| LESSON: | Health Services in the Community |
| CONTENT AREA: | Community and Environmental Health |
| GRADE LEVEL: | Grades 4-5 |
| RATING: |
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Students work in groups to brainstorm people or places in the community that help take care of health needs.
Students then select a health worker to research, describing his/her responsibilities and importance to the community.
Students will identify careers in community health.
Students will demonstrate skills for accessing information about community health careers.
Make transparency:
Have research materials about health careers for students, including Internet resources and/or reserve your media center for research.
Have several large sheets of paper and felt pens for students.
Have overhead projector.
Read students the following scenario.
One day Joanna was playing outside. She slipped on the sidewalk and scraped her knee. She went to her house, cleaned her scrape, applied some antiseptic, and covered it with a bandage. Joanna was taking care of her health by protecting herself from infection. It is good to know how to take care of your own health, but sometimes we need help or care from others in our community.Divide class into groups of four. Give each group a large sheet of paper and a felt pen. Ask groups to assign a recorder and then brainstorm people or places in the community that help us take care of our health needs.
Have groups share their brainstormed lists. Organize the responses into community service areas such as health departments, hospitals, fire departments, volunteer organizations, etc. Look at each list and describe the kinds of services that each department provides.
Transparency: Community Health Workers
Student Page: Learning More about Community Health Workers
Ask students to select a health worker to research. Students should use their research to answer the questions on the student page. They will then share their findings with the class. Provide students with research materials or plan a visit to your media center.
Ask students to share the information they have gathered. Discuss any questions that might arise. Summarize the importance of these services to the health of the community.
Teacher Tip: Gather the students' research sheets and organize them into a class book on public health careers. This book can be displayed or used as a resource in the classroom or school media center.
Ask students to respond to this constructed statement:
Many people work to improve the health of the community. Select one of these public health workers. Tell where she or he works. Explain each job's responsibilities. Explain why this job is important to the health of the community.
Student work demonstrates proficiency by showing the ability to:
Student work demonstrates proficiency by showing the ability to:
