The Tikkun Project
Lesson
1
Defining Community
Concept
A true community is designed so that everyone can safely join in, participate, and belong.
Focus Question
What is a community, and what makes it special? What does a space look and feel like when it is welcoming for everyone?
Knowledge & Understanding Goals
Social Studies, People and Environments: The Local Community, Strand B, B1.1: Describe some of the ways in which people's roles and responsibilities can change in different places or situations.
Social Studies, People and Environments: The Local Community, Strand B, B2.1: Formulate questions to guide investigations into some aspects of the interrelationships among individuals, groups, and communities.
Health and Physical Education, Active Living Strand A, A1.4: Apply skills that help them build positive relationships and be supportive of others to foster a sense of belonging in various communities.
Thinking & Learning Skills
Thinking Skills (Observation Evidence): Looking at details in an environment to determine whether a group is accidentally gathered or actively supporting each other.
Learner Profile Connection (Caring / Open-Minded): Students practice looking at a room or a play space through the eyes of a classmate who might have different physical or emotional needs.
Context
This lesson serves as the diagnostic and emotional launchpad for the new unit. Before Grade 1 students can design an actionable plan to make their school community more welcoming and open, they must first establish a criteria-based understanding of what inclusion looks like in practice.
Lesson Outline
SORTING COMMUNITIES FROM NON-COMMUNITIES
Divide students into small groups of 3-4. Hand each group a set of curated visual scene cards (a classroom sitting together, a family cooking, people clustered randomly at a busy crosswalk, children playing a game at a playground, a row of empty sailboats). Ask groups to talk about what they see and sort the cards into three baskets:
1. Yes, this is a community!
2. No, this is not a community.
3. We aren't sure yet.
If a group struggles or instantly labels a card without thinking, assign roles to guide their observations: one student points out a literal detail, the next adds a detail, the next adds another layer, and the last summarizes — only after these details are named does the group decide on a basket.
BUILDING A SHARED DEFINITION
As a class, review the images and discuss the categories students chose. Use a Frayer Diagram — "Community" in the centre, divided into Definition, Examples, Non-Examples, and Characteristics/Illustrations — to build a shared definition.
Examples to draw out:
our classroom (shared jobs, learning together, helping each other)
a family (splitting chores, cooking for one another, offering comfort)
a soccer team (same jersey, passing the ball, following rules, working toward a shared goal)
the school staff (teachers, principal, custodian working together to keep the building safe and welcoming)
Non-examples, referencing the images:
people waiting at a red light or bus stop (same spot, but not connected)
a crowded store line (same building, but focused only on their own shopping)
a playground where someone is being excluded (a school space that is, in that moment, failing to act like an inclusive community)
a line of empty, uncrewed sailboats (physically near each other, but not alive and not caring for one another)
Characteristics:
looks like people sharing toys or tools, wide ramps or paths, people working side-by-side
sounds like encouragement, listening, asking "are you okay?"
feels like safety, being known by name, and belonging
Introducing the Core Text
Genesis 1:27: "And God created humankind in His image; in the image of God He created them" (B'tzelem Elohim).
Explain: this is one of Judaism's most foundational ideas — every single person carries that same essential worth, no exceptions.
Ask: if every person in our community has this same value, what does that mean for how we build the community's spaces and rules? Add this to the class definition of community as a guiding principle: a real community treats every person as equally valuable, regardless of ability, age, or anything else.
Notes for Teaching and Evaluation
Frayer Diagram: forcing the Non-Examples quadrant (not just Definition and Examples) is what prevents the class definition from being vague — sorting the sailboats and the crowded bus stop as genuine non-examples teaches students that physical proximity alone doesn't make a community.
Assigning sequential observation roles (literal detail _ added detail _ another layer _ summary) in the small-group sorting activity scaffolds young students toward evidence-based reasoning before they're asked to make a judgment call, rather than letting the group jump straight to a label.