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A. Summary of the Lesson Plan: This 4th grade civics lesson will introduce why rules and laws are important. We will look at different places that have rules, and why there are in place.
B. Target Population: Grade Level: 4th Grade Skill Level: Students at all learning levels. Grouping: Whole Group: discussions, story reading, Smartboard activity. Small Group: "Rules" activity. C. Materials: Smartboard Book: Kevin Knows the Rules D. Objectives: o NV State Social Studies Standards o C14.4.1 Describe the relationship between classroom and school rules.
Student-Friendly Standards I can describe the why we have both classroom and school rules.
E. Procedure: 1. Whole Group: Ask students why they think rules are important. Write their responses on the board and tell them that today we are going to find out why we need rules. 2. Whole Group: Read the story: Kevin Knows the Rules. 3. Small Group: Break students up into small groups (of 3 or 4). Have each group fold a piece of paper so it has three columns. On the first section have them write, Home." In the middle section have them write School and in the third have them write Our Class." Give the groups 5 minutes to list all of the rules they can think of for each of the sections. Before they complete the assignment have them pick two rules to share. 4. Whole Group: Using the Smartboard, display a T-chart that says rule on one side and reason on the other. Have each group take turns coming up to the board and writing a rule. As a class, discuss why they think that rule is in place. 5. Whole Group: Referring to the T-chart on the Smartboard and the list the class made at the beginning of class, discuss the following questions: o Do you notice any patterns in rules? What is similar about school and classroom rules? (examples: not being able to chew gum in school or in our class, needing
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Title of Unit: The Foundations of Our Government Title of Lesson: Why We Have Rules Submitted By: Mary Wood
to be on time, we need to follow all classroom rules in addition to school rules when we are in our class.) o o Do they notice any rules that are in place for their safety and well being? What do you think would happen if there were no rules in our class, at your home or in our school.
6. Whole Group: Introduce the vocabulary word, Law o Law is: The system of rules that a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and may enforced. Or a law is an individual rule that is part of such a system of rules. Explain to students that laws are rules that everyone must follow.
7. CLOSURE: Assign homework. o Have students write about a classroom rule, a school rule and a rule from home that they need to follow. Make sure to include why they are important and how they can be related. Have students ask their parents about rules (or Laws) they have to follow. Write down at least 4.
F. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding? My objective for this lesson is to teach my students to be able to describe the relationship between classroom and school rules. I will measure their level of understanding informally by their participation in our class discussions. Formal evaluation will be by evaluating their homework assignments where they are asked to write about three different types of rules, how they are related and why they are important. Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson. I will know my students understand this concept by the answers they give in the discussion and their ability to complete their homework. G. Reflection: 1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach? I think this lesson will be fairly easy to teach as it is the first lesson of the unit so I am sure the concept of rules will not be totally new to 4th graders. 2. Which part will be most challenging for you to teach?
Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2013 Karen Powell- Instructor page 2
Title of Unit: The Foundations of Our Government Title of Lesson: Why We Have Rules Submitted By: Mary Wood
I think where it may get tricky is when we start to make the jump from rules to laws. I dont know how familiar my class would be with this concept. That is why we are briefly introducing it in this lesson and we will follow it up, and reinforce it in the next. 3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson? I will follow up this lesson with tomorrow's lesson on laws. I think breaking it down this way will help them build on something they already know, rules, and then lead to something they may not know about, laws. 4. What will you do for students who dont grasp the concepts? For my students that do not grasp this concept I will help them during the group assignment and I will also help guide them during the class discussion. For any student that is continuing to have troubles, I would be available before or after school to help them with their homework assignment. 5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change? I think this lesson is pretty straight forward. Depending on my classroom situation I may need to change the Smartboard aspect of the lesson and do it on a white board or large paper. 6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part? The most difficult part of writing this lesson was deciding what I wanted to cover and how to execute it since my partner and I are doing 4th grade civics and the Houghton Miller Text that I usually use does not seem to correspond with the Nevada Standards.
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Title of Unit: The Foundations of Our Government Title of Lesson: Why We Have Rules Submitted By: Mary Wood
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