A city is a place where a lot of people live, work, play, and go to school. So JA classroom volunteers help students build a city! The students construct paper buildings, map out a city, write newspaper articles, plan their own restaurants, and examine why banks are important.

Our City considers economic development, local businesses, and career opportunities.

Concepts – Banking, Business, Careers, City, City planner, Communication, Consumer, Decision, Economic development, Economic institutions, Entrepreneur, Incentives, Income, Interdependence, Jobs, Money, Producer, Quality, Resources, Skills, Specialization, Zones

Skills – Applying information, Applying thinking skills, Compiling data, Conducting research, Constructing data, Creating readable documents, Decision-making, Developing ideas, Drawing, Filling out forms, Following directions, Identifying zones, Interpreting data, Interpreting directions, Listening critically, Mapping information, Map reading, Making observations, Math computations, News writing, Reading data, Responding to written and oral presentations, Role-playing, Teamwork, Using scale

Our City is a series of five activities recommended for students in third grade. The average time for each activity is 45 minutes. Materials are packaged in a self-contained kit that includes detailed activity plans for the volunteer and materials for 30 students.

All JA programs are designed to support the skills and competencies identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. These programs also augment school-based, work-based, and connecting activities for communities with school-to-work initiatives.

Additional information on the program can be found on JA Worldwide's website.