KATE

Community Helpers

Core Connections

By Aymee Herndon, K-1 teacher Calloway County East Elementary School

What do you want to be when you grow up? Every child has a dream of what they would like to be: Firefighters, police officers, teachers, doctors, mechanics, farmers, etc. Teachers have an important job in introducing students to the possibilities. What better time to teach students than in the early primary years? The goal of this article is to provide educators with resources for teaching their students about community helpers.

Firefighters--- A firefighter is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people, aid and assist during natural disasters and, increasingly, provide emergency medical services. The fire service, also known in some countries as the fire brigade or fire department, is one of the emergency services. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighter)  

I Want to be a Police Officer When I Grow Up--- Police are often used as an emergency service and may provide a public safety function at large gatherings, as well as in emergencies, disasters, and search and rescue situations. To provide a prompt response in emergencies, the police often coordinate their operations with fire and emergency medical services. In some jurisdictions, individuals serve jointly as police officers as well as firefighters or paramedics. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_officer#Function_in_the_community)

Mailman--- A mail carrier, post carrier, or postman is an employee of the post office or postal service, who delivers mail and parcels (post) to residences and businesses. The term "mail carrier" came to be used as a gender-neutral substitute for "mailman" soon after women began performing the job. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_carrier)

A community helper is anyone in the community that helps by providing a service. Each community has too many helpers to list. The ones that are most interesting to young students are police officers, firefighters, and health professionals (nurses & doctors). Through the use of this unit, teachers are able to introduce students to each profession.

Related Links

• Community Helpers Theme Unit - This is a collection of Community maps and activity worksheets.  It also includes Reading Comprehension activities for multiple grade levels.
• Community Helpers Theme Unit - The Community Helpers theme unit contains 4 reproducible emergent readers, 26 colored photographs of different community helpers, 26 black and white cartoon characters of community helpers, detailed center ideas and required materials, sample time table schedule, 4 related theme songs, 36 rhyming cards and other suggestions for phonemic awareness activities.
• Community Helpers Trackstar - This is a trackstar created by Amyee Herndon to go with her unit on Community Helpers.  The trackstar leads students to a variety of websites to learn more information on people who work in their communities.
• Community Helpers Unit - This is a complete unit on Community Helpers created by Amyee Herndon, teacher at East Calloway County Elementary School.

Related Lesson Plans, Activities, and Classroom Resources

• Fire Truck Toy Box