What Is A Community?Erlinda Mendoza
Grade 3 and Up
What Is A Community?
Purpose:
Where do you live? Do you live in a community? What is a community? What kind of community do you live in? Would you describe your community as a city in an urban area or like a farm in raral area? Are you proud of your community? What kind of physical features are found in your community? How is your community alike or different from another community? What do you know about your community's past? How does your community celebrate the past? Who are the leaders of your community? How do you think people have changed the way your community looks over the years? What are some of the things people have done to improve your community? How can you contribute to your community?
Focus Question:
What is a community?
How are communities alike and how are they different?
How are you a part of the community?
Hawaii Content Standard:
Students analyze how people organize their activities on earth through their analysis of human populations, cultural mosaic, economic interdependence, settlement, and conflict and cooperation.
Benchmark:
Examine and explain factors that influence where people migrate and settle.
Geographic Theme:
Location, Region, Place, Human Environment Interaction, and Movement
Student Objectives:
1. Students will explain that a globe is a model of the earth, be able to identify the North and South Pole, the equator, the cardinal directions, describe what a map is, and be able to use a simple map.
2. Students will be able to locate the seven continents, the four hemispheres of the earth, and some countries and cities.
3. Students will learn the definition of a community and be able to explain what a community is.
4. Students will be able to recognize and list the similarities and differences between communities.
5. Students will be able to describe how a new community might use natural resources.
6. Students will identify sources of information about a community's past.
7. Students will name places of historical significance in the community.
8. Students will describe how the community has changed over the years.
9. Students will reflect on how they can contribute to their community.
Geographic Skills/Thinking Skills
Asking/Answering Geographic Questions:
Acquire Geographic Information:
Organizing geographic Information
Analyzing Geographic Information:
Materials Needed:
Vocabulary:
community, natural resource, physical feature, city, suburb, town, settlement, immigrant, museum, Native American, history, gristmill, globe, directions, compass rose, symbols, map key, state capital, border, continents, hemisphere, Equator, geography, mountain range, plain, desert, river, lake, ocean, coast, island, urban, rural
Procedure:
Activity 1:
Have a display of cultural materials. Play music in different languages. Greet class in different languages. Introduce yourself in English (name, school, etc.) Ask a student where he/she is from? Where does he live now, what street, whether he lives in an apartment or a house?
Make an oaktag mobile of self. Explain that a community starts with people including children and that each child is special and important. This will help them feel good about themselves which can be a motivating factor in learning about communities.
Activity 2:
Show map of Oahu and point to Honolulu (since most of them live in Honolulu). Students will then be exposed to different kinds of maps.
Distribute worksheets on road maps. Answer the questions with a partner. Working with a partner can lead to discussions about each other's community. Go over the answer as a class. Are there new streets? What happens when a new town is built or when a whole village is destroyed by an earthquake or flood? How many of you have moved because your father had to change jobs?
Activity 3:
Show map of the continental USA and show pictures of a city, a farm, a desert. Ask students if they can see the differences among them. At this time, pictures of people with different occupations also can be shown. Ask what the students want to be when they grow up and why? Where would they be living if they had chosen to be a doctor, a farmer, and so on. They can write about it in their journal.
Exhibit Cinderella books and other story books from different parts of the world. Many discussions can be held regarding Cinderella's plight which can be cultural as well as a social issue. Give students about a month to read them. After the students have read them, students will write a mini book report. The reports will be on display on the bulletin board with this theme, "My book has taken me to . . ."
Mother's day book can be read on the week of Mother's Day. Children can hear how mother's day is celebrated in different countries.
Activity 4:
Show map of the world. Take out newspaper clippings and ask if students where the news take place and see if they can locate it on the map. This activity is to help students learn about the global economy, politics, and how they all can affect them.
Activity 5:
Students will plan and design their own community on a paper plate. They will use pens, pencils, markers, crayons, and/or pictures. This project will be an individual project. After student have learned more about the different communities, they will do the same project in groups on a bigger flat board. They can add changes to their paper plate projects. They will use other materials such as tissue boxes to create buildings and others things in a community. Each group will have a leader and each student in the group will have a certain job. This will also help students learn how to cooperate and work in groups, thus to help them understand the interdependence of people in a community.
Activity 6:
Students will build globes from balloons. The balloons are blue to represent the portion of the earth's surface that's covered with water. Next they will glue a yarn around the middle of the balloon to mark the equator. Then they will glue the continents that have been cut off to the balloon. They will also write a haiku about their favorite place in the world and illustrate it in their travel folder. This will be a fun, creative way to bring closure to the unit.
Extensions:
1. This can easily lead to a cultural day or fair with different costumes, food, crafts, etc.
2. Aguest speaker would be wonderful, perhaps a community leader, a senior citizen who can talk about the community's past, or even someone who is visiting from another country.
3. A careet day can be educational for students who can see the different jobs available in the community.
4. Students can have pen-pals from different parts of the world.
5. Students can continue to evaluate the changes in their communities and keep a journal.
Assessment:
1. Were students able to tell what a community is, what kind of community they live in, be able to identify whether a community is a city, town, urban, rural, desert? What other physical and human features can they identify?
2. Can students compare and contrast the different communities by listing hte similarities, differences, making Venn diagrams, etc?
3. Were students able to identify some of the history of a community, see the importance of festivals, celebrations, and how they are usually linked to the past of the community?
4. Were students able to go to higher critical thinking by discussing how they are a part of the community, how they can contribute to the community, identify the leaders of their community and their important roles?
5. Were students able to use maps, globes, atlases, and other resources such as books, magazines, encyclopedias, etc?
6. Were students able to identify the parts of the globe, be able to identify diffeent kinds of maps, and be able to locate streets, continents, countries, cities, etc, by pointing to the maps, worksheets, etc?
7. Did students participate in planning, designing, and making a community project?
8. Did students do a book report on a story from another country?
9. Were students able to finish their travel log/folder by the end of the unit?
References:
Comparing Communities textbook by Silver Burdett Ginn
Cinderella stories of several different countries
Issunboshi b Suyeoka, Goodman, and Spicer
Mother's Day by Mary Kay Phelan
Folktales of Okinawa by Bank of the Ryukyus International Foundation
Many other children's books of different countries