raz_lk29_communitygovernment_clr

Community LEVELED BOOK • K
Government
Community
A Reading A–Z Level K Leveled Book Government
Word Count: 420

Visit www.readinga-z.com Written by Marcie Aboff • Illustrated by Arthur Lin

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Community
Government

Written by Marcie Aboff Community Government Correlation J
Illustrated by Arthur Lin Level K Leveled Book LEVEL K 17
© Learning A–Z 18
www.readinga-z.com Written by Marcie Aboff Fountas & Pinnell
Illustrated by Arthur Lin Reading Recovery

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Table of Contents Introduction
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A community is a place where people
City Government Leaders . . . . . . . 5 live, work, and play. A community
can be large, like a city, or small, like
Laws in a Community . . . . . . . . . . 9 a town or village. People run their
community with a government. The
Other Jobs in the Community . . . 13 people in the government are part of
the community.
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Community Government • Level K 3

City Government Leaders When people vote, they make a
choice. People vote for a mayor in
The mayor is the leader of the an election every two or four years.
community. If someone wants to be People vote for the person they
mayor, he or she runs in an election. think will be the best mayor. The
person with the most votes becomes
Community Government • Level K 5 mayor.

6

More Community Departments The mayor is usually in charge of
the town or city council. The council
The Department of Public Works gets rid of garbage and keeps decides how money is spent in the
the city clean. community. It might spend money
to build or fix roads, buildings, and
The mayor is in charge of many parks. It has meetings for people to
departments, such as the police talk about ideas for the community.
department and the fire department.
8
Community Government • Level K 7

More Community Departments A community needs laws to keep
people safe and keep the community
The Transportation Department keeps the roads clear. When clean. Some laws say how fast cars
roads are clear, drivers can travel safely. can go on the roads. Other laws say
people must not throw their trash
Laws in a Community on the ground.

The mayor and council also work 10
together to make laws. Laws are
important.

Community Government • Level K 9

Police officers make sure people 11 When people break the laws, they
follow the laws. They also help may go to court. In court, a judge
people who are in trouble. or a jury decides whether someone
broke the law. A judge is the head
Community Government • Level K of the court. A jury is a group
of people from the community.
The jury listens to both sides and
decides whether someone broke the
law. Sometimes there is no jury, and
the judge decides. If the judge or jury
decides that someone broke the law,
the judge decides the punishment.

12

Other Jobs in the Community Conclusion

Other people in the government also The community government is
help the community. Firefighters put important. It makes a difference
out fires and help people get away in the lives of people every day.
from fires. Emergency workers help The government gives people in a
people who are sick or hurt. They community a good and safe place
may take people to a hospital. to live.

Community Government • Level K 13 14

People can make a difference in Glossary
their government, too. They can run
in an election. They can vote. They community a group of people who
can speak at community meetings. (n.) live in the same place
They can also offer to help in parks or have similar qualities
and other places. or interests (p. 4)

What can you do to make a council (n.) a group of people chosen
difference? to be in charge of
something (p. 8)
Community Government • Level K 15
departments separate parts of a large
(n.) organization, such as a
business, government,
or university (p. 7)

election (n.) the act of selecting a
person for government
office by voting (p. 5)

government a group of people who
(n.) have the power to make
and enforce laws for a
country or area (p. 4)

mayor (n.) the leader of a city or
town’s government (p. 5)

16