Making a Difference

Lesson Plan #3: Integrating Language Arts & Social Studies Grade: 3rd Social Studies Strand: Civics
Submitted By: Corrina Spidell
EDEL 453: Teaching Elementary School Social Science Nevada State College Spring 2014 Instructor: Karen Powell

Lesson Plan #3 Civics

B. Summary of the Lesson Plan:

submitted by: Corrina Spidell

As a class, we will learn about the differences a citizen can make by working towards a common good and about our responsibilities and rights as Americans. Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of the differences between rights and responsibilities. This lesson uses the Houghton Mifflin Social Studies textbook Communities (pg. 202-215). C. Basic Information: Grade Level: 3rd grade Time to Complete this Lesson: 50 minutes Groupings: Whole class discussion, small groups for activity and independent assessment.

D. Materials: Text book Vocabulary Worksheets (pg. 199C, 199D) Acting skills Pencils E. Objectives: o NV State Social Studies Standards C13.3.3 Explain individual responsibilities in the classroom and the school. C13.3.1 Identify and discuss examples of rules, laws, and authorities that keep people safe and property secure.

Student-Friendly Standards I can explain my responsibilities I can understand my rights and the rules.

F. Vocabulary Common Good: whatever helps the most people in the community. Volunteer: a person that works freely, without pay. Right: a freedom. Responsibility: something you should do for the common good. Vote: to make an official choice.
EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 2

Nevada State College

Lesson Plan #3 Civics

submitted by: Corrina Spidell

G. Procedure: 1. Engage: Ask students to share stories of when they or someone they know helped another person. Have three or four students share their experiences with the class. Go over vocabulary with students having them fill in their worksheets. 2. Explore: Have five volunteers come up to the front of the class to assist the teacher in performing the skit that is on pages 206-209. The teacher should play the role of either coach. 3. Explain: After performing the skit, in their assigned group pairs have students discuss the differences and similarities between rights and responsibilities. How can being an aware citizen make a difference? 4. Elaborate: As a class we will read pages 202-205 and 212-215. As a class we will think aloud, discussing any of the concepts that stand out to us and help us to understand what it is to make a difference as a citizen. 5. Evaluate: ***See Assessment***

H. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding? I will give my students a chart that has rights on one side and responsibilities on the other, my students must be able to fill in each side and correctly identify the differences between the two words. Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson. I will know they have understood by paying attention to see if they are participating in the think aloud (class discussion) and group discussions. I will also be collecting the work sheet with the chart for a grade. I. Closure: I would collect the worksheets from my students and have one student from each group go up to the board and write what they thought was the most important concept that was covered in class. I will tell my students that we will learn more about these topics next time, so be sure to keep your vocabulary worksheets.

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2014

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 3

Lesson Plan #3 Civics

J. Reflection:

submitted by: Corrina Spidell

1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach? I feel that the skit will be the easiest part to teach because the students will be very eager to participate and get a part in the skit. 2. Which part will be most challenging you to teach? The most challenging concept to teach will be the think aloud, I will have to make sure that I am not the only one who is sharing thoughts and that my students are also participating. 3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson? This lesson could easily be extended into a writing lesson where students practice their right to freedom of speech. 4. What can you do for students who dont grasp the concepts? For ELL or IEP students I can spend extra time giving them more examples along with pictures that will help them understand concepts more. 5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change? I really liked this lesson, it covers most of chapter 7, however, I am not sure if the standards really cover exactly what I would be teaching. I tried my best to find the ones that would fit. 6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part? The most difficult part is to make sure that I plan a lesson that fits my timing constraints, I felt that if I cut it any shorter, there wouldnt be an opportunity for the students to explore on their own. 7. Explain the strategy from Integrating Language Arts & Social Studies that you included in this lesson plan. The strategy that I am using and incorporating into my lesson is strategy 10 Incorporating Service Learning. By learning service and the importance of caring for the common good, my students can learn what it is to be a good citizen. Students will learn the importance of stepping up and showing interest in the community.

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2014

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 4