Communities Resource Unit

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Communities Resource Unit

• By Marci Guthrie, Jen Knapke, and Brandon Kuhn

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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.

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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

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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 peoples 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.

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On to Activities
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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.

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Types of Communities

• IntroThe 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 students 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Multiple Choice Test
Name__________
Worth 5 points each Read 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. Fire 2.
How man regions are in the United States? a.
one b. six c. ten d. four 3.
Directions on a map include? a. Up and down
b. Left and right c. North, South, East,
and West d. Forward and backward 4. Which of
the following is a community helper? a. fire
truck b. park bench c. police officer
d. bird 5. Types of communities include? a.
Schools b. Neighborhoods c. Churches
d. All of the above
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Objective Questions(worth 10 point each)

• Define the word community in your
• own words.
• 2. Name one community worker and
• their responsibilities within the community.

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Essay Questions(worth 20 points each)

• 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 classroom
• Community. What were your responsibilities
• to the community?

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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 teachers 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.

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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.

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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.

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Media References

• Sim City This program allows children to create
  their won community. It allows children to see
  how everyones 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

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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.

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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

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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 1700s 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.

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The End