Unit Plan: Traveling West: Then and Now

Lesson Plan for Wednesday Grade: 5th Social Studies Strand: History

Submitted By: Nicole Sheehan

EDEL 453: Teaching Elementary School Social Science Nevada State College Spring 2014 Instructor: Karen Powell

Lesson Plan for Wednesday

Strand: History

submitted by: Nicole Sheehan

B. Summary of the Lesson Plan: This would be an extension of the previous days lesson. Students would now be packing a travel box for items for themselves if they had to pick up and move west in the present as opposed to being children from the time of The California Gold Rush. C. Basic Information: Grade Level: 5th Time to Complete this Lesson: 50 minutes Groupings: individual and whole group

D. Materials: Shoe Boxes Items from home that are selected by the student (they may chose to bring pictures of items from the internet or from the cut outs the previous day that were not used). E. Objectives: NV State Social Studies Standards H3.5.1 Compare and/or contrast the daily lives of children throughout the United States, both past and present. I can compare and/or contrast the lives of children in the Unites States from the past and in the present.

Student-Friendly Standards

F. Vocabulary Wants- things that are desired but not a necessity. Need- required for survival or well being. Compare - looking at things to see how they are similar or different. Contrast - to compare (two people or things) to show how they are different.

G. Procedure: 1. First, I will review with students the choices they made for their traveling boxes as if they were traveling during the Gold Rush time period with their families. Then, I will ask them why would it be different if traveling now? Who made some different choices? (calling on students to answer)

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2014

Karen Powell- Instructor

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Lesson Plan for Wednesday

Strand: History

submitted by: Nicole Sheehan

2. Then I have students go back to their seats and share at their tables what they put in their shoe boxes from home and how they compare and contrast from those items chosen for the children traveling during the time of the Gold Rush. 3. Students will then be instructed (as a small group) to list and compare in a large Venn Diagram the similarities and differences between children of the Gold Rush and Children in present day. 4. Each group will come up with a written statement that summarized their findings and present it to the class. H. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding? I will be walking around during the group work and using interactions as well as their Venn Diagram and statement to measure their understanding. Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson. If students place appropriate items (appropriate to time period, relevant for survival) I will know they understand the concept. I. Closure: As closure a student from each table will present their summarizing Venn Diagram and statement to the class.

J. Reflection: 1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach? I think being able to get students to use their things that they would want would be fun and exciting for them so getting them to gather material would be the easiest part of the lesson to teach. 2. Which part will be most challenging for you to teach? I think students being able to decipher their wants and needs as a small group might be challenging as they all may have different points of views. 3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson? This is actually an extension of the previous days lesson for this unit, but tomorrow I will have students do a hands on activity in which I feel will be extremely enriching for them in grasping this concept. 4. What can you do for students who dont grasp the concepts? I would make sure to be more attentive to that/those student yet because my tables would be set up in a Kagan fashion the table groups are designed to be most comprehensive and beneficial for all at that particular table. 5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change?
Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 3

Lesson Plan for Wednesday

Strand: History

submitted by: Nicole Sheehan

I dont think I would want to change this lesson unless the students really had a difficult time working in small groups with this sort of assignment. If that was the case, I might have them work in pairs instead. 6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part? It was difficult to write this lesson plan without it being to like the previous days lesson. I wanted them to be fairly similar that way students would know what they were doing but be able to dig deeper into what I was trying to get across, but I just hope the differences were noticed in this plan.

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2014

Karen Powell- Instructor

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