Communities Resource UnitBy: Marci Guthrie, Jen Knapke, and Brandon

Kuhn

Communities

• Grade: 2nd• What: Learning about communities• When: Fall of School Year• Where: In the classroom• This unit will last a week.• The types of lessons we will be dealing with

throughout the week: community helpers, types of communities, local communities, United States communities, and mapping.

CommunitiesContent• Janitor• Cafeteria• Nurse• Playground• Job• School• Banker• Map• Helpers• Types of Communities

• Map Key• Street• Avenue• Road• House• Store• Railroad• Court House• Library• Church

Given the appropriate materials and instruction, at

the end of the unit the students will be able to:

•Define Community•Name a variety of different communities• Have an understanding of how people’s lives are shaped by where they live.•Make a book about your community and the people with in the community.•Make a map of the city and use it.•Be able to define and understand the points on their map.•Research different areas of the United States.

On to Activities

Community Helpers

• Intro: As a class we will discuss and list community helpers. As the teacher lists these on the board they will discuss the roles and responsibilities of each of the community helpers.

• Development: Once the class has been introduced to the types of community helpers the teacher will then define the terms goods and services, and give examples of both. The teacher will then point to each community helper and the students will decide whether these helpers are providing goods or services to the community.

• Activity : the children will then choose a community helper that they most admire. After the class discussion they will be able to write about their roles and responsibilities.

Types of Communities• Intro:The teacher will introduce the subject “Communities” to the

students. A class discussion will take place where the students will have to brainstorm and create their definition of a community. Using the student’s definitions we will make a web of communities.

• Development: After the class has orally defined the term “Community” we will them begin discussing types of communities. The different types of communities we will discuss will be school communities, classroom communities, city communities, family communities, church communities and neighborhood communities. As each community is being explained the teacher will give a brief definition of what they are.

• Activity: The students will research different types of communities. They will be given the chance to use books, magazines, online services, and newspapers for this research. When the research is done the students will be grouped and given a type of community to write about. Then students will write a paper describing the different attributes of that community.

Local Communities

• Intro: As a class we will go on a field trip to discover our local community. We will go downtown to visit and observe the multiple types of communities (court house, fire station, library, bakery, funeral home.)

• Development: When we come back to the class there will be books waiting for the students to read. The books will consist of how communities were in the past. They will read these books and compare and contrast the present communities to the past communities.

• Activity: Students will make a book about their local community. This book will consist of pictures and writings from what they saw on their field trip and what they read in the books. Students will share their books when they are done.

United State Communities

• Intro: The students will be broken up into groups of six. They will be assigned a specific region o f the United States to research and report on.

• Development: The groups will find out as much information as the can about how people in their assigned region of the country live. The group will then discuss what these communities look like and how their houses, buildings, and neighborhoods are put together, and how the land is structured. Then will then brainstorm in their group on what their cities would look like if they were to make a model of it.

• Activity: Using clay the students will shape their region within the United States. When they are finished they will share with the rest of the classes about their region.

Mapping Skills

• Intro: the students will be reintroduced to mapping concepts. Because the are learning about communities, it is important for students to have general knowledge about mapping concepts and have the ability to read various types of maps.

• Development: the teacher will define and explain the general mapping concepts of directions and key references. The teacher will then pass out maps to the students and ask them to locate various landmarks on the map. They will do this by marking them on the overhead.

• Activity: the students will draw a map of their neighborhood or community using the appropriate direction, landmarks, and a key. We will hang these on the thematic board when they are finished.

Multiple Choice TestName:__________

Worth 5 points eachRead each question and the answers below carefully. Circle the letter that best answer each question.

1. A firefighter offers the community a? a. Good b. Service c. Product d. Fire2. How man regions are in the United States? a. one b. six c. ten d. four3. Directions on a map include? a. Up and down b. Left and right c. North, South, East, and West d. Forward and backward4. Which of the following is a community helper? a. fire truck b. park bench c. police officer d. bird5. Types of communities include? a. Schools b. Neighborhoods c. Churches d. All of the above

Objective Questions(worth 10 point each)

1. Define the word community in your own words.

2. Name one community worker and their responsibilities within the community.

Essay Questions(worth 20 points each)

1. Draw and label a map of the classroom.Be sure to include the direction and a key.

2. Describe in detail your role in our classroomCommunity. What were your responsibilities to the community?

Teacher References

• Kid Town: contain materials for student to create and build their own communities.

• Map Skills Book: Contains masters ideal for copying ad transparences. There are optional extensions and enrichment activities for each lesson and a teacher’s key is included.

• Mailbox: Contains ideas for centers, math, art, worksheets, books, and more ideas for all subject areas.

• Workbook: Contains worksheets for students to do in all subjects, including social studies. There are many worksheets we could use about communities and community helpers.

Student References

• Community Workers Kid Pix: this CD-Rom can be used on either windows or macs and includes the Kid Pix software. There is a user guide for the four community activities, available to be played in three different levels.

• Community Helpers Cut Out Book: Student cut out and color community helpers.

• Community Helpers from A to Z by Bobbie Kalman: this alphabet book covers all community helpers that students need to introduced to in the second grade.

• U.S. Wall Map: this full color map will be useful for student in studying cultures and location for people around the world.

Students References

• U.S. regional Studies Book: This series of books focuses on different regions of the United States of American.

• This is My School by Mercer Mayer: In this book the students will learn about the mapping skills in a school community and the different places to locate.

• Street Music: City Poems by Arnold Adoff: This book is filled with poems that will make mapping their street and community enjoyable for the students.

• One My Street by Eve Merriman: In this book the student will learn about mapping in either neighborhood and street. They will be able to identify landmarks and directions.

Media References

• Sim City: This program allows children to create their won community. It allows children to see how everyone’s live interacts wit the community around them.

• Map 101 at maps.com: This website is designed to help students develop map skills. School administrators or teachers can purchase a yearly subscription. This web activity features 4,000 resources and maps including historical maps, outline map sets, atlases, lesson plans, games, and virtual field trips.

• Our Community By: Marianne Johnston

Media References

• Kids in Our Community By: Stasia Ward Kehoe• At the Crossroad By: Rachel Isadora• CD-Rom Carmen Sandiego: These two CD-

ROMs produce a basic introduction t geographical regions.

• Social Studies Trivia Pursuit: The game will help the students knowledge of American culture.

• How Communities Grow and Change: This videocassette shows how cause and effect work in a growing community.

Media References

• People and Their Environment: This set of books helps students learn about people and their surroundings.

• Ready-To-Go U.S. Outline Map: These maps contain major rivers, lakes, capital cities, etc.

• www.mcgruff.org• www.ohio.gov• www.keytothercity.com• www.dayton.lib.oh.us• www.landmark-project.com/eco-market

Media References• The American Southwest Resource Book By:

Jane Kurtz: This book displays background information on communities in the old southwest.Discusses people lives and activities they took part in.

• Colonial Days By: David C. King: Live life like the colonials. This book looks back on this way of life in the mid 1700’s in North East America.

• Helping Your Child With Maps and Globes By: Bruce Frazee and William Guardia : Helps children have the ability to read maps and globes.

The End