1. Topic-
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Social Studies
English/Language Arts |
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2. Content-
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ELA: Humphrey the Lost Whale; Brainstorming; Nonfiction Literature;
response to text/others
PHIL: Common Good; Community; Cooperate; Helping;Neighborhood
SOC: Citizenship/Civic Engagement; Common Good; Communities; Natural
Characteristics of place; School Community |
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3. Goals: Aims/Outcomes-
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1.Define Community and Neighborhood.
2.Respond to an example of a community in literature.
3.Recognize that communities form when people work together for a
common purpose
4. List places that help or give service in the community. |
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4. Objectives-
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| Standard 1-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of how
individuals, families, and communities live and work together in America
and around the world. |
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5. Materials and Aids-
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1. A pail of water
2. Construction Paper
3. Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story, by Wendy Tokuda |
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6. Procedures/Methods-
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A. Introduction-
Show the pail of water to the class. Ask students what could fit
in the pail. Ask the students if a fish could fit in the pail. If
so, how big a fish could this pail hold? What happens when you put
a big fish in this little pail? (It will die because there is not
enough room or water for the fish to survive.)
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B. Development-
1. Introduce the story entitled: Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True
Story, by Wendy Tokuda. Tell the students to imagine that the pail
is a freshwater river. Tell them a synopsis of the story: In this
true story, a whale named Humphrey swam into the San Francisco Bay
of the Pacific Ocean, and then swam into a freshwater river. The whale
could not survive in the confined freshwater, nor could it turn around
in the river to get back to the ocean. A community of people came
together to help get the whale back into the Pacific Ocean.
2.Write the words neighborhood and community on the chalkboard. Let
the students define the terms in their own words. Make sure they include
that a neighborhood is a place where people live, work and play and
a community is a place that has many different neighborhoods. |
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C. Practice-
1. Read the story aloud to the children.
2. After the story, talk about how the people came together for a
common purpose. They formed a community of people who cared about
helping this whale"�people from the neighborhoods, scientists and
whale watchers, people with many different talents. They worked together
and grew to care for each other, too. Redefine a community as: a group
of people who come together for a common purpose. They do not need
to live near each other. Challenge the students to think of other
communities of people who work together for a common purpose (families,
classes, faith organizations, sports teams, hunger-awareness groups,
environmental organizations, animal-rights groups, etc.). Tell the
students that a person can be a member of many different communities
at the same time. Ask them to name the communities to which they belong.
3. Conclude that people often help each other in a community or work
together for the common good of the community. Challenge students
to think of ways they could help their community (class, school, neighborhood)
in preparation for the service project. List these on a chart. |
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D. Independent Practice-
1. Each student traces one hand onto construction paper using a
pencil.
2. On each finger of the traced hand, the students write or draw a
way they can help a community to which they belong. Some examples
include playing with a lonely classmate on the playground, cleaning
up the classroom, volunteering to help in the school lunchroom, cleaning
up trash in their neighborhood, reading to a younger sibling, etc.
They may refer to the ideas already listed on the chart.
3. Have students use scissors to cut out their construction paper
hand. Have students share their finished products. Hang the hands
up on the bulletin board in a circle (with fingers pointing out).
Write "Community"� in the center of the circle. |
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E. Accommodations (Differentiated Instruction)-
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F. Checking for understanding-
| This will be completed with the closing activity listed below. |
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G. Closure-
| The closure would be an open discussion of the communities that
we all belong to. |
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7. Evaluation-
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| THE NEXT DAY: Review the concepts of neighborhoods and communities.
Ask the students to come to the front of the class and tell the class
what communities they are associated with. |
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