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Community Helpers Misc.
Contact_FullName: Becky Contact_Email: becky@bynard.com Area: Community Helpers--Misc. Idea: I made the kitchen area of my room into a McDonald's with two drive-thru's (with scooters) and a variety of McDonald's items. (You can go to local McDonald's and ask managers to support your classroom...some are helpful and some are not.) McDonald's menus can be made (to be put at the writing center), the children can circle what they want, and then the children can go over to the McDonald's to give their order to their friends working in McDonald's. Contact_FullName: chas Contact_Email: Area: Signs and roads Miscellaneous. Or community./community helpers Idea: While I did my community and community helpers unit with my pre-k classroom i made a road on the rug with masking tape, the children were able to practice looking both ways and crossing the road in our classroom. They loved it!! Contact_FullName: Elizabeth Contact_Email: erhea5@msn.com Area: Drama Idea: I have separated Housekeeping and Drama this year. Drama carries the theme of the community helper of the month. This month is "Teacher," so I set up a miniature teaching center with calendar, color posters, finger puppets, books, small flag, etc. so that the children can pretend to be the teacher. If the helper is "Fireman," I will make Drama a place with appropriate clothes, fire hose, etc. Contact_FullName: michelle Contact_Email: jrandshell14@aol.com date:: 05/10/02 Area: community helpers Idea: For a fine motor center I used tweezers and gauze. The students had to use the tweezers to pick up the gauze and put it in a bowl of colored water. We later used the gauze to make a picture.
1-19-01During community helpers week we talk about many community helpers, but we have noticed that some of our children feel left out because we can not talk about every parents occupation. We decided to include two days at the end of the unit for "occupation in a bag day" each child talks to their parents about their job and then they can bring in anything that fits in a brown bag to describe the mom or dads job, each child empties the bag at circle and wears the uniform or shows the rest of the class the items that mommy and daddy use at work, the children are always prepared to talk about the occupation and we are also there to help out, we have videotaped this and ran it on parents night and the parents love it.
10-6-00On Valentines day let your preschoolers compose a letter to a parent or to other adults in the administrative part of your program. Show children how they must first put an address on the envelope and then put on stamp. Take children to mail the letters. Be sure to let parents or other adults know they need to respond. Let children go check mail each day to receive their very on mail. This idea went great with our preschoolers in Waynesville N. C.
8-30-00"All About Me" or "Community Helpers" (nurse/doctor) We put together a booklet of body parts drawn on paper, ex. elbow, knee, ankle, chin, finger, and supply small band aids. The book is called "My Band Aid Book". We look at each page and ask the child to show us his/her elbow, etc. When they can do that, they get to put a band aid on their elbow and one on the elbow in the book. It helps to learn various body parts plus fine motor in getting the band aids on.
7-28-00While studying community helpers, particularly fire fighters, the teachers drew orange and yellow chalk pictures on the sidewalk on our outdoor playground. The children then used squeeze bottles to "put the flames out" They loved playing with water and worked on fine motor skills at the same time. The teachers would then work on color recognition by drawing a variety of color on the ground and asked the children to squirt a particular color away.
7-18-00I teach a sped preschool class. For our week on community workers we pretended to be many things. First we were architects and we drew up our plans for the play house. On the second day, I brought in a large box and they pretended to be builders and built themselves a playhouse. We had on construction hats and they had a blast. On the third day, they were painters. We put on painting clothes and hats and painted our playhouse. On the fourth day we were postal workers and we wrote letters to each other and delivered them to the mail box at our play house. Then on our last day, We went on a journey around the town. We took a community book with us and searched out bankers, postal workers, shoe store workers, waiters, etc. It was a wonderful week.
Date: 3-30-00For our unit on Community Helpers we use house painters as one of our community helpers. After discussing what a house painter's job is like, we became house painters. I got a large wardrobe box from a local U-haul dealer. I cut a door and two windows in the box. I also cut off the four bottom flaps and two top flaps. I used these to create window boxes, a mail box, shutters, and the pitch of the roof. I bought mini roller pans, rollers, and brushes at the dollar store. Children were each given a special part of the house to paint. Some of my older preschoolers rolled the paint on the outside of the house, while others painted a shutter, window box, etc. The children had a blast, and the house turned out great. We even planted "magic seeds in the window boxes and the next day (to the delight of the children) silk flowers had appeared. Now we are working on wallpapering the inside of the house with children's art work. The house is used in the drama area and also as a place to go when a child is feeling sad or angry and needs a little time to "get it together."
Date: 3-28-00Using white strips of paper, make several copies of badges, fire hats, red crosses, etc. Have the children cut and paste the symbols to their armbands and let them color and decorate them. when they're done tape the band into a loop (to make it an armband and let them wear it at circle time. During circle time, each group of symbols may be pointed out and reviewed.
Date: 3-20-00To make a mailbox, I used a small box with a handle (Crate and Barrel). I cut a doorflap around the handle, pasted a variety of colors of construction paper around the entire box, then used cardboard to fashion a flag. I fashioned the flag on the box by using paper fasteners. This allowed the flag to be put up or down. I let each child decorate the box, then write, address, and "mail" a letter home to their parents. The parents even sent some during the week. I also used the box to play a matching game, I used old stamps, and glued them on envelopes. each envelope had a certain amount of stamps and a letter inside with a number matching that of the stamps on the envelope. I left the mailbox in the math center and they could match the number to the envelope whenever they wanted to at free play.
Date: 2-29-00Post office: In Jan. our community helper were construction workers, so I had the workers paint a big box blue (for our Feb. dramatic play/community helper. My husband cut it out for me so it became 3-sided with a window. I put up a United States Post Office sign included used and new envelopes, lick and stick stamps (Easter Seals) ,a scale, pens, crayons and paper, stickers, stamps, and ink pads along with a mail carrier uniform. The kids made lots of Valentines and had lots of fun!
Date: 2-9-00While on the topic of Postal Workers have the children make some Mail bags to use. Have two pieces of brown construction paper one on top of the other and cut them into half circle shapes for the mail "pouch". Use a hole punch to punch holes around the outside and add yarn for the children to lace around the pouch. Make the yarn long enough so that after lacing there is enough left over to use as a shoulder strap. I write U.S. Mail on the bags and the children enjoy putting mail in their bags and delivering to others.
Date: 2-9-00I like to make a post office box for the children to sort the mail into. I take half gallon milk cartons and staple 5 together side by side. I then add another row of 5 stapled milk cartons on top of the first row and again staple them all together. You can add as many as you like on top of one another and then you can take some contact paper with a design on it and wrap around the outside of your post office box to hide all the milk carton writing. I then use sticky labels to label each "box" with the children's names so their mail can be delivered to their PO box.
Date: 2-9-00Postal Workers: I took an "apple box" and painted it blue and with white paint wrote, U.S. Mail on the side. The slit on the top of the box makes a great mail slot for the children to drop their mail into. Then the "postal carrier" can take the mail out of the "mail Box" and deliver it.
Date: 1-27-00For plumbers day ---give the children several plastic plumbing pipes to make structures. Children also enjoy doing plunger painting with small plungers bought from the dollar store.
1-20-00Check with your dental school or college. Most students who are studying to be dentists, dental hygienists, or dental assistants or required to do so many community training sessions. They will come to your school to teach your students in a fun way about proper dental care and they will probably get a bag with a new toothbrush and other dental goodies to take home. They also make great visitors for community helper month. ideaDuring Community Helper Week we discussed several helpers. Two of which were the grocer and a chef. We took the preschoolers to the grocery store to learn what a grocer does and also to purchase groceries. The following day they became chefs themselves by preparing their own dinner. We made mini-pizzas from the groceries we purchased. The children got to create and eat their own pizzas. They loved it. Date: 10-17-99ideaFire Department Unit. Have the children dress up with rain coats, boots, red hats these can be made out of red construction paper. The children can also make the uniform out of paper bags donated from the grocery store. They can paint the bags and decorate there uniforms etc, in order to save money. The fire hoses can be made out of rolled construction paper or green pieces of water hoses can be purchased at a home improvement store. The fire trucks can be made out of cardboard boxes and have the children decorate them with red paint. Teachers write The fire Department and help with cutting with the appropriate shape. Finish by inviting the fire Department to come talk to the children about fire safety. Children might also get the chance of seeing a real fire truck they enjoy this kind of activities. Ask the local Fire Department for pamphlets on how to be fire safe. These unit leaves lots of open ended activities such as teaching children Stop, Drop, and Roll as well as how to use 911 the proper way. Date: 10-11-99
ideaI got this idea from a magazine (Family Fun) giving ideas on how to create a child themed birthday party. the particular theme that interested me was that of the firefighter. I used the ideas inside my classroom in our unit on community helpers and fire safety. I turned an old refrigerator box into a fire truck and put it in the dramatic play area I used an old yellow raincoat for a fireman coat and bought plastic fireman hats at the Dollar Store. We then used old vacuum cleaner hoses and cut water hoses as water hoses to put out the fire. (They kids loved it). At the end of the unit we had a visit from the fire department each students was given fire safety badges and certificates. We also had a party complete with a fire truck cake. (The cake was fairly easy to make) All you need to make the cake is: 1 baked 13 by 9 by 2 inch cake 6 cups of red frosting 1 cup gray frosting red M & M's (inside wheels) 6 Oreo cookies (3 wheels each side) Pretzel rods & sticks (form ladder) 2 yellow gum drops (lights on top) 1 black jelly bean (horn on top) white chiclets (head lights) mini jawbreakers (controls) black shoestring licorice windows and side panels) Date: 8-27-99Date: 2-3-99When studying about postal workers, we made mail bags using 2 pieces of construction paper. Punch holes around the edges and let children lace them with yarn. Cut the yarn long enough to have some left to make a shoulder strap. I wrote US Mail on one side and "Zachary's" Mail Bag on the other. My students made deliveries to my aide and me all day long. Date: 12-1-98I am an Early Childhood Student at Troy State University, and I just wanted to share an idea that I thought of and used in a community helpers unit I made. I made big people, made out of poster board, and cut their eyes out, and then I made uniforms for them to wear. They are basically big paper dolls, that the children can hold in front of themselves and pretend that they are that community helper. I just made a nurse, police officer, fire fighter, and park ranger outfit, and they stick on with Velcro. I also made a puppet board from the large portion of a 3 way display board. Then, I made removable signs on the top and bottom so that the children can change out the display, and it can be a school, doctor's office, or bakery. Then, I used computer clipart people, laminated them, and put them on popsicle sticks so that the children can use the different community helpers and their tools and props to put on a puppet show. There is also Velcro on the back of the stage, so they can have several things up there to manipulate. I also made a magnet board with the clipart people, and used cheap magnets and put them on the little people and tools, and used a cookie sheet as the metal board. This way they can make different community helper scenes. For instance, one of the scenes was a construction site with workers, a forklift, a hard-hat, saw, drill, etc.. My professor seemed to like it, so I thought that it might be a cute idea to share with others. Date: 12-1-98In order to understand the use of mail, have the children (even toddlers) write or scribble a note for their parents. Write the message they want to send to their parents. Put them in an envelope with a note for parents explaining the activity and requesting letters from them to their children. Then prepare a "Mailbox"in your class to receive and send notes. Read letters to to children every morning, make sure that everyone receives one. The children will love to here special messages from Mom and Dad while they are at school. It is also, a great opportunity for parents to express their feelings about their children. Date: 10-25-98Dramatic play area turned in a pet hospital My 4 yr.olds loved dressing up in white lab coats, and surgery scrubs while they examined stuffed animals at the pet hospital. they used the sink for bathing, a child size table for examining, the child size stove became the C.A.T. scan or X-Ray machine. They even had a waiting room with 3 chairs and a basket with Ranger Rick magazines to read. We added to a Children's Fisher price Doctor Kit some gauze and real bandages. We even had a "Doctor is In" sign and a "No Smoking" sign. 10-4-98 Name: suzanne 6-13-98 Name: Kari E-Mail: markkari@gateway.net One of the most creative community helpers presentations we had was from a State Farm Agent, father of one of my students. He brought paper houses that he & his sons had made, & I supplied some pretend paper money. First, he selected several students to live in each house. Then, his son passed out money to each student as if it were their month's pay. Next, the insurance agent collected a portion of each person's money & put it in the insurance agent's bank. When the great wind of a mini fan produced from the agent's pocket blew one of the paper houses off of the table, they were able to fix it, using some of the money in the insurance bank. Next, one of the houses (which had been placed in a square cake pan), caught fire. The insurance agent did a great job of reviewing pertinent emergency information from our Fire Station field trip, & then used some of the insurance bank money to buy a new house that he'd had hidden - complete with a smiling person peeking out of the door. 5-26-98 Name: Bobbi E-Mail: bcapwell@phoenix.net I make each child a lab coat to wear in our laboratory. I use white pillowcases. I lay them with the opening end facing me. I cut it all the way up to the seam then to each corner. It looks like a t. Then I surge the ends to keep from raveling. I draw on pockects with rulers, pens, pencils, etc. in it. I also write on names like Dr. I.M. Smart or Can I Discover, PH.d. The kids love them. They also wear them when we go out to our outside garden lab. 4-10-98 Name: Angie E-Mail: MP AP 02 @aol.com During the month of May, we normally do community helpers or occupations. We call guest speakers to come and visit. They usually do a short presentation and bring equipment to show. Here is a list of some resources to call in your area... police car, police bicyclists, police helicopter, K-9 unit, fire truck, garbage truck, tow truck, an artist, a cook, baker, or cake decorator, musician, postal worker and mail truck, dentist, nurse, carpenter, ambulance, dancer, subway sandwich artist, hair stylist, etc. Anyone that you can think of that may have an interesting job. Your parents may be your greatest resource. Just get on the phone and start calling. Remember to write thank you notes after your guests have visited.
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