Community Helpers ED 417-01

1. Community HelpersED 417-01 Joni Edwards Rebekah O’Brien Ashley O’Connell

2. Table of Contents • Lesson Objectives Slide 3 • Theme Slide 4 • Concepts/Vocabulary Slide 5 • Activities Slide 6-10 • Evaluation Slide 11-13 • Student References Slide 14-15 • Teacher References Slide 16 • Media Resources Slide 17-24

3. Lesson Objectives • Students will be able to name some of the different helpers in their community. • Students will know how a police officer, firefighter, and a doctor can help them. • Students will know some of the duties of these community helpers. • Students will be able to know what a community looks like by designing one themselves.

4. Theme • Learning about the community is an important task for young children. In the classroom it is imperative that the children learn about the community around them and all of the people that make it work. Understanding this concept at a young age is important for becoming a contributing part of the community as an adult.

5. Concepts/Vocabulary • Firefighter • Doctor • Police Officer • Mail Carrier • Dentist • Barber • Citizen • Teacher • Librarian • Neighbor • Community • Community Helper • Occupation

6. Day 1 Activity Procedure: • During group discussion or circle time:Introduce the term community helper • Ask the students what they think it means to be a community helper and who they would consider to be a community helpers • On the board or chart paper, list their responses • Then further explain what a community helper is exactly and give more examples (This will need to be done more in depth if the students are having difficulties) • After they have an understanding of community helpers, explain the ones you have chosen to focus on- Firefighters, Police Officers, and Doctors • Give a brief description of some of the activities the students will be doing this week.

7. Day 2 Activity • Procedure: • Begin by asking the students if any of them have talked with their parents about what to do in case of a fire at home. • Give each student a large piece of paper and have them draw the floor plan of their house. • Discuss with the students the best way to exit the house in case of a fire. • Have the students draw arrows to show the way they would take to get out of their house from their bedroom in case of a fire. • Tell the children to take their plan home and discuss it with their parents.

8. Day 3 Activity Procedure: • Read the book, In my Neighborhood Police Officers, aloud to students • As you read, also discuss the book and allow students to make comments • Divide students into groups (4-6 students per group) • Have a copy of the book for each group to uses as a reference • Explain how to use the graphic organizer and then how to take the information from the graphic organizer to make a story • After the story is written, allow each student to make a police officer badge and hat • After all groups are finished, each group will present their story to the class, while wearing their hat and badge • End lesson with having a group discussion on what they have learned about police officers

9. Day 4 Activity Procedure: • Have the students write a story about when they went to the doctor. • Encourage the children to share what they saw, how they felt, etc. • Let the children who would like to share their stories. • Discuss with the children why it is important to go to the doctor and why we go to the doctor. • To extend this lesson you can invite a doctor into the classroom to talk to the students about what he/she does.

10. Day 5 Activity Procedure: • After studying what makes up a community, students will build a simulated community using boxes. These may be built at home to get the whole family involved. • Students will be assigned what kind of building to design. Anything from houses, office buildings, fire stations, churches, restaurants, post office, hospitals, etc. • When the student has his/her building complete the class will discuss where each will be placed in the community. Along with the building structures, streets need to be built. An easy way to do this is to use black bulletin board paper as the base to which all buildings will be placed. • After placing the buildings on the paper students may cut yellow lines for the streets and place them appropriately on the paper. When complete, this is an impressive display for the media center in your school.

11. Evaluation • What are some ways you could be a community helper? • Who are some of the helpers in your community? • Someone in my neighborhood who helps others is called a __________________. • If I fell and got a bad cut, a ___________ would help me.

12. Evaluation Cont… • How might a police officer help you? • Put a fire out. • Keep you safe from strangers • Take care of you in the hospital. • Which one of these is NOT a community helper? • Mail carrier • School bus driver • Singer • Which community helper would help if your car broke down? • Teacher • Tow truck driver • Veterinarian

13. Evaluation Cont… • How old do you have to be to become a community helper? • 25 years old • Anyone can be a community helper! • 40 years old • Where can you find a community helper? • At my house • Fire Station • Police Station • Hospital • All of the above

14. Student References Books: • Community Helpers From A to Z by Bobbie Kalman An alphabet book introducing occupations oriented to the community, including emergency workers, medical workers, the service industry, and business. • What is a Community? by Caroline Arnold Surveys the various elements, characteristics, and needs of communities which are composed of families living in neighborhoods. • You're a Community Helper by Karen Bryant-Mole Briefly describes workers who provide services to the community and shows children pretending to be a waiter, teacher, police officer, fire fighter, postal worker, nurse, veterinarian, doctor, dentist, and librarian. • We Need Firefighters by Lola M. Schaefer Simple text and photographs describe fire fighters and their role in our communities. • Fire Fighters by Dee Ready Explains the clothing, tools, schooling, and work of fire fighters. • Protecting Your Home: A Book About Firefighters by Ann Owen Describes some of the things that fire fighters do to help protect people and their homes. • What Does a Firefighter Do? by Ellen Catala A simple introduction to the duties of fire fighters.

15. Student References Cont.. • We Need Police Officers by Lola M. Schaefer Simple text and photographs present police officers, their role in the community. • Police Officers by Dee Ready Explains the clothing, tools, schooling, and work of police officers. • Police Officers Protect People by Carol Greene Simple text and photographs describe what police officers do. • Police officers, A to Z by Jean Johnson Each letter of the alphabet introduces a topic relating to police officers and their jobs. • We Need Doctors by Lola M. Schaefer Simple text and photographs present doctors and their role in the community. • Doctors by Dee Ready Explains the clothing, tools, schooling, and work of doctors. • Keeping You Healthy: A Book About Doctors by Ann Owen Describes some of the things that doctors do to help people stay healthy. • My Friend the Doctor by Jane Werner Watson Describes a visit to the doctor's office for a checkup and how it feels to be sick and have the doctor visit at home.

16. Teacher References • Education World: The Educator’s Best Friend • http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites054.shtml • Includes information on a variety of topics for your classroom along with multi-media and integration resources. • Enchanted Learning.com • http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/communityhelpers.shtml • Many printable worksheets, activity books and clip art to help with any unit. • The Giant Encyclopedia of Circle Time and Group Activities By: Kathy Charner • In this book there are hundreds of pages of activities for teachers to use and a Community section in the book. • Early Themes: Neighborhood and Community By: Kathleen M. Hollenbeck • Help children learn about the world in which they live with this creative theme unit that begins with an emphasis on the home, progresses to a study of the neighborhood, and moves on to what makes up a community.

17. Media Resources • Community Helpers Bulletin Board Set http://www.trendenterprises.com/ProductLrg.cfm?ITEMID=T-90583 Set includes many different community helpers, objects that each community helper uses, labels for each helper, and a large community helpers banner. • Community Helper Flannelboard Set http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006V56FC/yahoo- toys01e-20/ref=nosim Pre-Cut Small Community Helpers Flannelboard lesson & activity set. Six 6"" felt figures of men and women with many different job clothes. They are easy to use and are a great way to teach even the busiest children! • Firefighters Online Story and Activities http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/activities/timetofightafire.asp Website includes interactive activities including color pages, helping a firefighter dress for a fire, reading list of firefighter books, and an interactive story to read, watch, and listen to.

18. Media Resources Cont… • Interactive Fire Safety Website http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/kids/flash.shtm This website from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security allows students to interactively learn about home fire safety, smoke alarms and escaping from fire. It also provides fun activities such as crossword puzzles, word searches, coloring pages and interactive games. • Community Club Website http://www.teacher.scholastic.com/commclub/ This interactive website from Scholastic allows children to click on a community helper and learn more about what that person does. After telling about a certain community helper, there is a small quiz to review what the children read and they can print out a badge. • Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids Website http://bensguide.gpo.gov/k-2/neighborhood/index.html Click on the different buildings in the community to learn about the community helper who works there. This is a great interactive website activity for young children.

19. Media Resources Cont… • Early Years CD: Pre K through Kindergarten Concepts Songs to that focus on following directions, community helpers and other topics for young children. • Listen to a CD (Shawn Brown: The Super Fun Show CD) http://www.songsforteaching.com/shawnbrownshow/communityservicehelpersmembers.htm Shawn Brown presents more early childhood concepts: math, science, Spanish, cultural diversity, manners and so much more. This CD includes a song about community helpers.

20. Media Resources Cont… • Community Helpers Webquest http://ci.coe.uni.edu/uniquest/webquest/lewisl09/index.htm This web quest will inform 1st grade students about community helpers.  The students will be introduced to different community helpers such as:  police officers, firefighters, doctors and letter carriers.  The web quest will guide the students through each community helper and allow them to learn about these four occupations with the help of an adult.  This web quest will introduce and inform students on my thematic unit on community helpers. • Matching Job Description to Picture Internet Game http://www.hud.gov/kids/whatsjob.html Read the description of a job in your community and then click on the correct picture of the community helper.

21. Media Resources Cont… • Ricky’s room-community helper [Film]. Ventura Distribution. • Join Ricky the rhinoceros and his little sister, Nicki, as they lead children through fun songs and dances about the important people who make our communities safe and comfortable for us to live in. • The Berenstein Bears The New Neighbors. Random House Videos. • Papa Bear is upset because the new neighbors across the street, the Panda Bears, are different from the others, but Brother and Sister Bear cannot wait to strike up a friendship with the new cubs, in a lesson about bigotry and prejudice.

22. Media Resources Cont… • Community and Cultural Resources Integration Model Technology tutorial by Jim Nichols http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/community/ Outlines how teachers can use technology to teach and integrate the community into the classroom. • Community Helpers Printable Activity Book A short, printable book about community helpers. This activity book has the students connect-the-dots, color by number, solve a maze, fill in the missing letters, matching, finish the drawing, unscramble the words, do a word search, and a solve a word path puzzle. • Community Helper Poster Series: Set of 6 Real Life Learning Posters Each poster depicts a male and female in a community helper occupation, which are: Police officers, firefighters, judges, doctors, mail carriers, and soldiers.

23. Media Resources Cont… • Destination Neighborhood Software: Sunburst Technology- computer software Give students the creativity tools to write and create interactive on-screen stories and beautifully printed books. Students build language arts skills and explore their creativity as they select background scenery, cast c characters, record dialogue, and add text, narration, and sound effects to craft their adventures. • The Neighborhood Music Junior Jukebox What’s going on in your neighborhood? Wouldn’t you like your kids to be a part of it? Here are 19 songs of glory that are all about that small, special community that can seem so enormous through a child’s eyes.

24. Media Resources Cont… • What Do I Do?” Online Game • http://www.sunshine.co.nz/nz/29/action/k_action.html • Play a game by clicking on workers and choose tools used in their jobs. • Veterinarian Jobs Website: http://www.shrewsburyma.gov/schools/beal/curriculum/crittercli nic/vetjobs.html Animated website with clips of what a Veterinarian does during the day. • Bulletin Board Set- Community Helpers http://www.teachersfriendpublications.com Teaches children about the various people that contribute to their community. Encourages children to think about future careers. Includes 15 large community helpers with career name labels