Titanic Disciplinary Unit-Lesson 1

I. General Information:
Grade Level: 3rd Grade
Discipline: Social Studies/ELA
Unit Topic:Titanic-Studying Past & Present differences
Time Frame: 45 Minutes (three days)
Text:National Geographic Readers: Titanic by Melissa Stewart
Other Materials: chart paper, markets, iPad (for each student), post it
notes.

II. Essential Understanding/Questions:

Essential Questions:
How do different sources provide evidence of what life was like in the past?
What causes or influences the choices people make?

Enduring Understandings: There are varying perspectives on the meaning of historical events

III. Standards/Indicators
Social Studies:
5. A.2 Investigate how people lived in the past using a variety of primary and secondary sources.
a. Collect and examine information about people, places, or events of the past using pictures,
photographs, maps, audio, or visual tapes and or documents.

English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.3
Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps
in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7
Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to
demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as
the basis for the answers.

IV. Lesson Objectives

 o Students will be able to closely read a text to determine causes of the
Titanic Sinking.
o Students will be able to use information from primary & secondary sources
(within a text) to answer questions.

V. Evaluation/Assessment:
Formal: Students will participate in a Socratic Seminar Discussion answering
various text-dependent questions. Teacher will record participation by using
anecdotatl notes. Afterwards, the teacher will fill out the success criteria for
each student to give them feedback.

Success Criteria Feedback

I can describe causes for sinking of the Titanic.
I can use evidence from the text to support my claim.
I can effectively participate in a discussion:
o Eye contact
o Share thoughts about questions
o Back up thoughts with text evidence
o Agree/Disagree/ add on
o Ask clarifying questions

Informal: Various informal assessments will be used throughout the lesson.

Teacher will observe students as they annotate the text (highlight key details-
cause and effect). Teacher will also ask questions during the lesson to elicit
student responses.

VI. Procedures:
Introduction: Show students a picture of the Titanic at the bottom of the
ocean (on Padlet). Students will write down what they notice and what they
wonder about the ship. After 5 minutes, have students meet in a small group of 4
or less to discuss their notice and wonderings. As students discuss, observe their
prior knowledge about the topic. Next, share that over the next couple of days,
we will explore this part of history to examine how life was like in the past, and
what caused this event to happen. Share essential questions and enduring
undertandings. Students will record their initial thoughts about essential
questions/enduring understndings on post it notes and add to our chart paper
posted in the classroom.

Teaching/Activities:
1. Show students the cover of the book on Epic. (Students may have the
book on their iPads for Shared Reading).
2. Explain purpose for reading: Today we will explore this text to learn more
about the event. Later on, We will be closely reading to find the various
causes for its sinking.
3. Explain that today, students will follow along and listen to the
informational text. You may read aloud to the students, or students may
listen to the text with headphones on Epic.
4. After reading: Ask, What was this text about? Students will record
thoughts on Google Classroom.

Day 2
5. Explain purpose for reading: Today we will explore this text to find cause
& effect relationships. Explain: we already know the effect, the Titanic
sank! We will be closely reading to find the various causes.

6. Make a success criteria for how to closely read this text. Students will
generate how we can be successful in this task. For example: We will
follow along with the text, we will look for cause & effect key words, we
will Stop & jot any key details that tell us more about the causes of the
Titanic Sinking.
7. Model annotating (stop & jot) with the first section of the text. Model
reading aloud, stopping at the end of the paragraph, and jotting down key
details.
8. Next, students will work with a partner or group to closely read the text
for any cause & effect relationshps they see. Students need to keep
annotations on the post it notes for later use.
9. During this time, pull a flex group of students who may need more support
in finding cause & effect relationships.
 10. Group students for a quick discussion. Have students share out their
cause & effect relationships they found as they were reading today.
Encourage accountable talk (I agree, I disagree, Id like to add onetc.)
Have students keep post it notes in their Reading Folders for tomorrows
lesson.

Day 3:
11. Explain that students will engage with the same text today to help them
provide text evidence for a few focus questions. This evidence will be
used in a Socratic Seminar (fishbowl) discussion.
12. Post the following discussion questions on chart paper:
o According to the text, Who do you believe is the most responsible
for the Titanic sinking?
o Explain how the Wireless operators may or may not have caused the
Titanic to sink.
o Why did passengers board the Titanic?
o Why did people refer to the Titanic as the Wondership?
o Who or what influenced a passengers survival as the Titanic sank?

13. Allow students to have about 20 minutes to engage in the text and
their annotations to find evidence for the focus questions. Students may
work with partners, independently, or with a group. Pull a group of lower
level readers to support them in re-reading of text.
14. After 20 minutes, put students in an inside/outside circle for our
Fishbowl discussion. Pose the focus questions (one by one) to the group
and allow time for students to engage in the discussions. Allow inner
circle to share thoughts while outer circle is filling out feedback form for
a secret student in the inner circle. Switch inner/outercircle. The teacher
will record contributions and participation by using a notesheet & success
criteria.
Closure: Bring students together as a group to share feedback. Students will
share feedback with their secret students from discussion. Then, explain that we
can use evidence gained from closely reading to support our claims and build
stronger discussions. Explain, Historians engage very closely with multiples texts
to form claims about a given time period. Its important to look at a variety of
sources, primary, secondary and various perspectives to form claims. Explain that
soon, students will get the chance to read like a historian and anlayze various
perspectives on the causes of the sinking of the Titanic.
Resources:
Inc., E. C. (n.d.). Instantly access 20,000 high-quality books for kids. Retrieved April 25,
2017, from https://www.getepic.com/

Stewart, M. (2012). National Geographic Readers Titanic. Place of publication not identified:
National G.