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Teacher Candidate: Randi Rhodes

Subject/Grade: Social Studies/Kindergarten

Lesson # 4
Date and Time of Lesson: 11-11-14 9:00 AM

Learning Objective:
With support and discussion, students will be able to verbally identify the reasons why we celebrate Veterans
Day.
Alignment with Standards:

Standard K-3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the values that American democracy
represents and upholds.
Indicator: K-3.2: Identify the reasons for our celebrating national holidays, including Veterans Day,
Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day.

Developmental Appropriateness or Cross-curricular connections:

Students will experience this celebration each year so it is important for students to have an understanding of
why and how we celebrate Veterans Day. Students may have heard of this national holiday from family or
friends; however, this will be the first time students will learn about the holiday in school. Having this
understanding will also help students gain respect and future knowledge about wars, battles, and American
history.
Assessment(s) of the Objectives:
Lesson Objective(s)

Assessment(s) of the
Objective(s)

Use of Formative
Assessment

With support and

discussion, students will be
able to verbally identify the
reasons why we celebrate
Veterans Day.

Pre I will guide a discussion

about what a veteran is and
why we celebrate it. If the
students are answering the
questions correctly, I will ask
more in depth questions such
as what branches of military
are there.
During We will be filling in a
chart of facts about veterans
after we read about them. I will
be asking students to tell me
what they know about veterans
based on the books we read
and what we have talked about
already.
Post We will be filling out
another chart as a class, but
this time I will ask the students
to answers without my
guidance. One student will give
their answer and then I will ask
by thumbs up or thumbs down
if everyone agrees.

The results of the preassessment will

determine how in depth I
need to go with the lesson
and what the students will
be capable of
understanding. The
during- and postassessment will
determine what material I
need to reteach in a
future lesson. I will also
learn from these results
what strategies worked
with some students and
what strategies did not.

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Accommodations:
For my early finishers, I have four worksheets that have cartoon veterans on them. The students will color them based
on how they are dressed and served (nurse, army, air force, etc.). For low-level and resource students I will constantly
call on them to answer my questions so that they are communicating the concept themselves. I will provide an enlarged
chart for my visual learners so that they can see the facts that we are discussing. For my auditory learners, we will be
discussing the holiday as a class and I will be reading two books that are related to Veterans Day. If I see that students
are getting restless than I will have a short break so that they can get some of their energy out before continuing with
the lesson.

Materials:
Dont Forget, God Bless Our Troops by Jill Biden
Veterans Day by Robin Nelson
Posters
Markers
Thank you card
Smartboard
Procedures:
Probing Question: I will ask the students at the beginning of the lesson to think about what does it mean to be a
veteran and why are we celebrating them?
1. I will have the students on the carpet and after I ask the probing question, I will give the students a few minutes
to think about it and then I will continue with my pre-assessment questions.
2. I will ask the students what they know about a veteran and why we celebrate them. If the students are giving
me accurate answers than I will follow up with more in-depth questions such as what are the branches of
military? and do we celebrate all of them?
3. After I have called on a few students to answer the questions, I will read Veterans Day by Robin Nelson.
4. After I read the book, I will ask the students to turn and talk to their partner about two things they remember
about the book.
5. I will call their attention back to me after two minutes and I have four students share what they told their
partner.
6. Next, I will talk about the concept map that is printed on a poster so they all the students will be able to see it. I
will ask the students to tell me facts about veterans.
7. I will discuss and then write down the fact that each student says in the circles that link to the center veteran
circle.
8. Once the poster is complete, I will read back over them to the class.
9. I will introduce and then read Dont Forget, God Bless Our Troops by Jill Biden.
10. After I read this book, we will discuss about why the girl in the story is feeling sad throughout the book.
11. I will also talk about how this happens in real life and some families miss their daddies and mommies while they
are serving in the armed forces.
12. I will bring out another poster that has a reading on it. I will read the paragraph and than questions.
13. I will ask one student to come up and point to the answer in the paragraph. Once the student has pointed to the
answer, I will ask the other students to show thumbs up or thumbs down if they think he or she is right.
14. If the class agrees, I will tell whether they are correct or incorrect and than write the correct answer on the line.
15. If the class does not agree, than I will pick on one student to share why they do not agree and than have them
come up and point to the correct answer.
16. I will repeat this process for all of the questions.
17. I will explain our next activity and then instruct the students to go back to their tables.
Lesson Closure: I will explain that we will be writing a thank you letter to the speaker that we will be listening to. The
speaker is a veteran and we want to thank him for his service. I will write the message on the Smartboard and than I will

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instruct the students to write the message on his or her thank you card.

Activity Analysis:
1. My first activity is the poster that we will be filling out as a class after I read the Veterans Day book. This activity
will give the students two visuals that they can refer back to. The students will be listening to the book so that
will help my auditory learners grasp the objective. During this lesson, I will be using reflective discussion because
we will be discussion things that we have read and talked about. I will also be using interactive instruction
because the students will turn and talk to their neighbor about the book. This will allow students to discuss the
objective on their own level and develop some understanding through other students. In this activity, I will not
be using technology because the students will be listening to a book and than verbally reflecting on it. I will be
using a poster as the visually and students will benefit from being able to look back at this poster whenever they
want to.
2. The second activity, I will have the students write a thank you letter to the veteran speaker that we will hear
later that day. This activity will conclude the lesson by helping the students understand that we are grateful for
what they do for us by actually thanking someone. During this activity, I will be using indirect instruction
because the students will be learning through their own writing what is means to celebrate the veterans. The
letter will be a great visual for the visual learners and the auditory leaners will benefit from hearing me explain
why we are writing this letter. The students will be moving from the carpet to the tables and then they will be
creating a letter so that will help the kinesthetic learners. I will be using the Smartboard to display the message
that the students will write on their letter. The Smartboard is center to all students so they will be able to clearly
see the message.

References:
Handouts and materials from Karen Davis
Nelson, R. (1971). Veterans day. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company.
Biden, J. (2012). Dont forget, god bless our troops. New York: Simon &Schuster Brooks For Young Readers.