MY

Neighborhoo
d
--

By Donyetta Hall
EDI 612
Curriculum Development for
1

Early Childhood Education

Table of Contents
Philosophy and Overarching
Goals
Neighborhood Thematic
Unit
The Big Idea.

Curriculum Outline..

.
Resources and Materials.

Learning Experiences.

Language and
Literacy
Mathematics

.
Social
Studies

Science

Technology

.
Art

..
Family
Involvement

Assessments

.
References

Philosophy and Overarching Goals

The Goals for this unit is to focus on places, people, and activities
that children see every day. This unit will build upon childrens
everyday experiences to make learning more meaningful. This
theme will include several interrelated topics: Neighborhood
places, Jobs, Trash, and Recycling.

Within this distinguished unit the students will take the

information they learn and build upon it towards the
understanding and appreciation that evolve from everyday life.
Math skills will be demonstrated with the understanding of
numbers, simple mathematical processes, and representing data
in meaningful ways. Social Studies skills will be interpreted from
places within the environment, by learning to take care of
resources, and by understanding basic economic concepts.
Language Arts skills will be strengthened through retelling of
stories and comprehension, using listening skills as well as
communication skills. Children will use technology through
exploration, thus learning the various components of a computer
while working cooperatively with others. Lastly, the students will
benefit from science through awareness of living and nonliving
things.
Through the study of The Neighborhood, students should emerge
with a broader sense, understanding, and appreciation everyday
experiences while concurrently building upon academic
knowledge.

Neighborhood Thematic Unit

From California to New York or Washington to Seattle, no
matter where one is located, one thing is for sure, when you look
4

outside the window or walk outside the door you will be in the
mist of, what is known as a neighborhood. A Neighborhood
according to research is a geographically localized community
within a larger city, town, suburb, or rural area. Now of course I
cannot look at a group of preschools and say those exact words,
but the goal for this unit is to help the students grasp an
understanding of what a neighborhood is to them individual as
well as to the class as a whole, and then build upon that
knowledge.
Within this Neighborhood Thematic Unit I had developed
lessons to allow each student a chance to use skills based on
social emotional, cognitive understanding, language and
development, math, science, and social studies. All of these skills
coincide with the State of Michigan Standards as well as a
computer based Preschool Assessment Program, known as
Teaching Strategies Gold.
The lessons for this thematic unit are derived from various
sources. They are complied with a board target, to help broaden
the senses and knowledge of each student individually. Each
student will have the opportunity to learn, explore, and grow as
they learn about the Neighborhood they live in as well as
surrounding neighborhoods in other areas.

The Big Ideas

5

Big Ideas: (Address Michigan State Standards appropriate for Preschool

and Teaching Strategies Gold)

Book Concepts
o

Children begin to understand written language read to them from a

variety of meaningful materials, use reading-like behaviors and make
progress towards becoming conventional readers.
Enlarge their vocabularies both with words from conversation
and instructional materials and activities.
Retell a few important events and ideas they have heard from
written materials (e.g.,in stories and in books about things and
events).

Social Emotional Skills

o

Children show increasing initiative and curiosity about their work and
play in all areas of the curriculum.

Communication Skills
o Early Learning Expectation: Children develop abilities to express

themselves clearly and communicate ideas to others.

Use spoken language for a variety of purposes (e.g., to express
feelings, to ask questions, to talk about their experiences, to ask
for what they need, to respond to others).
Continue to develop vocabulary by using words learned from
stories and other sources in conversations.

Cognitive Skills
o

Children grow in their capacity to use effective listening skills and

understand what is said to them.
Gain information from listening (e.g., to conversations, stories,
songs, poems).

Cooperative Group Work

o

Children develop healthy relationships with other children and adults.

Increase their ability to initiate and sustain age appropriate
interactions with peers and adults.

Increase their capacity to take anothers perspective.

Prewriting and Writing Skills
o

Children begin to develop writing skills to communicate and express

themselves effectively for a variety of purposes.

Use a variety of forms of early writing (e.g., scribbling, drawing,

use of letter strings, copied environmental print) and move
toward the beginning of phonetic and/or conventional spelling.
Attempt to read or pretend to read what they have written to
friends, family members, and others
6

The Big Ideas Continued

Math
o

Children can translate a problem or activity into a new form (e.g., a

picture, diagram, model, symbol, or words) by applying emerging skills
in representing, discussing, reading, writing, and listening.
Begin to use symbols to represent real objects and quantities.
Children begin to develop an understanding of numbers and explore
simple mathematical processes (operations) using concrete materials.
Develop an increasing interest and awareness of numbers and
counting as a means for determining quantity and solving
problems.
Use cardinal (e.g., one, two) and ordinal (e.g., first, second)
numbers in daily home and classroom life.
Understand how numbers can be used to label various aspects
of their lives (e.g., house number, phone number, ages of
classmates).
Begin to build an understanding of directionality, order, and
positions of objects through the use of words (e.g., up, down,
over, under, top, bottom, inside, outside, in front of, behind).

Science
o Children show a beginning awareness of scientific knowledge related to
living and nonliving things.

Demonstrate a growing ability to collect, talk about, and record

information about living and non-living things (e.g., through
discussions, drawings).

Begin to categorize living and nonliving things in their

environment based on characteristics they can observe (e.g.,
texture, color, size, shape, temperature, usefulness, weight).

Use observation skills to build awareness of plants and animals,

their life cycles (e.g., birth, aging, death) and basic needs (e.g.,
air, food, light, rest).

Understand the way simple tools work through their play with
common toys (e.g., wheels, pulleys, gears, screws).

Art
o

Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are
learning through experiences in the visual arts.
Can use their own ideas to draw, paint, mold, and build with a
variety of art materials (e.g., paint, clay, wood, materials from
nature such as leaves).
Begin to plan and carry out projects with increasing persistence.

Social Studies Skills

o

Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are
learning through listening, participating in, and creating instrumental
and vocal music experiences.
Participate in musical activities (e.g., listening, singing, finger
plays, singing games, and simple performances) with others.
Children begin to understand and interpret their relationship and place
within their own environment.
Include representations of various physical features (e.g., roads,
bodies of water, buildings) in their play.
Children increase their understanding of the relationship between
people and their environment and begin to recognize the importance
of taking care of the resources in their environment
Can participate in improving their environment (e.g., pick up
litter, recycle, plant trees and flowers, conserve lights, water and
paper).
Children increase their understanding about how basic economic
concepts relate to their lives.
Can talk about some of the workers and services in their
community.
Can talk about some of the ways people earn a living.
Begin to understand that people pay for things with a
representation of money

Language and Literacy Skills

o

Children begin to understand written language read to them from a

variety of meaningful materials, use reading-like behaviors, and make
progress towards becoming conventional readers.
Retell a few important events and ideas they have heard from
written materials (e.g., in stories and in books about things and
events).
Enlarge their vocabularies both with words from conversation
and instructional materials and activities.
Use different strategies for understanding written materials
(e.g., making predictions using what they already know, using
the structure of texts, linking themselves and their experiences
to the written materials, asking relevant questions).
In concepts about reading:
Understand that ideas can be written and then read by
others.
Understand print and book handling concepts including
directionality, title etc.
Develop an understanding of the roles of authors and
illustrators
Children begin to develop writing skills to communicate and express
themselves effectively for a variety of purposes.

Begin to understand that their ideas can be written and then

read by themselves or others.
Use a variety of forms of early writing (e.g., scribbling, drawing,
use of letter strings, copied environmental print) and move
toward the beginning of phonetic and/or conventional spelling.
Represent their own or imaginary experiences through writing
(with/without illustrations).
Begin to write familiar words such as their own name.
Attempt to read or pretend to read what they have written to
friends, family members, and others.
Children develop abilities to express themselves clearly and
communicate ideas to others.
Use spoken language for a variety of purposes (e.g., to express
feelings, to ask questions, to talk about their experiences, to ask
for what they need, to respond to others).
Continue to develop vocabulary by using words learned from
stories and other sources in conversations.
Understand the roles of the participants in conversation (e.g.,
taking turns in conversation and relating their own comments to
what is being talked about; asking relevant questions).
Children grow in their capacity to use effective listening skills and
understand what is said to them.
Gain information from listening (e.g., to conversations, stories,
songs, poems).
Show progress in listening to and following spoken directions.
Respond with understanding to speech directed at them.

Technology
o

Children explore and use various types of technology tools

Follow simple directions to use computers and other technology
tools.
Children can name various components of computer systems and use
various input devices.
Can name components (e.g., screen, printer, mouse, disks, CD,
keyboard).
Children work cooperatively with others while using technology tools.
Work cooperatively when other children are present at the
computer.
Begin to state and follow rules for using the computer.

Curriculum Outline

10

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Resources and Materials

11

Classroom Materials:
(Whiteboard, document camera, projector, computer, speakers,
tape, glue, scissors, markers, crayons, pencils, paper)
Books:

Additional Resources:

12

Trashy Town

My community Helpers

in My Community
Career Day

Pig-Pig Gets a Job

A Chair for My Mother

Fire Trucks and Rescue

Vehicles
Caps for Sale

The Three Rs: Reuse,

Reduce, Recycle
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
The Dumpster Diver

The Three Little Pigs

Dont Throw That

Away!
Recycle! A Handbook for Kids

I Stink!

Lesson Materials:
Magnetic Letters, Photos of neighborhood buildings, Community
helper figurines and related vehicles, Materials to create
buildings, heavy objects, wagon/wheelbarrow/ or other devices
with wheels and a flat surface, Materials to create props for
neighborhood places, Large quantity of coins, plastic baggies,
number line, Small objects to represent caps, Variety of recyclable
items, Multiple bins for sorting materials, Collage Materials scrap
paper, ribbon, cotton balls etc., Example of recycling symbol.

Language and Literacy

(Adapted from: Acelero, Inc. -The Shine Curriculum)
Big Ideas:

Book Concepts (Uses and appreciates books: Title, Author, Illustrator, Spine)
Retell/Comprehension Skills
Listening Skills
Communication Skills

Standards:
o

Children begin to understand written language read to them from a

variety of meaningful materials, use reading-like behaviors, and make
progress towards becoming conventional readers.
Retell a few important events and ideas they have heard from
written materials (e.g., in stories and in books about things and
events).
Enlarge their vocabularies both with words from conversation
and instructional materials and activities.
Use different strategies for understanding written materials
(e.g., making predictions using what they already know, using
the structure of texts, linking themselves and their experiences
to the written materials, asking relevant questions).
In concepts about reading:
Understand that ideas can be written and then read by
others.
Understand print and book handling concepts including
directionality, title etc.
Develop an understanding of the roles of authors and
illustrators
Children begin to develop writing skills to communicate and express
themselves effectively for a variety of purposes.
Begin to understand that their ideas can be written and then
read by themselves or others.
Use a variety of forms of early writing (e.g., scribbling, drawing,
use of letter strings, copied environmental print) and move
toward the beginning of phonetic and/or conventional spelling.
Represent their own or imaginary experiences through writing
(with/without illustrations).
Begin to write familiar words such as their own name.
Attempt to read or pretend to read what they have written to
friends, family members, and others.
Children develop abilities to express themselves clearly and
communicate ideas to others.
Use spoken language for a variety of purposes (e.g., to express
feelings, to ask questions, to talk about their experiences, to ask
for what they need, to respond to others).
Continue to develop vocabulary by using words learned from
stories and other sources in conversations.
Understand the roles of the participants in conversation (e.g.,
taking turns in conversation and relating their own comments to
what is being talked about; asking relevant questions).

Children grow in their capacity to use effective listening skills and

understand what is said to them.
Gain information from listening (e.g., to conversations, stories,
songs, poems).
Show progress in listening to and following spoken directions.
Respond with understanding to speech directed at them.

Learning Outcomes:
Standards:
o

Children begin to understand written language read to them from a

variety of meaningful materials, use reading-like behaviors, and make
progress towards becoming conventional readers.
Retell a few important events and ideas they have heard from
written materials (e.g., in stories and in books about things and
events).
Enlarge their vocabularies both with words from conversation
and instructional materials and activities.
Use different strategies for understanding written materials
(e.g., making predictions using what they already know, using
the structure of texts, linking themselves and their experiences
to the written materials, asking relevant questions).
In concepts about reading:
Understand that ideas can be written and then read by
others.
Understand print and book handling concepts including
directionality, title etc.
Develop an understanding of the roles of authors and
illustrators
Children begin to develop writing skills to communicate and express
themselves effectively for a variety of purposes.
Begin to understand that their ideas can be written and then
read by themselves or others.
Use a variety of forms of early writing (e.g., scribbling, drawing,
use of letter strings, copied environmental print) and move
toward the beginning of phonetic and/or conventional spelling.
Represent their own or imaginary experiences through writing
(with/without illustrations).
Begin to write familiar words such as their own name.
Attempt to read or pretend to read what they have written to
friends, family members, and others.
Children develop abilities to express themselves clearly and
communicate ideas to others.
Use spoken language for a variety of purposes (e.g., to express
feelings, to ask questions, to talk about their experiences, to ask
for what they need, to respond to others).

Continue to develop vocabulary by using words learned from

stories and other sources in conversations.
Understand the roles of the participants in conversation (e.g.,
taking turns in conversation and relating their own comments to
what is being talked about; asking relevant questions).
Children grow in their capacity to use effective listening skills and
understand what is said to them.
Gain information from listening (e.g., to conversations, stories,
songs, poems).
Show progress in listening to and following spoken directions.
Respond with understanding to speech directed at them.

Materials Needed:

Books: Trashy Town, Career Day, I Stink

Pocket Chart
Photos of: Neighborhood buildings, Community Helper figures and vehicles,
magnetic letters, sand shifters
Building materials to make neighborhood scene
Song Chart: The Wheels on the Bus
Large Paper for Circle Map
Crayons, Pencils, Markers
Glue

Procedures:
Arrival:
1. Question of the Day:
Have the children answer during arrival, charting in pocket chart. Review results
with the full group, counting each column and writing the numeral.
a. Monday: What part of our neighborhood do you like the best? (Grocery
store, park, fire station)
b. Tuesday: Which job would you most like to? (Police officer, fire fighter,
garbage collector) Provide visuals for each choice, and additional
scaffolding for children who need it.
c. Wednesday: Which job would you most like to do? (Doctor, teacher,
construction worker- or use other choices based on childrens response
to the story Career Day)
2. Morning Message
a. Thursday: Next week we will turn Dramatic Play into a special
neighborhood place. Can you help me?

Have this message written in advance and ask children to help you read it aloud.
Engage children in noticing a few concepts of print, such as finding a long word and
a short word.
Talk about the place you will create in Dramatic Play next week (doctors office,
restaurant, etc.)> Ask for childrens ideas about how to do this: What should we put
in Dr. Play? What will we need to play __?
Large Group Instruction:
1. Charted Song: Wheels on the Bus. Point to pictures and words as we
read/sing the song.
2. Monday: Intro to small group time: What do you think I have in my bag?
Have the community helpers hidden in the bag. After taking guesses,
show the figures and explain youll be using these during small group.
3. Read Story:
a. Monday: Trashy Town (focus on different neighborhood places Mr.
Gilly visits; the job of a garbage collector)
b. Tuesday: Career Day (variety of jobs in the community; connections
to childrens families)
c. Wednesday: Trashy Town (engage children in reciting repetitive
phrases)
d. Thursday: I Stink (compare similarities between I Stink and Trashy
Town)
Small Group Instruction:
1. Monday:
a. Group A: Building a Neighborhood
b. Group B:Community Helpers in the Block Area
c. Group C: Buried Letters
2. Tuesday:
a. Group B: Building a Neighborhood
b. Group C:Community Helpers in the Block Area
c. Group A: Buried Letters
3. Wednesday:
a. Group C: Building a Neighborhood
b. Group A:Community Helpers in the Block Area
c. Group B: Buried Letters
4. Thursday:
a. Favorites Jobs Class Book

Building a Neighborhood:

Children will take recycled material (milk cartons, bottle caps, etc.), small pictures of
neighborhood places, construction paper, glue, crayons/markers/pencils, and
whatever else material is warranted to form their own neighborhood scene.
Once each child has finished their project they will be displayed for parents to view.
Community Helpers in the Block Area:
Children will use the community helper figurines, neighborhood pictures, and
vehicles in the block area to build their own neighborhood.
Buried Letters in the Sand:
Children will dig out buried letters from the sand using a shovel or a sand shifter
to locate them. Then the children will place the letters in a bucket, identifying the
letters they recognize.
Favorite Jobs Class Book:
Each child will draw and write about what they would like to be when they grow up.
Enrichment and Extension:
If there are any particular jobs that children were interested in, use those as choices
in the next Question of the Day.
Turn Dramatic Play area into a community area (Doctors office, Dentist Office,
Grocery Store, etc.)
Assessment:
Notice how the children approach the task: any evidence of persistence,
purposefulness, creative thinking? Do children understand and use vocabulary
related to the different places around the neighborhood?
Are children attempting to represent specific ideas through their pictures or words?
Document any attempts at writing, including scribble-writing, letter-like forms, or
invented spelling.
Do childrens drawings or conversations reflect any of the concepts from this theme,
such as community places or jobs?
Document any letters the children identify.

Mathematics

(Adapted from: Acelero, Inc. -The Shine Curriculum)

Big Ideas:

Children begin to develop an understanding of numbers

Children begin to explore simple mathematical processes using concrete
materials.
Children will be encouraged to represent data in meaningful ways.

Learning Outcomes:
Children will be encouraged to count for a purpose. Children will be exposed and
may start to use words such as: more, fewer, and same to compare. Children will
show evidence of creative thinking and purposefulness. Children will have the
opportunity to explore the neighborhood theme using a different modality.

Standards:
o

Children can translate a problem or activity into a new form (e.g., a

picture, diagram, model, symbol, or words) by applying emerging skills
in representing, discussing, reading, writing, and listening.
Begin to use symbols to represent real objects and quantities.
Children begin to develop an understanding of numbers and explore
simple mathematical processes (operations) using concrete materials.
Develop an increasing interest and awareness of numbers and
counting as a means for determining quantity and solving
problems.
Use cardinal (e.g., one, two) and ordinal (e.g., first, second)
numbers in daily home and classroom life.
Understand how numbers can be used to label various aspects
of their lives (e.g., house number, phone number, ages of
classmates).
Begin to build an understanding of directionality, order, and
positions of objects through the use of words (e.g., up, down,
over, under, top, bottom, inside, outside, in front of, behind).

Materials Needed:

Photos of neighborhood buildings

Community helper figurines and related vehicles
Large quantity of coins
Plastic baggies, some of them prepared with a different number of coins
(from 2 to 6) one per child

Number lines (paper strips with the numerals 1 to 10, spaced one inch apart)
one per child.

Procedures for Small Group:

Counting Coins}Beginning1. Remind the children of the part in the story A Chair for My Mother (show
relevant pages) where the family filled a jar with coins, counted them and
exchanged them for dollars.
2. Show the children the baggies and explain that each has a different number
of coins. Give each child one bag, and have them work in pairs to compare:
Which bag has more? How could you figure it out? Encourage a variety of
problem-solving attempts and ask children to explain their thinking.
3. Explain, We are going to count a lot of coins today. I am going to show you a
special way to count your coins and figure out how many you have and who
has more!
Middle4. Demonstrate how to use the number lines, lining up one coin with each
numeral. Support children to use the number lines, but recognize that not all
children will be ready to use it. Allow them to participate in a variety of
individual ways.
End5. Collect all baggies and extra coins
6. You may ask children, I wonder how many pennies we counted today, all
together? Invite their estimates. You might hear anything from 20 to 1
million children are still developing a sense of number! The correct answer
is not important, as long as they are thinking and wondering.
Community Helpers in the block area} Beginning1. Show children the pictures of local buildings: do they know what these are?
Who might work in each of these places in our neighborhood? Also show the
community helper figurines. What type of place do these people need to
work in? (Ex. The police officer needs a police station or a police car; the
doctor needs a doctors office.) Help children make connections between the
buildings in a neighborhood, and the type of people who work there.
2. I wonder if we could make some of these buildings in the pictures. Then
these people would have a place to work! How do you think we could make a
building like this? What do we need?
Middle-

3. Encourage children to re-create different neighborhood buildings (using the

pictures) or to make their own. Support childrens efforts by observing what
they are doing and making specific comments: I see that you are making a
building like the store in this picture. How will you make this tall, pointed
part?
4. Remind children about the community-helpers figures. Prompt them, if
needed, to see whether these can fit inside the buildings. How could we
make this big enough for the police officer (fire fighter, postal worker, etc.)?
5. Support and encourage any attempts at dramatic play.
6. Participate in the activity yourself by creating a piece of the neighborhood.
Model new possibilities and ask students for help. I am going to make a door.
I wonder what shape I should make my door?
End7. Give children a 5-minute warning for clean-up time.

Large Group Instruction:

Read the story, A Chair for My Mother. Have children connect the
neighborhood building to the buildings the story mentioned (Bank, Apartment
Building, Furniture Store, etc.)
o Do they see any of these buildings in their neighborhoods?
Point out the money the family is putting into the jar.
o Notice how the coins are exchanged for dollars.

Small Group:

Enrichment and Extensions:

Counting Coins} Spread out the rest of the coins where children can reach them.
Suggest that children make groups of 10 coins. Once you have 10, put them in a
baggie. I wonder how many bags we can fill? When children have filled 10 bags
individually or as a group that equals a dollar! (You can give each child a dollar in
play-money, if desired.)
Assessment:
Counting Coins}
Can children count accurately to 5? to 10?

 For those who cannot, do they use 1 -1 correspondence to match the pennies
to the number line?
Note whether children understand cardinality (that the last number said the
total number of objects)
Note whether children use any problem-solving (such as combining 2 coins
and 2 coins to make 4).
Do children compare quantities, using words such as more, fewer, and same?
Community Helpers in the Block Area}
Notice how children approach this task: do you see evidence of persistence,
purposefulness, creative thinking?
Do children understand and use vocabulary related to the different places
around the neighborhood (ex. Post office, park, grocery store, etc.)?

Social Studies

Big Ideas:
From exploring the storys in the book, the process to designing houses to building roads, the
children will stay engaged and focused and work at their own pace to construct their neighborhood.

Learning Outcomes:
From exploring the blueprint process to designing houses to building roads, the children stayed
engaged and focused and continued to each work at their own pace at what they found to be the most
interesting part of the process

Standards:
o

Children begin to understand and interpret their relationship and place within
their own environment.
Include representations of various physical features (e.g., roads, bodies
of water, buildings) in their play.
Children increase their understanding of the relationship between people and
their environment and begin to recognize the importance of taking care of
the resources in their environment
Can participate in improving their environment (e.g., pick up litter,
recycle, plant trees and flowers, conserve lights, water and paper).
Children increase their understanding about how basic economic concepts
relate to their lives.
Can talk about some of the workers and services in their community.
Can talk about some of the ways people earn a living.
Begin to understand that people pay for things with a representation of
money

Materials Needed:

Book: Trashy Town, I Stink

Building materials to make neighborhood scene
Crayons, Pencils, Markers
Glue
Large Construction Paper

Procedures:

Building a Neighborhood:
Children will take recycled material (milk cartons, bottle caps, etc.), small pictures of
neighborhood places, construction paper, glue, crayons/markers/pencils, and
whatever else material is warranted to form their own neighborhood scene.
Once each child has finished their project they will be displayed for parents to view.
Large Group Instruction:
Read book, Trashy Town (focus on different neighborhood places Mr. Gilly visits; the
job of a garbage collector)
Read book, I Stink (compare similarities between I Stink and Trashy Town)

Small Group:
1. Children found cardboard house shapes that they were invited to personalize any way they
wished.
2. A slit was cut in the bottom of each house shape so a small cardboard rectangle could be
placed inside the slits to help the houses stand on our large table later on.
3. Every house was unique in design and included many of the different parts that we had
pointed out during our circle time discussion.
4. Take completed house to the table that is covered with butcher paper and stand them up.
5. Children can use glue stick to tack black paper down for roads on the paper.

Enrichment and Extensions:

Go on a walk around the neighborhood. Point out and discuss the different buildings
we see. Make a correlation between Trashy Town, I Stink, and the neighborhood art
project.

Assessment:
Notice how the children approach the task: any evidence of persistence,
purposefulness, creative thinking? Do children understand and use vocabulary
related to the different places around the neighborhood?
Do childrens drawings or conversations reflect any of the concepts from this theme,
such as community places or jobs?

Science
(Taken from Childrenmusem.org)

Big Ideas:
Simple Machines are so simple a child can use them and understand them. Exploring them was a
perfect beginning point for our Preschool S.T.E.M. series of classes. Wheels, levers, screws, wedges,
pulleys and inclined planes are found throughout your house. When children begin to understand how
simple machines make their work easier to do, childs play grows into science, technology and
engineering.

Learning Outcomes:
Simple machines are so simple that we use them without considering their vital role
in the world. Students will learn to appreciate the help received from simple tools in
and around the community.

Standards:
o

Children show a beginning awareness of scientific knowledge related to living

and nonliving things.
Demonstrate a growing ability to collect, talk about, and record
information about living and non-living things (e.g., through
discussions, drawings).
Understand the way simple tools work through their play with common
toys (e.g., wheels, pulleys, gears, screws).

Materials Needed:

Book: A Chair for Mother

Heavy Boxes
Thick dowels
Wheels
Axle
Inclined plane

Procedures:

Large Group Instruction:

Read story, A Chair for Mother. Discuss the chair Mother Purchased and how they
moved it from the store to the house.

Small Group Instruction:

1. Have students try and lift heavy boxes without help and then together.
2. Have students try and slide heavy boxes along the floor.
3. Set the boxes on top of the think dowels, acting as rollers; the boxes should
roll smoothly along the surface.
4. Allow the children to explore building ramps, wheelies, levers, and pulleys to
practice moving heavy objects.
5. Discuss how tools help to make workloads easier, and how they are found
everywhere in the neighborhood.

Enrichment and Extensions:

Go outside and play on the playground. As children play on the dumpers and seesaws, relate these playground equipment to the activity conducted in small group.

Assessment:
Where students able to cooperate with one another while working together in a
group?
How did students use problem solving skills to solve problems?
Did students remain engaged in the activity by continuing to build different
machines, or did they just play with materials without a goal?

Technology

Big Ideas:

Shows appreciation for technology

Understanding geographic knowledge
Understanding how people live.

Learning Outcomes:
Children can easily see and understand that they live in a house in a neighborhood,
and that neighborhood is in a town or city.

Standards:
o
o

Children explore and use various types of technology tools

Follow simple directions to use computers and other technology tools.
Children can name various components of computer systems and use various
input devices.
Can name components (e.g., screen, printer, mouse, disks, CD,
keyboard).
Children work cooperatively with others while using technology tools.
Work cooperatively when other children are present at the computer.
Begin to state and follow rules for using the computer.

Materials Needed:
Computer
Whiteboard
Smartboard

Procedures:
Large Group Instruction:
When teaching young children with Google Earth, always start with where you are:
here is our school. (Make sure you click on the street level view by clicking on the
little person in the top right corner.) You can walk down the street at the street level
view and show them the neighborhoods near the school. Some children may see
their homes! From there, zoom out to show them the birds eye view of the city.
From there, you can either show them some familiar places around their town, or
zoom out again and show them the state.

Small Group:
-----Enrichment and Extensions:
------

Assessment:
Students show basic understanding of people and how they live.
Demonstrates simple geographic knowledge.
Demonstrates knowledge of Earths environment.

Art

(Adapted from: Acelero, Inc. -The Shine Curriculum)

Big Ideas:

Children will create sculptures using recycled materials. Making 3-dimensional

constructions allows children to represent their ideas in various ways and helps
children to understand spatial relationships.
Standards:
o

Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning
through experiences in the visual arts.
Can use their own ideas to draw, paint, mold, and build with a variety
of art materials (e.g., paint, clay, wood, materials from nature such as
leaves).
Begin to plan and carry out projects with increasing persistence.
Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning
through listening, participating in, and creating instrumental and vocal music
experiences.
Participate in musical activities (e.g., listening, singing, finger plays,
singing games, and simple performances) with others.

Learning Outcomes:
Visual art experiences include painting, drawing, making collages, modeling and
sculpting, building, making puppets, weaving and stitching, and printmaking.
Children benefit from working with many different kinds of materials and having
conversations about their artwork and the work of others (Bae, 2004; Colbert, 1997;
Johnson, 2008). The more they are able to experiment with various media and to
discuss different ways to use materials, the more children are able to express their
ideas through the visual arts (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2002). (Teaching
Strategies Gold)

Materials Needed:

Book: Dumpster Diver

Pocket Chart
Clean trash and recycle materials (saved by children from Sorting Recycling
activity donated by families or collected in the classroom.
Collage materials scrap paper, ribbon, cotton balls, etc.
Song Chart: The Wheels on the Bus
Crayons, Pencils, Markers
Glue, tape, staplers, scissors

Large Group Instruction:

1. Charted Song: Wheels on the Bus. Point to the pictures and words as we
read/sing song.
2. Read the story, Trashy Town
3. Talk about different areas in the neighborhood.

Small Group:
Procedures:
1. Remind children that one way to recycle materials is to re-use them for
something else. Encourage children to remember how the characters in
Dumpster Diver reused materials in that story.
2. Show children a few of the materials that are available to them. How do you
think we might reuse these materials? What can we make with them?
3. Put materials where children can reach them, including collage materials,
glue, etc.
4. As children work, circulate among the group, observing and commenting on
what children are doing. Model language related to spatial relationships and
shapes (next to, above, round, square, etc.)
5. Encourage creativity by referring children to each other: Eva is making a
really tall tower with those bottles. Miguel is making a long train with boxes.
6. Explain that at recycling center, this is how things are sorted by what
theyre made of.
7. Allow children to recycle material not needed and talk about the material
they may want to use and how they can use it.
8. Conclude and summarize the activity. You took things that were going to be
trash and sorted them to be re-used and recycled.

Enrichment and Extensions:

Turn Dramatic Play area into a community area (Doctors office, Dentist Office,
Grocery Store, etc.)
Assessment:
Do children understand and use new vocabulary such as glass, plastic, recycle?
What classification categories do they come up with, and how do they explain
these? Note which vocabulary words and concepts they seem more comfortable
with, and which they might need additional support with.

Family Involvement
To support your childs learning
(Neighborhood):
Explore you neighborhood! Go on a
scavenger hunt. Look for places youve
never seen before::hospital, fire
department, police station, post office.\
o This is the place you go when youre
sick.
o This is the people we call when there is
a fire.
o This is where are mail comes from
To support your childs learning (Jobs):
Talk about your job and what you do.
Explain it in simple words. Come into the
classroom and tell the class about your
job.
When driving around town point out
people doing their jobs.
o Construction Worker
o Crossing Guard
o Sanitation Worker
To support your childs learning (Trash &
Recycling):

Notice garbage trucks, trash cans and

recycling bins in your neighborhood.
Point out recycle symbols on cans or
bottles.