FARMINGTON – Third graders at Cascade Brook School were visited by four different “community helpers” Wednesday morning to learn about the various responsibilities involved with each profession, and the role that each of them plays within the community.
Students rotated from classroom to classroom, listening to the visitors describe their jobs and asking important questions, such as “does Axle [the Farmington Police Department K9 Unit] like ice cream?” and “do you know my aunt who works at the hospital?”.
“Of course he likes ice cream,” Officer Mike Lyman answered to dutiful nods.
Lyman, along with Falls Road Veterinarian Cathy Morton, Emergency Medical Technician Sean Zubord and Game Warden Kris MacCabe, shared information about the tools they work with, the services they provide to the community and what a typical day is like in their shoes.
“If you got lost in the woods, it would be our job to find you,” MacCabe explained.
Third grade teacher Cameron McAllister organized the event as part of a requirement for social studies to
learn about the different roles within a community. Students are required by state standards to learn about the responsibilities of various leadership roles within their school and larger community.
“The kids have been great. Having the dogs was helpful, and MacCabe is a local hero so they were pretty excited about that,” he said.
McAllister, who graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington, said he and the other teachers wanted to spend more time on this piece of the curriculum, bringing more awareness to the role of a community for their students.
“We wanted to go more in depth with this piece of the curriculum. We think the kids are capable of grasping a lot more of this than the state standard holds them at,” he said.
What a great experience for the students.It’s wonderful that they are being exposed to various community professionals.
Great hands on learning for our students. It’s always exciting to see the creativity of our teachers.
Excellent. All kids should know who the police, sheriff, game wardens,
EMT’s, firemen and vets are and what their jobs are. These folks have the potential to be mentors to these
kids and build community relationship with them. This is the kind of investment in their future our kids need.
I am sure there are other community leaders out and about that could share a little of their time with kids to
show them all different kinds of professions. Construction folks, pharmacists, bankers, many vocations
that can be shared with the kids. The possibilities are wide open.
Good job those who participate.
Cmc
I am proud of Cameron for organizing a project like this. It important to show young students more about the people that make a community work together. Understanding the different jobs an the education needed to perform them enables them eel positive about them.