EDE 417 By Dan Whitley Grant Brown Veronica Newsome Christine Warwar Brittany Woniger

Unit: Community Helpers Grade: 1 st Lesson: Learning About Community Workers Objectives: To teach who the community workers are in our city. To teach the titles of these workers and the jobs they do for our town.

Materials Needed Paper and writing utensils Book: Community Helpers from A to Z Play outfits: letter carrier, play money, mailbox, envelopes and stamps. Video: Ricky’s Room: Community Workers.

Web Sites for Community Helpers htmhttp://homepages.ius.edu/JLOI/Community%20Helpers%20Web%20quest. htm rsmembers.htmhttp:// rsmembers.htm

Student Activities Writing Center- Draw a picture of yourself helping your community and write a few sentences to explain your picture. Tell us who you are, what you are doing, and how you help the community. Large Group Discussion and Read Aloud- Read the book Community Helpers from A to Z and discuss what community helpers do for us. Have the children name some community helpers and explain their jobs. Watch the video Ricky’s Room Community Helpers- have the children discuss in small groups how they are community helpers in their own community. Dramatic Play- Have children pretend they are at a post office. They will need to write letters to one another, pay for stamps with play money, and deliver letters to one another. Social Studies- Have the children develop a simple map of their own community displaying where the local police and fire stations are located.

What is a Community? A community is a group of people who share services, buildings, and laws. A community can be a school, town, city, or neighborhood.

What is a Community Helper? Community Helpers make communities cleaner, safer, and more pleasant for other people. A community helper is anyone in the community who helps others by providing a service of some kind.

Police Officers Help keep you and neighborhoods safe. Make sure people follow the rules. Direct traffic and solve crimes. Call for help if anyone is hurt. Arrest people who break the law.

Fire Fighters Fight fires in homes and other buildings. Drive fire trucks which have ladders and hoses. Respond to other emergencies, such as accidents. Do you know what to do if there is a fire in your house?

Letter Carriers Deliver and collect our mail. At the beginning of each day they sort the mail and load it into their trucks. Work for the United States Postal Service. At the post office they sell stamps, boxes, and passports.

Doctors Are there to help you when you are sick or hurt. Prescribe medications that will make you feel better. Examine you to find out what is wrong and to make you feel better. You see the doctor for checkups which are good so you don’t get sick. If you get sick or hurt at school make sure to see the school nurse.

Teachers Teach in a school. Explain information clearly. Coach and guide practice. Answer questions. Use all kind of materials. Demonstrate how to do things. Share what he/she knows.

School Bus Drivers School bus drivers take children to school every day. Have routes to follow. Pick up and drop off the children at the same place each day. Can take kids on field trips. They get a special drivers license.

Paramedics If there is an emergency they drive to where it is. Drive an ambulance. Take hurt people to the hospital. Treat people who are hurt.

Librarians Buy, catalog books, and lend out materials to people in schools or public libraries. Use a computer to find information. Read to children. You can borrow books, magazines, CD’s, and videos/DVD’s.

Utility Workers Work for a utility company. Use a manhole to get wires underground. Trucks lift workers up to get high wires.

Now that you know about the helpers in your community, what can you do to help out?