Getting To Know Your Community

							Getting To Know
Your Community
      UNIT
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
 1.     Assists learners as they create their spatial views
      and geographic perspectives of the world.
 2.   Helps make informed and critical decisions about the
      relationship between human beings and their
      environment.
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.
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.
   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
 Description of Literacy
     Connections
 Using Fiction
 Using Non-fiction
 Developing Speaking and Listening
  Experiences
 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
   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
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?
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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
Creating Community

  Objective: To make the students more
   aware of their community.