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Design for Learning

Instructor: Elizabeth Collier


Lesson Title: Community Helpers
Curriculum Area: Social Studies

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: K


Date: March 8th
Estimated Time: 45 minutes

Standards Connection: 7.) Describe roles of helpers and leaders, including school principal, school
custodian, volunteers, police officers, and fire and rescue workers.
Learning Objective(s): Students will identify roles of community helpers by accurately describing 2
ways a community helper of their choice helps others through a writing activity.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language: Today, boys and girls, we are going to talk
about our needs and who helps us with those needs in our community.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s): The end product will be a writing activity. Throughout the lesson,
the teacher will emphasize that what these community helpers do are their jobs. (A teacher teaches, a
firefighter puts out fires) Each student will select a community helper that they desire to be when they
grow up. The writing activity will say at the top, When I Grow Up and students will write I want to
be a (community helper of their choice). On the next two lines students will write what the job they chose
does to help out his or her community. For example, I want to be a firefighter. Firefighters rescue people
and animals. They also put out fires. Because this is Kindergarten, spelling mistakes are okay! The end
goal is the class understanding what the roles of community helpers are.
Engagement: Good morning boys and girls. I know Mrs. Kaiser has been talking to you all about what a
community is and how there are community helpers within a community. Could anyone tell me a job that
is helpful to the community? What is an example of a community helper you all have talked about within
the past couple of weeks? (Accessing prior knowledge) Students will respond. An example students
response may be: a policeman. Yes, thats right! A policeman is a great example of a community helper.
Does anyone know what a policeman does? Students will answer. They may be able to list one role but
teacher will assist in thinking of roles a policeman has. A student may say, They save us. Yes,
policemen work very hard to save us and protect the people in his or her community. Now I am going to
read you a book and I want you to put on your listening ears. Listen to the story and as I read think about
who the community helpers are in the story. Teacher will read Clothes Line Clues to Jobs People Do by
Kathryn Heling and Deborah Hembrook. The book is getting students to guess what job each community
helper as by giving them clues such as what they wear or what tools they need. The first page is about
mailmen. Boys and girls, who do you think needs a bag to put letters in? Students will answer. Yes, thats
righta mail carrier! The next community helper is a farmer. Remember at the beginning of the school
year we spent a lot of time talking about farms and who lives on a farm? Well this outfit could be worn on
a farm. Who do you think would wear jean overalls and have a rooster near by? Students will respond.
Yes, thats righta farmer! The next community helper is a chef. Turn and talk (TLAC strategy) to your
neighbor and discuss who would need a recipe, oven mitt, and an apron. Give students a few seconds to
discuss with a partner. Okay class, lets brig it back in. Can anyone tell me what you and your partner
talked about? Students will respond with a chef! Yes thats right! The next community helper in the book
is an artist. Who would need a paintbrushthis community helper provides beautiful paintings for
peoples homes in the community. Students respond, they may say painter. Yes, a painter or also an artist!
The next community helper is a carpenter. Who might need a tool belt and safety glasses? Students may
not know this one. This is a carpenter. Carpenters help build us tables, kitchen counters, and other wood
objects that the community needs. Firefighter is the next community helper in the book. Boys and girls we

have all seen the car that these community helpers drive. Who would need a fire hose and a protective
suit? Yes a fireman! The next community helper is an astronaut. Astronauts help us find out about more
information on outer space. Wow, yall did a great job recognizing what community helpers were
described in the book. Now lets review all the community helpers we know about!
Learning Design:
I. Teaching: Okay boys and girls, can anyone name a community helper that we have read about or that
you all have discussed within the past couples of weeks? (Recall of information) Students will respond
most likely with the community helpers that were just previously discussed in the book Clothes Line
Clues to Jobs People Do. Yeah, those are all great examples that we saw from our book. Firefighters,
artists, carpenters, policementhose are all very important people in our community. Now teacher will
use her laminated community helper people to help students think about what role each community helper
plays in their city. The teacher will hold up community helpers, and as a class, they will make a chart of
qualities/roles each job has. (Anchor chart visualization tool for comprehension) A community is a
place where people live and work. Would anyone like to tell me what a community helper is? Teacher will
listen to responses. Yes a community helper is someone in your community who helps others. Okay so now
we are going to make a chart that will help us to write about community helpers later on. When I hold up
a community helper friend, I want you to talk with the person sitting next to you (partner-to-partner turn
and talk) about what you think that helper does in the community. First is a police officer. Teacher will
give students time to discuss the roles a police officer has. Then she will write on the chart keeps us
safe. Police officers keep us safe and protect the community. Next when I hold up our second friend I
want everyone to think in their brains what that person does to help the community. Do not say anything
aloud until I tell you (wait time to encourage student thinking). When you have an answer give me a
thumbs up. Okay, it looks like everyone is ready. Teacher will continue asking questions and helping
students understand what each community helper does. Veterinarians help our pets, firefighters protect us
from danger, doctors keep our bodies healthy and makes us feel better, a chef gives us food, the mailman
delivers letters, teachers help us learn, and librarians give us good books to read! The teacher and class
will make a chart similar to the one below!

II. Opportunity for Practice: Okay class, can everyone please go back to his or her seat at your table.
Teacher will call table one, table twoand so on until all students are seated back at their table. Now we
are going to play BINGO! Does everyone know how to play this game? Well lets review so we make sure
everyone knows what he or she is doing. You all have different BINGO boards with different community
helpers pictured in a square. I am going to call out a job description, something that community helper
does or wears and you will choose which one I am talking about and place a cover over that person.
Then when you have three community helpers covered in a row or column or diagonal you yell BINGO!
Does anyone have any questions? Teacher will answer questions if the students have any. Then teacher
will lead students in multiple games of BINGO using clues such as these listed below:
Wears a protective suit and a red hat
Keeps the community safe from danger
Delivers letters to the people in a community
Gives people medicine and helps them from being sick
Helps make our pets feel better
These are a few examples of what a teacher could say during a game of bingo. Sometimes descriptions
may fit more than one community helper. For example keeps us safe. That could be referring to a
policeman or a firefighter. Teacher can discuss that keeping people safe is something that all people of a
community work towards. Everyone cares about one another!
III. Assessment: Okay boys and girls now we are going to complete a writing activity on community
helpers! I want you to think about when you grow up what you want to be! You may want to be a teacher,
doctor, librarian, police officer, firefighter, or another person who helps out the community. We have
learned the roles and importance of what each community helper does so now its your turn to pick either
your favorite or what you want to be and tell me why or what they do that you love and are thankful for!
First you will write, I want to be a (whatever community helper you want) and then you will write at
least one thing they do for us! After you have written at least one quality, you can draw a picture of your
community helper, or you as a grown up. The assessment is attached to the back of this lesson plan. The
teacher will give students the sentence to begin their writing with I want to be a and write that on the
board so everyone can see. The teacher will also place the chart they made together in the front of the
classroom so everyone will be able to spell words. The teacher will also provide students with multiple
nonfictional texts to help direct their spelling. Students will have around 10-15 minutes to complete this
writing worksheet. After everyone has completed the writing activity, the teacher can ask a few students
to share.
IV. Closure: For closing out the activity the teacher can use two funsies. The first is the book What Do
Teachers Do After You Leave School? This is a cute book that tells stories of what teachers do after the
students leave school. This story provides great visuals and is very engaging for students. The next
activity is a coloring worksheet coordinating a number to a color. After completing these two activities
teacher will remind students how important these people are in our day-to-day lives.
Materials and Resources:
Pictures of community helpers
Community helper bingo cards
Bingo place covers
Writing worksheet
Crayons
Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners): For students who do not know
sight words or struggle with literacy skills, teacher will provide them with worksheets that have starter

sentences written. For example, I want to be a will be written on the actual worksheet and the student
will fill in the blank with the community helper of his or her choice.
Data Analysis:
Reflection:

Samford University
Design for Learning

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