Kids find these familiar community institutions endlessly fascinating. What child hasn t toyed with the idea of being a police officer or a firefighter at least once?

- Format includes large color photographs, easy-to-read fonts, and simple interior design.

- Series features include vocabulary preview and review pages plus special backmatter pages that invite readers to think further on the study topics.

Curriculum Standards: Grades K-8 Social Studies Standards

People. Places, & Environments: III

- Describe how people create places that reflect ideas, wants, needs as they design homes, playgrounds, classrooms, and the like

- Examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities in selected locales.

- Consider existing uses and proposed new uses of resources in home, school, and the community

Individuals, Groups, & Institutions: V

- Identify examples of institutions and describe the interactions of people with institutions

- Identify examples of tension between individuals and institutions

- Give examples of the role of institutions in furthering both continuity and change

- Show how groups and institutions work to meet individual needs and promote the common good