Home
Unit Studies
Lapbooks
Share Resources
Worksheets
Coloring Pages
Notebooking
Record Keeping
Computer Lessons
Character Studies
Household
Holidays
Links
Contact Us
About Us
Link to Us

Reading made EASY
Is reading made FUN.
ClickN' READ Phonics. Click here NOW!

Printer Friendly Version

My Community Unit Study Submitted byJoAnn S.

GradeRange: PreK-2nd

Library List:

Communities by Lisa Trumbauer
Community Helpers from A to Z by Bobbie Kalman
All about Community Helpers: a complete resource for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teachers by Sharon MacDonald
A Day in the Life of a Farmer by Heather Adamson
A Day in the Life of a Firefighter by Heather Adamson
A Day in the Life of a Police Officer by Heather Adamson
A Day in the Life of Zookeeper by Nate LeBoutillier
A Day in the Life of a Doctor by Heather Adamson
Fireman Small - Fire Down Below by Wong Herbet Yee
Walter the Baker by Eric Carle
Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman
I Want to be a Police Officer by Liz Alexander
Families by Ann Morris
Families by Gail Saunders-Smith
Building a House by Byron Barton
No Mail for Mitchell by Catherine Siracusa
Post Office video recording
I Want to be a Firefighter by Dan Liebman
We need Mail Carriers by Lola Schaefer
I Want to be a Doctor by Dan Liebman
Doctors by Dee Ready
I Use Math at the Doctor's by Joanne Mattern
Calling Doctor Amelia Bedelia by Herman Parish
Dooby Dooby Moo by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Curious George goes to the Zoo by Alan J. Shalleck
Baker, Baker, Cookie Maker by Linda Hayward
Out and About at the Bakery by Jennifer Ericsson
Mr. Santizo's Tasty Treats by Alice K. Flanagan
Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington
Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
Boats Afloat by Shelley Rotner
Boats, Boats, Boats by Joanna Ruane
Trouble for Thomas by Kenny McArthur
Vroom! Vroom!: Making 'Dozers,'Copters, Trucks & More by Judy Press
The Wheels on the School Bus by Mary-Alice Moore

Unit: Lesson 1: Families, Neighborhoods, Communities

Books:

• Families by Ann Morris
• Families by Gail Saunders

We'll read these books and talk about how many different families make up a community. We will also talk about how we all work together to help the community.
Talk about how we in a family work together and help each other how we each have a role to play. I'll also take the kids on a walk around our neighborhood pointing out places of interest and talking about how our neighbors live in these homes. Homes come in many different sizes and shapes. In our particular neighborhood we have apartments, mobile homes, single story and double story homes.

Activities:

• We'll read the poem and song The People in Your Neighborhood on Our Community Helpers *language arts
• Make a family tree from DLTK *art and social studies
• Family hands paper mache craft from DLTK *art
• Make a milk carton house from DLTK *art
• You could use hand cutouts to practice counting to five or for counting by five's. *math connection
  

Lesson 2: Community Helpers

Books:

• Community helpers from A to Z by Bobbie Kalman
• All about Community Helpers: a complete resource for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teachers by Sharon MacDonald

We'll talk about the different types of community helpers and how they help the community. We'll just briefly talk about them as we will be looking at some more closely in the next few lessons.

Activities:

• Who lives in your neighborhood? from Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids
• Community Helpers song on Our Community Helpers
• Do this Maya and Miguel Community Helpers puppets craft project. These puppets could also be used for counting and doing simple addition and subtraction programs. *art, social studies, math
• Visit this interactive Community Club site by Scholastic to learn about different community helpers.
• What's my job interactive site from HUD.gov
• Use this to template to make a helping hands wreath. On the hands print different community helpers you could also have them add a picture and a brief description of how they help the community. You could add skip counting to this activity by using the fingers of the hands. *art, social studies, math

• Have them use this to think of ways 2 community helpers are the same and different. Use this hands VENN Diagram *language arts

Lesson 3: Police

Books:

• A Day in the Life of a Police Officer by Heather Adamson
• Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman
• I Want to be a Police Officer by Liz Alexander

We'll talk about what a police officer does and how he is our friend. We'll talk about some of the different tools a police officer uses.

Activities:

• I'm police officer song on Our Community Helpers *language arts
• Police coloring page
• A printable Police Officers are my Friends story coloring book from Hendersonville Police Department
• Make a policeman badge. Use cardboard, foil, and a paintbrush. First cut out the shape of a badge. Then cover it in foil and use the paint brush to draw a design in it to look like a policeman's badge. You could attach a safety pin with some tape. * Art
• You could use a washable ink pad to make fingerprints on a paper. Make them in a matter you could use for counting, learning about sets, and for addition or subtraction problems. * Math
• You could also use a magnifying glass to look at the fingerprints you made. Discuss how nobody's fingerprints are the same. You could fingerprint every one in the family and look at how everyone is different. *science
• Also talk about strangers and what to do. You could talk about how to find a police officer if they are ever taken or lost. *health and safety
• Call and see if you could visit the police station

Lesson 4: Firefighters

Books:

• A Day in the Life of a Firefighter by Heather Adamson
• Fireman Small - Fire Down Below by Wong Herbet Yee
• I Want to be a Firefighter by Dan Liebman

Activities:

• Five Friendly Firefighters on Our Community Helpers *language arts and music
• Fireman Coloring Sheet
• Firefighter coloring pages
• Interactive site to learn about fire safety from the U.S. Fire Administration for Kids*health and safety
• This is a fun site for kids to learn about fire trucks, fire safety and more. Sparky.org *health and safety
  
• Here is a firefighter worksheet for them to do from Pro Teacher. While doing this worksheet discuss the tools of a firefighter and having the right tools for a job helps you do the job and keeps you safe. *science
• Call and see if you could visit the fire station.
• Fire engine puzzle to print from DLTK *problem solving

Lesson 5: Mailman

Books:

• No Mail for Mitchell by Catherine Siracusa
• Post Office Video Recording
• We Need Mail Carriers by Lola Schaefer

Activities:

• I'm a mailman song on Our Community Helpers *language arts and music
• Mailman coloring page *art
• You could mail grandma and grandpa a letter. Take a trip to the post office to mail it so they can see what a post office is like. Also you could ask if they give tours (ours doesn't anymore). *language arts
• For a math connection you could have them weigh different packages, letters, and such. They could also use a ruler to measure the sizes of the envelopes and post cards. This would also be a good way to introduce rectangles to the preschoolers. *math
• Have the kids practice writing their name and address with this Address Practice Craft from DLTK *language arts
  You could also start a stamp collection.

Lesson 6: Doctors

Books:

• A Day in the Life of a Doctor by Heather Adamson
• I Want to be a Doctor by Dan Liebman
• Doctors by Dee Ready
• I Use Math at the Doctor's by Joanne Mattern
• Calling Doctor Amelia Bedelia by Herman Parish

Activities:

• I'm a helpful doctor song on Our Community Helpers *language arts and music
• Doctors coloring page
• Using these pictures of what's in a doctor's kit talk about what they are and how they use them to help people feel better. *science
• Make a doctor's collage. Use materials you would find in a doctor's office. Do it in sets of. Like 5 band aids, 10 cotton balls and so forth. *math, art
• Talk to the kids about the proper way to care for wounds. Explain what happens if you don't wash bacteria out of a wound how it can get infected. *health and safety

Lesson 7: Farmers

Books:

• A Day in the Life of a Farmer by Heather Adamson
• Dooby Dooby Moo by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
• Farm Animals books (very easy reading)

Activities:

• Counting by 2's farm theme Dot to Dot from Kid Zone *math
• Counting by 5's farm theme Dot to Dot from KidsRCrafty.com *math
• Single digit addition farm theme from Kid Zone *math
• Farm coloring pages
• Make stick puppets for the farmer lesson and have the child make up a story to tell or have them retell a story we read. *language arts
• Animals and the products they produce worksheet from KiddyHouse.com *science
• Write the proper name for the gender of the animals worksheet from KiddyHouse.com *science
• Down on the Farm coloring book that talks about things produced on the farm *science
• Make a farm mobile from DLTK *art and social studies
• On this KiddieHouse.com site if you scroll down you'll find some phonics worksheets that deal with the ow sound like in cows. *phonics
• On this KiddieHouse.com site you'll find phonics sheets that deal with the ee sound like in sheep. *phonics
• At AtoZTeacherStuff are some good lesson ideas for learning to read using the book Sheep in Jeep. *phonics
• Online concentration animal game *problem solving

Lesson 8: Zookeepers

Books:

• A Day in the Life of Zookeeper by Nate LeBoutillier
• Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
• Curious George goes to the Zoo by Alan J. Shalleck

Activities:

• Plan a visit to the zoo.
• You could pick an animal to learn about before your visit. *science
• Here is a template to make zoo animal puppets from KinderPlans.com. They could use these to make up a story or tell about their day at the zoo. They could also use it to tell about the animal they learned about before going to the zoo. *language arts
• Use animal crackers for math problems - sorting, graphing, estimating, counting,
  Have the kids estimate how many animal crackers are in the bag. Then have them count the crackers. They can then sort them according to the different types of animals. Use a simple bar graph to have them graph the types of animals. *math
• Easy word search from abcteach.com
• Lizard jigsaw puzzle to print from LessonSense.com
• Elephant jigsaw puzzle to print from LessonSense.com (medium)
• Panda jigsaw puzzle from LessonSense.com (easy)
• Arrange the giraffes in order from shortest to tallest from LessonSense.com
• Arrange the elephants in order from shortest to tallest from LessonSense.com

Lesson 9: Bakers

Books:

• Walter the Baker by Eric Carle
• Baker, Baker, Cookie Maker by Linda Hayward
• Out and About at the Bakery by Jennifer Ericsson
• Mr. Santizo's Tasty Treats by Alice K. Flanagan
• Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington

Activities:

• Baker Coloring page
• Baker toilet paper roll craft from DLTK *art
• Lots of cake coloring pages
• You could use birthday candles to work out addition problems, counting, and other math activities.
• Bake cookies, bread, and cupcakes with the kids and have them do the measuring. You could use icing bags and other things so they can decorate them to look like what you would find at a bakery. Talk about how the ingredients look as you are mixing and explain how the heat from the oven is going to change them into something different. *science, math
• Look through old magazines for pictures of things you could find at a bakery. Have them use these things to make a collage. *art

Lesson 10: Community Transportation

Books:

• Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
• Boats Afloat by Shelley Rotner
• Boats, Boats, Boats by Joanna Ruane
• Trouble for Thomas by Kenny McArthur
• Vroom! Vroom!: Making 'Dozers,'Copters, Trucks & More by Judy Press
• The Wheels on the School Bus by Mary-Alice Moore

Activities:

• Sing the wheels on the bus *music
• School bus template
• As you do the coloring pages talk about how the community uses each kind of vehicle.
  • C is for car page
  • V is for van page
  • Alphabet train printable
  • Number train printable
  • Ambulance coloring page
  • Taxi coloring page
  • Truck coloring pages
• Have them alphabetize a list of transportation vehicles. *language arts
• Make cutouts of wheels for them to use for counting and counting by 4's or 2's *math
• Make paper boats
• Make paper planes
• Journal writing topic - I like to ride

Lesson 11: Learning about maps

Activities:

• Make a map of our neighborhood.
• At this point I'll introduce north, south, east, and west. I'll show them other maps and talk about the different symbols we see on them.
  

Disclaimer: All links are for informational purposes only - a link to a web site does not imply agreement with or endorsement of that site. Because of the changing nature of the internet, always preview a site before viewing it with your children.

Please click here for legal restrictions and terms of use for this site.
Use of this site signifies you are in agreement with the terms of use.
Privacy Policy