Compassionate Courier
Second and Third Grades
Unit 6: Social Awareness, Part 2 - Community Engagement
This unit teaches students about communities: there are many types of communities; communities consist of smaller groups; communities are healthiest when they are diverse and all members contribute. They learn ways that acts of compassion strengthen a community. This unit also teaches students about choosing food. Students learn that there are a variety of food types, and they learn that, like communities, diets are their healthiest when they are diverse.
Enduring Understandings
- There are different types of communities.
- Communities are made up of many groups of people.
- Communities are healthy when they are diverse and all members contribute to them.
- Compassionate acts strengthen a community.
- People choose food based on multiple factors, including taste and smell.
Lesson Activities
Lesson 1 – THE VALUE OF DIVERSITY IN A COMMUNITY – Students sort and classify pictures of food from previous lessons by the foods’ similarities and differences. Students learn the value of diversity in both healthy diets and healthy communities.
Lesson 2 - MY COMMUNITY – Students address postcards to themselves in order to identify the many community groups to which they belong, from familial to universal. They illustrate the cards with pictures of themselves and play “Comets & Asteroids” to continue to practice identifying the communities and community groups to which they belong.
Lesson 3 - MY COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION – Student groups use their moving bodies to imagine and cooperatively build a machine. They reflect on their individual contributions and the meaningful role each student plays in group tasks.
Lesson 4- CARING COMMUNITIES – Students play a scenario game to distinguish among times when community members might show care for each other with kind thoughts, kind words, or kind actions. Students
read Those Shoes and discuss how kindness was demonstrated to a community member. Students practice caring for one another while competing in class races.
Lesson 5-COMMUNITY NEEDS – Students watch the Flocabulay Joining in and Including Others: Can I Play with You and learn member communities show compassionate care by being inclusive. Students watch and discuss a video about the Buddy Bench. Students discover that communities need their members to have a sense of belonging. Students practice teamwork through the Hula Hoop Hut or Cup Stack Challenge.
Lesson 6- EAT IT – Students mindfully eat foods whose smells and flavors may not match. Students play Hula Hoop Hut Ball or Cup Stack Ball as a cumulative learning experience.
Physical Movements
Happy Baby
Windshield Wipers
Extend the Learning: Social Awareness Skills in the Classroom
My Neighbor, My World Hands-On Activities
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/my-neighborhood-my-world/
Children Around the World Lesson
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/children-around-the-world.cfm
Taking the Skills Home: Resources for Parents Helping Your Child Develop Social Awareness
PBS Parents: Teaching Children about Diversity
http://www.pbs.org/parents/experts/archive/2009/02/teaching-children-about-divers.html
Community Service: A Family's Guide to Getting Involved