Unit 1-What is a Community? In Unit 1, we will analyze the elements of a community.
Main Ideas:
1. A community has a location on Earth
2. Citizens in a community form governments and
work together to solve problems.
3. People in a community use resources to meet
their needs.
4. A community changes over time.
5. A community is made up of different groups
of people who live and work
Suggested Books for Independent Reading
Aunt Flossie's Hat( and
Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
How my Family Lives in
America by Susan Kuklin
Where on Earth: A
Geografunny Guide to the Globe by Paul Rosenthal
Suggestions to Extend and Enrich this Unit:
Interview a
prominent individual who has contributed in some way to Mariemont.
Contact an adult
friend or relative who lives in a different community and compare it to
Mariemont.
Write a song about
Mariemont.
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Unit 2-Where People Start Communities We will analyze different cities and decide the reasons for the specific location.
Main ideas:
1. People often build communities near
water.
2. Communities sometimes start at
places where people meet.
3. Different groups of people may
build communities near the same place.
4. Some people build towns so they
will be near resources.
5. The leaders of a country think
about location before they build places of government.
Suggested Books for Independent Reading:
Natural
Wonders of America by David M and Irene M. Franck
Homes Around
the World by Bobbie Kalman
Going West
by Jean VanLeeuwan
How Mountains
are Made by Kathleen Zochfeld
Suggestion to Extend and Enrich this Unit:
Take a walking
tour of the historical sites in Mariemont.
Research the length
of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri Rivers.
Write about a trip
you took or plan a new trip.
Make a map and
write the directions from school to your house.
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Unit 3-The Many People of a Community We will study the cultures and backgrounds of people who make up different communities.
Main ideas:
1. People move from one community to
another and from one country to another.
2. Large communities include
groups who share a culture or cultures.
3. Language, customs, religion,
food, literature, art, and music are important parts of a
culture.
4. People of many cultures can
live together in one country, community, or neighborhood.
Suggested Independent Reading:
Crocodile! Crocodile! Stories
Told Around the World by Barbara Baumgartner
The Moving Chair
by
Barbara M. Joosse
I'm New Here
by Bud
Howlett
Suggestions to Extend and Enrich this Unit:
Sample food from different cultures.
Interview an immigrant or visitor to
our country.
Talk to your relatives about your own
family's migration and share the information with
your class.
Research another culture.
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Unit 4 ~~ People Working Together ~ This unit analyzes how and why people in different communities work alone and together.
Main Ideas:
1. People work together to make products and provide
services.
2. People choose the products and services they will buy.
3. People trade with each other.
4. Products and services get to market in different ways.
Suggested Independent Reading
Amish Home
by Raymond Bial
Eyewitness Books:
Money by Joe Cribb
Marge's Diner by Gail Gibbons
Market Days: From Marked to Market
Around the World by Madhur
Jaffrey
How a Shirt Grew in a
Field by Marguerita Rudolph
Brainstorm! The Stories of Twenty
American Kid Inventors by Tom
Tucker
Suggestions to Extend and Enrich this Unit
Discover how a camel's
adaptations help it survive.
Find out how silk is formed and
how it is used.
Write a few sentences to convince
people to buy a new product or a new service. Think about a familiar tune to use
with your jingle.
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Unit Five ~ Living Together in a Community, State, and Nation ~ This unit analyzes conflict and conflict resolution in different communities.
Main Ideas:
1. People in communities work together to solve
their problems.
2. Rules and laws are for the common good of a community.
3. Citizens show pride in their communities in many ways.
4. The parts of a government work together for the common good.
5. People in governments in other countries work together to solve
problems.
Suggested Books for Independent Reading
Street Music: City Poems by Arnold Adoff
If You Were There in 1776 by Barbara Brenner
It's Our World, Too! Stories of Young People Who Are Making a Difference by Phillip Hoose
Across the Wide Dark Sea: The Mayflower Journey by Jean Van Leevwen
The President's Cabinet and How It Grew by Nancy Winslow Parker
Senator by Richard Sobel
Suggestions to Extend and Enrich this Unit:
Write a character sketch of an imaginary person who would make a good community leader.
Research the architectural style of capitol buildings around the country. Are these capitol buildings similar? When and where did this style of architecture originate?
Choose a flag that you think is interesting, draw a picture of the flag, and explain the significance of its design.
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Unit 6 ~ Communities Grow and Change ~ This unit analyzes how and why communities change or stay the same over time and what happens as a result.
Main Ideas:
1. Some things in a community
change and some things stay the same.
2. Changes in a community can be
slow, fast, planned, or unplanned.
3. Growth in a community can
sometimes create problems.
4. Every community has a history.
Suggested Independent Reading
The Town that
Moved by Mary Jane Finsand
My Great-Aunt
Arizona by Gloria Houston
The House on
Maple Street by Bonnie Pryor
Under the Moon
by
Dylan Sheldon
Letting Swift
River Go by Jane Yolen
Suggestions to Extend and Enrich this Unit:
Interview a grandparent or other person of a similar age. Ask that person to tell you about the most important changes during his or her lifetime and the most important way in which life has stayed the same.
Architects and
urban planners often work together to decide the location of parks, schools,
homes, office buildings, and shopping centers. Draw the plan for a new
community.
Are there modern
cities that rely on canals for transportation? How does the city of Venice,
Italy use canals?
