Lesson Plan: Third Grade Social Studies

Lesson Plan: Third Grade Social Studies

Subject: Social Studies Grade: 3 Lesson Topic: Communities

Candidate’s Name: Margaret Nelson (Yakhnenko)

1.  Introduction:  (Identify Grade Level K12 Academic Content Standard(s), rationale, focus learner, create bridges from past learning, behavior expectations)

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Chaining from past learning:
Students have been learning about the United States branches of government, the Constitution, important historical figures in American history, and significant symbols and landmarks to American life and culture. This lesson deepens understanding of these topics by examining the way shared understanding of these topics creates a community. We will explore concepts of community within a national, state, school, and classroom setting, and utilize this analysis to achieve a greater understanding of larger concepts. 

Behavior Expectations:
Students should be familiar with working in partners and small groups, sitting on the carpet, watching a video, raising their hand to answer questions, practice active listening, volunteering dialogue to discussions, following along with written text, and first grade (minimum) skills of drawing and writing.

Content Standards: HSS 3.3.1: Research the explorers who visited here, the newcomers who settled here, and the people who continue to come to the region, including their cultural and religious traditions and contributions.  HSS 3.3.3: Trace why their community was established, how individuals and families contributed to its founding and development, and how the community has changed Over time, drawing on maps, photographs, oral histories, letters, newspapers, and other primary sources. HSS 3.4.3: Know the histories of important local and national historical landmarks, symbols, and essential documents that create a sense of community and exemplify cherished ideals. RI.3.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring specifically to the text as basis for answers. SL.3.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative instructions with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. I.B.5: Listening actively and asking or answering questions about what was heard. I.B.6: Reading closely and explaining ideas and interpretations from reading.

Rationale: These standards are all required to understand the concept of community at a national, state, and classroom level. These Content Standards are all included as a part of the Common Core standards in Social Studies for Grade 3.  Each part of the assessments of this lesson correlate back to these standards.

2.  Learner Outcome(s)/Objective(s):  (What will students learn from this lesson?  How will you measure mastery of the outcome?)

Students will have an awareness of settlers and diverse populations who have moved to California. I will measure this by an informal assessment of partner discussion and/or group discussion.  Students will utilize textual cues and graphic features to make predictions about the nature and content of this lesson.  Students will participate in an examination of our geographical and industrial surroundings, and will ascertain that this creates a community of people in our location of Ceres, California. I will measure understanding by facilitating discussion around the use of visuals (photos).  Students will recognize the shape of the state of California. I will measure this through informal assessment. Students will build rapport and contribute to a diverse and thriving classroom learning community through experience working with partners and small groups.

Rationale: These objectives directly correlate to Common Core standards for Social Studies, and also utilize the pacing recommended by textbook curriculum. These objectives also encourage the development of academic language skills among peers and learners of different language proficiency levels.

3.  Pre-assessment Activity:  (Determine students’ abilities to achieve the Learner Outcome and prescribe instruction accordingly.  Consider:  linguistic background, academic language abilities, content knowledge, cultural and health considerations, interests and aspirations, physical development, social development, emotional development. )

Show Image slide: American flag, Statue of Liberty, Fireworks, American flag. Ask students: “Based on the images you see, what do you think we will be learning about today?” Differentiation for ELL and Special Needs: Use Think-Pair-Share to give students time to formulate answers and discuss with each other.

Rationale: Students have been learning about using graphic features within texts in order to make predictions and discover keywords. This Pre-Assessment Activity accomplishes frontloading of keywords such as: country, freedom, rights, government, polls, amendment, community, together, living together, and living in a community. ELL and SPED students are included and benefit from this activity by offering a chance to gain familiarity with concepts and keywords before they are discussed.

4.  Differentiation, Adaptation & Accommodation Strategies:   (Based on the pre-assessments, modify Learning Activities based on learner characteristics to meet the needs of ELL & special needs students, highly achieving students and low achieving students) 

Strategies for differentiation and special needs include: • Think Time • Think-Pair-Share • Visuals and Graphic Features • Modified visuals for spacial understanding Proficient learners will be given opportunities for group discussion, as well as independent practice that will further challenge them and prompt them to explore.

Rationale: This school requires considerations for many different types of learners. 94% of the students at School Elementary are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged. 55% of the student population are English Learners. 7.1% of the student population are considered special needs students.  This school also struggles with levels of student attendance, and is taking a site-wide initiative to encourage and support attendance at school through a shared sense of community and belonging. That is a major inspiration for this lesson.

5.  Resources:  (Identify materials needed for this lesson accounting for varying degrees of skill level)

• Projector • Google Slides • YouTube Video • California Community Studies Weekly Newspaper • California Community Studies Weekly Teacher Resource • Whiteboard • Self Portrait Handout

Rationale All materials support the Common Core standards located within this unit of the textbook, are easily accessible and visible to all students, and allow abstract and concrete practice of skills and vocabulary covered in this lesson. This lesson utilizes appropriate technology to supplement learning, without being dependent on technology to assess and scaffold student learning.

6.  Learning Activities:  Explicit Teacher Instruction 

We will meet our objectives by first learning the definition of “community” as it pertains to this lesson. I will use gestures to teach this definition. Each slide explores the concepts of communities at the national, state, and classroom level. Each slide makes inferences, uses sentence frames to scaffold understanding and discussion, and utilizes Think time and partner/group sharing. I will also include the definition for community—with gestures—on each slide.  Learning activities also include segments of two videos: one on California history, and another on what community members may look or act like.  I will use engagement strategies such as energizers, gestures, brain breaks, incentives, and movement to keep students on track and engaged,  Check for Understanding: I will conduct informal assessments during group/partner work. I will also randomly select partners or group representatives to share their discoveries with the class.

Rationale: Students have been learning about branches of government and have been thinking about the essential question “Why do people participate in government?” This lesson offers another view to help them build an argument/perspective surrounding this discussion.  Students have also been learning how to make inferences, and share relevant discussion with each other. Grouping these concepts under a main category of “Communities” will give students a name under which to group and unpack many different segments of information. Engagement provides classroom management as well as morale during learning for all students.  Students are also learning how to make inferences, and to build study skills such as annotation and writing. Utilizing the same pattern (prediction, exploration, discussion) for each concept slide will give them experience in these study skills, will bolster study confidence, and will provide multiple opportunities for practice for all levels of learners.  Informal assessments allow me to provide on-the-spot coaching, redirection, and prompts for deeper thinking.

7.  Learning Activities: Guided Practice/ Collaborative Practice (Check for understanding and provide feedback and re-teaching)

Slides which utilize partner Think-Pair-Share activities include “Big Question,” “Our Country As A Community,” “Getting Ready for Video,” “Community of Californians,” and “Our Classroom as a Community.” The “Where We Live” slide is meant to take place on the carpet. Check for Understanding: I will perform informal assessments as partners and groups discuss, and then I will randomly select partners or group representatives to share their contributions to the whole class.

Rationale Students have been learning about government branches, heroes, landmarks, and Californian history, and are prepared to discuss this in partners. By utilizing partner talks, students have an opportunity to practice academic language, and scaffold understanding of these concepts to each other. I will gather students on the carpet first as an engagement strategy, and also so that they can adopt the new concept of viewing the classroom and themselves as a community in our own right.

8.  Independent Practice: (Provide practice that supports the learning outcome.  Note: Independent activities are assigned assuming that students understand the concept well enough to work on their own.)

Writing sample: Our Classroom is a Community Because… Self Portrait Handout Community Studies Weekly Newspaper: place a star by the name of a hero! Check for Understanding: Informal assessment/coaching during work time

Rationale Relevant discussions include sharing of individual characteristics, home/family life, appropriate discussion of diversity. Fun and wonder are expected, and voice levels will likely be controlled, but also enthusiastic. Relevant discussion will include notes on the real homes, lives, characteristics, histories of students, as well as cultural commonalities they share in real life. Anti-Bullying Opportunity: Appropriate discussion of diversity and multiculturalism creates a sense of community within a diverse learning environment. This lesson scaffolds appreciative discussion around our differences as individuals, as well as the common spaces and experiences we share.  Attendance Support: This understanding of community, as well as an understanding of students as stakeholders and participants in this community can create and support a further sense of belonging in school, which can lead to better attendance.

9.  Assessment and Evaluation:  (Describe how you will assess and/or evaluate the students’ learning.   Describe differentiating assessment strategies you will use for ELL, special needs students, highly achieving students and low achieving students.)

Students will first complete a “ticket” which consists of answering a given writing prompt: “Our class is a community because…..” I will use this as their “ticket” to being excused to lunch on time. They will also exchange these tickets for a blank self-portrait handout. My expectations are that students will complete drawing of their own selves, complete with color and items they want to include about them. Students will exchange a completed self-portrait for a California Community Studies Weekly newspaper.

Rationale: These assessments are tiered with the writing prompt first. This is because a writing sample allows me to check for understanding on each individual. This also allows further practice and synthesis of ideas for students at all proficiency levels of English. This writing prompt is the basic amount of understanding required to display for learning objectives.  The self-portrait provides more opportunities for reflection and visuals, and also redirects excess energy for a strong closure to this lesson to include good academic behavior. Proficient/gifted students can self-moderate how challenging this assignment would be to them.

Assessment/Evaluation Rationale Continued:

The newspaper is a reading reward, with which students are already familiar. They remember these newspapers from second grade, and look forward to getting to read them. These include images which reiterate the subjects covered in our slides, driving home concepts and providing yet another opportunity to massage the information into their memories. This also has the added benefit of providing a reward for completion, creating a sense of urgency and preventing stagnation during the coloring project. Because it is optional for this lesson, it creates further challenges and enrichment for students who reach lesson goals. 

10. Closure: (Describe how students will reflect on what they have learned.)

Say: “Look at the wall where we will hang all our self-portraits. When you see this wall, you can remember that we are all people who share this common learning space. Outside of school, you can remember that even though we all look different, when we share space and history together, we create a beautiful community.”

Rationale: This closure gives a “why” for students to keep in mind as they complete their self-portraits. They will continue their reflection in the coming days while viewing their self portrait featured along with the portraits of their classmates. Students will literally view themselves as part of a diverse, colorful, creative classroom community.

11. Lesson Reflection/Assessment: (Collect student learning data to determine:  What went well?  What needs to be changed?  Were learning outcomes met?  What activities will you add, change, modify in the future?  What can be done to follow up on the learning from this lesson?   Who needs additional help?  Who needs enrichment or higher level work?)  

I will use writing samples, feedback from students, and also feedback from Site Support Providers to adapt and improve this lesson to meet the needs of all students.