DIRECT INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN GUIDE AND TEMPLATE

Name: Hannah Stanford

Lesson #: 1

Lesson Title: Community Helpers

Grade Level/Subject: 3rd Grade/Social Studies

NCES/CCSS Standard and
Objective (1)

Topic: Community Helpers

3.C&G.2 Understand how citizens participate in their communities.

3.C&G.2.1 Exemplify how citizens contribute politically, socially
and economically to their community.

Revised Blooms level of

thinking/type of knowledge (1)
Behavioral Objective (2)

3.C&G.2.2 Exemplify how citizens contribute to the wellbeing of

the communitys natural environment.
Understanding: Identify, summarize, categorize, discuss, and explain.

The students will be able to explain the different community helpers

and how they contribute to our society. The students will be assessed
on their ability to identify 2 separate community helpers that they
learned about and list at least one fact about each. Students will also
be assessed on their community helper summaries. If they
successfully identify a community helper that we discuss in this lesson
and list 5 facts about how this community helper contributes to
society, the student will be considered meeting the objective.
Students need to have an understanding of how citizens participate in
Objective Rationale (1)
their communities. Teaching this content will be a good precursor for
their next social studies lesson in class, which will focus on local
government. Overall students will be more aware of what it takes for
a community to be successful and how community helpers contribute.
With this being partially a review lesson, and partially containing new
Prerequisite Knowledge and
content, the students should have some prior knowledge about the
Skills (1)
topic of community helpers.
Community helpers, mayor, town council, city manager, city clerk,
Key Terms and Vocabulary
parks and recreation, public library, public works, police department,
(1)
fire department, planning department.
Content and Strategies
Instructional
Strategies
Since the students already have some background
We will have a
Focus/Review (prepares
knowledge of what community helpers are, I will
class discussion
students for the lesson) (2)
begin our lesson by holding a brief class discussion about what
on the carpet. I will ask the students questions such community
as Who can tell me what a community helper is? helpers are and
What are some examples of community helpers? talk about
Do you know any community helpers? etc.
specific
examples.
Today we will be learning more about community helpers. You will be
Objective as stated for
given 2 sticky notes and as we learn about our community helpers you
students (helps students set
their own goals for the lesson) will write a community helper on each sticky note that we discussed, as
well as at least one fact about each. By the end of the lesson you will be
(1)
Revised for spring, 2012

Teacher Input (provides the

content to students in a
teacher-directed manner) (3)

Guided Practice (scaffolded

practice with the content;
helps students make sense of
the content provided in
Teacher Input) (3)

Independent Practice
(application activities to help
students use and demonstrate
what they have learned) (2)

Closure (provides a wrap-up

for the lesson) (1)

Evaluation (How will you

assess students learning so
that you can determine if they
met the objective of the
lesson?) (2)

able to summarize what specific community helpers are and with they do
for us on a daily basis.
At this point the students will stay seated on the
I will be
carpet and ready to begin our city tour activity.
demonstrating
Before beginning the virtual tour, I will explain to
what the
the students what they should be doing as we tour
students will be
the city. Each of you will receive 2 sticky notes.
doing in the
As we do the city tour, I want you write one
guided practice
community helper on each sticky note. These
portion of the
community helpers need to be different from one
lesson.
another. You will also write at least one fact under
each community helper. After we finish the city
tour, you will place your sticky notes on the
community helper chart. As I explain these steps,
I will be filling out an example sticky note and
placing it on the community helper chart. We will
then go through the virtual city tour and the
students will fill out their sticky notes.
One at a time, students will read the fact on their
I will use the
sticky notes and place their sticky notes on the
strategy of
community helper chart. As students do this I will asking the class
ask the class questions such as How does this
open-ended
community helper benefit our community? What questions
would our community be like without this
during this
individual(s)? At this time I will also be
portion of the
answering any questions the students have about
lesson.
particular community helpers.
Once we complete the sticky note activity, students will write about
ONE of the community helpers in their journal. They will choose a
community helper, and write 5 different facts about what they do and
how they impact the community. Students will be encouraged to get
up and look at the poster with the sticky notes on it as they write.
They can incorporate the facts on their own sticky notes, as well as
other students sticky notes, to write their summary.
After the students finish writing about a community helper, I will ask
the students if anyone would like to volunteer and share their
summaries with the class. Once a few students have read their
summaries aloud, we will review the names of each of the community
helpers. I will stress that without these community helpers, a
community would not be successful. The students will then put their
journals away and we will transition to the next lesson of the day.
Formative:
The formative assessment will occur during the guided practice
portion of the lesson. Students will be evaluated on their ability to
fill out their sticky notes with one community helper and a fact
they learned about that specific community helper.
Summative
The summative assessment will take place during the independent
practice portion of the lesson. Students will be evaluated on their
community helper summaries in their journals. They will need to
Revised for spring, 2012

Plans for Individual

Differences (differentiations
needed for students) (1)

Materials used in the lesson;

Resources used in developing
the lesson (1)

21st Century Skills (must be

in three lessons)

Global Awareness (must be in

two lessons)

Culturally Responsive
Teaching (must be in three
lessons)

choose a community helper we discussed in this lesson and list 5

facts about how they community helper contributes to society in
order to meet the objective.
Describe ways in which you will make accommodations and
modifications for students in your class. Consider what
instructional activities and materials are being used in this lesson
and how they might serve as a barrier to the needs of your
students.
Describe ways in which you will meet the different learning styles
and multiple intelligences of the students in your class.
http://pbskids.org/democracy/my-government/
Computer
Overhead projector
Sticky notes
Pencils
Poster paper
Marker
Information, Media and Technology Skills: Media Literacy.
Students will be exposed to Media Literacy through the virtual city
tour. The city tour provides descriptions of different community
helpers and summaries of what their jobs entail.
Learning and Innovation Skills: Communication and
Collaboration. Students will be exposed to Communication and
Collaboration throughout the lesson, specifically during the Focus
and Review, the Guided Practice, and the Closure portions of the
lesson.
I will address that all communities around the world have community
helpers. Even though the names and types of jobs may vary, overall
the community helpers are very similar. I can discuss this during the
city tour in the Teacher Input portion of the lesson.
I could potentially give examples of community helpers from other
cultures that are similar to the ones that we discuss. This will help
students of different cultures develop a better understanding of the
topic and help them to relate. I can do this during the city tour in the
Teacher Input portion of the lesson.

Revised for spring, 2012