Lesson Plan #1

Grade: 4th Social Studies Strand: Geography

Submitted By: Aaron Clay

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

Lesson Plan #1 B. Summary of the Lesson Plan:

submitted by: Aaron Clay

This social studies lesson is designed for 4th grade students to learn how to use globes and maps to find places on Earths surface. Specifically the students will find Nevada on a globe then use a map and a compass rose to find places on a Nevada Map. C. Basic Information: Grade Level: 4th Grade Time to Complete this Lesson: 50 minutes Groupings: There will be a whole group discussion after the teacher demonstration. The students will work and be informally assessed independently.

D. Materials: Houghton and Milton 4th grade social studies book: States and Regions (p.8-15) Paper and Pencils Globes and maps of Nevada A compass rose

E. Objectives: o NV State Social Studies Standards G5.4.1 Identify and use intermediate directions on a compass rose to locate places on a map of Nevada.
EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 2

Nevada State College

Lesson Plan #1 o Student-Friendly Standards

submitted by: Aaron Clay

I will begin by finding Nevada in the Northern Hemisphere. I will then follow my teachers directions and use a compass rose to draw a travel path between different cities.

F. Vocabulary Geography is the study of people and places on Earth. The Environment consists of all the surroundings and conditions that affect living things. A Hemisphere is one half of the Earths surface; this can be either northern and southern hemispheres or eastern and western hemispheres. A Region consists of an area which is defined by specific features. A Legend is a table or list that tells what the symbols on a map mean. A Compass Rose is a symbol on a map that shows direction. A Scale is a ruler that shows distances on a map.

G. Procedure: 1. Refer to the notes on TE pages 14-15 Tested Objective. A) U1-6 Review the standard features in a map and globe according to the vocabulary listed. B) U1-7 Compare and contrast the information presented on globes versus maps. 2. Use an Elmo to project an image of a globe and locate where Nevada is on the globe. 3. Call the students attention to a map of Nevada that you have projected from your Elmo. 4. Start out in Las Vegas, read out a set of directions that tells you which way to travel, and then draw a line between the two points. 5. Change directions when traveling to each successive town or city so that the students can see the importance of understanding how the compass rose is used to follow the directions. 6. Make sure each city or town is marked by a dot and the traveling is marked by a line. 7. After you have shown this example on the Elmo and explained give the students a new set of directions to try independently. H. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding? I will check and see if they can initially connect the first few points on the map without too much delay. I will also watch for students copying the work of others. If I catch a student cheating I will give him a different set of directions to follow. I will have a set of
Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 3

Lesson Plan #1 -

submitted by: Aaron Clay

possible right paths that I can overlap with the students work in order to do a quick visual check for correct work. Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson. I will be able to visually check out the students work and see if they have drawn an appropriate travel line between my pre-selected cities. I will observe the students to discourage cheating and ask students to find another city by going in a specific direction from the beginning city. Each student will have a map with dots on the appropriate cities as well as travel lines connecting them.

I.

Closure: I will ask the students questions to explain how the information on a maps legend can be helpful. Next I will ask How can you use a compass rose to describe directions from one city to another city? Finally I will ask the students what use the scale of a map could be for giving or receiving directions.

J. Reflection: 1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach? I think that explaining the vocabulary and getting the students to understand its meaning would be the easiest part for me. Explaining technical details such as terminology has always been one of my strong areas. 2. Which part will be most challenging for you to teach? The most challenging part of teaching this lesson will be identifying which students are struggling and quickly adapting the lesson to increase their comprehension. 3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson? I would have the students draw a colored map of their neighborhood. The map would have to have a legend and a rough scale. Each student would have to give directions to three important sites within his or her neighborhood. 4. What can you do for students who dont grasp the concepts? If I see my adaptions to the lesson are still causing frustration among some students I will ask direct questions. I will determine exactly which areas the students dont comprehend and focus on a whole group discussion of those points so that the strugglers can get multiple perspectives. Essentially I will make it a group effort to have things put into a more learner friendly manner. 5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change? I might have to change the assessment so that there are several different versions of directions on each map. It might also be necessary to make this a formal

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2014

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 4

Lesson Plan #1 -

submitted by: Aaron Clay

assessment to encourage the students to perform well on it and I could use those scores for the gradebook. 6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part? Actually getting started was difficult because I wasnt sure to what extent we were supposed to use the material from the publishers website. A good example of this would be that we have to use Nevada Standards and the specific one I chose uses a map of Nevada while the publisher uses a map of Arizona. Essentially I took the core value of the publishers lesson and adapted it to the needs of a classroom in CCSD. Throughout the whole process of creating this lesson I was constantly worrying about losing points for mistakes, but in order to get the assignment done I had to use my interpretation of the directions.

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2014

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 5