Emily Hay, Constance Colley and Johnny White

Grade: Six Social Studies

the week

Activity: How Can We Help the Bees?

Length : 75 minutes; first class of

Goals/Key questions
Goals: Why are bees important and what can we do to help them?
Six Social GLO: Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the dynamic relationship
between governments and citizens as they engage in the democratic process
SLO: analyze how individuals, groups, and associations within a community impact decision making of local
and provincial governments by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:
How can individuals, groups, and associations within a community participate in
the decision-making process regarding current events or issues (i.e., lobbying, petitioning,
organizing, and attending local meetings and rallies, contacting elected representatives)?
Objective (connected to PofS): Students will..
Understand the importance of bees in how they are necessary to fruit trees
Choose a method of influencing local or provincial government decisions to help the bees

Pre lesson Considerations

Pre-learning required:
How bees impact the growth and development of fruit trees and how this affects humans
Democratic rights and freedoms of Canada
Citizen participation
Elected representatives
Understand and distinguish local and provincial governments
How citizens have influence on the decision making of local and provincial governments
i.e., lobbying, petitioning, organizing, and attending local meetings and rallies, contacting elected representatives
Norms of collaboration
Materials needed/preset up required/logistical considerations needed (seating arrangement):

Foam fidget
Kahoot survey (Responsibilities of Local and Provincial
Governments and Citizen Influence)
Laptop cart
Students are seated in clusters of four, perpendicular to the
board

Have video ready to show

Whiteboard markers
Oranges
Summative assignment hand out
Popsicle sticks with names

Content:
What is the teacher doing?

What are the students doing?

1. Good morning, class. Today we will be starting to look at 1. Say good morning
how we can help the bees through influencing
governmental decisions and starting our major
Introduction
assignment.
Time estimation
2. We will now be doing a Kahoot survey (FA) on the
2. Take orange if they havent had breakfast yet
responsibilities of local and provincial government and a. Chat quietly while class retrieves their laptops
25 min
what a citizen can do to influence governmental
decisions. We will be using the schools laptops for this
and another activity today. Please chat about your
weekend and how youre feeling today while I call one
cluster at a time to retrieve their laptops. Please take an
orange if you are still hungry.
a. Have students retrieve devices from laptop/iPad cart one
cluster at a time
Choose cluster randomly
Write kahoot.it address on board while last cluster is
retrieving devices
b. Get attention with bell
Start only when everyone is ready and paying attention
3.

Instruct them to use their real names during the game so

that the results are identifiable
3. Take kahoot quiz
a. Only teacher will see who answered what upon
a. Enter in their own name so teacher can identify them
completion
b. Write this on board

4. Pull up the Kahoot survey on board and wait for all

students to enter
a. Talk about answers as they are completed

4. Take part in discussion of answers as they complete the

quiz

Transition
1. Tell students that they did well on the quiz.
1. Close Kahoot and laptops
considerationsa. There were some tricky questions and you got them all
b. Have them close Kahoot and laptop cover.
1 min

2. To get students attention play Hands up, eyes front

3. Continue only when all eyes are on teacher

2. Put their hands up and sit quietly while they wait for further
instruction

1. We are now going to discuss what we can do for the bees

1. Participate in the discussion by sharing answers and writing
Activity 1
notes on the discussion
2. Write this list on the board while reading off the examples
Group discussion on
a. Honey
how to influence b. Apples
government
c. Oranges
d. Strawberry
e. Mustard
Time est:
Watermelon
g.
Almond
20 min
h. Blueberries
3. Who likes at least one of these foods?
a. Have children raise hands if they enjoy one of the foods
4. All of these foods are result of the pollination that bees
provide. From your research and discussions, if the bees
were gone, what do you think might happen?
Write the question and answers on board
Choose students to answer with popsicle sticks
b. How much would your life be impacted by the loss of

bees?
Write the question and answers on board
Have them think, pair, and share with their neighbours
5. Good job, grade sixes! You are truly starting to
understand why bees are so important for us! But, is it
enough to know why they are important?
a. Write the question and answers on board
b. What can we do to help the bees?
c. Write the question and answers on board
6. Knowing what you know about citizen participation in our
government, is there any way we could influence
governmental decisions that impact the bees?
a. Write the question and answers on board
Lobbying, petitioning, online campaigns, letters to
government officials
7. Because we live in a democratic country, we as citizens
have the ability to influence what our country does. To
help the bees, we are going to find ways to use our
democratic rights to try to influence the decisions our
government is making that influences bees.
a. Hand-out summative assignment instructions by having
one student from each cluster come grab enough for all of
cluster
Students can talk quietly while this is happening
b. Get class attention with bell
Read over instructions with students
Use popsicle sticks to choose who will read and after
every three students, teacher reads
c. Does anyone have any questions?

7. Choose one student to grab the handouts

a. The other three can talk quietly while the one is away
b. Participate in reading the instructions and actively listening
while others are reading
c. Be ready to ask questions if there are any
Transition
1.
considerations
a.
b.
5 min

Lets have a quick brain break before we continue with 1. Participate in standing/stretching
a. Participate in foam fidget sharing activity while trying not to
this assignment
Have them stand up and stretch/shake it out
repeat things they learned about bees (from any class)
Throw foam fidget, whoever it is thrown to has to share
one thing they learned about bees (from any class)

2. Once each group has gone at least once, retrieve and

hold on to fidget to get class attention, settle students by2. Finish foam fidget activity, waiting quietly for teacher to give
waiting for quiet and begin introduction to next activity
next instruction
Activity 2
Research time

Time Est:
20 min

1. I am going to give you about 15 minutes to start working 1. Find groups and start discussing assignment
on the first part of the assignment. I want you to get into a. Use the norms of collaboration that was taught before
b. Decisions do not need to be made during this time
your assigned groups (on the handout) and start deciding
how you want to help the bees. And just to remind you,
you are trying to help them by concentrating on one part
of the democratic process. This could be any of the
examples we talked about last class. A list is provided in
your hand out to remind you of the different possibilities.
a. Please talk to me if you have any questions or need some
assistance.
b. Walk around the room and check in with the groups even

if they do not have any questions.

What about ?
Have you thought about?
How will you accomplish ?
2. Pay attention to teacher and listen
2. Grab attention with bell
a. Good job, grade sixes! I am extremely impressed with the
work you have done so far. You are truly understanding
the democratic process! Remember the work you have
done today because we will be continuing with this
assignment tomorrow.
3. Instruct students to save work and logout of computers

3. Save work and logout of laptops

4. Let them know to stay seated and you will check in with
groups for them to give quick intro into their plan for
4. Listen to teacher instruction
assignment (FA)
a. Wait until it is your turn to show teacher the group plan/initial
a. Allow them to talk quietly among themselves while waiting
thoughts for summative assessment
b. If approved, return laptops to cart
5. Once a group has shown they understand what is
c. Return to desk and talk quietly until every group has
expected of them and have properly begun, let them
returned laptop
return their laptops to cart and put things away
1. Once whole class has returned laptops and returned
1.
seated explain next lesson will involve looking into media
a.
to help with their assignment
Conclusion
a. Instruct students to pay attention to such formats that they
come across tonight at home
b. There are many different types of media which all have
3 min
different strengths. Think about what these are tonight
and get a better idea of what makes them effective

Once everyone has returned seated, listen to instruction for

media platforms in next lesson
Pay attention during the news/on the internet to media
formats

Assessment:
Formative - Kahoot (https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/dead45e1-c260-47f2-9956-b910a7d1e36e) and group discussion
Summative - working towards

Accommodations/Modifications:
Group work helps those who are struggling to get help
Self-guided research gives them the opportunity to research what interests them

Extension and extra time activity:

If they want to do more work before next class, it is up to them

Formative Assessment:

1)
a)
b)
2)
a)
b)
3)
a)
b)
4)

Kahoot Survey: Types of Government and Ways to Implement Change in Community

Students are given the opportunity to select their answers based on the following questions. The first 6 have right and wrong answers
which will be reviewed by the teacher following each one, while the last is an opinion question based on the pre-learning content that
will lead to class discussion justifying why students made their choice. In terms of validity, this Kahoot quiz ensures students are
being formally assessed on what has already been taught.
Parks and Recreation is a responsibility of which type of government?
Municipal
Provincial
Civil Rights (e.g., expression of culture) is a responsibility of which type of government?
Municipal
Provincial
Local transportation (i.e., road construction) is a responsibility of which type of government?
Municipal
Provincial
Healthcare is a responsibility of which type of government?

a)
b)
5)
a)
b)
6)
a)
b)
7)
a)
b)
c)
d)

Municipal
Provincial
Public Utilities (i.e., water treatment) is a responsibility of which type of government?
Municipal
Provincial
Education is a responsibility of which type of government?
Municipal
Provincial
Which of the following could you do as a class to create change in community? Why?
Petitioning
Lobbying
Letter to Mayor
Online Campaign

Group Discussion
Students will be given an opportunity to describe to the teacher their initial plan towards the summative assessment they have been
introduced to. This will serve as a formative assessment for the teacher to verify they are on the right track before they begin the
performance task, as well as to ensure validity by verifying they are confining their work to what they will be assessed on. It also
serves as a small exit ticket for students to return their laptops, which they can only do once they have described their plans and
demonstrated clear understanding of what is expected of them. This formative assessment allows for them to articulate their ideas
and explain them verbally, expanding their ideas and possibly seeing what they will change after they have laid it out in words.