Communities

By:

Kristina Brennan and

Jesi Bruchey

Communities

Subject: Social Studies

Unit: Communities

Lesson: Comparing, contrasting, and developing different communities in the United States

Grade: 3

Activity One Objectives

The students will be able able to do the following:

Define community.

Explain what the word community means to him or her.

Reflect what they have learned about various communities.

Activity One Materials

Post-It notes (medium size)

Chart paper

Markers

Paper

Journals

Dictionary

Activity OneIntroduce: Take two minutes to write down all the words or pictures that you think of when I say the word "Community." Post chart paper with "COMMUNITY" written in the middle. Activity: Each student selects their top three suggestions and writes them on a post-it note. Each table adds their post-its to the chart paper. Have students take out their dictionaries and look up the word. Work as a team to figure out how to find a word in the dictionary. One student at each table reads the definition to the team. They decide how to rephrase it in their own words, as if explaining it to a little brother or sister.

Activity One ContinuedDiscuss all definitions and contributions on the poster. Talk about the fact that communities can be neighborhoods, churches, schools, classrooms, friends at work. List similarities between different types of communities to develop a list of community characteristics. Talk about how a classroom can be a community. What might they all have in common?

Activity Two Objectives

The students will be able to do the following:

Draw a map of a city with their peers.

List items found in every community.

Name different types of communities.

Activity Two Materials

Book: Do Skyscrapers Touch The Sky?

Markers

Crayons

Construction paper

Activity TwoIntroduction: 1)Ask the students the following questions:

What is a community? What are some things that you find in every community? What are some different types of

communities? 2)Read the book Do Skyscrapers Touch the Sky?

Activity Two ContinuedBreak students into groups of 2 or 3.

1. Give each group a large piece of paper. 2. Today we are going to create a map of our own make

believe city. 3. You can put whatever you want in your city, but all of

your group members must agree. 4. Keep in mind the list we made at the beginning of

class of things found in every community. 5. You need to have at least three of the things on the

list on your map. 6. Also keep in mind the special things that you only find

in cities that were listed in the book. 7. You will have about 25 minutes to map your city.

Activity Two Continued8. Your group will share your map with the rest of the

class, so be able to explain why you included what you did.

9. You may begin working. 10. Make sure you (teacher) walk around the room and

talk to groups to monitor students in their groups to make sure they understand the assignment and to see what ideas they are coming up with.

Closure: 1. Have the students share their maps with the class. 2. Have the students explain why they included what

they did.

Activity Three Objectives

The children will be able to do the following:

Compare and contrast their community with another one.

Make a book comparing and contrasting two communities.

Activity Three Materials

Book: My New York

Paper

Colored pencils

Crayons

Various books about communities

Activity ThreeIntroduction: Read the story My New York. Discuss communities and give the students a brief description of communities. Like school, home, the city that they live in, the state that they live in, and other places around the world. Talk with the students about two different communities that they can compare and contrast. Read a book on communities to the class.

Activity Three ContinuedDevelopment: Explain to the students that they are going to make a book comparing and contrasting two communities that they have been to or know a lot about. Tell them that the cover must have a title with both places on it, a picture, and their name as the author. Tell them that the left side of each page must correspond to the right side of each page. Let them see an example of a book that you have prepared. Tell the students that they can compare and contrast anything that they want to and give them examples like weather,

food, sports, and rules.

Activity Three ContinuedClosure: Discuss the comparisons of the communities and ask for volunteers to discuss parts of their books. Have students write at least four complete sentences about these communities in their journals.

Activity Four Objectives

The children will be able to do the following:

Compare and contrast communities.

Create a Venn diagram to show the differences and similarities between two communities.

Activity Four MaterialsPoem: The Folks Who Live In Backward TownBook: Winter BarnMarkerChart paperPost-It notes (medium size)Postcards/pictures of communitiesTape

Activity FourIntroduction: Read the poem titled "The Folks Who Live in Backward Town" aloud to the class and remind them that every community is special in its own way. (ex: size of buildings, presence of trees, amount of open space, etc.)

Development: Read the book Winter Barn aloud to the class and explain that they should pay special attention to the characteristics of the community in which the story takes place. After the book has been read, allow some time for discussion between the students.

Activity Four ContinuedOnce the discussion has taken place, divide the students into several groups, consisting of about four students each. Give each group a photograph or postcard of a community. Use as many different community settings as possible so the students will be studying different areas. Ask the groups to make a list of characteristics of the community that is represented on the postcard. Allow 10 minutes for the children to work in their groups. Once the students have completed their lists, each group should share the picture and the list that they created, one group at a time.

Activity Four ContinuedTape the large sheet of paper onto the wall, using scotch/masking tape and overlap two circles. Label one circle "My Community" and the other circle "Other Communities". As students give you ideas as to the difference between their community and others that they have visited or have knowledge about, write the idea down on a Post-it Note. Use a marker to write with so the students can read what ideas have already been given. Once an idea has been given, write it down and post it under the corresponding circle. Discuss what differences/ similarities the communities have.Closure: Ask the students to give some characteristics of different communities. Discuss why the characteristics are similar/different.

Activity Five Objectives

The students will be able to do the following:

Develop a community using boxes.

Assess where building will be placed within the community.

Activity Five Materials

Cardboard boxes

Markers

Scissors

Chalk

Black craft paper

Magazines

Glue

Activity FiveAfter studying what makes up a community, students will build a simulated community using boxes. 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.

Websites

www.lessonplanspage.com

http://teachers-teach/nology.com/themes/social/map/

http://www.proteacher.com/090004.shtml

http://trackstar.hprtec.org/main/track_frames.php3?track_id=662&nocache=511281258

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/socialstudies/index.htm