Level: Kindergarten
By: Tami Mabry & Dana Norman
Rationale
• The focus of our unit is on
community. We will learn
what makes a community,
what symbols are
important to America,
holidays celebrated by our
community, and important
jobs in our community.
• Knowledge of our
community is important
because it defines who we
are and helps us relate to
those around us. The
purpose is for students to
be able to identify what
makes a community, what
the different parts of a
community are, and why
they are important.
Celebrating Our
Community
Interdisciplinary
Web
-Class discussion about 4th of
July (2:B)
-Postcards to other
community schools.
-Clapping syllables in new
vocabulary words from class
discussion (6:B)
-Listen to stories read aloud
about holidays and community
leaders. (10:A)
Language
Arts
Math
-One to one
correspondence of
stars on a flag (K.1:A)
-Concrete addition &
subtraction (K.4:A)
-Picnic locations: over,
under, above, below
(K.7:A)
-Graph stars by color
(K.12:A)
-Paper collage of TX
flag, manipulative skills
with scissors (2:C)
-Cut & paste chronological
order (3:A)
-Create artwork with
marbles: fireworks (2:A)
-Identify geography
characteristics like the shape
of US & TX (5:A)
-Color the US & TX
Flags correctly (2:C)
-Explain your
community drawing (4:A)
Art
-Identify community jobs (7:A)
-Identify US & TX flags
(10:A)
Social Studies
Celebrating Our
Community
Health
-Safe vs. unsafe play
places for a parade (2:B)
-Plan a healthy picnic
(3:B)
-How to protect
yourself from the
environment for picnic,
water play, parade (7:A)
-Show respect for
community adults (8:B)
Science
-Celebrations in different
seasons (5:B)
-Heat causes change:
evaporation experiment (7:B)
-Living organisms depend on
one another (9:B)
-Exploding fireworks:
vinegar/baking soda
experiment
(TEKS skills noted in parenthesis)
Content-Process Matrix
(Bloom’s Taxonomy)
UNIT:
Celebrating
Our
Community
1. Why do we
celebrate the 4th of
July?
PROCESSES
Knowledge
Define 4th of July
as America’s
Birthday &
Independence Day,
and identify its
symbols.
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Evaluation
Give examples of
ways we celebrate
July 4th.
Draw a symbol of
July 4th.
Compare a regular
picnic with a 4th of
July picnic to
recognize the
meaning of the
holiday.
Compare artwork in
a small group
setting.
Compare the
specifics about the
job.
Create a drawing of
what a person
doing this job looks
like.
Give an opinion as
to which is your
favorite job, and
why it is important.
Rearrange menu to
include only
healthy food items.
Evaluate which
foods student liked
best.
2. What does your
community look
like?
Define our
community, and list
things in our
community.
Give example of
people, symbols,
and holidays in our
community.
Draw and color a
picture
demonstrating
something you
have done in your
community.
3. What are
important jobs in
your community ?
Define policeman,
fireman, teacher,
and doctor.
Explain how each
job helps the
community.
Demonstrate, by
dressing up, and
telling what your
job entails.
4. How do we
group and sort
different colored
stars?
Identify the
different colors of
stars.
Show a star of each
color.
Demonstrate
knowledge of
colors by grouping
like colors together
on a graph.
5. What foods do
we take on a
healthy picnic?
Remember our
previous lesson on
the 5 food groups.
Give examples of
food from each
good group.
Build a menu for a
holiday community
picnic and arrange
to have a picnic
during lunch time.
Compare and
contrast foods to
the food pyramid to
decide if they are
healthy or not.
Define evaporation.
Students give
examples of
evaporation during
group discussion.
Paint a picture of
fireworks using
water colors with
dissolved salt.
Report what
happened after the
paint dried.
6. How does heat
cause changes?
Synthesis
Which one of your
pieces of art is your
favorite?
Activity Sheet
Grade: Kindergarten
Interdisciplinary Unit: Celebrating Our Community
Team: Tami Mabry & Dana Norman
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Guiding Question for Language Arts
Why do we celebrate the 4th of July?
Objective:
1. The student will identify ways we celebrate the 4th of July; 2.Explain that the 4th of July is America’s birthday or Independence
Day
Procedures:
1.
Students will discuss as a class what they know
about the 4th of July. The teacher will write a list,
generated by the class, of symbols of the 4th of
July.
Materials/Resources:
-Book: Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeny by Leslie
Kimmelman
2.
The teacher reads Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney.
3.
Students discuss the book and compare the things
they learned to their list that is on the board.
4.
Discuss the meaning of July 4th,inlcuding
America’s birthday as Independence Day.
5.
Draw a picture of at least 2 symbols of July 4th.
Evaluation:
6.
Discuss as a class the difference between a regular
picnic and a 4th of July celebration in order to
recognize the importance of the holiday.
Students will demonstrate understanding of the
4th of July as America’s birthday and
Independence Day in class discussion. Students
will draw at least 2 symbols of the holiday.
-Paper
-Crayons
Activity Sheet
Grade: Kindergarten
Interdisciplinary Unit: Celebrating Our Community
Team: Tami Mabry & Dana Norman
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Guiding Question for Art
What does your community look like?
Objective:
1. The student will understand the meaning of a ‘our community’ ; 2. Create a picture of something the student
has done as part of their community; 3. The student will compare artwork and choose their favorite.
Procedures:
Materials/Resources:
-Book: Exploring Our World: Neighborhoods &
1.
Read aloud Exploring Our World: Neighborhoods &
Communities. In a group setting define ‘our
Communities by Kathleen Hollenback
community’.
-Pictures that represent the people, symbols,
2.
Give examples of people, symbols, and holiday
celebrations that are observed in our community.
Write them on the board, have pictures available
to place next to them.
3.
Have the student draw and color a picture
demonstrating something they have seen or done
in their community.
4.
In a small group, compare artwork by naming
the different activities that are represented.
5.
Have students choose their favorite activity that
is represented in their group.
and holidays
-Crayons
-Big paper
Evaluation:
Students will demonstrate their understanding of
community by their involvement in the class
discussion and drawing an appropriate
community activity.
Activity Sheet
Grade: Kindergarten
Interdisciplinary Unit: Celebrating Our Community
Team: Tami Mabry & Dana Norman
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Guiding Question for Social Studies
What are important jobs in our community?
Objective:
1.The student will identify jobs in our community; 2. Understand what a person in each job does; 3. Conduct
research on one job.
Procedures:
Materials/Resources:
1. Teacher discusses jobs and class makes a group list on the
board of jobs that they think are important. They will then
discuss what makes these jobs important to our community.
The teacher should make sure the list includes doctor,
policeman, fireman, librarian and teacher.
2. Students research these jobs using the web-quest provided.
3. Students choose one job during the web-quest to research and
report on.
4. The student will draw a picture of what a person in their job
looks like and write the name of the job on the paper if they are
able.
5. Students wear costumes of the chosen job and report to the
class what their job is and how it is important to the community.
6. Class discusses what jobs are their favorites and why. They
will compare and contrast the job in their discussion.
-Web-quest on community jobs
-Paper
-Markers or crayons
-Pencils
-Costumes including hats coats or other articles that
are worn by police, fireman etc.
Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on the drawing
and labeling of their community job. Teacher checks to
make sure that when they present their job they explain
why the job is important to the community. Students
must participate in each step of the web-quest, drawing,
and presentation along with class discussion.
Activity Sheet
Grade: Kindergarten
Interdisciplinary Unit: Celebrating Our Community
Team: Tami Mabry & Dana Norman
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Guiding Question for Math
How do we group and sort different color stars?
Objective:
1. The student will identify the different colors of the star stickers; 2. Group stars by color; 3. Stick stars on a
graph in like-color bars.
Procedures:
Materials/Resources:
1.
Discuss the different colors of stars that you
have.
-Bags of sticker stars of different colors for
each child and one for the teacher.
2.
Give each child a bag of star stickers.
3.
As they sit at their table, have them hold up the
correct color star when you call out the color.
-Paper with graph lines already on it (squares
big enough to place the sticker star in it).
4.
Have students put the stars into like-colored
groupings.
5.
The teacher will demonstrate how to place
stickers on the graph paper.
6.
Allow child to place their stickers on their graph
paper.
Evaluation:
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the
different colors by responding when asked to
hold up that color star. Students will also be
expected to complete their graph will 100%
accuracy.
Activity Sheet
Grade: Kindergarten
Interdisciplinary Unit: Celebrating Our Community
Team: Tami Mabry & Dana Norman
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Guiding Question for Health
What foods do we take on a healthy picnic?
Objective:
1. The student will give examples of foods from each food group; 2. Evaluate if the foods from a picnic are
healthy based on the food pyramid; 3. Create a healthy picnic menu; 4. Evaluate the foods to decide what foods
were their favorites.
Procedures:
Materials/Resources:
1.
Discuss and review the five food groups learned
in a previous lesson.
-Handout of the food pyramid (used in
previous lesson).
2.
Have students give examples of each food group.
3.
Build a holiday picnic menu as a class. Arrange
for the class to have the picnic during lunch time.
-picnic supplies and foods provided by parent
volunteers
4.
Compare and Contrast the foods from the picnic
with the food pyramid to determine if they are
healthy or not.
5.
Create a new menu based on the first menu
including only healthy foods.
6.
Discuss which foods the class liked best.
Evaluation:
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the food
pyramid. The students will show that they
understand qualities of healthy foods when
evaluating the menus. Students must participate
in creating and evaluating the menus as a class.
Activity Sheet
Grade: Kindergarten
Interdisciplinary Unit: Celebrating Our Community
Team: Tami Mabry & Dana Norman
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Guiding Question for Science
How does heat cause change?
Objective:
1. The student will understand and give examples of evaporation; 2. Paint a picture using saltwater paints;
3. Recognize that salt is left over after saltwater evaporates.
Materials/Resources:
Procedures:
-The Magic School Bus Wet All Over; by Pat
1.
Read book: The Magic School Bus Wet All Over by
Relf
Pat Relf.
-Paints: in small cups dissolve salt into warm
water, add a little bit of paint to make water
2.
Have a large-group discussion about evaporation,
color paints
allowing children to give examples and explain
-Large paper
their understanding.
-Paint Brushes
3.
Have children paint a picture of fireworks using
-Drying line/area
saltwater paints. The teacher will stir paints
Science experiment plan from
occasionally to ensure the salt stays dissolved.
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/physical2.html
4.
5.
Hang to dry – allowing water to evaporate off of
the paper. Discuss this step with students.
After all are dry have students notice the shining
salt left on the paper, asking them where it came
from.
Evaluation:
Students will demonstrate knowledge of
evaporation by responding in group time with
their own examples. Students will also be
expected to create a painting as an end product.
Resources
CanTeach. Evaporation Painting. Downloaded from
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/physical2.html
Hollenback, K. (1997). Exploring our world: Neighborhoods and
communities. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Kimmelman, L. (2003). Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney. Morton
Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman & Company.
Relf, P. (1996). The magic school bus wet all over: A book about the
water cycle. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Richardson ISD. School locator Map. Downloaded from
http://www.richardson.k12.tx.us/Global/Maps/LocatorMap.pdf
U.S. Government ( 1999). Your Neighborhood. Downloaded from
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/k-2/neighborhood/index.html.
Ward, N. (1998). Don’t eat the teacher. London, United Kingdom:
Scholastic UK.