My Community

The students will be introduced to the concept of community including those people/places that make up their local community. They will also be exposed to three maps of the local area detailing the locations of the Police Station, Library, and Fire Station. Over the course of three weeks, the students will walk to the Police Station, Library, and Fire Station. The teacher will discuss in great detail the routes that they will take on each field trip.

At the conclusion of each fieldtrip, the students will make their own map of the route taken to get to each destination. After the third field trip, the students will be asked to make a map detailing all three routes with each destination labeled. The purpose of this lesson is to enlarge the students understanding of the importance of each person in the community as well as deepening their understanding of the locations of various places in the community.

Lesson Overview

K.3 Students match simple descriptions of work that people do and the names of related jobs at the school, in the local community, and from historical accounts.

K.4 Students compare and contrast the locations of people, places, and environments and describe their characteristics.

1. Determine the relative locations of objects using the terms near/far, left/right, and behind/in front.

4. Construct maps and models of neighborhoods, incorporating such structures as police and fire stations, airports, banks, hospitals, supermarkets, harbors, schools, homes, places of worship, and transportation lines.

California State Standards in History-Social Science (Geography):

The World in Spatial Terms

2. How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments.

Places and Regions

4. The physical and human characteristics of places.

National Geography Standards:

The students will gain understanding of the concept of community. They will be brainstorm on the people and places found in their local community. The students will gain a deeper understanding of maps and their usefulness. They will be exposed to three maps of the local community detailing the local Police Station, Library, and Fire Station. The students will also be exposed to a compass and will briefly discuss direction. The students will also enlarge their mental maps of their local community by constructing three maps of the community over the course of three weeks. The students will gain added appreciation for the people in their local community.

Student Objectives

Ben FranklinElementary School

La Quinta Police Station

Walking directions to the La Quinta Police Station

From school parking lot, turn left onto Calle Tampico

At the stoplight, we must use the crosswalk to head south on Avenida Bermudas

We will pass Ace Hardware on the left as well as Village Gas Station and The Post Office.

Immediately after we pass the Post Office, the Police Station will be on our left.

La Quinta Police Station

Ben FranklinElementary School

La Quinta Public Library

From the school parking lot, we will turn left onto Calle Tampico

At the stoplight, we must use the crosswalk to head south on Avenida Bermudas

We will then use another crosswalk to head east on Calle Tampico.

We will pass the Civic Center Park on our left and will then see the Library on our left.

Walking directions to the La Quinta Public Library

La Quinta Public Library

Ben FranklinElementary School

La QuintaFire Station

From the school parking lot, turn left onto Calle Tampico

At the stoplight, we must use the crosswalk to head south on Avenida Bermudas

We will pass Ace Hardware on the left as well as Village Gas Station and The Post Office.

Immediately after we pass the Post Office, we will pass the Police Station and several houses.

We will continue to head south on Avenida Bermudas until we get to the intersection of Avenue 52 and Bermudas.

We will then use another crosswalk to head East on Avenue 52.

We will pass Fritz Burns Park on our right and then will immediately see the Fire Station on our right.

Walking directions to the La Quinta Fire Station

La Quinta Fire Station

Google Maps