Community Unit for Kindergarten

[eight_gregorys]

I just wanted thoughts on this unit I'm putting together. I found a really awesome craft book to use so I'm super excited. Any suggestions for what I have so far?

Blessings,

Andrea

 

http://springlakechristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/community_unit.pdf

 

Edited April 4, 2009 by eight_gregorys

[gardening momma]

Looks pretty good. You have 2 week 1's. Is that on purpose, or was it supposed to be week 2?

 

For dd and myself, I don't quite get that formal when it comes to learning about maps, community, etc... I just come up with a topic (maps, world, earth) and request a bunch of related books from the library. Then we read them, hopefully several times each. Then I come up with another subject (maybe a specific country) and request those books from the library, and so on. I keep a wish list at my library's website, so I can do all my research when the kids are in bed or playing, then request the books later.

 

We did FIAR for a while (that's what made me realize what a good book was, as opposed to twaddle), and usually, rather than doing the related crafts, I'd pick a bunch of related books from the library (we love picture books, can you tell?). Like when we did The Story of Ping, I decided that the books we got would have the common theme of "China". I could have picked "rivers" or "boats" or "ducks". When we did Lentil, our common theme was patriotism, and that lead to maps and the world/earth.

[Chris in VA]

We've done Community Helpers for years in preschool (easily adapted to K).

Some of our ideas--

 

We made a community map out of a very large sheet of paper (bulletin board paper works well), drawing in roads and buildings, labeling the necessary buildings.

 

We made a town by cutting out classified ads (strips, using the lines) and taping them down on the table, then using small cereal/food boxes covered in paper and labeled (all labeling is done by the kids--spelling doesn't count). Pull out the match box cars and go to town, literally! lol

 

Mail Carriers

Easy to teach K's their addresses in this context. See if you can take a tour of the post office-it really is fun. You can use envelopes in all kinds of ways--using the theme to teach skills in other areas. 2 ideas: Practice math facts by writing an equation on the "letter" and the answer on the envelope. Sequence envelopes by the (pretend) zip code--only make the zip code just one or two numbers long. Sort old stamps by some attribute--let child come up with the idea (collect them from your junk mail or other mail for a couple of weeks so you have a nice pile--you can sort by those that have numbers, different colors, those with people vs those with objects, etc.).

 

Firefighters/Police--

Fire experiment--Light a candle, then put it under a jar. Shows fire needs oxygen to burn. Teach stop/drop/roll at the same time.

Get a large box and paint it fire colors--cut flames out of paper to add realism. Use small pieces of tubing or garden hose to dramatize firefighters at work. So often we leave out dramatic play for K'ers; it really does add to the fun, and they get to try out the vocabulary from the books they've been read to for content.

 

Don't forget other Community Helpers--

Garbage Collectors--you can visit a recycling center, start a counter compost bin, bury a styrofoam cup and see what it looks like after a week, make a wormery. Talk about what would happen in the trash folks didn't come.

 

Hairdressers-- my fav. Style their hair with gel! lol YOu can put oil on their hands and rinse it with water, then wash it with shampoo and note the difference.

 

Look online for tons of fingerplays, etc for Community Helpers. K is a great age to do these. You can even make it a language experience by writing out the words, line by line, then cutting the lines apart to read them.

 

More than you asked for.