Exciting Ways To Teach Community Helpers

One of the important lessons we cover in kindergarten or first grade is on the topic of community helpers. We generally consider this to be police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, construction workers, mail carriers, etc. This is a great way to teach about the different kinds of people who help in our community. It helps students further understand how a community works and the important roles these people play. 

There are tons of ways you can teach this lesson and make it super fun and engaging for your students! 

Here are some of my favorite ways to teach about community helpers.

  • Bring in guest speakers. Reach out to some of the community helpers in your area and ask them to come in and speak to the class! This can be parents in that profession, or friends. The guest can share what they do, how they help the community, and what a typical day in their profession looks like. 
  • Keep a journal. As students are learning about the different community helpers, have them keep a journal about the different people. They can draw pictures of them in uniform and get some writing practice by writing a couple of sentences about who they are and what they do. 
  • Discuss the differences between long ago and today. How were the jobs different? Are they easier now? This is a great activity to encourage critical thinking. 
  • List the different occupations. Use this list to get students thinking about what they want to be when they grow up. They can write it in their journal and you can go around the classroom sharing. 
  • Read books about community helpers. Whenever possible, adding a story or two about your topic will enrich your lessons. 
  • Watch videos about community helpers. There are lots of options available on Youtube. This video includes a fun song for students to sing or dance along to. 

Looking for more activities to do during your community helpers lesson? Check out my Community Helpers resource! 

community helpers

This download is nine weeks of lessons designed to easily create a journal for students to use, interactive notebook pages, posters, and so much more! It covers three topics, Community Jobs, Tools and Equipment for Jobs, and Today vs. Long Ago.

community helpers

This resource covers 9 full weeks of detailed lesson plans. You’ll get everything listed above and some extras including poems and songs, how to dial 911, cut and label activities for different community helpers, a volunteer art handprint gift, police officer hat/headband, police badges, and firefighter hats. Everything you need for this exciting social studies topic! 

community helpers

What are your favorite ways to teach about this topic? Let me know in the comments!

Looking for more social studies fun? Check out my year long social studies bundle for kindergarten and first grade!


 

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