environmental characteristics and cultural characteristics impact each other in different regions of the U.S.
Analyze Human Population, Movement, and Patterns
Evaluate Human Environment Interaction

Kansas

Benchmark 5.1 — The student will recognize and evaluate dynamic relationships that impact lives in communities, states, and nations.
RI.1.12.c — Identify real-life connections between words and their uses.
Standard 3 — Societies are shaped by the identities, beliefs, and practices of individuals and groups.

Kentucky

1.G.KGE.1 — Compare the physical and human characteristics of communities in Kentucky.
K.G.KGE.1 — Identify physical and environmental characteristics of communities.
K.I.UE.1 — Identify information from two or more sources to investigate characteristics of a community.

Louisiana

K.21 — Identify rural, suburban, and urban areas.
1.7 — Compare the lives of Louisianans today in urban, suburban, and rural parishes.

Maine

SL.3.K.a — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
Participate in collaborative conversations about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
L.5.K.a — Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

Maryland

identifying communities that are unique and common to students.
analyzing the school’s community using bird’s eye view that includes important landmarks in a school or community.

Massachusetts

SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
SL.K.2 — Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
K.T4.2 — With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about buying, selling or trading something and explain how people make choices about the things they need and want.

Michigan

1–G2.0.1 — Distinguish between physical and human characteristics of places.
2–G2.0.1 — Compare the physical and human characteristics of the local community with those of another community.
2–G4.0.1 — Describe land use in the community.

Minnesota

2.3.1.1.4 — Use maps, photos, or other geographic tools to answer basic questions about where people are located. For example: Where are we? What is this location like? What are the characteristics of this location? How has this place been affected by the movement of people, goods and ideas? How do people modify the environment to fit their needs? How do people organize locations into regions? How is this place similar to or different from other places?
3 — Places have physical characteristics (such as climate, topography and vegetation) and human characteristics (such as culture, population, political and economic systems).
0.3.1.1.1 — Describe spatial information depicted in simple drawings and pictures. For example: While looking at a picture, the student says, "The boy is in front of the house. The house is at the edge of the woods." Other words describing spatial information in a picture include up, down, left, right, near, far, back, in front of.

Mississippi

2.G.1.3 — Define urban, suburban, and rural.
1.G.2.3 — Describe how location impacts daily life for residents in various communities (e.g., shelter, clothing, food, activities, etc.).

Missouri

1.EG.5.C.a — Identify physical characteristics of your community
1.EG.5.C.b — Describe human characteristics of your community

Montana

SS.G.K — The geography content standard for kindergarten is that each student will use maps, and other representations, to describe place characteristics.
SL.1.2 — Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Nebraska

SS 2.3.2 — Compare places and regions.
SS 2.3.2.a — Identify and differentiate between physical and human features of neighborhoods and communities.
SS 2.3.4 — Describe different groups of people and the different settings where they live.
SS 2.3.2.b — Describe local places and regions.

Nevada

SS.1.19 — Use simple geographic models to describe environmental and physical characteristics of the community.
SS.1.20 — Describe how the environment impacts how we live and the work we do.

New Hampshire

SS.GE.2.2.1 — Explore the physical and human characteristics of place, e.g., roads, schools or mountains. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, E: Cultural Development, Interaction, and Change, G: Science, Technology, and Society)
SS.GE.2.2.2 — Recognize that areas of the Earth's surface share unifying geographic characteristics, e.g., towns, deserts or woodlands. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)
SS.GE.2.4.1 — Explore the distribution of a population, e.g., city or farm. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment)
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

New Jersey

6.1.2.Geo.HE.3 — Identify cultural and environmental characteristics of different regions in New Jersey and the United States.
6.1.2.GeoPP.1 — Explain the different physical and human characteristics that might make a location a good place to live (e.g., landforms, climate and weather, resource availability).
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

New Mexico

SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
L.1.5.c — Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy).

New York

2.1 — A community is a population of various individuals in a common location. It can be characterized as urban, suburban, or rural. Population density and use of the land are some characteristics that define and distinguish types of communities.
2.1b — Suburban communities are on the outskirts of cities, where human population is less dense, and buildings and homes are spaced farther apart.
2.1d — Activities available for people living in urban, suburban, and rural communities are different. The type of community a person grows up in will affect a person’s development and identity.
2.1c — Rural communities are characterized by large expanses of open land and significantly lower populations than urban or suburban areas.

North Carolina

1.G.1 — Apply geographic representations, tools, and terms to describe surroundings.
K.G.1 — Apply simple geographic representations, tools, and terms to describe surroundings.

North Dakota

1.R.2 — Ask and answer questions about a variety of texts, genres, photographs, or illustrations before, during, and after shared reading or other text-listening experiences to compare, contrast, predict, or infer.
1.R.3.a — Identify the topic of an informational text, photograph, or illustration during or after a shared reading or other text-listening experiences.

Ohio

1.5 — Places are distinctive because of their physical characteristics (land forms and bodies of water) and human characteristics (structures built by people).
1.6 — Families interact with the physical environment differently in different times and places.

Oklahoma

1.2.4 — Compare the features of urban and rural communities.
K.2.5 — Describe what makes one’s community alike or different than other communities.

Oregon

K.SL.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
1.SL.2 — Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
2.11 — Use basic information on maps and other geographic tools to locate, identify and describe physical and human features of the community.

Pennsylvania

7.3.3.C — Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their settlement characteristics.
7.3.3.A — Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their population characteristics.

Rhode Island

SS1.5.1 — Learning about nearby communities Analyze the similarities and differences in the characteristics of nearby local communities
SS1.1.3 — Physical features of the local community Explain the physical features of the local community and its available goods and services
SS1.5.2 — Learning about other communities in the United States Analyze the similarities and differences in the characteristics of communities throughout the United States
SSK.3.1 — Neighborhood boundaries and nearby neighborhoods Analyze the relationship between geography, location, and resource availability in how neighborhoods and communities are defined

South Carolina

1.G.3 — Identify and differentiate between rural, suburban, and urban areas within South Carolina. This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into the characteristics of urban, rural, and suburban areas within South Carolina.
K.G.2 — Utilize sources of geographic information (e.g., digital sources, maps, or photographs/images) to define and identify cultural and/or natural features.This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into natural features, such as mountains, oceans, and rivers and cultural features, such as buildings, restaurants, roads, and stores.

South Dakota

2.G.3.1 — Compare the physical and man-made characteristics of the local community with those of another community
K.SL.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events. With prompting and support, provide additional detail.
2.G.1.2 — Explain how local communities are part of a larger region

Tennessee

K.01 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events within a student’s home, school, and community.
SSP.06 — Develop geographic awareness by: • Identifying geographic symbols on maps and globes • Understanding relationships between people, places, and resources
SSP.01 — Gather information from a variety of sources, including: • Printed materials (e.g., literary texts, newspapers, political cartoons, autobiographies, speeches, letters, personal journals) • Graphic representations (e.g., maps, timelines, charts, artwork) • Artifacts • Media and technology sources

Texas

K.4B — identify how geographic location influences human characteristics of place such as shelter, clothing, food, and activities.
1.5B — identify and describe how geographic location influences the human characteristics of place such as shelter, clothing, food, and activities.
K.4A — identify the physical characteristics of place such as landforms, bodies of water, Earth's resources, and weather; and

Utah

1.1 — Standard 1: Students will recognize and describe how schools and neighborhoods are both similar and different.
1.1.1.a — Recognize differences within their school and neighborhood.
1.1.1.c — Recognize and demonstrate respect for the differences within one’s community (e.g. play, associations, activities, friendships).

Vermont

D2.Geo.2.K-2 — Individually and with others, students… Use maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them.
D2.Geo.6.K-2 — Individually and with others, students… Identify some cultural and environmental characteristics of specific places.
D2.Eco.6.K-2 — Individually and with others, students… Explain how people earn income.
D2.Geo.8.K-2 — Individually and with others, students… Compare how people in different types of communities use local and distant environments to meet their daily needs.
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Virginia

Skill.K.e — The student will apply history and social science skills to the content by identifying similarities and differences to explain content.
Skill.K.i — The student will apply history and social science skills to the content by using content vocabulary to demonstrate comprehension.
Skill.K.b — The student will apply history and social science skills to the content by applying geographic skills to identify and understand geographic features.

Washington

G2.2.1 — Identify some common and unique cultural and environmental characteristics of specific places.
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
SSS2.1.2 — Use texts, audio, visuals, and other evidence to identify the main ideas or key details to study life outside of school.
G3.2.2 — Compare how people in different types of communities use local and distant environments to meet their daily needs.

Washington, D.C.

1.1 — Explain what constitutes a community and describe characteristics of different local and global communities.
1.23 — Describe how location, weather and physical environment affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter, transportation and recreation.
K.21 — Identify geographic characteristics of the local community (e.g., climate, population, landforms, vegetation, culture, industry), and explain how these characteristics shape our interactions with our environment and communities.

West Virginia

SS.1.11 — Describe how climate and location affect the way people live, work and play.
SS.K.12 — Explore similarities and differences of life in the city (urban) and the country (rural).

Wisconsin

SS.Geog2.a.K-1 — Analyze where and why people live in certain places. Classify the local community as rural, suburban, urban, or tribal.
SS.Geog2.d.1 — Identify and explain differences between rural and urban areas.
SS.Geog4.a.2 — Categorize characteristics of the local community (e.g., weather and climate, population, landforms, vegetation, culture, industry). Describe how certain places have meanings that distinguish them from other places. (e.g., shopping mall, park, places of worship).

Wyoming

SS2.5.2 — Physical Place and Region Identify, describe, and use local physical and human characteristics to discuss the similarities and differences between parts of the community (e.g., neighborhoods, schools, towns, and reservation communities). RL.1.2, RL.2.3 RI.1.3, Rl.2.2, RI.2.10 W.K.2, W.K.7 W.1.1, W.1.7 W.2.1, W.2.7 SL.K.4, SL.1.4, SL.2.2
SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
SS2.5.3 — Human Place and Movement Use the human features of a community to describe what makes that community unique (e.g., cultural, language, religion, food, clothing, political, economic, population, and types of jobs in an area) and why others move to or from that place. RL.1.2, RL.2.3 RI.1.3, Rl.2.2, RI.2.10 W.K.2, W.K.7 W.1.1, W.1.7 W.2.1 W.2.7 SL.K.4, SL.1.4, SL.2.2 K-2-ETS1-1