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Community Helpers: New Literacies Curriculum Project
Community Helpers: New Literacies Curriculum Project
Grade: Preschool
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Overview: Topic, Big Ideas, and Concept
Topic/Concept:
Students will learn about who community helpers are. They will also learn about
how different people in our community can help us in different ways. Students will learn
about various community helpers such as police officers, doctors, firefighters,
construction workers, and mail carriers.
Throughout this new literacies curriculum unit, students will participate in a
variety of hands-on learning experiences that involves multiple modalities, text, and
media forms in order to learn about different community helpers. Some of these
activities include read alouds, arts and crafts, videos, music, games (science, math, and
literacy), one-on-one apps, fine motor and gross motor activities, and centers such as
dramatic play, sensory table, and blocks.
Big Ideas:
1. Who are community helpers?
2. What are different types of community helpers?
3. How do different community helpers help us?
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Overview: Standards and Objectives
Hawaii Early Learning and Development Standards (HELDS):
Age: 48 months - Kindergarten Entry
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Overview: Rationale
Students in preschool are naturally curious about the world around them. They
can expand their knowledge beyond their own homes and classrooms to a larger
community with this new literacies curriculum unit. By learning about community
helpers, students can understand the importance of a community and how people work
together. They will learn about the different people in their community, what they do, and
how they can help others. Furthermore, students can also begin to explore what types
of jobs and/or careers they want to have when they grow up.
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Timeline
Date Lesson
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Lesson 1: Introduction & Police Officers
Introduction
- Show a poster of community helpers
- Ask students if they can identify some of the jobs these people do (encourage students
to make connections to jobs their parents do)
- Explain that these people are called Community Helpers
Craft
- Police Officers: Fingerprints
- Trace each childs hand on a sheet of paper. Children color
heavily with a pencil on an index card to make a layer of
graphite; they rub a fingertip on the graphite; stick clear tape
on that fingertip and press; pull the tape off and stick to the
finger on the hand outline. After, look at the fingerprints with a
magnifying glass, and talk about ways police detectives use
fingerprints.
- Badges
- In advance, cut out badge shapes from manilla folders (one
for each child); provide aluminum foil, beads, markers, glue and safety pins. The
children decorate their badges and then you pin them to their clothing.
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Activities
- Traffic Light Dance
- Just like "freeze dance", but instead of turning the music off to freeze, the children
looked at my signs that read, Go, Slow, and Stop.
Centers: Blocks
- Add people, trucks, cars and emergency vehicles to the block area to encourage
students making their own cities or towns
Read Aloud
- In My Neighborhood: Police Officers by Paulette Bourgeois
- Police: Hurrying! Helping! Saving! By Patricia Hubbell
- Lets Meet a Police Officer by Gina Bellisario
One-on-One
- App Community Helper Play & Learn by Paper Boat Apps
- App Community Helpers by TinyApps
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Lesson 2: Doctors
Introduction
- Show a poster of community helpers and review definition
- Refer to police circle map and ask students to share some things they learned about
policemen
- Sing Community Helpers Good Morning Song (Police)
Poem
- Doctor Foster Nursery Rhyme
Activity
- Stethoscope (Science)
- Use a paper cup with the bottom cut out. Children press the big end of the cup to the
heart area of a friends chest, and press an ear against the small end. (Works best if
you dont hold onto the cup.)
Craft
- Doctors Kit
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- Together identify each doctor item and talk about how doctors use it to help people.
Have students ask for items with sentence phrase ____________ please. Have
student glue items in paper case.
Centers: Blocks
- Add people, trucks, cars and emergency vehicles to the block area to encourage
students making their own cities or towns
Read Aloud
- We Need Doctors by Lola Schaefer
- Froggy Goes to the Doctor by Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz
- Doctor Ted by Andrea Beaty
Other Videos
- Doc McStuffins: Time For your Check Up Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=sDFnuEgrB48
- Baby Doctor Newborn Check Up Dr Sandraw McStuffins & Daughter Ava Real Scale +
Hospital Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1NTs9dhZ3s
One-on-One
- App Caillou Check Up: Doctors Visit
- App Community Helper Play & Learn by Paper Boat Apps
- App Community Helpers by TinyApps
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Lesson 3: Firefighters
Introduction
- Show a poster of community helpers and review definition
- Refer to police and doctor circle maps and ask students to share some things they
learned about each one
- Sing Community Helpers Good Morning Song (Police and Doctor)
Activities
- Stop, Drop & Roll (Safety, Large Motor)
- Paint red flames onto an adult size (Large or X-Large) white
T-shirt. Choose a child to put on the T-shirt over their clothing
and have the child practice stop, drop, and roll. When they
have gotten the pretend flames out, they take off the shirt to
show that the flames are gone. Make sure each child has a
turn.
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Centers: Dramatic Play
- Fire hats, black boots, oxygen tanks (made from 2 liter bottles), raincoat, short pieces of
hose, hand bell, first aid kit, etc.
Centers: Sensory
- Make little flames out of fun foam and write numbers on them. Add a little water to your
sensory table so they float and give the children a spray bottle with water in it. The
children can squirt the " flame" the number of times the number says, or squirt them in
numerical order.
Centers: Blocks
- Add people, trucks, cars and emergency vehicles to the block area to encourage
students making their own cities or towns
Read Aloud
- A Day with Firefighters by Jan Kottke
- Lets Meet a Firefighter by Gina Bellisario
- Curious George and the Firefighters by H. A. Rey and Anna Hines
One-on-One
- App 3D Fire Fighter Game For Kids by Internet Design Zone
- App Community Helper Play & Learn by Paper Boat Apps
- App Community Helpers by TinyApps
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Lesson 4: Construction Workers
Introduction
- Show a poster of community helpers and review definition
- Refer to police, doctor, and firefighter circle maps and ask students to share some
things they learned about each one
- Sing Community Helpers Good Morning Song (Police, Doctor, and Firefighter)
Activities
- Play Dough Construction (Fine Motor Skills)
- Add wooden craft sticks to the play dough for children to construct houses and other
buildings.
Crafts
- Tool Belt
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- Have students name and cut out shapes. Students can then practice writing their
names on their new tool belt.
- Painting with Tools
- Dip some (safe) tools in paint and students explore the patterns they can create.
Centers: Sensory
- Fill sensory bin with corn dry corn, shovels, and construction vehicles.
Centers: Blocks
- Add people, trucks, cars and emergency vehicles to the block area to encourage
students making their own cities or towns
Read Aloud
- Community Helpers: Construction Workers by Cari Meister
- The Construction Crew by Lynn Meltzer
- Pete the Cat: Construction Destruction by James Dean
One-on-One
- App Kids Vehicles: Construction by Polish Jokes Entertainment
- App Community Helper Play & Learn by Paper Boat Apps
- App Community Helpers by TinyApps
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Lesson 5: Mail Carriers
Introduction
- Show a poster of community helpers and review definition
- Refer to police, doctor, firefighter, and construction worker circle maps and ask students
to share some things they learned about each one
- Sing Community Helpers Good Morning Song (Police, Doctor, Firefighter, and
Construction Worker)
Activities
- Mailbox Sorting Activity (Literacy)
- Write "ABC" on one mailbox to designate it as the
Letter Mailbox and "123" on the other for the Number
Mailbox. Make index cards with each letter of the
alphabet and numbers 1 through 10. Scatter all of the
cards face up on the floor and have the students take
turns picking a card, calling out the letter/number on
the card, and placing it in the correct mailbox.
- The Hop-Pop Game (Gross Motor)
- Tape bubble wrap to the floor. Tell the children they
will be given instructions on how to get from one end of their bubble wrap
to the other. (Tape very long strips of bubble wrap in the room. Have 2
children use each strip--one starting from one end of the bubbles and the
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other child starting from the opposite end). (ex. Hop 2 times forward, run
3 times, walk like a spider (or crab!), slither like a snake, etc.)
Crafts
- Cardboard Canvas
- Rather than painting on paper at the easel, try provided cut out pieces of old boxes, that
the children have helped cut or rip.
- My Name Mailbag
- Provide paper mailbags by stapling 2 pieces of construction paper together (leaving one
end not stapled for an opening) and hole punch the two upper corners. Lace yarn or
string through the bags for shoulder handles. The children print their name on a bag.
They can write letters or draw pictures for their friends and place them in their own
bags. When done, they go around the room and deliver the letters to their friends.
Centers: Sensory
- Fill sensory bin with packing peanuts and various mail carrier items for students to find.
Centers: Blocks
- Build a New Post Office
- If possible, take pictures of your local Post Office. Also, show pictures of them from
magazines, posters, etc. Provide wooden unit blocks to build the post office. Provide toy
trucks and cars (and mail trucks, too!)
- Add people, trucks, cars and emergency vehicles to the block area to encourage
students making their own cities or towns
Song
- Five Little Letters
Read Aloud
- Mail Carriers at Work by Karen Latchana Kenney
- One Wind Day by Tammi Salzano
- Bunny Mail by Rosemary Wells
One-on-One
- App Community Helper Play & Learn by Paper Boat Apps
- App Community Helpers by TinyApps
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Assessments
We will use the following general assessment strategies, performance tasks, and
tools to assess our students learning throughout this unit about community helpers.
Identify one or two workers Student was able to Student was not able to
and their jobs in the identify one or two workers identify any workers and
community and their jobs in the their jobs in the community
community
Try new activities and Student tried new activities Student did not try new
experiences independently and experiences activities and experiences
independently independently
HELDS Standard: Identify one or two workers and their jobs in the community.
__ Identifies one worker
__ Identifies two workers
__ Identifies one worker and his/her job
__ Identifies two workers and their jobs
Notes:
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Materials
Lesson 1: Instruction & Police
Prepared Items Poster of community helpers
Mystery bag (with police items)
Police puppet
Empty Circle Map Poster
Community Helpers Good Morning Song poster
Traffic Light Dance signs
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Lesson 2: Doctors
Prepared Items Poster of community helpers
Mystery bag (with doctor items)
Doctor puppet
Empty Circle Map Poster
Community Helpers Good Morning Song poster
Doctor Foster Nursery Rhyme Poster
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Lesson 3: Firefighters
Prepared Items Poster of community helpers
Mystery bag (with firefighter items)
Firefighter puppet
Empty Circle Map Poster
Community Helpers Good Morning Song poster
Firefighter Song Poster
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Lesson 4: Construction Workers
Prepared Items Poster of community helpers
Mystery bag (with construction worker items)
Construction worker puppet
Empty Circle Map Poster
Community Helpers Good Morning Song poster
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Lesson 5: Mail Carriers
Prepared Items Poster of community helpers
Mystery bag (with mail carrier items)
Mail carrier puppet
Empty Circle Map Poster
Community Helpers Good Morning Song poster
ABC and/or 123 mailbox
Five Little Letters Poster
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Resources
Childrens Literature
In My Neighborhood: Police Officers by Paulette Bourgeois
Find out how police officers investigate a crime by looking at a day in the life of
police officers.
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Educational Apps for Kids
The following educational apps can help enrich students learning experiences with fun
mini games. These interactive and engaging apps can help to help boost students
knowledge about various community helpers throughout this unit.
Videos
The Policeman Song - The Workers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpobmsOQakE
Policeman Ben sings about the important duties police officers do in our
community.
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