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K - Act. 11: Our School is a Community

Main Core Tie

Social Studies - Kindergarten
Standard 1 Objective 1

Authors

Utah LessonPlans

Summary

The activities in this lesson will help students understand their surroundings and how they fit into their family, community, and the world.


Materials

Attachments

Eagle Puppets with nests of rules

  • paper bags
  • eagle cut outs
  • scissors
  • glue
  • a list of family and school rules (generated by the students, typed, copied, and cut into strip)

Our School is a Community

  • white board
  • erasable markers
  • observational journals (white half sheets of paper, stapled together between half sheets of colored construction paper)
  • gingerbread cookies
  • gingerbread self portrait patterns
  • pencils
  • tag board
  • copies of the note sent home and information sheet (given at this workshop)
  • rolled paper for graphing

Additional Resources

School & Family Rules:

Don’t Danny, Don’t! by Sharon Gordon (School Rules)
The Berenstain Bears, Trouble at School by Stan & Jan Berenstain
No David! by David Shannon (Home Rules)
Berenstain Bears, The Messy Room by Stan & Jan Berenstain
It’s Mine! by Leo Lionni (Problem Solving)

Gingerbread Boy:

The Gingerbread Boy Retold by Jim Lawrence

School:

Cooperative Learning Across the Curriculum, strat. & reprod., (Scholastic)
School by Samantha Berger and Pamela Chanko
This is the Way We Go to School
The Berenstain Bears Go to School
by Stan & Jan Berenstain
Fish Out of School by Evelyn Shaw (Voc. School)
The Teacher by Megan McCombs
Did You See What I Saw? Poems about School by Kay Winters
Get Out of Bed by Robert Munch (It’s time for school)


Background for Teachers

Children need an understanding of their surroundings, and how they fit into their family, community, and the world.


Intended Learning Outcomes

Intended Learning Outcome
1. Demonstrate a positive learning attitude.
2. Demonstrate social skills and ethical responsibilities.
5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills.
6. Communicate clearly in oral, artistic, written and nonverbal form.

Process Skills
Symbolization, observation, description, data collection, investigation, problem solving, form conclusions


Instructional Procedures

Invitation to Learn
Eagle Puppets with nests of rules: The teacher will read the books Don’t Danny, Don’t and No David! to the class. The students will discuss why we have rules and generate a list of basic family and school rules. The list will be typed (short and sweet), copied (one list for each student), and cut into strips. Each student will be given two brown paper bags. One bag will be cut in half (width wise) and the top folded down to form a nest. The other bag will be used for the eagle puppet. The copied eagle will be colored, cut out, and glued onto the paper bag by the students. The paper strips of typed rules will be placed in the folded paper bag. The students will be divided into small groups. When possible, pair children who can read with children who can not yet read. They will use their puppet to grab a rule (eagle food) and share it with their partner or group.

Instructional Procedures
Our School is a Community:
Teacher resource book—Cooperative Learning Across the Curriculum. The teacher will read the book School. The students will brainstorm who they think these school helpers are. A web with “school” in the middle will be drawn on the class white board. Add to the web and discuss what these people do to help us. The students will be given an observation journal and shown how to use it (draw pictures of what they see, smell, hear, touch or taste). The teacher will have made arrangements with the school personnel ahead of time, putting footprints on their floor or desk, and asking these people to describe to the children what their job and duties are when they come to them. The teacher will read the book The Gingerbread Boy and then the class will go an excursion of discovery to meet new people in the school who may have seen the Gingerbread Boy. Gingerbread cookies will be ready to eat at the end of the journey (check your local grocery stores for a cheap sack of gingerbread cookies—I have found them at Albertson’s).

Extended Activities: Trace the gingerbread pattern (given at this workshop) on tag board and staple the parent note along with the self-information sheet and send one home with each child. When the self portraits are returned, celebrate each child by reading their information sheet as they hold up their model. Have someone take their picture. Later, put the pictures on student-made cards, along with the information sheets inside, give to their mothers for Mother’s Day.


Extensions

Possible Extensions and Adaptations

  1. Programs on Safety (road safety, bike safety, stranger dangers, etc.)


Assessment Plan

Observe the children and check for understanding.


Created: 08/05/2003
Updated: 02/05/2018
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