Kory Heerspink Lesson Plan: Life in the West Grade: 8

1) Benchmark/Standard: 8 U4.2.3 Westward Expansion Explain the expansion, conquest, and settlement of the West 2) Behavior/Objective: a. The learner will be able to create a letter explaining the life, legacy, and settlement area of one western group of their choice with 100% accuracy. 3) Anticipatory Set: a. The students bell work will be posted on the board when they come in. Each group will be given about 10 minutes to complete their posters on life in the west. 4) Objective/Purpose: a. Today we will be using the poster that all of you created on Wednesday. You will be broken into groups and sent to one station. You will have 8 stations in total and have two minutes at each station. At the end of the rotation we will be constructing a letter home explaining the life of one group of western settlers. 5) Input: a. Task Analysis i. The learner will need to know the different groups that settled in the west ii. The learner will need to act with respect as they are rotating through the classroom. iii. To begin the lesson the students will be given the first ten minutes to finish their posters regarding a group that settled in the west. iv. The students will then begin their station rotation starting with the group they created. v. Each student will have a flip book that they can fill out as they complete each station. vi. After each station I will ask students specific questions about the station they have just finished. vii. Once we have completed the station rotation, students will be asked to return to their seats. 1. They will then be in charge of creating a historical fiction letter back home to their family as if they were part of one of the groups settling in the west. b. Thinking Levels i. Knowledge: 1. What was the goal of the Mormons? ii. Comprehension: 1. In your own words describe what life was like for the explorers.

Kory Heerspink Lesson Plan: Life in the West Grade: 8

iii. Application: 1. Can you predict for me why you think life was so hard for the mountain men? c. Methods/Materials i. This lesson will require group stations and independent work. ii. We will need a computer, projector, flip book, life in the west posters, Pencil, and, Paper. 6) Modeling: i. Using my own examples I will show students how to record information in the flip book. 7) Checking for Understanding: i. Throughout the lesson I will ask students questions specific to the station they are working at. ii. They will also be turning in their letter home as an exit slip. iii. While students are independently working, I will walk around and check the work that is being done. 8) Guided Practice: a. Before the station rotation begins I will show the students how to fill in the flip book by having them help me with my example. 9) Independent Practice: a. Students will use their flip books at the different stations to fill in the information for each group of settlers in the west. i. I will be circulating throughout the classroom answering any questions that students may have while they are working. 10) Closure: a. Before we leave class, I will ask students for three things they learned today that they did not know before. b. I will collect the letter home as the students exit the class.