ELEMENT DESCRIPTION

Author Name Carianna Anderson

Mini-Unit Name Exploring Social Connections in Colonial Times
Content Area(s) Language Arts (Reading, Writing, and Listening)
Must include at Social Studies
least 2 (Language
Arts and
something else)
Grade Level(s) 2nd grade
Duration
5 lessons
(5 days)
This unit is based off of the theme of social connections. It will focus on the settlement of the colonies.
Students will learn about communication, travel, and family life of the Europeans that first lived in
America. Second graders will complete 5 (60 minute) lessons. Students will learn how to find important
Unit Theme and facts from text and media sources that support communication, travel, and family life of the colonists. The
Overview students will then compose a draft of an informative paragraph with a topic sentence and concluding
sentence. Students will learn through Read Aloud Instruction, Mini-lessons, mentor text, and group
settings.

“Life in Colonial America” by Peter F. Copeland

Text
Resources
(3-5)

Mentor text- modeling a informative paragraph with second grade level comprehension- I couldn’t find a
mentor text that I would use so I wrote one.
Print out of text explaining colonial times with photos
https://www.landofthebrave.info/colonial-life.htm
Internet information from http://kids.britannica.com
Social Studies Standards:
2.H.1.2 Use historical records and artifacts including but not limited to photos, diaries, oral
histories, and videos to draw conclusions about family or school life in the past

Writing Standards:
2.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to
Standards being develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
addressed (from all 2.W.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to
content areas produce a report; record science observations).
integrated)

Reading Standards:
2.RI.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes,
electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

I can use different parts of the text to find important information about colonial times.
Daily Learning I can use technology to find important information to support my time line.
Targets or I can use facts to support my topic for an informative and explanatory text to write a report on the
Objectives settlement of the colonies.
I can respectfully listen to others and join their conversations while working in groups.
 Students will read along with teacher and learn facts about Colonial life.

Students will identify important facts about how people in the colonies communicated, traveled, and
survived from text with guidance.

Students will use important facts learned from the previous lesson and choose a minimum of 5 to learn more
about.
Final
Students will work respectfully in groups with their peers, listening to each other share ideas.
Assessment of
student success
Students will use the internet to search for more information to support their chosen facts.
(Description of
the Culminating
Project) Students will learn about and write a topic sentence and concluding sentence for their paragraph.

Students will use a worksheet to help organize their topic sentence, facts, and concluding sentence, before
developing a draft.

Students will write a paragraph with correct organization on how people of the colonies lived.

Lesson 1 (60 minutes):

Objective/Learning Target: I can use different parts of the text to find important information about colonial
times.
Stage in writing process: Studying

Type of Lesson: Read Aloud and Shared Reading

Minilesson:
Who were the colonist?
How did they communicate, travel and life?

Read Aloud-I will read “Colonial Life in Colonial America” about the settlement of the colonies.
Instructional
How did they travel?
Strategies and
What kinds of food did they eat? How did they get it?
Activities
How did they talk with people who lived far away?
(5 days)
What did they live in?
Technology
must be
We will then do shared reading with printed text from “Land of the Brave” website. During this time, I will
integrated in a
emphasize on important details of the text. Text includes pictures with captions. I will use scaffolding by
minimum of 1
picking out the first couple facts for them to highlight. After that, I will use questions to prompt them to
day.
answer. What sounds important in that sentence? As we read the text, I will walk around and checking to
make sure students are listening and highlighting the important facts. I will make sure to give guidance to my
lower level or ELL students. I would have already seated these individuals next to students that are high-level
thinkers. I will also bring attention to the captions of the photos.

Debrief:
I will close by asking students to give me a fact they learned. I will explain how we read information and
picked out important facts to help us understand how people live in the colonies. Would you like to live in a
colony in the past? What was difficult about living in a colony?

Lesson 2 (60 minutes):

Objective/Learning Targets:
I can respectfully listen to others and join their conversations while picking out important facts about
colonists.

Writing Stage: Studying

Type of lesson: Independent Reading in small groups
Minilesson:
What are some interesting facts that you learned yesterday about colonists? We are going to look through
our facts and pick at least 5 that we find interesting. Students can write down the same ideas or different
ones.

Independent reading in small groups: Students will get into groups of three and review the facts from
yesterday. They will then pick at least 5 facts and write them down on a piece of paper. I will be walking
around assessing how well the students are participating in the group activity. I will look for students that are
not helping or reading facts. Fred what was something you learned yesterday about what the colonists grew
for food? Great fact! Sam what did the colonist live in? (ELL) Yes! Write that down.

Debrief:
Does everyone have at least 5 facts about colonists written down on their paper? Who would like to share a
fact that they have written down. Working in groups help us share responsibility. We can be respectful and
listen, while sharing work responsibility. This will help us share the amount of time on the work so it doesn’t
take as long.

Lesson 3 (60 minutes):

Objective/Learning Targets:
I can use technology to find important information to support my time line.

Writing Stage: study/Ideas

Type of lesson: Independent computer research

Minilesson:
How can we use the internet to find more information? The internet has great web sites that help us learn
more about different subjects. Students will choose 4 of their facts from the previous day research on line
http://kids.britannica.com.
Today you will use Kids Britannica to research more information on the facts that you wrote down yesterday.
I will walk the students through the process of getting on the site. I will explain to them how to do a search
(scaffolding). They will then continue to make searches on their own. I will walk around the room making
sure students are finding content they are searching for.

Debrief:
How does the internet help us learn about different topics. What kinds of new information did you learn from
your search?

Lesson 4 (60 minutes):

Objective/Learning Targets: I can use the facts that I have read and recorded to develop a topic sentence and
concluding sentence for my paragraph

Writing stage: Prewriting/organization

Type of lesson: Instructional

Mini lesson:
I will provide the students with a worksheet that shows them how their paper should be organized. How do
we start a paragraph? Let’s talk about what a good topic sentence and concluding sentence sounds like. Short
discussion on topic sentence and concluding sentence. I will use a mentor text to model a good paragraph
that explains facts about a historical event. The students will use the Informative Writing Worksheet as a
 guide to use before the start their draft.

Independent Study: As the students work independently, I will circulate the classroom asking questions about
topic sentences and concluding sentences. I will assess their understanding of our minilesson.

Independent work time: I will walk around pay close attention to my lower level/ELL students to help provide
guidance in writing their sentences. I will use post it notes to write down their ideas after giving them
prompts. I also want to make sure they are properly filling out the

Debrief:
What’s the purpose of the topic sentence? What’s the purpose of the concluding sentence? It is important
that these sentences are about the information that we put in between them. What are some of your topic
sentences? What are some of your concluding sentences?

Lesson 5 (60 minutes):

Objectives/Learning Targets:
I can use facts to support my topic for an informative and explanatory text to write a report on the
settlement of the colonies.
Students will write their draft using a topic sentence and a concluding sentence.

Writing stage: Drafting

Type of lesson: Instructional/Independent

Minilesson:
Now that we have all the pieces of the puzzle we need to put them together. You have read and learned facts
about colonists. You have used technology to research more information on your chosen facts. You have
complete the worksheet that helps you with your organization. Now it’s time to put is together. What will
you paragraph look like after you have written your draft?

Independent work: I will confer with students to see how they are developing their drafts.

Debrief: When we write paragraphs to inform people of information we want to make sure the organization
looks good, which makes it easier to read and understand. What are the important parts of the paragraph?
Once we have written a good draft we can edit and revise to develop a final paragrapgh.

Standards Artifact Why

Lesson 1 2.R1.5, 2.H.1.2 “Life in Colonial To learn how to take
America” by Peter F. important facts about
Copeland and Print out the colonists from texts,
of text explaining pictures, and captions
colonial times with
photos
https://www.landofthe
brave.info/colonial-
List of
life.htm
Assessments
(formative and
Lesson 2 2.H.1.2, 2.W.7 Same as lesson 1 To learn to works with
summative)
peers in identifying
important facts about
the colonists
Lesson 3 2.H.1.2 http://kids.britannica.co To use technology to
m find supporting details
for facts previously
researched
Lesson 4-5 2.W.2 Informative Writing To learn how to develop
Worksheet and Mentor a topic sentence and
 Text that I wrote concluding sentence
while learning how to
organize my paragraph.

10 points for participation in groups/10 points for Internet participation/30 points for worksheet/50 points
for informative paper draft
Skill Assessment Proficient Basic
Rubric for 2.R1.5, 2.H.1.2 Group Participation 10 points 7
Culminating 2.H.1.2, 2.W.7 Informative Writing 20 points 15
Activity Worksheet
2.W.2, Topic/Concluding 20 points 15
sentences
2.W.2, Draft 50 35
Differentiation/
Scaffolding
I will have the mentor text displayed on the Smart Board. I will have notes posted from Day 1 on the board.
Components
This is the day where I will model taking important facts from the printed text from the “Land of the Brave”
(visual - not just
website. Students will also have their work sheet that lay out the organization of the paragraph.
teacher help…
example)
Student
resources and
materials
Social studies curriculum, internet encyclopedia, text handouts, Informational Writing worksheet
List here and
attach to the
unit plan
 How the Native Americans Lived

Before the colonists came to America, there were hundreds of Native American

tribes that lived all over America. They lived in small villages with their families. The

Native Americans built tipis to live in. The men would hunt deer and buffalo for food and

clothing. They used the skins to keep warm in the winter. The women would grow plants

to use for food and medicine. They would travel long distances on foot or on horses to

find food and safe places to stay. They spoke a different language than Americans. The

Native American people survived off the land and animals. They were very strong people.