Adapted By:
Marisa Loccisano

The unit planned by Jennifer was intended for second graders. I modified this unit by making it first grade friendly. I chose a read-aloud not recommended from this site that I knew was understandable for six and seven year olds. The children had little knowledge of homeless people, so we connected every lesson with two characters in this book. By the end of the unit, the children were very active in wanting to understand the homeless and how we can, as a community, reach out to help them.

Instructional Objectives

I used technology to aid in my planning of this unit. Using the Internet, I found relevant read-alouds and homeless shelters that can collect our donations. To help dissect the book, A Shelter in Our Car, the following web site was used: http://familycares.org/authorinterviews/
authorInterviewMonicaGunning.cfm

http://homesforthehomeless.com/
index.asp?CID=1&PID=8 was used to gain information on statistics related to homeless families in New York. In addition, this site gave me information on how the community reaches out to the homeless and how our school community can help.

I assessed my students by creating individual KWL charts. These charts gave me information on what they knew before the unit and what they learned from the unit.

This was a fun unit because the children enjoyed getting together to help people in need. For first grade children, I highly recommend connecting these lessons with characters in a story; it motivates children as they feel a special connection to these characters.