California Reading Standards

Standard: California Common Core State Standard- Reading Standards for Literature 1st Grade. Key Ideas and Details. Section 3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Materials used for activity: The books, “Jobs Around Town” by The Berenstain Bears, “Helpers in my Community” by Bobbie Kalman, “A Day with Police Officers” by Jan Kottke, “A Day with Firefighters” by Jan Kottke, “The Jolly Postman” by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, “Froggy Goes to the Doctor” by Jonathan London, “Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel” by Virginia Lee Burton, “Nurse Clementine” by Simon James, “Let’s Meet a Construction Worker” by Bridget Heos, “The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist”, “Whose Tools Are These” by Sharon Katz Cooper,

The teacher will then read the community helper cards, asking the students the questions for “Who Am I?” based on the descriptions as in samples listed above. When the children ‘guess’ the community worker, the teacher will display the community helpers card, which includes a picture of the community worker and its description of details inside the pocket chart. The teacher would allow the students to choose which community worker they want to work on for their next assignment. Once the students have chosen their community worker, the teacher would divide them into small groups and each group will be given a box of books to read on the community worker that they have chosen. Once the students have read and researched about their community workers, they will be given another box and materials to paint and decorate for the building where their community worker works. Once that activity is completed, the students will color, cut, and paste their community worker; (such as a fireman) on construction paper and then write a story containing details about their community worker. This will be pasted underneath the picture of their community worker. At the end, each group will share their stories about the community worker they chose and show the building where their community worker works, to the others. The community workers can be displayed on a bulletin board with a table

Group projects are researched and each worker many times will have a specific duty for the project and they all pull resources together for the end product. There has been a big emphasis in colleges on group work, projects, and students being able to work as a team for their future success in the workforce. Therefore, starting students at an early age in Project-Based Learning will teach them to work together for a common goal or product that they produce together as a team. They will learn social skills of working together, getting along, cooperating, taking direction, and dividing responsibilities amongst each other as a