Equitable for Everyone: Promoting our Community Resources in Elementary

2nd Grade

Emily McQuiston, K-3 ELL/Multilingual Teacher 

Brooklyn, Ohio

*Project was cotaught with Mrs. Sue Grodek in her self-contained 2nd grade class.  

The What:

• Students will understand that they are active members of their community, family, class, neighborhood, and world.  

• Students will learn about the community they live in and the people who make up their community. 

• Students will identify services that all can benefit from in their community and choose a community resource or service to promote using their platform of choice. 

•  Students will understand the interconnectedness and interdependence of all people in the community and develop understanding and respect for different professions within their community.  

The Why:

I chose this activity because I work in a school that has a very strong local community, and there are many services available at no cost to residents.  While many students and their families utilize these resources, others have not had the opportunity to explore them.  Many of our ELL/multilingual families in particular are not aware of or have not had the opportunity to explore some of the free services and resources in our community.  In addition, many of our students have family in other parts of the world.  This project was also an opportunity for our students to tell those living outside of their community about the Brooklyn community in which they reside.

The home languages represented in this 2nd grade class community are Nepali, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, and English.  This was completed as a push-in project and was co-taught with the self-contained 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Grodek.  All students in the class participated.

I found the book Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña to be a perfect introduction to this project.  It focuses on seeing a community and all of its members and services in a positive lens, and emphasizes kindness, empathy, gratitude and finding unexpected pockets of joy throughout the day.  It also celebrates family relationships and a special bond between and boy and his grandmother.  

This activity aligns with SDG 10, Reducing Inequalities, as well as several other Sustainable Development Goals and grade level curricula.  Specifically, it focuses on target 10.3: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome.  All community members should be aware of the services a community has to offer, and have equal opportunities to access them.

Essential Questions:

What is the role of a community to make sure that things are equal for everyone?  

How is your daily routine dependent on community?

What can we do to help others who have less than us?

The How: 

Prior to beginning these lessons, students took a walking field trip to Marquardt Park in the Brooklyn community.  They participated in a nature scavenger hunt and a book walk, and had a picnic.  

Lesson #1

1.  Read Last Stop on Market Street by Mark de la Peña

Questions during reading: 

Where is the setting of this story?  

Who are the characters?  

Where do you think they are going? 

Who is telling the story?  

How do you know?

Questions after reading: 

Where did they go?  What is a soup kitchen?  Why do you think it is called that?

What does it mean to volunteer?  Provide sentence frame: Volunteer means _________

Why do you think Nana volunteers?  What does she gain from it?

How and why does CJ's mood change throughout the book?

Why do you think they don't own a car?

What did the boy/CJ want?

What did CJ need?

Describe the difference between wanting something and needing something. For example, CJ wanted a music player like the boys had on the bus, the people at the soup kitchen needed food.

What else do we need, besides food?

2. Conversation. We learned about one service in CJ's community where people can go to get food for free. One of the jobs of a community is providing resources that are available to everyone. What are some other services that are available in our community?  

Elicit Examples from students, or state examples. List on anchor chart, write student answers.

Ex: If you want to get homework help after school, the library is where you can do that. If you want to go play sports, the rec center is where you can go and do that.  If you need food at no cost, there are services provided where you can receive that.

Next week, we will talk more about how to tell people about these services, and how to help people who may not know about    the services in our community.

Services mentioned by students in the first brainstorm: library, park, school

Lesson #2

1. This week, we will continue to talk about services and resources in our community.  Together, we will explore more of the services in our community and discuss the role of community.

Review the term volunteer, review community resources that are free for everyone previously listed

Ask students again: What resources do we have in our community that are available to everyone?  

Add to the anchor chart, if they don't mention:

-Buba’s produce pickup - park at St. Elias - 5lb bags of food, completely free

-Free lunches from the library over the summer/vacation weeks, homework help, English classes, toy lending library

-Events for the family: music in the park, parade

-Weekend food bags

2. Students complete a KWL chart about a service in our community.

3. Present students with fiction and non-fiction text sets about community resources in our community.

    Tell students: Soon, you will be choosing a service in our community to promote. You will have a choice on how you choose to promote it.

   *During some classes in between these lessons, classroom and substitute teachers also read stories with students about community helpers and workers - police officers, firefighters, first responders.

Lesson #3 - Students continue with research/KWL charts

1. Repeat essential questions:

How can we help those who have less than us?

How can we share more about our community with those who might not know about these resources?

How is your daily routine dependent on community?

2. By this time, students should be on the Want to know/Learned sections of the KWL chart. Students will take the time to finish their research.  They may use computers and/or the fiction and non-fiction texts provided by teacher. They might need to reach out to community members by email at the library, waste collection, etc. Teachers will help with contacts and help students sent emails. 

Lesson #4 - Present Choice Board- Student choice on community service/resource to promote to their community

Essential Questions:

How is your daily routine dependent on/connected with our community? 

How can we help those who have less than us?

How can we share more about our community with those who might not know about these resources?

1. We have been talking about how we can help those who have less than us, and how we can share more about the services that our community has to offer. Some of you were even able to reach out to community members and get some responses back.  What did you ask? What did you hear back? Give students time to answer

2. Discuss: This week, I was thinking about how my weekly routine is dependent on and connected with the free resources in our community. I have checked out books at the library, visited the parks several times, and come to teach at a public school.  I also put out my trash and recycling.  I'm so grateful that we have these services in our community.  What services have you or your family taken advantage of this week?

3. Choice board: Students will create a poster, Google slide presentation, make a Flipgrid video or write a persuasive letter to someone they know (family member) about a service offered in our community.  Their choice project will highlight some of the advantages a particular service offers, and encourage someone to learn more.  

*Students may complete their projects in their language of choice to reach their intended audience(s), whether it be those in our community or in other parts of the world.

-Teacher will provide clear instructions on how to make a Flipgrid video with students, in a small group setting.

-Students will have time to explore the non-fiction and fiction texts provided by teachers to help them brainstorm and plan their choice of service to promote.   Teacher will mark books ahead of time with post-its by service.

Lesson #5 - Presentations of student work by individual students or partners

Planning Considerations:

o   Appropriate modifications are needed for students with learning differences and limited English proficiency 

o   Preview any videos and choose sections to watch

Suggested Resources/Materials:

SDG Resources:

• Child Friendly SDGs 

• Youth Playbook SDGs

• 170 Actions to Transform our World

Content Resource:

• Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña - read aloud.

Suggested texts that highlight/promote free services in a community:

• Dreamers by Yuyi Morales - public library (specific page is marked by teacher ahead of time)

• The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family  -  Ibtihaj Muhammed

• Various non-fiction texts about community services

Suggested Texts for Further Study on SDG #10 Reducing Inequalities:

• Eyes That Kiss in the Corners - Joanna Ho

• Water Princess by Susan Verde

• Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and Luisa Uribe

• It's Okay To Be Different (Todd Parr Classics)

• Where are You From?  - Yamile Saied Méndez and Jaime Kim

• Mixed: A Colorful Story  - Arree Chung

• Just Ask!  Be Different, Be Brave, Be You - Sonia Sotomayor

• Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

• I Am Human: A Book of Empathy (I Am Books) by Susan Verde and Peter H. Reynolds

• I Am Enough by Grace Byers

• The Day You Begin by Jaqueline Woodson and Rafael López

• All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman

Content/Standards Alignment:

Ohio English Language Arts Standards, Grade 2

Writing:

2.W.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

2.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

2.W.5 With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.

Reading: 

RL.2 Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.

RL.2.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, when, where, how, why to determine understanding of key details of a text

RL.2.2 Analyze literary text development. 

a. Determine the lesson or moral

b. Retell stories

RL 2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print and digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting or plot.

Ohio Learning Standards - Social Studies 

Theme Description for Grade 2: People Working Together

Work serves as organizing theme for the second grade.  Students learn about jobs today and long ago.  They deepen their knowledge of diverse cultures and their roles as citizens.  

SS 2.6 Places and Regions: The work people do is impacted by the distinctive human and physical characteristics in the place where they live.  

SS 2.7 Rules and Laws: There are different rules and laws that govern behavior in different settings.  

2.W

UN SDG Alignment:

1 No Poverty

2 Zero Hunger

3 Good Health and Well-Being

4 Quality Education

8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

10 Reduced Inequalities

11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

17 Partnerships for the Goals

Recommendations:

Utilize your knowledge of your students' reading levels to create text sets for them to choose from.  

Individual Reflection:

What went well?

Everything!  They loved Last Stop on Market Street.  They also liked choosing their own method of promoting a service or resource in the community.  I found it necessary to highlight and continue to review what volunteering means, as it might not be a common practice in all communities or with different cultural backgrounds.  

What would you have done differently?

The field trip to the park could have been at the end, but it just didn't work out that way.  I also would have had a model video for the Flipgrid presentations ready to go.  I made one on the fly for those students while they were with me in a small group.

What feedback did you get from your students?

No students decided to do the presentation in their home language(s), and that was ok.  It was their choice!

Students were excited when they heard back from the community member that they emailed.

How do you know that this was successful?

Students were all participating in the discussions, and were attentive.  They were actively engaged in the research component of the project.

How do you plan to use this strategy in the future?

I plan to continue giving students more choices in how they choose to communicate and carry out a project. 

What else should be considered when incorporating this strategy into instruction?

Having another teacher with whom I could coteach this project was without a doubt necessary.  

A special thanks to Mrs. Grodek for her time in coplanning and coteaching this unit!  

Additional information:

-Rubrics and/or examples for each project choice are very helpful to students. 

-Students had a final opportunity to decide on their project choice after completing their research. They couldn't go back and change their minds after this.  

-It worked well to do this as a unit at the end of the school year as an interdisciplinary culminating project.  If the project were lengthened, guest speakers would have also been a great addition!

First, students chose a community resource or service to learn more about that is free or available at a greatly reduced cost for everyone.  Next, students chose one of those services and completed KWL charts.  For the What I Learned section, they researched a service or resource in our community.  Some students wrote emails to employees and experts in our community, and shared the responses they received with the class.  Students then typed up a document about what they learned to help them summarize and prepare for the final step: creating a project to help them tell others about the community resource or service.

Student is working on his Google Slides presentation about the Brooklyn Community Rec Center.

After researching where to find and donate clothes in our community, student is writing a persuasive letter to his mom.

Students are presenting to the class on what they learned about schools, garbage trucks and recreation center programs.  

Students work on creating Flipgrid videos about public schools, the library and the local food pantry.