Karen Bova,
Dana Falls,
and
Amber Spaulding
Resource Unit
“Communities”
ED 417-01
Instructor: Dr. Helms
November 20, 2001
Table of Contents
IntroductionPage 3
ContentPage 4
ObjectivesPage 7
ActivitiesPage 8
EvaluationPage 12
Teacher ResourcesPage 13
Student ResourcesPage 14
Media ResourcesPage 16 Introduction
“Communities”
Our society consists of many diverse cultures that contribute different characteristics into our society. Before children can begin to understand diversity between cultures, we as educators need to teach children the importance of diversity within their own community. Students will then be able to apply the knowledge they learn about their community to the understanding of communities around the world.
The following thematic resource is a comprehensive unit on communities that will be introduced to third grade students at Five Points Elementary. This resource unit will be taught within five class meetings during social studies. The lessons can be broken down into five days within one week or the duration of five social studies sessions. An evaluation will take place on the fifth and final day by the students participating in a simulation. The students will create a self-efficient community that displays the unique characteristics within a community. The knowledge they learn through in-class participation, videos, and computer software in the previous activities will reflect their understanding during the simulation. The goal is for the students to become aware of the diverse people, activities, and services that are within the community. By increasing the students’ awareness, it will ultimately encourage them to become involved and participate in their own community.
Content
- What is a Community?
On the first day of the unit, the teacher will introduce the term “community” to the students.
The students will brainstorm what the term community means.
- People In Communities
On the second day of the unit, the students will learn about the different people and jobs in
their community. The students will participate in creating a classroom bulletin board called
“Our Community Circle.” Other resources may be included to enhance the day’s activities,
as time permits.
- Different Types of Communities
On the third day of the unit, the students will learn about the different types of communities.
The students will learn how communities are alike and different. The students will learn
about the different characteristics that apply to each type of community. In groups, the
students will participate in an activity where they will make a picture web for one of the
community types.
- Services and Goods in a Community
On the fifth day of the unit, the students will learn about the services that are offered within a community. They will participate in an in-class discussion to describe the different services offered in a community. To reinforce the postal service, the students will write letters to send to someone. The letters will then be distributed through our classroom “post office.” The students can experience the jobs within the postal service.
5. Evaluation
On the fifth and final day of the unit, the students will participate in a simulation where they create a self-efficient community. The students will take into consideration the characteristics of a community, such as the diversity of people and the services offered. The evaluation will be based on the students’ understanding and comprehension displayed within their own simulated communities.
Content
“Concepts”
-community- city building
-suburb-cooperation
-urban area-industry
-city-geography
-rural area -map skills
-village-currency
-town-diversity
-farming community-culture
-goods-city officials
-services-local government
-fireman-consumers
-postman
-police officer
-mayor
-librarian
-garbage disposal services
-teacher
-community parks
-school
-church
-banks
Objectives
Given the opportunity and the correct materials, the third grade students will do the following:
1. Learn what a community is and what it contains.
- Identify the characteristics of a community.
- Explain the diversity between the different types of communities.
- Research and identify the importance of each community member.
- Demonstrate how different individuals work cooperatively within a community.
- Explain the difference between a community service and a paid service.
- Identify helpers and jobs within a community.
- Create their own classroom community.
Activities
Day One: What is a Community
Introduction:
The teacher will ask the students what comes to mind when they hear the word ”community?” The students will brainstorm and then the teacher will jot down some of their ideas on chart paper. The teacher then will give the students the real definition of what a community.
Outcome:
The students will be introduced to the concept of community.
Development:
The teacher will ask the students what kind of things they would find in a community? The teacher will allow the students to come up and write their answers on the chart paper. The students will have made a list of things that you would find in a community. Then the teacher will ask the students where can you go in a community, what types of places would you find? The students will make a list of the places they would find in a community. Finally the teacher will ask the students whom they might see in a community? The students will make a list of the people they would see in a community. After all the lists are completed, hang them on the chalkboard for the students to refer back. After that the teacher will ask the students what they would find in their community? Have the students make a list for the things that they would find in their community. Have the students make a Venn Diagram, comparing their community to a community in general (from their lists) and what they have in common.
Day Two: People in Communities
Introduction:
Students will be introduced to the many different people and jobs found within a community.
Outcome:
Students will research and identify the importance of each community member and demonstrate how different individuals work cooperatively within a community.
Development:
Inform students that they are going to help make a bulletin board called, “Our Community Circle.” Each student will select a community member (students might want to think about an occupation that they would like to have when they grow-up, for example, police officer, school teacher, or mailman) to research. Have students write a brief report on what that community member does and how he or she helps out in the community. Next students will use construction paper to create a “triangle community member.” To make a triangle person, the students simply fold a piece of paper in half long-ways, then cut on the folded edge toward the top corner. Students do not need to cut the whole way to the top. The farther up they cut, the taller their triangle person will be. When they open the paper, it should be a triangle. Then students can use the remaining pieces to make arms and legs. Students should then be given a variety of art materials to decorate their triangle person to look like the community member they researched. The completed projects will be presented in front of the class, with each student sharing the role of his or her community member. Each triangle person in then placed on a bulletin
board, with the community members forming a circle. In the center of the circle, place the words “Our Community Circle.”
Day Three: Different Types of Communities
Introduction:
The students will be introduced to the different types of communities and their characteristics by playing a “Guess Where” game using slides of different types of communities.
Outcome:
In groups the students will develop a picture web for the type of community they choose and present it.
Development:
The teacher will flash a picture up on the screen of a type of community. The students will have to guess what type of community it is. After going through each type of community we will revisit each community and discuss its characteristics. Then the students will get in groups of two or three. The teacher will pass out a type of community to each group. Each group will make a picture web that describes their type of community using magazines, and newspapers. When all the groups are finished, each group will present their picture web and describe why they chose the pictures they did for their type of community.
Day Four: Community Services and Helpers
Introduction:
The students will identify the differences between helpers and services and those that are not provided by the community.
Outcomes:
The students will participate in a classroom “postal service” where they will perform the activities and jobs that take place at a post office.
Development:
Have the students brainstorm on what they think are services provided by the community free of charge and those that people have to pay for to have done. Explain that there are services provided by the community from taxpayers' money. Write on the board the different jobs and services that the students recall. Stress the importance of the postal service in the community, because it is a local and global form of communication between people. Detail the different jobs that people have within a post office. Explain in detail the process that mail goes through in the mailing process. Break the students into certain jobs that they will perform as they would in an actual post office. The teacher will set up mailboxes for the students to deliver the mail they will send. The students will then write letters to someone in the classroom to see the mailing process within the classroom.
Evaluation
Day Five: Evaluation
Introduction:
Students will participate in a simulation where they create their own classroom community, to display their newfound knowledge.
Outcome:
Students will construct a working classroom community from the knowledge they have acquired though previous community activities.
Development:
Students play workers and consumers as they apply key social studies concepts of what a community is. Students name their town and work in cooperative learning groups of three or four to set-up stores and services. They will also practice reading, speaking, math and art skills, go on field trips within the local community, and hold a town meeting where they will select a class mayor. Evaluation will depend on student participation and the application of the social studies concepts taught within the unit.
Teacher Resources
- Create A Community-Reproducible activity book. Fearon, 1997
Fifty-eight page activity book for teachers wanting to study communities in their classroom. Includes directions on how to make a classroom model of a community. All supplies needed are identified and reproducibles to create journal entries and classroom newsletters are also included.
- Our Town- Reproducible activity book. Dandy Lion
This activity book is a fifty-two page guide on learning and teaching about communities. The lessons include thirty-eight reproducible activity sheets that include topics, such as, design a community flag and interview a local worker.
- Kid Town- Simulation. Interact, 1997
Simulation where students create their own working community complete with workers, consumers, and a local community government.
- Exploring Social Studies- Reproducible activity book. Education Center, 2000
From the creative teachers of The Mailbox magazine, this activity book offers lessons, projects, stories, book links, art and craft activities, games, drama ideas, and reproducible worksheets. Activity book topics include geography, character building, neighborhood and community studies, the United States, and the world.
- Thematic Units: Grade 1-3- 4 reproducible activity books. Evan-Moor, 1996
This series of thematic books provides practice in basic reading, language arts, math, and science skills. Activity book titles include; My Community, Homes Far And Near, Transportation, and The World Is Our Neighborhood.
Student Resources
- A Changing American Cityscape- 7 prints. Dale Seymour. 1993
This set of prints shows how a prototypical city changes with the passage of time over seven different years 1875, 1910, 1935, 1955, 1970, 1980, and 1990.
- Our Community- 6 hardback books by Marianne Johnston. PowerKids, 2000
This kid-friendly grouping of books takes students around the neighborhood to show the work being done at seven familiar sites. Book titles include Let’s Visit The Bank and Let’s Visit The Fire Station.
- Kids In Their Communities- 6 hardback books by Stasia Ward Kehoe. PowerKids, 2000
This set of six books explores the life of young people in six distinct environments. The books reveal the background of the area, transportation, school geography, homes, jobs in the community, etc. Book Titles include I Live In A City and I Live At A Military Post.
- Young Geography Series- 2 paperback books by Rebecca Treays. Usborne, 1998
The books My Street and My Town uses maps and full-color illustrations to present a complete view of different types of streets and towns within varying communities.
- SRA Geography-Communities- Student textbook by James Marran and Cathy Salter. SRA
McGraw-Hill, 1997
Textbook includes examples of real-life communities and excellent photography and illustrations. Lessons within the textbook include 1. “Introduction To Geography” 2. “What Is A Community” 3. “Our Earlier Communities” 4. “Type Of Communities” 5. “Community Connections” and 6. “Communities Change.”
- Create A City- Reproducible activity book. Learning Works, 1999
Students exercise critical and decision-making skills as they create sports teams, design educational systems, and plan holidays for their won invented cities.
- People And Their Environments- 6 hardback books by Robert Low. PowerKids, 1996-97
Reveals how people especially children interact with their natural surroundings. Plants and animals, as well as, the clothing they wear, their home activities, and community life are discussed.
- Spectrum Geography-Communities (Grade 3)- Student workbook by James Marran and Cathy Salter. McGraw-Hill Children’s Publishing, 2000
Through this workbook students develop skills in understanding basic geography, types of communities, maps, and geographical terms.
- Geo-Adventure Pad-Communities (Grade 3)- Student activities/activity book. MacMillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company
Geo-Adventure Pad is packed with 150 daily activities for students to practice reading and other geography skills: activity pages can be detached and posted daily, photocopied, or read aloud.
- Communities Near And Far- Student textbook by James Banks. MacMillan/McGraw-Hill
School Publishing Company, 1995
Textbook that discusses different worldwide communities, including, the people, jobs, cultures, and types of governments.
Media Resources
1. How Communities Grow and Change- VHS video. 100% Educational Video, 1997.
This interactive video uses small towns in Astoria, Oregon to show the effects of
growth in communities. Primary students will understand the concepts in this video
through narration with age-level vocabulary and key points highlighted.
2. Create a Community- Reproducible Activity book. Fearson, 1997.
Children are able to follow these simple instructions to build a model of a community
with these step by step instructions. Students can create a classroom newsletter to
document the achievements within the community.
3. Neighborhood Map Machine- CD-ROM. Tom Snyder, 1997.
Allows students to create maps of their own community and to places they create.
Students can add trees, rivers, and buildings to design a neighborhood. Grades 1-5.
4. How Communities Are Alike and Different- VHS videocassette. 100% Video, 1998.
This video educates children on the different types of communities that exist in
society. Each type is noted with certain characteristics and common features between
the others.
5. Map Skills and Geography: Inventive Exercises to Sharpen Skills and Raise
Achievement- Activity book. Incentive Publications, 1998.
This reproducible activity book encourages children to learn about map skills and
geography through exciting exercises.
6. Exploring Our World: Neighborhoods and Communities- Resource book by Karen
Hollenbeck. Scholastic, 2000.
A resource book that describes the diverse types of neighborhoods and communities
throughout the United States.
7. America Rock by Schoolhouse Rock- CD-ROM. Creative Wonders, 1995-1997.
Animated learning activities encourage students to explore the history of America, its
Founding Fathers, and its government.
8. Kids are Consumers, Too! - Reproducible Activity Book. Addison-Wesley, 1986.
Reproducible math activities for students in grades 3-8 that teaches how to measure,
estimate, and compare materials in their everyday world. The activities connect to the