~ Knoxville Is Important ~

By Abigail C.

The Important Thing about Knoxville is that neighborhoods are nice to each other.

You should live in a neighborhood.

The neighborhoods are rainbow colors.

In the neighborhoods the sunshine shines
down all day.

But the Important Thing about Knoxville is that neighborhoods are nice to each other.

~  Knoxville, TN  ~

Knoxville has a population of 173,890 people.
Knoxville is a combination of rural, urban, and suburban.
Knoxville has many things to do if you are on vacation.
People should visit the zoo because it has a lot of animals.
In the fall, the football games at Neyland Stadium are fun, and the hot dogs are good.
You can also go to the Smoky Mountains to go camping and cooking out.
Many people can visit the Aquarium and see ocean animals like jellyfish and sharks.
In the summertime, you can play golf and to swimming.
There are many parks and lakes to go to.
There are also plays and symphonies you can go to.
There are basketball games at the University of Tennessee.
You can ride the Rambler Railroad into the mountains or go rafting in the rivers.
Dollywood has lots of rides and restaurants that are fun.
Knoxville is very pretty and the weather can be surprising.
We live in a moderate climate with mild winters and long fall weather.
Knoxville has a lot of hospitals and restaurants.
Country music is popular and farming and handcrafts are important in the rural areas.

The children built their own community and named it Butterfly Lake. They learned about it before branching out into their Knoxville community. The children had committees and meetings to solve these four problems:

* The Mail Carrier could not deliver mail because there were
   no street names or numbers.
* Butterfly Lake was overrun with litter.
* The park was a dangerous place for children.
* A huge movie complex wanted to build right in the middle of the 
   Butterfly Lake Community.

They each decided upon a family unit that lived in the houses. A census was taken to see how many people lived in Butterfly Lake. The children explored a profession of someone in our community and wrote a report about that job. They presented their report in front of the class so everyone had the opportunity to learn about many professions.

A map of Butterfly Lake was created and then each student found his or her home on an actual map. The students extended their learning to the City of Knoxville, and they dictated their thoughts about what they liked about Knoxville and the surrounding area.

We held a Neighborhood Party to celebrate our community.

We took a field trip to the downtown area of Knoxville and learned about the many services that it provides.The students took many pictures that we keep in a notebook.  They voted one picture that represented Knoxville best.  They chose the Sunsphere picture taken by Spencer G., age 6.  The Sunsphere was built for the 1982 World's Fair.

To learn more about Knoxville, visit these sites:http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/facts/
http://www.knoxville.org/

These individual explorations were kept in a 3" binder with dividers that included each child's report, poem, map, and pictures drawn or taken by the children. The book was sent home with each child so that family members could share.