Table of Contents 
 
Unit Summary 1 

Rationale 2 

Unit Objectives and Essential Questions 3 

Lesson 1: What is a community? 6 

Resources for Lesson 1 9 

Lesson 2: Community Helpers 16 

Resources for Lesson 2 19 

Lesson 3: How can we be good citizens? 38 

Resources for Lesson 3 41 

Lesson 4: How can we create a community change? 45 

Lesson 5: Service Learning Activity 46 

Lesson 6: Self Reflection from the Service Learning Activity 47 

Unit Evaluation 48 

Resources 49 

Self Reflection 50 

 
 
   

 
  
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Unit Summary 
 
This first grade unit explores citizenship and communities. Students will learn about 
communities, community helpers, how they can contribute to their community and be 
good citizens, and how service is an important part of being a community citizen. At the 
end of the unit students will participate in a service learning project and write a reflection 
about it. This unit is aligned with Utah Core Standards which can be found on page 3 or at 
http://www.uen.org/core/​.   
 
   

  
  
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Rationale 
 
Enduring Understandings: 
● Rights and responsibilities are guaranteed in the United States Constitution and 
Bill of Rights. 
● Children will understand they are part of their community. 
● Children will notice what services people are providing in their lives. 
● Children will respect and appreciate the jobs and occupations in their community. 
● Children will develop critical thinking about what they can do can make the world 
better. 
 
Why am I teaching this? 
It is important for students to learn about citizenship, communities, and how to be a good 
citizen within their communities. This unit plan covers all those areas.  
 
Why do my students need to know this? 
Students will grow up and be part of society. It is important for them to learn how to be 
good citizens so they can contribute to the community and the greater society as a whole. 
Learning how to be part of a community and serve others is a key aspect of being a good 
citizen and it is important for students to learn that so they can grow up and implement it 
in their lives.  
 
What key ideas do I want them to come away remembering? 
The key idea that we would want students to take with them from this unit, is for students 
to realize that they too are part of a community and although they maybe kids but they 
are still capable of making a difference and impact within their own community. 
 
 
 
 
   

  
  
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Unit Objectives and Essential Questions 

 
Unit Objectives 
Utah Common Core Standards: 
1st Grade - Social Studies 
● Standard 1 (Culture): ​Students will recognize and describe how schools and 
neighborhoods are both similar and different. 
○ Objective 1:​​ Recognize and describe examples of differences within school 
and neighborhood.
○ Objective 2:​​ Recognize and identify the people and their roles in the school 
and neighborhood. Explain how these roles change over time. 
● Standard 2 (Citizenship):​​ Students will recognize their roles and responsibilities in 
the school and in the neighborhood. 
○ Objective 1:​​ Describe and demonstrate appropriate social skills necessary 
for working in a group. 
○ Objective 2:​​ Identify and list responsibilities in the school and in the 
neighborhood. 
 
Essential Questions 
● What is a community? 
● Who are the people in your community? 
● What are community helpers? 
● How do community helpers make a difference? 
● What service do community helpers provide? 
● What is a citizen? 
● What kind of services are available for citizens? 
● What is a good citizen and a bad citizen? 
● How do citizens get involved with the community? 
● How can we be good citizens? 
● How can you make a difference in your community? 
● Why is it important to show appreciation? 
 
Lesson 1: What is a community?  
● Standard 1 (Culture):​​ Students will recognize and describe how schools and 
neighborhoods are both similar and different. 
● Objective 2: ​Recognize and identify the people and their roles in the school and 
neighborhood. Explain how these roles change over time. 
● Indicator a:​​ Identify the roles of people in the school (e.g., principal, teacher, 
librarian, secretary, custodian, bus driver, crossing guard, and cafeteria staff). 

  
  
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● Speaking and Listening Standard 1: ​Participate in collaborative conversations with 

diverse partners about ​grade 1 topics and texts​ with peers and adults in small and 
larger groups.  
● Writing Standard 6: ​With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital 
tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.  
● Essential Question: ​What is a community? Is our school a community? 
 
Lesson 2: Community Helpers 
● Standard 1 (Culture):​​ Students will recognize and describe how schools and 
neighborhoods are both similar and different. 
● Objective 2: ​Recognize and identify the people and their roles in the school and 
neighborhood. Explain how these roles change over time. 
● Indicator b: ​Explain the roles of the people in the neighborhood (e.g., police officer, 
firefighter, mail carrier, grocer, mechanic, plumber, miner, farmer, doctor, and 
tribal leader).  
● Writing Standard 1:​​ Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or 
name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the 
opinion, and provide some sense of closure. 
● Speaking and Listening Standard 2: ​Ask and answer questions about key details in 
a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. 
● Essential Question: ​Are community helpers important? Why or why not? What 
services do community helpers provide? 
 
Lesson 3: How can we be good citizens? 
● Standard 2 (Citizenship):​​ Students will recognize their roles and responsibilities in 
the school and in the neighborhood. 
● Objective 1:​​ Describe and demonstrate appropriate social skills necessary for 
working in a group. 
● Objective 2:​​ Identify and list responsibilities in the school and in the neighborhood. 
● Reading: Literature Standard 1: ​Ask and answer questions about key details in a 
text. 
● Writing Standard 8:​​ With guidance and support from adults, recall information 
from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a 
question. 
● Essential Question: ​How can we be good citizens? 
 
Lesson 4: How can we create a community change?  
● Essential Questions: 
○ How can we create community change? 

  
  
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○ How do citizens get involved in the community? 

○ Is community change important? Why or why not? 
○ Is citizen involvement in the community important? Why or why not? 
 
Lesson 5: Service Learning Field Trip  
● Essential Questions: 
○ What is service? 
○ How can I serve others? 
○ How can I serve others in my classroom? School? Home? Neighborhood? 
Community?  
 
Lesson 6: Self Reflection from the Field Trip and Appreciation  
● Essential Questions: 
○ Is it important to show appreciation? Why or why not? 
○ What are some ways to show appreciation? 
 
   

  
  
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Lesson 1: What is a community? 

 
Grade:​​ 1​st 
Approximate length of time: ​45 min. 
Curriculum areas:​​ Social Studies and Writing 
Utah Common Core Standards: 
Social Studies: 
● Standard 1 (Culture):​​ Students will recognize and describe how schools and 
neighborhoods are both similar and different. 
● Objective 2: ​Recognize and identify the people and their roles in the school and 
neighborhood. Explain how these roles change over time. 
● Indicator a:​​ Identify the roles of people in the school (e.g., principal, teacher, 
librarian, secretary, custodian, bus driver, crossing guard, and cafeteria staff). 
Language Arts: 
● Writing Standard 2:​​ Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a 
topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure. 
  
Essential Question:  
● What is a community? 
● Is our school a community? 
● How does___________ help in the community? 
  
Materials: 
● Powerpoint –jobs in our school 
● Power point- who am I game? 
● Writing Template worksheet 
Key Vocabulary:​​ ​community, teacher, principal, librarian secretary, cafeteria workers, 
custodian, counselor, bus driver, crossing guard 
Phase I: 
Before their learning: 
● Powerpoint has this question on the first slide. Ask the question “What is a 
community? I want you to think for a moment of what you think a community is and 
share that with your shoulder partner about what is a community? – allow for 
student collaboration to brainstorm what a community is, then direct everyone to 
your attention and have students answer what they think a community is, provide 
positive feedback and redirect answers if wrong. When students know what is a 
community is, then ask “Do you think our school is a community? If your answer is 
yes, tell me why is it a community? 
During their learning: 

  
  
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● For this lesson we are going to review jobs in Westminster Elementary community 
● Before starting to review power point slides, I will write on the board ​Helps our 
school by​ and beneath the title, as a class we will create a list together of ways of 
how each community member helps the school alongside reviewing the 
PowerPoint slides of each job in the school. I will allow for students to collaborate 
on each slide to discuss what each individual’s job and role is at our school. And put 
into perspective of what happens if that individual doesn’t show up to school to do 
their job, for example by asking “What happens if all the cafeteria staff didn’t show 
up? what would happen?” by asking this question, it allows students to realize how 
everyone’s job is very important. And that every individual works and collaborates 
together. 
 
Phase II: 
After reviewing the PowerPoint of jobs at Westminster Elementary with the class. We’ll 
transition with the hook which is a game called Who am I? it is also on a PowerPoint 
format. 
  
Assessment:  
The purpose of the game is to assess their knowledge of the job descriptions at our school.   
  
How to play the game: 
One student volunteers to stand up in front of the classroom and that student will be 
standing in front of the class while behind the student will be a PowerPoint slide of the 
person who he/she has to guess, however the class will give him/her clues for the student 
to figure which job is it. The class has to give descriptions of the individual’s job, the class 
can’t give clues such as physical descriptions of the individual, names or job title. Students 
may use the list we created on the board to help give clues. 
  
Phase III: 
Transitioning to Phase III: 

Teacher will write the names of all the community members of the school on the board. 

​Writing Template 

I will give explicit instructions of my expectation of the writing template that will be 
handed out to students. I will model an example then I will release the students to do the 
assignment on their own. 

In the writing template, students will be writing the name of one school community 
member of their choice on the first line. If students don’t know how to spell a name, they 

  
  
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can look up on the board or ask for assistance. On the second line of the writing template, 
students will trace the words ​Helps our school by.​​ On the third line students will finish the 
sentence on their own and may use the list that was created on the board for assistance. 
After completing the writing portion, students will be asked to draw the community 
member on the space that is available and then color.   

   

  
  
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Resources for Lesson 1 

 
● Powerpoint​​ (see pages 10-14 for slides) 
● Writing Template​​ (page 15) 
   

  
  
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Lesson 2: Community Helpers 

 
Grade Level:​​ 1st grade 
Approximate length of time:​​ ~45 minutes 
Curriculum area:​​ Social Studies and Language Arts 
Objectives: 
Social Studies: 
● Standard 1 (Culture):​​ Students will recognize and describe how schools and 
neighborhoods are both similar and different. 
● Objective 2: ​Recognize and identify the people and their roles in the school and 
neighborhood. Explain how these roles change over time. 
● Indicator b: ​Explain the roles of the people in the neighborhood (e.g., police officer, 
firefighter, mail carrier, grocer, mechanic, plumber, miner, farmer, doctor, and 
tribal leader).  
Language Arts: 
● Writing Standard 1:​​ Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or 
name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the 
opinion, and provide some sense of closure. 
● Speaking and Listening Standard 2: ​Ask and answer questions about key details in 
a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. 
Personal Objectives:  
● Help students realize the importance of community helpers and the variety of jobs 
they do.  
● Help students recognize community helpers and their tools or things associated 
with their job. 
Essential Question/s:  
● Are community helpers important? Why or why not?  
● What services do community helpers provide? 
Materials:​​ Whose Hands Are These? By Miranda Paul, Community Helper Word Cards, 
BINGO cards, BINGO item descriptions, skittles or m&ms (for BINGO), bowls, Community 
Helpers Matching Worksheet, What Community Helper Do You Want To Be? Worksheet, 
scissors, glue 
Accommodations: 
● Use of pictures ​and​ words for students who are learning English as another 
language. 
 
Phase I: Engage, Explore (and Explain) (10-15 minutes) 
● Ask students if they know what a community helper is. 
● List answers on the board. 

  
  
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○ A ​community helper​​ is a person who performs some job that helps improve 
the overall well being of the community. Community helpers are very 
important; they keep the community safe and healthy, make life better for 
the people in the community, and help the community function more 
efficiently.  
● Ask students to think of examples of community helpers. 
○ The clerk at the grocery store, the local farmer, and the mail carrier are all 
examples of community helpers. 
○ Police officers, firefighters, even teachers. 
● Put Community Helper Word Cards on the board. (Police officer, firefighter, 
teacher, doctor, mail carrier, farmer, grocery store clerk, garbage collector, etc.) 
● Ask students how some of those community helpers help the community and what 
services they provide. 
○ Farmers grow crops and/or raise animals. 
○ Cooks make delicious meals.  
○ Police Officers keep our communities safe. 
○ Scientists explore, study, and figure out how our world works. 
○ Mail carriers deliver our mail. 
○ Firefighters also keep us safe. 
○ Dentists clean our teeth and fix our cavities.  
○ Physicians (Doctors) help people stay or become healthy. 
○ Teachers help their students learn. 
○ Custodians keep our schools and buildings clean. 
○ Reporters share information. 
○ Trash collectors keep our communities clean. 
● Read ​Whose Hands Are These?​ Book by Miranda Paul to students.  
● Pause to ask questions and scaffold while reading. 
● Point out the Farmer, Police, Doctors (Physicians), and Teachers.  
Phase II: Explore, Explain, & Extend (Guided Practice) (10 minutes) 
● Talk about the responsibilities of community helpers and their uniforms and tools 
they use. (Specifically Farmers, Police Officers, Doctors, and Teachers.) 
● Farmers: 
○ What do Farmers wear? 
■ Jeans, long sleeve shirts, boots. 
○ What tools do Farmers use? 
■ Tractors, rakes, barns. 
● Police Officers: 
○ What do Police Officers wear? 
■ Police hat, badge, tool belts. 

  
  
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○ What tools do Police Officers use? 

■ Handcuffs, stop signs, walkie-talkie/radio. 
● Doctors: 
○ What do doctors wear? 
■ Stethoscope, lab coat. 
○ What tools do Doctors use? 
■ Thermometers, bandages, shots, stethoscope. 
● Teachers: 
○ What do teachers wear? 
■ Regular clothes 
○ What tools do Teachers use? 
■ Books, markers, chalkboard, pencils.  
● Play “Community Helper BINGO” to help students become familiar with 
community helpers’ tools, uniforms, and things associated with their job. 
● BINGO: read description of item. Choose item randomly by pulling out of a bag or 
bowl.  
● Play 1-2 rounds of BINGO so students get familiar with community helpers’ tools 
and things associated with that community helper. 
● Allow students to speak with each other at their tables about what they think the 
answer is. Have them answer as a class before moving on.  
● Example: Item description: “This is something teachers read to their class.” Have 
students talk at their tables and then say “When I count to 3 I want you to call out 
the answer. 1, 2, 3!”  
Phase III: Extend/Explain/Evaluate (Independent Practice/Assessment) (10-15 minutes) 
● Have students do an independent matching worksheet. (Similar worksheet as the 
BINGO card, so they will have seen it before and should be familiar with it.) 
● In addition to the matching worksheet, have students write answers to the 
questions on the back of the page about community helpers and their jobs. (One of 
the questions is “What does a farmer do for the community?” And a student may 
answer: They grow food.) 
● If students finish the independent work early, have them write about a community 
helper they would like to be when they grow up, what that community helper does 
for the community, and what tools they use. When they are finished writing they 
may draw a picture. (This worksheet may be used for homework as well.) 
   

  
  
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Resources for Lesson 2 

 
● Book: ​Whose Hands Are These? : A Community Helper Guessing Book​, by Miranda Paul  
 

 
● Community Helpers BINGO cards​​ (pages 20-23) 
● BINGO Item Descriptions ​(page 24-25) 
● Community Helpers Matching Worksheet ​(page 26-28) 
● What Community Helper Do You Want To Be? Worksheet ​(page 29) 
● Community Helper Word Cards: ​(pages 30-37) 
https://www.prekinders.com/community-helper-word-cards/  
 
 
 
 
   

  
  
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Community Helpers BINGO 
 
     
 

 
Book 
       
Stethoscope  Eggs  Chalk board  Thermometer 

   

 
  Police hat       
Vegetables  Pencil sharpener  Shot 
  Farm tools 

         
   
 
FREE  
SPACE 
     
 
Tractor  Barn  Police car 
Police badge 
 
 

       
   

   
Handcuffs    Medicine   
  Doctor’s uniform  Pencil 
Farm animals    

     

     
Desk     
Farmer hat  Band-aid 
Hay  Police uniform 

  
  
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Community Helpers BINGO 
 
       
 
 

 
  Book   
Eggs  Vegetables  Hay  Farm tools 

     
 

 
Police hat   
  Tractor   
Stethoscope  Barn  Pencil 
 

         
 
 
FREE  
SPACE 

  Farm animals 
 
Police badge  Pencil sharpener  Shot 

         

   
   
Police car    Farmer’s hat   
   Desk 
Chalk board  Thermometer 

         
   

 
Medicine   
Handcuffs  Band-aid 
 
Doctor’s uniform  Police uniform 
 
  
  
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Community Helpers BINGO 

 
         
 

 
  Medicine 
  Farmer’s hat 
Chalk board   
Police uniform  Hay 
 

       
 

 
Police hat  Handcuffs 
 
Barn  Farm animals 
Stethoscope 
 

         
   
 
FREE  
 
SPACE 
 
    Desk 
Farm tools  Pencil 
Vegetables 
 

   
   
 

 
     
  Thermometer 
Book  Band-aid  Shot 
Eggs 
  

       
 

 
Tractor     
 
Doctor’s uniform  Police car 
Pencil sharpener  Police badge 

  
  
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Community Helpers BINGO 

 
       

   
   
    Police hat 
Police car  Band-aid 
Desk  Doctor’s uniform 
 

       
 

 
Medicine 
  Hay 
Barn  Police uniform  Police badge 

     
   
 
FREE  
  SPACE 
Handcuffs 
Tractor   
Shot 
  Pencil sharpener 

     
 

 
 
Farm animals  Book 
Pencil   
Stethoscope  Vegetables 
 

   

     
Thermometer  Chalk board  Farmer’s hat 
     
Eggs  Farm tools 
  
 

  
  
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This is something teachers read to their class. (Book) 

 
Doctors use this to listen to your heart beat. (Stethoscope) 
 
Farmers collect these from their chickens. (Eggs) 
 
Teachers use this to write notes for the class to see. (Chalkboard) 
 
Doctors use this to test your temperature. (Thermometer) 
 
Farmers grow these on their farms. (Vegetables) 
 
Police Officers often wear these as part of their uniform. (Police hat) 
Teachers (and students) use this to sharpen their pencils. (Pencil sharpener) 
 
Doctors give these to you during flu-season. (Shot) 
 
Farmers use these to harvest crops. (Farm tools) 
 
Farmers drive this and use this to harvest hay. (Tractor) 
 
Police Officers use this to identify they are police officers. (Police badge) 
 
This is a building farmers sometimes have on their farm. They keep animals 
and/or tools inside. (Barn) 

  
  
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Police officers use this to drive around. (Police car) 
 
Farmers sometimes have these on their farms. They use them for milk, wool, 
meat, eggs, etc. (Farm Animals) 
 
Police officers use these when they arrest someone. (Handcuffs) 
 
Doctors wear this when they go to work. (Doctor’s uniform) 
 
Doctors give this to you when you are sick. (Medicine) 
 
Teachers use this to write. (Pencil) 
 
Teachers have these in their classrooms and will sometimes grade papers 
while they are sitting at their__________.(Desk) 
 
Farmers grow this and feed it to their horses and cows. (Hay) 
 
Police Officers wear this as their uniform. (Police uniform) 
 
Farmers wear this to keep the sun out of their face. (Farmer hat) 
 
Doctors give this to you after they give you a shot or you if you are bleeding. 
(Band-aid) 

  
  
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Community Helpers Matching Worksheet 

Name: ___________________________ 
 

   
Farmer  Police Officer 

   
Doctor  Teacher 

 
   

  
  
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Answer the questions below about different community helpers and their job. 
 
1. What does a farmer do for the community? What services do they provide? 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

2. What does a police officer do for the community? What services do they provide? 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

3. What does a doctor do for the community? What services do they provide? 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

4. What does a teacher do for the community? What services do they provide? 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

 
 

  
  
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Cut out each item and glue it in the box with the community helper associated with that 
item. Example: The picture of the book would go in the same box as “Teacher” because 
teachers use books in their classroom. 
       
 

 
Book 
         
Stethoscope  Jail  Eggs  Thermometer  Chalk board 

   

 
Police hat   
     
Hospital   
Vegetables  Pencil  Shot 
  Farm tools 
  sharpener 

         
 

     
   
Tractor    Police car  Barn 
Police badge  Bandage 
  Markers 
 

       
   

 
  Handcuffs   Medicine   
Sick in bed     
Notebook  Doctor’s 
Animals  uniform 

       

       
Desk     
Farmer hat  Band-aid  Pencil 
Hay  Police 
uniform 

  
  
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What Community Helper Do You Want To Be? 
Name: ______________________________ 
 
Write about a community helper you want to be when you grow up. What tools does that 
community helper use? What does that community helper do for the community? When 
you are finished writing, draw a picture the community helper you want to be when you 
grow up.  
 
________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Draw a picture of the community helper you want to be when you grow up: 
 

  
  
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Lesson 3: How can we be good citizens? 

 
Grade:​​ 1​st 
Approximate length of time: ​45 minutes 
Curriculum areas:​​ Social Studies and Language Arts 
Utah Core Objectives: 
Social Studies: 
● Standard 2​​ (Citizenship): Students will recognize their roles and responsibilities in 
the school and in the neighborhood. 
● Objective 1​​: Describe and demonstrate appropriate social skills necessary for 
working in a group. 
● Objective 2​​: Identify and list responsibilities in the school and in the neighborhood. 
Language arts: 
● Reading: Literature Standard 1​​: Ask and answer questions about key details in a 
text. 
● Writing Standard 8​​: With guidance and support from adults, recall information 
from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a 
question. 
Personal Objectives: 
● Understand the concepts of citizenship; 
● Related to the students’ experience and prior knowledge to discuss “how can we be 
a good citizen at school and in a neighborhood”; 
● Based on their watching, reading and discussion, the students can write a simple 
personal plan, “A Good Citizen Hand”. 
Materials: ​DocCam, smart board, a worksheet packet, a book ​Being a Good Citizen 
Essential Questions: 
● How can we be good citizens? 
Key Vocabulary:​​ ​citizen, pollution, neighborhood, helpful 
Notes prior to teaching lesson: 
● Last class, we learned about the helpers who work for our community. Who can tell 
us what a community is? Raise up your hand if you know what do people do for us in 
the community? 
● ​As a 1​st​ grader, can you do anything to help people and make them happy? 
Phase I: Exploration and Explanation 
Before their learning: 
1. ​Relate to the students’ prior experience. Ask and answer. 
● “Did anyone help your family? Raise up your hand if you want to share with 
us.” 
● “Did anyone help your classmates?” 

  
  
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● “Did anyone help other people out of school?” 

● Turn and share what you did to help others before. 
2. ​Explain the learning goals of today. “Being helpful will make people happy. 
Today, we are going to study on what we can do to make people happy, or to be a 
good citizen.” 
During their learning: 
1. Watch and discuss ​Color Your World with Kindness.​  
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwelE8yyY0U 
● “First, you’re going to watch a video: Color Your World with Kindness. I 
need you to pay attention to the details of what the characters did in the 
video to help the people.” 
● After watching the video, “Now turn and talk to your partner, what did the 
characters do to help people around them.” 
● I will ask a few students voluntarily to share their discussion to the whole 
class. 
2. Read and discuss the book, ​Being a Good Citizen:​  
● “Now we understand the meaning of good citizens. We’re going to read a 
book, ​Being a Good Citizen​. I need you to pay attention that what the 
characters did to be good citizens?” 
● Brainstorm. “Let’s think about what else we can do to make your parents/ 
classmates/ neighbors happy.”   
● When they have a good idea, I will write them down on the whiteboard.  
Transition to Phase II​​: 
Next, I want you to go back to your table to work on your worksheet packet. When 
I say “Go!” You need to go back to your seats quickly and quietly. Take out your pen 
and write on your own. If you have any questions, you can raise up your hand. Do 
you understand? Now, go!   

Phase II: ​Worksheet packet: “I Want to Be a Good Citizen” 

1. Pass out the worksheet. 
2. Explain and model how to do the first part. Everybody read the instruction with 
me. The students need to decide which behavior will make people happy, and which 
ones will make people sad. Cut and paste. 
3. Next, the students need to copy the phrases of being a good citizen onto the 
bucket sheet. 
4. On the 3​rd​ page, the students will draw and write “A Good Citizen Hand”. They 
will trace their own hands, and make a personal plan for next week. What are you 
going to do to help others next week? 
 

  
  
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Closure: 
● At the end of this activity, the teacher will say, “Great job, everyone! I saw 
everybody working hard on your worksheet. Now everyone leave your worksheet 
on your table and meet me at the carpet.” 
● “Turn and talk with your partner, what did you learn from this class about how to 
be a good citizen?” 
● “Next week, we’re going to share about what do you do to help others.” 
Assessment: 
● I will collect the students’ worksheets to see how much they take away from this 
lesson. If most of the students didn’t reach the goals, I will go back to pick it up next 
class before I move on. But it won’t take long. Their experience and discussion will 
help them keep learning. 
● As part of their assessments, the students will deliver an oral report on their 
progress. 
Accommodations for special needs: 
1. I will scaffold when it’s needed. 
2. I will use DocCam and worksheet to visualize what we learn. 
3. I will talk slowly to make sure everyone can understand me. 
4. I will ask the students to turn and talk with their partners. 
5. When it’s needed, I’ll have a one-on-one conference with non-English speaker 
student. 
6. To the students who can finish phase II worksheet earlier, I will ask them to do 
draw a picture to go with their writing. 
   

  
  
41   

Resources for Lesson 3 

 
● Video:​​ ​Color Your World with Kindness:​  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwelE8yyY0U 
● Book:​​ ​Being a Good Citizen ​by Mary Small     

 
● I Can Help Others Worksheet ​(page 42) 
● A Good Citizen Bucket Worksheet​​ (page 43) 
● A Good Citizen Hand Worksheet ​(page 44) 

 
   

  
  
42   

I Can Help Others 

Look at the phrases below. Put the appropriate behaviors on the left, and put 
inappropriate behaviors on the right. 
Then copy the good behaviors to the next page, “A Good Citizen Bucket”. 

   

     

 
 
   

  
  
43   

A Good Citizen Bucket  

’s Good Citizen Bucket  Date: 

  
  
44   

A Good Citizen Hand 

Write a one-week personal plan. What are you going to do to help others next week? 
Write one sentence on each finger. 
 
 
   

  
  
45   

Lesson 4: How can we create a community change?  

 
Lesson Description: 
Students will learn and discuss community change and how to create community change 
through service. Students will think about how they can share their talents and gifts with 
others. Students will draw and write how they can share their talents and they will add 
that in their book.  
 
Objective:​​ The objective of this lesson is for students to brainstorm ideas in creating a 
change within their own community.  
 
   

  
  
46   

Lesson 5: Service Learning Activity  

 
Lesson Description: 
Students will participate in a service learning activity by reading a book (that they wrote in 
lesson 4) to a kindergartener buddy and a friend in another first grade class. Students will 
ask their listeners questions for their reflection later on.  
 
Objective: ​Introduce students to service and service learning.  
   

  
  
47   

Lesson 6: Self Reflection from the Service Learning Activity 

 
Lesson Description: 
Students will reflect on their service learning and how they felt about serving others. 
Students will write about how they felt and how the people they served felt. Students will 
reflect on what they took away from the unit, what they liked about it, and what they 
learned.  
 
Objective: ​Assess students based on their own reflection.  
   

  
  
48   

Unit Evaluation 
 
Pre-assessment for the unit: 
Ask students what they know about communities and citizenship. 
 
Culminating performance/project assessment: 
Students will work towards their service learning activity by making a book and learning 
about service and communities.  
 
Assessment for Lesson 1:  
Students will be assessed during phase II from the game “Who am I?” I will assess the 
students based on their ability to provide clue descriptions of the school community 
member’s job. Individual assessment will be through their writing template assignment, 
students should be able to write how the school community member helps the school.  
 
Assessment for Lesson 2: 
The pre-assessment for this lesson will be asking students questions at the beginning of 
class to get an understanding of their background/prior knowledge. The final assessment 
will be the Community Helpers Matching Worksheet to see if the students learned and 
understood the different community helpers, the tools they use, the uniforms they wear, 
and what they do for the community.  
 
Assessment for lesson 3: 
I will collect the students’ worksheets to see how much they take away from this lesson. If 
most of the students didn’t reach the goals, I will go back to pick it up next class before I 
move on. But it won’t take long. As part of their assessments, the students will deliver an 
oral report on their progress. 
 
 
 
 
 
   

  
  
49   

Resources 
Teacher Resources: 
● Video: ​Color Your World with Kindness 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwelE8yyY0U 
● Small, M., ​Being a Good Citizen: A Book About Citizenship,​ 2006, Minneapolis: Picture 
Window Books. 
● Paul, M., ​Whose Hands Are These? : A Community Helper Guessing Book​, 2016, 
Minneapolis: Millbrook Press. 
● Community Helper Word Cards: 
https://www.prekinders.com/community-helper-word-cards/  
 
 
   

  
  
50   

Self Reflection 
 
Self-Reflection of lesson 1 (Annabelle): 
I felt the most beneficial part for my learning was having the opportunity to view 
everyone else’s lesson plan presentations because I know others have put a lot of work 
and thought into their lesson plan, which gave me ideas for creating my own lesson plans 
that I could implement into a unit. Creating a unit with a group does lighten up the work 
but it also provided an opportunity of different perception and ideas for implementation. 
Another component that I felt that was beneficial for my learning was presenting my own 
lesson plan with my peers, although I felt stressed and pressure to perform, but I was able 
to reflect in my own lesson plan structure and performance. I realized I needed to assure 
the three phases of my lesson needed to correlate and flow smoothly. I also realized I 
needed to continue on working on my pacing which has been a problem for me in the 
actual classroom. Reflecting afterwards allows me to reflect on the areas that I need to 
work on for improvement, which I plan to continue on striving to improve on my areas of 
weakness and continue collaborating with other professionals for guidance.  
 
Self-Reflection of lesson 2 (Madelaine): 
From this project, I learned how to put a unit plan together, what a unit plan should look 
like, and how enduring understandings and essential questions should be revisited 
throughout the unit in individual lessons. Putting together this unit was a lot of work, but I 
think it was useful and beneficial to my learning. It was helpful to do it in a group because 
it lightened the workload, but I think it is doable as a solo-project. If you were to have 
students do this assignment alone, I would have them write ​one or two​ full lessons (out of 
six) instead of ​three​ full lessons out of six by themselves; I wouldn’t have them do the 
exact same workload that is expected for a group.  
 
I really enjoyed writing my lesson plan for lesson 2 (Community Helpers). I think I used a 
lot of good resources and teaching strategies. I tried to implement a lot of the feedback 
and advice I have received from professors and mentor teachers in my Methods classes 
and I think that was beneficial. I thought the material and the flow of the lesson went 
really well and that it would be a great lesson to use in a real first grade classroom. 
 
I think this is a quality unit plan that could be used in a first grade classroom. There might 
need to be a few adjustments here and there depending on the class and the school, but I 
think this unit is useful. A lot of time, effort, and resources were put into writing this unit 
and the lesson plans and I think it is a great unit plan overall.  
 
 

  
  
51   

Self-Reflection of lesson 3 (Julie): 

1. When I prepare my lesson plan, I thought about the students’ background 
experience first. Where they are, and how much they could take away. Children 
will learn when the new knowledge is within their zpds. My lesson plan will be built 
on the first two lessons. 
2. I also thought about as for the 1st graders, what will be an efficient way for them to 
understand. I used some visualizations, such as DocCam and worksheet packet. 
3. Social studies class needs a lot of discussion. I used a citizen book as the hook to 
inspire their interest. Through read-aloud, I used “ask and answer” to guide the 
students to develop critical thinking about our essential question. After I build on 
all above, the students will write down their thinking. So, my lesson plan crosses 
social studies, reading, and writing. 
4. As for the classroom management, I use the signal, “When I say ‘Go’, I need you 
to…”. This is what I learned from my former lesson. 
It’s good to work on a unit plan as a team, because we can learn from each other. We can 
think about the same topic with various perspectives.