In this lesson, students practice the comprehension strategy of identifying details to support the most important ideas in a text. They will use a graphic organizer to take notes and then use the notes to create Community Worker trading cards.

Students will:

1. Read and listen to a Community Club story
2. Identify and record main idea and details from the text on a graphic organizer
3. Use notes to create a Community Worker trading card

Directions

Day 1
Step 1: Take students through the Community Club story about Mayor Steve Yamashiro. Read the title and go to the first page. Read the sentences and remind students how to click the speaker icons to hear the sentences read aloud. Also, show them how clicking the speaker icon in the photo provides more audio about the mayor's job.
Step 2: On the Main Idea and Details Graphic Organizer (PDF), model how to identify the most important ideas in a text. In the center, write Mayor Steve Yamashiro. On the lines radiating out from the center, write key details from both the text and the audio that tell about the mayor's job: mayor of Hilo, Hawaii; makes sure Hilo is a good place to live and work.
Step 3: Repeat step 2 for the rest of the pages in the story, having students identify details to support the main idea. Along the way, point out to students that as they take notes, they will need to make decisions about whether or not the information they are reading or hearing is important to understanding the mayor's job. For example, they may choose not to include the idea that people enjoy living in Hilo since it is not about the mayor's job.
Step 4: Upon completing the story, have the class review the completed graphic organizer to make sure all the details are important and related to the mayor's job. Work together as a class to make any necessary changes.

Day 2
Step 1: Show students how to use information from the graphic organizer to create a Community Worker trading card. On the board or chart paper, list the prompts: Community Worker, Job, and Responsibilities. Then take the information from the graphic organizer and put it next to each prompt, as follows:

• Community Worker: Steve Yamashiro
• Job: Mayor of Hilo, Hawaii
• Responsibilities:
  • Makes sure city is a good place to live and work in
  • Solves problems in the community
  • Work with community leaders to decide about buses, parks, libraries, and schools
  • Visits kids at school; sometimes gives them awards

Explain that this is what the back of their trading cards will look like. On the front, they will draw a picture of the community worker.
Step 2: Distribute a Main Idea and Details Graphic Organizer (PDF) to each student and have them go to any worker activity other than the Mayor (since you used it as a model). Have them complete the graphic organizer by filling in the worker's title in the center and then adding important ideas in the areas radiating out. Remind them to click the audio icon in the photographs for more information.

Day 3
Step 1: Using the art supplies, have students create their Community Worker trading cards. They may cut construction paper into a rectangular shape. On one side, they can draw a picture of the community worker. Students may also print, cut, and paste the picture onto their card.
Step 2: Have them use the notes on their graphic organizer to write the stats for the back of their cards, like you did on Day 2. They may want to write them first on scrap paper and have you help them check spelling and grammar. When they're ready, they can transfer the information to the back sides of their cards.
Step 3: Invite students to share their cards with each other, pointing out the most important parts of their worker's job.

Supporting All Learners

Community Club helps students meet the following standards for English and Language Arts as set forth by the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council for Teachers of English(NCTE):

• read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information
• adjust spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, and vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes
• use a variety of technological and informational resources to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge
• develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles
• use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information)
• participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities

Community Club also helps students meet the following content strands for Social Studies, as set forth by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS):

• Culture: learn how to understand multiple perspectives that derive from different cultural vantage points
• People, Places, and Environments: utilize technological advances to connect to the world beyond their personal locations. The study of people, places, and human-environment interactions assists learners as they create their spatial views and geographic perspectives of the world.
• Individual Development and Identity: learn to ask questions such as Why do people behave as they do? What influences how people learn, perceive, and grow?
• Civic Ideas and Practices: study the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic

Lesson Extensions

1. Have students play Community Worker charades. Put all the Community Worker trading cards in a bag. Have a volunteer select one without showing it to the rest of the class. The student acts out the worker's job as the rest of the class guesses who he or she is.
2. Set up a community in the classroom. Have students take on the roles of the workers they made trading cards for. They can dress up as that worker, including wearing the badge they printed out at the end of the online story.
3. Lead your class on a walk around the neighborhood. Visit the library, police station, firehouse, town hall, etc. and talk to community workers at each location.