Unit 1 Community What is a Community?

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Unit 1CommunityWhat is a Community?

• Standards-Based Integrated
• Grade 3

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Unit 1 Overview CommunityWhat is a Community?

• Objective In this unit students will be
  exploring the concepts surrounding community.
  This unit provides enriched literature and
  technology to help students discover their
  surroundings. As they learn about people and
  places within their community, they will also
  build on the concepts of cooperation, living with
  diversity and change, and making a personal
  contribution for the common good. Students will
  also develop certain concepts concerning
  geography and math.

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What are Neighborhoods and Communities?

• Procedures
• In this activity students begin to explore their
  close surroundings by observing their
  neighborhood around their school, and then
  expanding their explorations to include their
  community.
• Read Aloud My Perfect Neighborhood by Leah
  Komaiko
• Teacher will begin by doing a read aloud. She
  will invite students to look closely at the front
  cover and guess where the story may take place.
  What things help them identify it is a
  neighborhood?
• After reading discuss with the students what they
  have observed in the story. Would they find some
  of these things in their neighborhood? Have
  students compare their neighborhood to the one in
  the story.
• Students can create a chart separating the real
  and make-believe in the neighborhood.
• Place the students into small groups. Have them
  create a list of attributes they would find in a
  perfect neighborhood. Afterwards have students
  write a small short essay describing their
  perfect neighborhood. What would it consist of?
• Have students edit and type their essay using
  Microsoft Word.
• Display the students work on the bulletin Board.
• This activity should take a week to finish.

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Neighborhood Walk

• Activity Week 2 Give the students a chance to
  walk around the neighborhood close to the school.
• Ask students to carefully observe the buildings
  and places they see as they walk. Have them write
  this down in a journal.
• Invite students to write a poem about their
  neighborhood. Encourage them to us the places
  they observed in their neighborhood walk in the
  poem.
• Teachers may want to read a poem aloud to get
  them thinking. Here is an example

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My NeighborhoodPoem

• My neighborhood is old, it seems
• The sidewalks are all cracked.
• The houses stand together,
• Side by side and back to back.
• The lawn are small and weedy
• With little grass at all
• And evergreens I cannot climb
• Because they are so tall.
• My neighborhood is old it seems.
• The sidewalks are all cracked.
• My friends and I jump over them
• And back across and back
• My friends live in the houses
• Behind and next to mine.
• My lawns just right for kickball.
• My swing hangs from a pine.
• __Kathleen M. Hollenbeck
• This assignment should be completed in one week.

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Exploring Other Neighborhoods

• Activity Week 3 In this activity, students will
  be given the opportunity to explore other
  neighborhoods throughout the world from their
  very own classroom using Google Earth satellite.
• Teachers will provide students with internet
  access.
• Teacher will instruct students to locate
  www.google.com.
• They will be instructed on how to use Google
  Earth Satellite.
• Students will be able to observe other
  neighborhoods and compare certain characteristics
  to their own.
• Students will log this in their journal.

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Being Apart of A Community

• Activity Week Four As students learn more about
  their community they also begin to realize that
  what members of the community do will have an
  impact on the community as a whole. In part 4,
  students explore their potential for contributing
  to the community.
• Read Aloud Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
• Before reading ask students to discuss what it
  would be like if no one took care of the
  environment. Help them understand that without
  peoples help and concern the environment would
  suffer deeply. Ask students to name ways in which
  people help to beautify and help the community.
• Talk to students about the character in the
  story. How did she contribute to the community
  the flowers she planted which brighten the
  landscape long after she lived. Explain that
  people of all ages and in all parts of the world
  can do something to make a difference in their
  community.
• Have students explore the library for books that
  tell of people caring for their community. Have
  students tell class about the story.
• Have students write a fairytale or folktale.
  Students will write a tale about someone who
  moved into a community and changed it forever.
• Have students type their story on Microsoft Word.
• This assignment should be completed in one weeks
  time.

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Communities Far Away

• Activity Week Five It is easy to focus on
  everyday life in ones own community. This book
  will help broaden your students understanding
  and appreciation for communities far way from
  their own.
• Read Aloud Rehemas Journey A Visit to Tanzania
  by Barbara A. Margolis
• Before reading ask students to find their
  community on a globe. Help students to find the
  country in which they live and the continent in
  which their country is located. Explain that
  today you will be reading a story about a girl
  that live half way around the world.
• After reading invite students to study the photos
  in the book and note the chores and activities
  that are the same in Rehemas community and in
  their community. Then ask students how these
  chores and activities are done differently in
  their community.
• Have students create their own books. Each
  student will write and illustrate a book about a
  trip he or she has taken. It can be a trip
  anywhere to the zoo, a department store, or a
  relatives house. Encourage them to use
  information such as how they traveled, what they
  saw, what they liked and how they felt at the end
  of their journey.
• Have students research the internet for
  information related to their location. Have them
  add it in their book.
• Have students display books in classroom.
• This activity should be completed in one week.

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Models

• Activity Week Six Learning about neighborhoods
  and communities is a natural way to introduce
  models. Models give students a way to explore
  different perspectives and dimensions. Students
  will also be strengthening certain math skills.
  Students will be estimating length and width of
  the materials they are using to create the model.
  They will use appropriate math instruments to
  measure.
• Read Aloud Roxaboxen by Alice McLerrran
• Before reading, hold up the book and ask students
  that Roxaboxen was a make-believe village,
  created by children for fun, yet it also has many
  of the components of a real-life neighborhood.
• Students will begin to create a 3-d model
  community as their final presentation in this
  unit
• Divide the class into small groups
• Students will be given measuring materials and
  art supplies.
• Provide students with a big piece of craft paper.
  They will spread paper flat and begin to draw
  their landscape.
• Allow students to arrange and rearrange their
  neighborhood as they like.
• This activity should be completed in one week.

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AssessmentStudent Rubric
1 Help 2 Needs Work 3 Good 4 Excellent
Essay My writing is hardly ever on topic. My writing is sometimes on topic. My writing is mostly on topic. My writing is on topic.
Poem My poem has very few details. Poor sequence My poem has few details. Contains unclear sequence. My poem has some details and has good sequence. My poem has many details and shows clear sequence.
Fairy Tale Folk Tale My story is not on topic. Poor mechanics My story is somewhat on topic. Better mechanics My story is mostly appropriate. Good mechanics. My story is on topic. Excellent mechanics.
Book My story is not well written. No illustrations. My story is somewhat better. Few illustrations. My story is well written. Some illustrations. My story is very well written. Good mechanics. Many illustrations.
Model My model is not complete. My model is somewhat complete with homes and businesses. My model is almost complete. Contains no landscape. My model is fully complete with houses, business and landscapes.
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Materials / Resources

• Teachers should provide students with the
  following material.
• Writing paper and pencils.
• Writing journals.
• Computer access. Microsoft Word and Internet.
• Blank books or have students create their own.
• Art supplies crayons, markers, glue, and
  scissors.
• Rulers
• Empty milk cartons, cans, egg cartons, and
  cardboard.
• Resources
• Books
• My Perfect Neighborhood by Leah Komaiko
• Rehemas Journey A Visit to Tanzania by Barbara
  A. Margolis
• Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
• Websites
• www.proteacher.com
• www.learningtogive.org
• www.teachelink.usu.edu

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Standards

• Standards
• Language Arts Standards
• 3.2 Writing
• 3.2.B Writing as a Product
• 4. Writing narrative pieces based on personal
  experiences
• 3.2 B Writing as a Product
• 5. Write nonfiction pieces and simple
  informational reports across the curriculum
• 3.2 D Writing Forms
• 10. Write expository text
• Incorporate Language Arts 3.2C Mechanics,
  Spelling and Handwriting throughout units.
• Incorporate language Arts Literacy Standards of
  Reading 3.1, Speaking 3.3, Listening 3.4, and
  viewing 3.5 throughout units
• Incorporate 3.2.A1-12 Writing as a process (
  prewriting, drafting, revising, editing,
  post-writing)
• Social Studies Standards
• 6.2 A.5
• Explain that a responsibility is something you
  must or should do.
• 6.2 A.5
• Explore basic concepts of diversity, tolerance,
  fairness and respect for others.
• 6.2 C.1
• Identify Community