Our Community Helpers

by:

Kim Goschinski

Jessica Neuhardt

EDE 417

Our Community Helpers! Grade level: 1st

Lesson: to educate the students about the different community helpers and the roles that they play in the community

ObjectivesStudents will: Identify different community helpers Develop an understanding of the roles they play in

the community Use technology to explore community helpers and

their responsibilities to the community

Activities Activity #1

who are community helpers? Activity #2A trip to the fire station Activity #3guest speaker- police officer Activity #4A trip to the post office Activity #5which community helper would I like to be? Follow up activity

Activity #1Who Are Community

Helpers?

Materials: Book, All About Things People Do, by Chris Rice and

Melanie Rice Papers with prompt, “If I were a community helper, I

would be…”, “I would be _____ because” Pencils Crayons Felt board with community helpers, uniforms, and

appropriate props

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Activity #1 (Cont)Lesson: Teacher will read All About Things People Do to the class.

Afterwards, during whole group instruction, the students and teacher will discuss the different types of community helpers.

The students will then work in pairs at the felt board and successfully match the felt people with the appropriate uniform and props.

While the students are waiting for the felt board, they will work individually on writing their response to the prompt paper and include an illustration.

Activity #2A Trip to the Fire

StationMaterials: Signed permission slips for the students to attend the

field trip Pretend fireman hats for each child Junior firefighters badges (printed the day before for

each child) Paper or note cards for each student Envelopes Pencils and/or crayons

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Activity #2 (Cont.)Lesson: Students will tour the local fire station. They will also have an opportunity to learn about the fire

trucks at the station. When the students return from the field trip, they will each

get a fireman hat and a junior firefighters badge. The students will write a thank you note to the firefighter

and let him/her know their favorite part of the field trip. The teacher will collect the thank you notes and save them

for a field trip later in the week.

Activity #3Guest Speaker- Police

Officer

Materials: Writing paper or note cards for each child Envelopes Pencils and/or crayons

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Activity #3 (Cont.)Lesson: A local police officer will visit the

classroom and discuss with the students the many responsibilities that are involved with his/her job.

Activity #3 (Cont.) When the guest speaker

leaves, the students will write a thank you letter thanking him/her for the visit and telling their favorite part of the presentation.

The teacher will then collect the letters and save them to take to the post office the next day.

Activity #4A Trip to the Post

OfficeMaterials: Thank you notes written

to the police officer that visited the classroom.

Thank you notes written to the firefighter for the tour to the fire station.

Signed permission slips for each child to take the field trip.

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Activity #4 (Cont.) With a post office worker as

a guide, the students will tour the post office and see what types of jobs are necessary to help communities receive and send mail.

The students will give the postal workers the thank you letters that they wrote earlier in the week to the police officer and the firefighter.

Activity #5Which Community Helper Would I Like to Be?

Materials: DVD-

Ricky's Room: Community Helpers "The People Who Make Your Neighborhood Great“

Uniforms and appropriate props/tools that represents community helpers jobs

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Activity #5 (Cont.)Lesson: The teacher will show the students the DVD which will help

summarize the week and touch on additional community workers. In this episode of the PBS series, Ricky, the friendly blue rhinoceros, along with his little sister, Nicki, and his cousin, Harold, learn about important people in their community, including police officers, firefighters, mail carriers and more.

After watching the video, the students will have an opportunity to dress up in their favorite community helpers uniforms and role play the jobs using provided props.

Follow up Activity The follow up activity can be used to

review this weeks lesson and the objectives.

The activity creates a good transition into the next lesson on maps.

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Follow Up Activity (Cont.)

Materials: Classroom computers Neighborhood map with questionnaire Pencils Paper

Follow Up Activity (Cont.)

Lesson: The teacher will review community helpers and review map

keys for the follow up activity. The students will have an opportunity to work in pairs on the

classroom computer using the on-line webquest to review community helpers.

The students will then be given a map and questionnaire and will work in small groups to answer the questions and locate a minimum of 5 community helpers on the map.

Links•Miss Renee’s Kindergarten Pad- an online resource for early childhood educators, parents, and students, includes community poem. http://lilteacher.com/communityhelpers.html

•A+ Educational Videos- videos for home schooling, learning, and achievement, includes DVD for lesson. http://www.aplusvideorentals.com/listing.asp?ID=3639

•edhelper- an online resource for earlychildhood educators, parents, and students, includes map link for this lesson. http://www.edhelper.com/community4_1_1.htm

•Scholastic community club includes interactive activities for students. Link also has the firefighters badge needed for this lesson. http://teacher.scholastic.com/commclub/firefighter/index.htm

•Webquest- an online resource for early childhood educators, parents, and students, includes interactive activities for students. http://homepages.ius.edu/JLOI/Community%20Helpers%20Web%20quest.htm

“In My Community”

In my community you will findhelpers of most every kind—

firefighters, doctors, teachers, too,

police officers and vets at the zoo.

In my community you will findhelpers of most every kind.Poem from lilteacher.com