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Who Helps at School?

A 40-minute Kindergarten lesson on the roles and responsibilities of the adults who run a school.

Who Helps at School? is a free 40-minute Kindergarten to Grade 2 social studies lesson plan for Common Core standard D2.Civ.1.K-2 — say what the people in charge are supposed to do. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the mathematics, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.

Grade:
Kindergarten to Grade 2
Length:
40 minutes
Standard:
D2.Civ.1.K-2

Kindergarten to Grade 2 · Civics

D2.Civ.1.K-2

Describe roles and responsibilities of people in authority.

Objective

Students will be able to name four people who help at school and say what each is responsible for.

Students are successful when they can

  • Names the person and their job.
  • Says what that person is responsible for.
  • Chooses who to go to for a given problem.

What you need

  • Photographs or name cards of school staff
  • Problem cards: a grazed knee, a lost coat, a broken chair
  • The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan

The lesson

Warm-up — who did you see today?

5 min
  1. List every adult the class has seen in the building today.
  2. Do not say what they do yet.

Teach — everybody is in charge of something

13 min
  1. Take the caretaker. Ask what they are in charge of. Collect: the building.
  2. Do the cook, the nurse and the head teacher the same way.
  3. Say the word responsible: it means the thing that is yours to look after.
  4. Hold up a problem card. Ask who to go to and why.
  5. Show that going to the wrong person is not rude, it is just slower.
“That is theirs to look after. So that is who you go to.”

Guided practice — who would you go to?

12 min
  1. Pairs take six problem cards and name who to go to for each.
  2. They say what that person is responsible for.
  3. Two cards have more than one right answer — discuss those.

Independent practice

8 min
  1. Students complete the who-does-what page.
  2. Read each person aloud before matching.

Close

2 min
  1. Name one person. Take what they are responsible for.

What goes wrong, and why

Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.

Says the head teacher does everything.

Why: Being in charge of the school reads as being in charge of every job in it.

Fix: Ask who actually cooks the lunch. Being in charge of a place is not the same as doing every job in it.

Names a person but not a responsibility.

Why: The person is who they see; the job is an abstraction.

Fix: Ask what would go wrong if that person were away for a week. The answer is their responsibility.

Thinks only adults have responsibilities.

Why: The lesson is about staff.

Fix: End on the class jobs chart. Being responsible for something is not an adult thing.

If they are not there yet

  • Four people rather than eight.
  • Give the responsibility and name the person.

If they finish early

  • Name somebody who helps at school that the class has not thought of.
  • Say what two people would both be right for.
  • Say who is responsible for something outside school.

Exit ticket

You have lost your coat. Who would you go to, and why?

What to look for: A named person and their responsibility. 'The head teacher' for everything means the who-actually-does-it question needs repeating.

Printable practice for D2.Civ.1.K-2

Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.

Questions about Who Helps at School?

How long does the Who Helps at School? lesson take?

40 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 13 min, guided practice 12 min, independent practice 8 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.

Which standard does Who Helps at School? teach?

D2.Civ.1.K-2 — D2.Civ.1.K-2, Civics for Kindergarten to Grade 2: “Describe roles and responsibilities of people in authority.” In plain terms, say what the people in charge are supposed to do.

What do I need to teach this lesson?

Photographs or name cards of school staff, problem cards: a grazed knee, a lost coat, a broken chair and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.

What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?

Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: says the head teacher does everything; names a person but not a responsibility and thinks only adults have responsibilities. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.

How do I know whether the lesson worked?

The exit ticket asks: “You have lost your coat. Who would you go to, and why?.” A named person and their responsibility. 'The head teacher' for everything means the who-actually-does-it question needs repeating. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.

Is there a worksheet to go with Who Helps at School??

Yes — 1 printable D2.Civ.1.K-2 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.

Is Who Helps at School? free to use?

Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on 7 September 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.

Last reviewed 2026-09-07. Aligned to D2.Civ.1.K-2 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.