Lesson+1

 = Lesson 1 – What is a Community? = || **Topic:** Community **Key Question:** What is a Community? || **Year Level:** VELS Level 3 **Duration:** 2 hours || **Learning Purpose: **Students will be able to identify characteristics of their own community. Students will understand that people live in different communities. Students will learn about what makes their community unique. Students will be able to determine the characteristics of different types of communities. **VELS references: **VELS level 3 Students investigate the human and physical characteristics of their local area and other parts of Victoria and consider features of their local community that have changed over time. ||  ||  ** Group set up **  || ** Materials ** || ** Engagement: ** Ask a student to volunteer to read a poem “If I Could Build a Town” Ask the students to tell you some things they saw on the way to school today, and write them on the whiteboard. If they go off track a little bit, ask them some questions: Did anyone see cars on the road? Did anyone see a supermarket? How about a post office or a milk bar? After the students give you their ideas, you can say, “Well these things make up your community!”  -   Choose a student to read the definition “what is a community” (have it written on the whiteboard)  -   Facilitate a discussion with the students about their community. Ask them questions: Are their houses/buildings? Do animals live in your community? Can you walk to the shops? What sounds do you hear during the day/night? Etc.  -   Students will be working in 3 different groups and given different posters with a few pictures on them. Suburb, rural and urban communities will be on each poster. Have the students brainstorm ideas, and on a separate piece of paper, of what they see in the pictures. If they need ideas on what to write, ask them questions: Can children play games in the front yard? Are there buildings or houses? Are there farms? Etc.  -   After the brainstorming, write the students ideas on the white board in 3 separate sections (untitled)  -   Ask a student to volunteer to read the definition of Suburb.  -   Ask another student to read the definition of Rural.  -   Ask a different student to read the definition of Urban. (have all 3 definitions on the whiteboard)  -   Choose 3 students to come up to the front of the class and write the correct type of community on top of the rows that match with its characteristics.  -   Students will then be split into small groups of 4 or 5 and given newspapers and magazines. Students will be asked to cut out pictures of anything that reminds them of their community, and make their own collage. (Make your own collage and model it to the class so they will be on the right track) ** Pulling it together: ** Students will come back together as a whole group and discuss what they have learnt throughout the lesson. They will share their collages with the class. Have the student discuss similarities and differences of the collages they have made. Allow 5-10 minutes at the end of the lesson for the students to write a short paragraph in their journals. ||   **  Whiteboard  ** ** Community definition  ** ** Poster paper  ** ** Definition of suburb  ** ** Newspapers, magazines, scissors, glue, poster paper  ** . || ** Observations of students’ learning: ** Observe group work to determine which students work collaboratively, and make observations after the lesson about student's progress. Observe and take notes after class on students contribution to class discussions. Collect the students journals to check their understanding of the lesson. || ** Teacher’s Resources: ** If I could build a town [] Community definition [] Rural definition [] Urban definition [] Suburb definition [] || ** Catering for inclusion: ** The teacher will be allocating the small groups for both of the small group activities. This allows students of different abilities to work together and share their ideas and thoughts, which also allows students to help each other with any difficult aspects of the activities. ||
 * Procedure:  **
 * Whole class **
 * Reading/Listening **
 * Whole class discussion **
 * Teacher recording **
 * Whole class reading/listening **
 * Whole class discussion **
 * Small group work **
 * Whole class **
 * Whole class reading/listening **
 * Whole class **
 * Small group work ** ||
 * Poem, “If I could build a town” **
 * Whiteboard markers **
 * Pictures of suburban, rural and urban communities on separate posters **
 * Blank writing paper **
 * Pens, textas, pencils **
 * Definition of rural **
 * Definition of Urban **

