Ashley Goff

EDU/HUS 325
Social Studies Activity Project
Community
April 3rd, 2014
Age group- 4 - 5
Subject area Social Studies & Geography
Camden Public Library Story-Hour

The Outcomes:
At the end of the story hour, students will better understand the idea of both
geography and community. With posters and asking questions, students will understand
that when we learn about geography we learn about where place are. We learn where our
community is through geography. Afterwards, we introduce the idea of community
through a short story, followed up with an activity where each student goes up to the
board and tallies off next to the town name they live in. The second activity is an arts and
crafts project where students draw and write out what their families look like and along
with spelling out the name of their town. The teacher will assist the students in
indentifying on the map exactly where their community is. The best example of what a
community is, is that when people join together, just like the students during the story
hour, they create a community.
1) Students should understand what geography means. They will learn that
when learning about geography, we learn about where a place is in the world.
Living on the coast of the ocean is a part of geography. The students will learn
where Maine is on a map of the U.S, then, more specifically, that there are 16
counties that make up the state of Maine.
2) The students should understand that inside each state there are many
counties, and that where we are now is Knox County. (Can adapt if there
are students from out of Knox). Also that there are 18 towns in Knox, 4 of
which are island communities. Thus, those towns create a smaller community
that includes everyone who lives in those towns. And have a general idea of
where Knox is on the map of Maine (on the coast).
 3) Students will be able to say what places and people make up a
community. In the book we read, they name off some extremely common
places, like a bakery, fire station, market, school etc. When reading the story
we can pause and they can identify the name of those places in our
community.
4) Students will be able to identify by name the town they live in. With help
from their parents, the students will go up to the front of the class, one by one,
and mark next to the community/town they live in.
5) Students will be able to draw their families and most importantly spell
out the town they live in. The students have most likely drawn out their
families before, but spelling out the name of the town and connecting that
with thats where my family lives is really important. That town is the name
of their community!
Activities:
Pre-lesson
What the teacher needs:
- Book on Community
- A geography board which contains a map of the world, the U.S, and
Maine with the counties outlined.
- An enlarged picture of Knox County with the towns outlined and
labeled.

Teacher activity - Ask the students what they think the word community
means. Suggesting that community is like a neighborhood if they do not understand the
word. In the textbook, Social Studies Excursions, K-3 by Janet Alleman & Jere Brophy,
they suggest the KWL technique for when we want to know the students prior
knowledge about a subject we are about to teach. by initially questioning students to
determine what they know and what they want to find out, then later revisiting their
answers and recording what they learned (Alleman, 33-36). I will always lean towards a
student-centered learning style. I feel with a student-centered curriculum, the students get
to be more in control of their education and they then have more freedom to express
themselves. I think the KWL technique lets the teacher fully understand what the students
already know, most importantly what they want to know, in this lesson for example, more
about their community, and at the end we will wrap up what they learned.
Student activities The teacher needs to connect that communities are
everywhere, and we can see where they are through looking at maps in which is the first
step in learning geography. We start off by using the geography board sounding out
geography and having them say it out loud. Going from biggest to smallest, point to the
pictures of the Earth next to a map of the United States next to Maine with all of the
counties outlined. I will ask the students where they think Knox County is, following up
with showing a list of the different towns in Knox. 18 different towns in total, meaning
18 different communities! I will also have an enlarged drawing of Knox County with
each town outlined so they understand where their town is. Looking similar to the map of
the U.S. and how its made up of different parts, they will be able to visually understand
how their county is made up of different parts and that those are towns. Doing this allows
me to incorporate the State of Maine Early Learning Guideline, Demonstrates interest in
simple maps and other visuals to describe geographic location, direction, distance, size
and shape (Maine Department of Education, 50). The students will learn outcomes - 1
&2.

Teacher Activity Read Only One Neighborhood by Marc Harshman & Barbara
Garrison. The book shows different places that make up a neighborhood. The first two
pages read, There may be only one neighborhood, but there is so much in it. There may
be only one bakery, but there are many kinds of bread (Harshman, 1-2). I chose this
book because it was simple enough for the age group I will be working with. The pictures
are really great, and can ask simple questions through out the story. For example: when
the story mentions a toy store, I will ask what is the name of the toy store that is in town?
Theres only one toy store in Camden, and its called Planet Toys. Being able to connect
this story to their lives will make the topic more relatable and easier to understand.
Parents will be with their children through out the story hour so they can help out.
Reading this book will incorporate one of the many State of Maine Early Learning
Guidelines for Social Studies: Only One Neighborhood will touch base with the
guideline, Develops understanding of self as part of a family, group, community, and
culture (Maine Department of Education, 50). The students will learn outcome - 3.

First Activity Sharing with the class where we live.

What the teacher needs:
- A board with all the towns of Knox listed with enough space so that
the students can mark next to them.
- Markers
The students now have learned where on a map they live and what makes up their
community. Now its time for them to see just how many students live in their own
community with their families!
Student activity One by one the students announce to the group what town they
live in, go up to the board and mark a tally next to that name. In case there are students
outside of Knox County, the teacher needs to make up extra blank town cards, or just
leave room on the board. The students then get to see the name of the town they live in
written out, and then see where it is on the map of Knox County and the State of Maine.
After all of the students have gone up, we will be able to count how many students live in
each town. The teacher can ask different questions like, how many students live in this
town? Does anyone know someone who lives in this town? Connecting all of the things
they have learned about in the pre-lesson and this activity, they can use that knowledge in
the second activity. The students will learn student outcome - 4.

Second activity Drawing up our community of students.

What the students will need:
- Paper for each student
- Drawing tools
The students are asked to draw out their families, but most importantly,
spell out the name of the town they live in. The students are free to draw other things too,
it really depends on what the students says is important to their family. To include
writing, I want them to write their name, town, county and state along the top of the
picture. Parents will be with the children to help with spelling, but I will have every town
posted at the front of the room next to the big map of Maine. In this activity the students
Demonstrates a beginning understanding family/non-family (Maine Department of
Education, 50). After everyone is done, making sure at least that the students have written
their town and name at the top of the drawing, go around the room and have each student
talk about which town they live in (again) and what they learned today. Stating what
makes up their family, where they live and anything else they learned. In the book,
Spotlight on Young Children and Social Studies, the authors stated, The children were
connecting what they learned with their own lives through print and pictures, which is an
important step in learning to read (Koralek, 40). The students will express student
outcome 5.

Works Cited

Alleman, Janet, Jere E. Brophy, and Barbara Knighton. "Unit 1 Food." Social Studies
Excursions, K-3. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2001. 33-36. Print.

Harshman, Marc, and Barbara Garrison. Only One Neighborhood. New York: Dutton
Children's, 2007. 1-2. Print.

Koralek, Derry Gosselin., and Gayle Mindes. "Social Studies: Learning about the
World around Us." Spotlight on Young Children and Social Studies.
Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children,
2006. 40. Print.

Maine Department of Education, and Maine Department of Health and Human

Services. State of Maine Early Childhood Learning Guidelines. Augusta, Maine:
n.p., Sept. 2005. PDF.
 Summary
This was my first time being at the front of the room, let alone going through with
a lesson plan that I created on my own. I honestly believe that the activities went
successfully. I was concerned that the topic would be a little hard to fully grasp, but I was
blown away by what they already understood to be community and geography.

The first question I asked was, does anyone know what community means? The
children immediately said that it was, the world, people, ground, dirt, and houses! I told
them they were all correct because we need those things to make up a community. When
I explained that a community is when a bunch of people come together, working,
learning, living and playing, just like how they all came together that day to learn, that
was the ah-ha moment. They were in their own community and they didnt even know
it! I think this part went really well since they were excited to learn about where their
community was on the maps.

Connecting community to geography was a the next step. I explained that when
we learn about communities, we learn about where they are. When we learn about where
places are, we are learning about geography. Geography was a word that none of the
students immediately had a reaction to. Yet since there were pictures of Earth and the US
and Maine they visually understood it meant learning about the world. They did not
recognize the word at first but enjoyed saying the word out loud. If there was a next time,
and in a bigger space with more than an hour, I would really go into how the world is
made up of many parts, big and small. I touched base on that, tried to connect how the
U.S. is made up of states and how Maine is made up of counties. Every big thing is made
up of little parts, and that the same goes for a community. I would definitely go into that
concept deeper and make sure that that point was understood completely. The students
shook their head when I said that every big thing is made up of little pieces. They
recognized that the U.S. is made up of many states, but it was new to them that the state
of Maine is made up of parts as well. They loved the drawing of their county, I pointed
out different towns and they were extremely interested in seeing where they lived on the
map.

If I could go back, I would not have spent so much time on the book, only
because I only had one hour. We were all just having so much fun saying things we know
or like about each page. I am glad I did pause on each page to say things like, what toy
store is in town? Half of the children immediately said Planet Toys. Along with pizza
places, and for the market they said Hannaford. I definitely would say doing that
connected the fact that places like that are in every community including their own
community too. If I had more time I would have done the exact same, but since we didnt
I would have liked to have more time for the two activities.

The first activity was a lot of fun to watch. The children were so proud when they
already knew what town they lived in. They stood up and announced loud and clear
where they lived. Some even said what road they lived on. One by one the students went
up to the board and marked a line or squiggle next to the name of the town they live in.
The children connected what they saw on the blown up picture of Knox County. They
loved looking at the map, even though they couldnt read the names of the towns,
pointing to the areas colored in certain colors, I said out loud the names of the towns and
the children were saying thats where I live!

If there had been more time, I would have had the students get up and move
around into their own towns with the other students, to create their own town
communities. There was a student that was from Waldoboro so I made sure to write the
town down on the board and make certain to have him not feel left out. I focused on
Knox County because thats where we were at the time of the story hour.
 I think what went really well was when we got to count how many students live in
each town, students were able to discover other students that live in their own community
too. I went back to what we learned in the book, asking the students, What places do we
remember from being in the book? Are they in all of our communities? They were
exclaiming how they have been to the fire station, been to the market and so on.
Referring back to the quote from Spotlight on Young Children and Social Studies, seeing
pictures and the towns really helps with learning to read and write. Thats why in the
second activity I really wanted to include writing. Learning about whats in our town is
important, but to be able to confidently say, this is where I live, is a really important
part of social studies. The students definitely understood why learning about social
studies is important, because they then get to learn about where they live!

In the second activity, they drew and wrote which was so inspiring to watch. The
woman who usually does the story hour, Amy Hand, drew out her family and wrote the
town that she lives in at the top for a great example of what the students needed to
accomplish. I personally think having an example for what the student has to do is really
vital especially when drawing and writing. The students then get to learn about the
teacher, someone who they all look up to.

Walking around the room, watching all the children begin to draw their families
was amazing. The age group being 4 through 5 was interesting to see where exactly they
were at, skill level-wise, both writing and drawing. In the pictures that I will attach with
the report, you can see that some of the children can draw actual features of the people in
their family, some just legs and arms. Some did not need much help spelling out their
names or the names of their towns. There was one boy who asked me to help him write
out Rockport. I dotted out the R, then continued with saying o which I was letting
him do all on his own since its a simpler letter. He was confused to why it was an o
rather than an a, since Rock has that softer o sound. His name was Dominic so I
compared to how his name has that same sound in the beginning, but he spells it with an
o instead of an a. He said, Oh-ok, yes, yes. I dont know why but that felt like such
a huge accomplishment for me. Just being able to connect something personal to him, his
name and the name of his town to help him spell it out.
There were a couple of students that wanted to show me what they had drawn,
that was really sweet of them. Since I was new to them, I knew I was going to deal with a
little bit of hesitation in the beginning, but I made it a point to be super friendly and
helpful, make jokes and laugh with the students. I honestly would not do a single thing
differently! The students loved writing out their names and proudly showing off their
drawings at the end of the story hour!

There were 10 children together, 6 girls and 4 boys, mostly age 5, going into
Kindergarten in the fall. I did not have to modify for a special need or disability, but if I
did, I would have done the following. For the pre-lesson there were no wrong answers to
what makes up a community. Everything is a part of a community somewhere, so saying
anything at all would work just fine. Parents are there with the students, so for when we
read the book, they could help with suggestions for what the local market is called or the
name of the toy store. In the first activity, the students say out loud the name of the town
they live in, then go up to the board and mark a tally next to that town. I used a poster
board in case some of the children were not tall enough to reach up to mark on the board.
Some children were too short to reach so I just brought down the board to their level, and
if they werent able to get up, I would have brought the board to them. In the second
activity, I encouraged the students to write out their hometown on the drawing they did of
their families. Yet if they werent confident enough to do so I encouraged them to do
what they did do confidently, whether it was drawing or writing their name. I think my
lesson plan would work for any learning level, no higher than 3rd grade, just to keep it
challenging. I would adjust for an older group by having the students draw another
students family. Asking questions about what they look like, how many siblings they
have. By adding an interview part to the activity, the students would then use inquiry to
draw up their partners families.

Reflection
When I was thinking of what the subject of the lesson should be, I knew I wanted
to involve geography, but how? After reading the articles and chapters on how we dont
involve a lot of geography into everyday curriculum, I knew I really wanted to
incorporate that subject into the lesson. How can we relate geography to such a young
age? At ages 4-5 you are mainly learning about yourself, and maybe the close proximity
you live in and know, like family and friends at school. Those people make up their town,
neighborhood, and community. I wanted to introduce community and explain what it
means to them and at the same time they can learn about where their community is from
the geography part of the lesson. I was nervous that getting the concepts across would be
difficult, but I just used a lot of examples they would know about. I think the book I
picked worked extremely well. It was repetitive, but knowledgeable, and ended with a
wish for peace in the world.
Next time, I will manage my time better. I spent too much time on the book and
not enough on the rest of the lesson. The students understood community and geography
by the end of the hour, but we could have really secured those topics down with more
time for both. I absolutely think that these projects and experiences will help me in the
future. You have to start somewhere! This was literally my first time doing anything like
this and I was so nervous but more excited to actually create a lesson and follow through
with it. I never liked giving presentations in school. So being at the front of the room is
always a little daunting. Yes, even though its just small children, my face still got red and
my palms sweaty. I learned that since I am in control of the situation and the room I can
say to the children, please sit on your bottoms when they stand up to look at the
pictures in the book, or ask them to please speak quietly. I learned that I need to not let
the children keep on giving examples and thoughts until they could not think of anymore,
even though they were all great to hear, its why the book ended up taking up most of the
time. Next time, I promise myself to just listen to a few things the students have to say,
give positive feedback, and then move on to the next page or activity. No wonder
teachers are always concerned about timeframe.
I think it is important to have projects in the classroom no matter what subject.
When it comes to social studies, you have a lot more topics and ideas to work with, and
the students might need that hands-on and visual learning to truly grasp the topic. When it
came to drawing out their families and spelling out their towns, they really understood
where they live. The most memorable projects I did in grade school were definitely social
studies based. Creating a diorama of where we live, building a giant pterodactyl nest with
giant paper eggs or playing a huge board game to study the great depression.

Here are some pictures from the story hour!