Community Helpers

In my experience working with younger grades over the past eight years, we have always started our year with Community Helpers. It got me thinking, "If I am doing this every year, then others must be also, even on a review level. So how can I make Community Helpers unit more intriguing for the students if they learn/review it yearly preschool-first grade?"

 I decided to make it more interactive for them and let them use their own knowledge of the subject to learn through play.

The ultimate goal of teaching Community Helpers is to have the students understand what a community is and why these people help the community run.

I started with a plain white display board and took out my trusty ruler to add "streets" and "driveways"  in the middle section of the board.

I searched the internet for pictures of where community helpers worked. Printed them out, cut and glued them on to our "community." I used two velcro dots next to each building so that the person had a place to stand as well as their corresponding vehicle.


Earlier, I also found community helper people and matching vehicles on the internet that had some consistency in how they looked. I printed them out, cut and laminated each one individually so I can hopefully keep this board for years to come. On the back of each community helper, I placed a velcro dot so that the students can easily grab, move, and play with the community helpers within our little paper community. I kept all this to one side of the display board.

Now having completed the left and the middle of my display board, I contemplated what to do with the final side flap. It is not only important for students to know who is working in the community but where and what is their community? I decided to add (from general to specific) information about just where OUR community is located. 

Through my experience, I have found that the more opportunities presented to students to be interactive with their own learning, the better they understand and comprehend what a teacher is trying to communicate. My students ask to play with this board, months after we have finished the unit because it is something that is tangible for them in our crazy city.

Total out of pocket cost: less than $10
 (lamination and velcro are majority of expense)

I will preserve and utilize this piece of equipment for as long as mother nature and my curious kindergartners will allow!