Getting To Know Your Community

1. Getting To Know Your Community UNIT

2. Key Perspectives • Grounded In The Lives of Our Students • It’s very important for students to be aware of their surroundings and the role of the people in their community. • Participatory, Experiential • Students will be given hands on experience to better understand their community through field trips and guest speakers.

3. Key Perspectives, contd. • Hopeful, Joyful, Kind, Visionary • Visual displays will be provided for students to see the roles of people in their community. (procedures for fire, emergencies, etc.) • Critical • Students will think about what to do in certain situations and questions will be asked to enhance their learning.

4. Background Information • In current placements, guest speakers and field trips have already taken place to talk to the students about health related issues and emergency situations. • For example, park officials, the Health Department, policemen, nurses, fireman, dentists have all been in to talk with the students.

5. Background Information, contd. • Books • Takaki – chapters from Takaki have made reference to certain racial and ethnic groups and how they are struggling through life. • There is a connection between the struggles of those certain groups and the struggle for a community to stay positive and work through the difficulties.

6. Background Information, contd. • Books • Doing History – Children investigate significant themes and questions, with people, their values, and the choices they make in their community as the central focus.

7. State Standards • State Goal 18: Understand social systems, with an emphasis on the United States. 18.B Understand the roles and interactions with individuals and groups and society. 18.B1a Compare the roles of individuals in group situations 18.b1b Identify major social institutions in their community

8. National Council of Social Studies • III People Places and Environments *Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people, places and environments. • Assists learners as they create their spatial views and geographic perspectives of the world. • Helps make informed and critical decisions about the relationship between human beings and their environment.

9. Rationale • The community unit is essential for kindergarten students because they need to learn the concept of what community means and how it affects them. They should learn that being together and working together as a group can be very successful and have a positive influence on the people around them. • This contributes to the field of social studies because it helps students understand the concept of social systems.

10. Descriptions of Instructional Strategies • Integrating the Arts • Students can create art work centering around the community. Map drawings and coloring topic related worksheets. • Using Role Play • Students can work together to create skits centered around the information they learned. • Field Experiences • Students will go on field trips where they will have a visual learning experience and explore further ideas. • Using Community Resources • Guest speakers will provide first hand information regarding information in their community. Students will also be visiting other areas in the community such as parks, libraries and religious facilities to enhance their knowledge.

11. Background Info for Strategies • The teachers we spoke to about the community unit plan have used the things mentioned earlier and stated that they were very effective in the classroom

12. Description of Literacy Connections • Using Fiction • Using Non-fiction • Developing Speaking and Listening Experiences

13. Explanation of Literacy Links • Using Fiction: reading books that are fun and deal with the topic can be read *fiction books do have some truth to them after investigating the ones used in the classroom regarding the topic of community • Using Non-fiction: gives students the “real idea” of what is being covered in the unit • Developing Speaking and Listening Experiences: students speak out about what they are learning and share their ideas *by sharing, students are learning how to speak and appropriately use certain language *Guest speakers and teacher instruction are great ways for students to practice their listening skills

14. Critical Perspective The library officials agree with the use of both fiction and non-fiction materials *The librarians frequently supply numerous books relating to the unit at the request of the teacher

15. Unit Sketch • Essential questions – What are the different types of goods and services in your community? What is a community and who is involved in a community?

16. Lesson One • Activity – Map Drawing • Strategy - Integrating the Arts • Purpose – To relate the community awareness discussion into their lives by having them draw a map of their community. They can then share and talk about what they drew in their community and why.

17. Lesson Two • Activity – Creating Skits (emergencies) • Strategy - Using Role Play • Purpose – The purpose of creating skits is to help the students remember what to do in emergency situations. They will role play from what the guest speaker has previously taught them. (e.g. stop, drop & roll)

18. Lesson Three • Activity – Walk around the neighborhood • Strategy - Field Experiences • Purpose – To explore the neighborhood and talk about the different aspects of what makes a community.

19. Lesson Four • Activity – Trip to Library • Strategy - Using Community Resources • Purpose – To learn about the numerous resources the community library offers. Students will check out one book and be able to take home and read with their parents. Sharing time will also be included.

20. Lesson Five • Activity – Shoebox Fun • Strategy – Constructing Learning Center • Purpose – Students will put important artifacts into their decorated shoebox regarding the inside/outdoor/household community. Decorations could include pictures of fire alarms, etc.

21. Lesson Six • Activity – Interviewing School Staff • Strategy – Using Interviews • Purpose – To use media (tape recorder) and ask staff questions of interest about how they contribute to their school community.

22. Lesson Seven • Activity – Personal Experience Stories • Strategy – Using Oral History • Purpose – This activity is designed for students to share their past or future experiences of how they have or will help their community. (e.g. household, school, surrounding community)

23. Bibliography • Rathmann, Peggy. Officer Buckle and Gloria. Putnam Publishing Group, 1995. • Kalman, Bobbie. Community Helpers from A to Z. Crabtree Publishing Company, 1997. • Caseley, Judith. On the Town: A Community Adventure. Greenwillow, 2002. • Isoa, Ann and Chesanow, Neil. Where do I Live. Barron’s Educational Series, 1995.

24. Unit Assessment Plan • Formative – We will not have the typical type of formative assessment. We will grade their projects based on effort and participation. • Informal - We will assess our students informally by observing them during skits, oral stories and their discussion skills, etc. To conclude if this unit is worthy or not, they will go around and share with the class one thing they found interesting about their community – responses will be posted on bulletin board.

25. Reflection • Despite our grade level, much can be done at the kindergarten level surrounding social studies. Too often teachers overlook social studies being used in a kindergarten classroom. Our unit shows that students at a young age can be aware of their community and add • As a group we learned a lot of community and how we can incorporate the many aspects of it into our future classrooms • We learned that planning a unit takes a lot of time and effort but is well worth it in the end because of all the wonderful lesson plans we created and developed • This will influence our future work because we are now more educated about community and how to teach it to young children who wouldn’t necessarily have had prior experience with it

26. Creating Community • Objective: To make the students more aware of their community.