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Overview:

Students learn that there are three types of communities and each has distinct characteristics. They use this knowledge to discover what type their community is as they explore a text to self connection, and then write a paragraph.

Suggested time allowance: 2 class periods

Standards:

• SS 1.2, 3.1
• ELA 1, 2, 3, 4

Essential Unit Questions:

• Does where you live effect how you live?

Resources/Materials for this lesson:

• Burton, Virginia Lee. The Little House. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1942. Fictional picture book. The rosy-pink Little House, on a hill surrounded by apple trees, watches the days go by from the first apple blossoms in the spring through the winter snows. Always faintly aware of the city's distant lights, she starts to notice the city encroaching on her. First, a road appears, which brings horseless carriages and then trucks and steamrollers. Before long, more roads, bigger homes, apartment buildings, stores, and garages surround the Little House. Her family moves out and she finds herself alone in the middle of the city, where the artificial lights are so bright that the Little House can no longer see the sun or the moon.
• Chart paper/marker
• “Personal Connections” worksheet (included)
• Triple T-chart (included)
• Pre-writing graphic organizer for “My School and Its Community” paragraph (included)
• “My School and Its Community” paragraph template (included)
• Rubric for “My School and Its Community” paragraph (included)
  

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Activities/Procedures:

1. Tell students, “There are three types of communities. In this story, we will read about a little house and discuss how the community around it changes. Pay close attention to how the area around the house changes.”
2. Read aloud The Little House. At each point in the story where the community changes, the teacher will stop to discuss what the students notice about the community around the house.
3. Start a triple T-chart asking the children to tell what they notice about each type of community. (Keep chart available for the rest of the unit for children to add to.) Teachers may choose to have students complete their own T-chart as well. (included)
4. Continue the discussion on communities by asking the students to

• decide what type of community they live in
• give reasons to support their answer.

5. Refer back to the story and ask “What does this story remind you of?” “Does it make you think of something in your own life?”
6. Students then fill out “Personal Connections” Worksheet. (included)
7. Students share the connections that they made with a partner.

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Evaluation/Assessment:

• As a homework assignment or in class extension, the students fill in a pre-writing graphic organizer. (included) It should include:
  • the name of their school
  • the community in which the school is located
  • the type of community: rural, urban, or suburban
  • a brief description of the three characteristics that make up their community, supporting it with information learned
  • a concluding sentence
• In class the students will complete the essay on “My School and Its Community” (template included)
  

Vocabulary:

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