This barn cut out activity lets PreK to 3rd grade children color, cut, fold and glue a 3-D paper barn, roof and silo, then stand six farm animals beside it.
This dear valentine activity has K-2nd grade students pick heart word cards for family and school helpers and spell each word on a Valentine card. Answer key included.
Using Supermarket Sweep Food Words Activity, students practice reading high frequency words tocollect all of the food items on your shopping list.
This community workers activity has Preschool to 1st Grade children match tool cards to the places helpers work, with a practice page and an answer key included for easy checking.
This police car craft activity lets Preschool to 3rd grade children cut, fold and glue a 3-D paper police car, then talk about community helpers with six stand-up tool cards.
Using About Me Mobile Activity, students can create a mobile to introduce themselves and share important information about themselves at the beginning of a new school year!
This modes of transportation activity has kindergarten and 1st grade children spin, sort vehicle cards onto road, tracks, air and water mats, and practice. Answer key included.
This fire station activity has kindergarten and 1st grade children hunt for firefighter tool cards, match clues and crack a secret code. Answer key included.
This police station activity turns kindergarten and 1st grade learners into detectives who match police tools to clues and crack a cookie code. Answer key included for easy checking.
UsingDental Hygiene Activity, students learn about dental health and care by sorting pictures that are good and not good for your teeth.
This a trip to the doctor vocabulary activity is a picture and clue memory game for kindergarten through 2nd grade. Children learn eight checkup tools and what they do, with an answer key included.
Helpers, neighbors and good citizens!
Community starts right outside the classroom door. Young kids learn that a community is a group of people who live, work and play together, and they meet the helpers who keep it running: firefighters, doctors, teachers and mail carriers. Older kids learn about goods and services, leaders and rules, and how communities can be urban, suburban or rural. Along the way, they figure out what it means to be a good citizen. The click comes when a child realizes they are part of the community too!
Community is best taught by looking around. These moves connect big ideas to kids' own streets and families.
Have kids draw the places they pass on the way to school: a park, a store, a fire station. Then label which ones give goods and which give services. Their own map makes community real in a way a textbook picture can't.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withMy Neighborhood WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →A catchy community song is a perfect hook on day one. Play it, then pause and ask, "Which helper did we just hear about?" Kids remember the jobs because they remember the tune.
Why it works: words set to a repeating melody are easier to recall than the same words spoken (Wallace, 1994).
Try it withCommunity SongSongsOpen it →Let kids pick a community helper, gather a prop or two, and act out a day on the job. Then they match each career to the tool it uses on paper. Acting it out first makes the matching easy.
Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.
Try it withIdentifying Careers WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Kids love playing community. Here are a few classroom favorites.
ActivitiesCut out and build a paper barn, then talk about how farms help feed the whole community.
Open Barn Cut Out →
WorksheetsRole-play a real emergency call with a toy phone. Kids practice their address and what to say, calmly and clearly.
Open Calling 911 Worksheet →
WorksheetsEach day, spot a classmate being a good citizen and celebrate it. Kids quickly start looking for ways to help.
Open Being a Good Citizen Worksheet →Teacher favorites right now: Barn Cut Out, Dear Valentine Activity and Farm Animals Activity.
Tell them a community is a group of people who live, work and play near each other. Then point out real examples: the school, the grocery store, the neighbors. Kids get it fastest when they see their own community.
Community helpers are people whose jobs keep a community safe, healthy and running. Firefighters, police officers, doctors, teachers, mail carriers and farmers are favorite examples for young kids.
Urban communities are cities with lots of people and tall buildings. Suburban communities are neighborhoods near a city. Rural communities are in the countryside with farms and open land.
Good citizens follow rules, help others, take care of shared spaces and respect their neighbors. Even picking up trash on the playground counts!
Loved by 2 million teachers & families
Printables, songs and games for every subject, Preschool through 6th. Ready to teach today, and kids beg for more.
