Helpers in Our Community

Students will be working individually on this project.

The only materials needed for this project is access to a computer with PowerPoint presentation software and internet.

1. Day One: The teacher will introduce community helpers. Who is a community helper? Make a list of the students' comments on the board. Ask: What is a community helper? (Someone in the community who helps others by providing a service of some kind.)

2. Discuss teachers and their jobs. (They help us learn the things that will make us successful in the world.) Have students play "teacher for a minute" and allow them to lead the class as if they were the teacher. 

3. Hide several medical supplies (tongue depressors, cotton swabs, bandages, stethoscope, etc.) around the room before the lesson begins. Discuss what doctors do and how they help us. (They help take care us when we are sick and give us medicine to make us feel better.) Have a "doctor scavenger hunt" by allowing students to find the hidden medical supplies. Then discuss how the doctor uses these supplies to help others. 

4. Discuss fire fighters and their jobs. (They help put out fires and also help take care of people in emergencies.) Have students discuss fire safety such as "stop, drop, and roll", crawling under smoke, and having a family meeting place outside the home if the house caught on fire. 

5. Discuss veterinarians and their jobs. (They help take care of our sick animals.) Make a list of pets owned by students in the class and complete a graph comparing the numbers of dogs, cats, etc. As different kinds of pets are mentioned, discuss how the veterinarian helps this pet. 

6. Discuss police officers and their jobs. (They help keep our community safe.) Have students work together to come up with laws for the classroom, and then have students role play different scenarios as police officers and citizens. 

Have students look back at the different community helpers listed on the board on Day One. Allow the children to brain storm a list of more community helpers within the neighborhood. Have students pick three community helpers to present information on. Then, they will choose their  favorite community helper and write a sentence telling why this helper is important. They are also to find picture on the web of their favorite helper in action.