Unit Theme:

All in a Day's Work: Community Service Providers
 
 

Unit Rationale:

Citizenship:
As current and future consumers, students need to be able to distinguish between economic goods and economic services and to provide examples of goods and service available in their community. As current and future citizens of their local communities, students should be able to recognize that one role of all communities (through local government) is to provide for services to meet important community needs (e.g., safety, sanitation, etc.)

Indiana Department of Education Proficiency Guide:
By the end of second grade, students are expected to be able to "describe how people depend on each other to supply economic goods and services" and to "identify people who provide goods and services to the community (e.g., school workers, firefighters, police officers, etc.)." (Economics Content Strand).
 

Unit Objectives:

Upon completion of the unit, students will be able to:

1. Distinguish between an economic good and an economic service and provide several examples of each from their home, neighborhood, school or community.

2. Describe the "services" provided by the following community service providers (CSP): postal workers, firefighters, police officers, sanitation workers and school workers.

3. Demonstrate the importance of each of these CSPs to the community by creating a mural/collage of what the community would be like without these CSPs.

4. Create a fictionalized account of "A Day in the Life of…." one of the community service providers (CSP) covered in the unit. This account should include at least three of the services provided by that CSP and include an accurate depiction of the daily demands of the job.
 
 

Lesson 1: Intro to "Services"

• Concept lesson developing the concepts "economic good" and "economic service"
• Examples/nonexamples of both goods/services

• Do You Know Who I Am?
• Identify CSPs
• CSP Scavenger Hunt

• Share results of CSP Scavenger Hunt
• Read the Little Fireman, Fireman Small, The Officer's Ball and excerpts from All in a Day's Work
• Brainstorm lists of various "services" CSPs provide

• Students work in author/illustrator teams to develop accurate "diaries" for a day in the life of their chosen CSP

• What would our (town, school, neighborhood) be like without CSPs?
• Review the services CSPs provide
• Using a Think-Pair-Share ask students to describe how our (school, neighborhood, town) would be different without these CSPs
• Students develop a collage/mural demonstrating what the community would be like without CSPs

Students compose a letter to the department head of the CSP they have chosen (e.g., Chief of Police) thanking that department for the important service they are providing for our community. Letters should include the definition of an economic service, a description of the services provided and what our community would be like without these services. Letters should be collected and mailed to various departments and replies shared with students.

Bibliography

Brown, Margaret Wise. (1938/1988). The Little Fireman. New York: HarperCollins.
Frack, Beth. (1994). A, E, I, O, U.... Audio tape Spring Hollow Music.
Rathman, Peggy (1988). Officer Buckles and Gloria. New York: Putnam
Ruth, Maria. (1998). Firefighting Behind the Scenes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Yee, Herbert. (1994). Fireman Small. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.