Perspective: Geographic Perspective
Benchmark: Locate and describe the major places, cultures, and communities of the nation and compare their characteristics
Grade Level: 3
 

Anticipatory Set:

• Begin the lesson with the following statements:
• Lesson Focus:   Have you ever made a community you could eat?
• Lesson Objective(s): For the next few minutes we will discuss parts of a community. Next, we are going to make our own version of a community in which you would want to live.
• Importance  of lesson:  Because all of us live in a community, it is important to know how our community works.
• Input: Mode of Instruction

• Overview:   The purpose of this presentation is to inform students about what makes up a community.   Have students to apply that knowledge to create a community of their own.
• Lesson Objectives -   Students will:
• A.  develop a list of basic needs a community requires to survive.
• B.  create a version of a community in which they would like to live, including items from the aforementioned list.

 
• Hands-On Activity

• The procedures for this lesson are as follows:
• As a group, have students brainstorm a list of basic needs of a community.  The list should include housing, places for jobs, goods (clothing, food, etc.), recreation, and services (health, protection, and schooling).
• Distribute the map key which includes the candies and colors representing the symbols for the communities that students will make.
• Have students create their own neighborhood community on the large city cookie, using the map key.
• Allow students who finish early to create names for their community buildings.
Map Key:  Here are items to place on your Community Map.
 
Orange pumpkin sprinkles: houses

White Ghost Sprinkles: mall

Green candy: places to have fun
Red candy: fire station
Blue candy: police station
Brown candy: hospital
Yellow or Orange candy: school
Licorice pieces: roads
Small black or purple sprinkles: rivers
 
Say to third graders that all candies listed above must appear in their neighborhood community.  Remind students that they should be ready to talk with  group members and classmates about the manner in which they arranged their communities.
 
• Closure and Reflection

• The teacher might start the review by stating, "In this lesson you created an edible community and listed the various parts of a community."  The teacher might ask the following higher level questions:
• How would you describe your community to your classmates?
• How could you change your community to make it better so that more people will want to live there?
• Who can tell me what is similar about the communities that we created today?

EDU 343