Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EDEL 343-02
Ashley King
Coastal Carolina University
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Table of Contents
Contextual Factors……………………………………………………………………………3-5
Learning Goals……………………………………………………………………………….6-7
Assessment Plan…………………………………………………………………………….8-15
Contextual Factors
During my internship, I was placed in an elementary school in the Horry County School
district. According to their official website, Horry County Schools is made up of 52 schools and
9 different attendance areas. There are more than 44,000 students enrolled in these schools as a
total sum, making this district one of top three largest schools in South Carolina. I interned at
Kingston Elementary School. This school is located at 4580 Highway 472 in Conway, South
Carolina. It is located in a rural area and consists of students in grades Kindergarten through
Grade 5. In the 2017 school consensus, there were 518 students enrolled. 71.6% of these learners
receive either free or reduced lunch. 74% of students are white, while 11% are Hispanic and
African American.
The community is very tight-knit. It is very home-like and goes with the phrase “a place
where everyone knows everyone.” My internship began shortly after Hurricane Florence hit the
area; the area was severely flooded following the hurricane. The school did many fundraisers and
accepted donations for severe weather victims; they all seemed to work together in time of
tragedy. The support for education at this school seems to be very high. The staff at this school
really do their best at working together and making everyone’s job simpler for everyone.
good job of being organized and keeping a theme throughout the room. During my internship,
her room was dressed accordingly to the Fall season, since that is when I attended. The
classroom has tables instead of desks. There are 3 sections of tables; 2 tables put together in a
row on opposite sides of the room with a 1 table section in the middle. It is very easy to walk
around the classroom and monitor the students. There is a smartboard in the front of the room
surrounded by a whiteboard. There is a table along the side of the room with 4 desktop
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computers. There are supply baskets on each table that contain things like markers, scissors,
crayons, and pencils. My cooperating teacher has an office where she keeps extra resources; she
has many, many books, teaching tools, and files. The students have laptops that they use for
online programs, such as Lexia and Redbird. They get these computers out every morning from a
charging cart that stays in the hallway. Parents seem to be really involved in student learning at
this school; in my class, it is rare for parents to not write short notes to my cooperating teacher
almost every night. The parents seem to be very supportive in their child’s learning. Another
example is the number of students in my classroom that stay for voluntary tutoring on Thursday
The routine for the day is posted daily on a section of the white board. The board has the
standard, the learning objective, and the daily activities posted for the teacher, students, and
visitors to see. I see both my cooperating teacher and the students referring to the board often to
see what is in store for the day. My cooperating teacher groups the students according to their
academic stance. For example, she uses their reading abilities, strengths, and weaknesses to
make the best decision for the students. For classroom management, my cooperating teacher uses
the “Clip System.” This system insists of posters hanging on the cabinet with clips labeled with
the student’s number. All students start a new day at “Ready to learn”; in case of misbehavior,
the students will move their clip down to either “think about it” “teacher choice” or “parent
contact.” In case of positive behavior, the students will move their clip up to either “Good
The students in my classroom are all well-mannered and driven children. They all range
in an age group of 7-8. There are 19 students in my class; 11 students are female and 8 are male.
I have 17 Caucasian students, and 2 African American students. They all speak English as a first
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language. One student has an IEP and has to sit in non-distracting areas. 2 of my students go to
speech every day. The achievement levels range from very high to very low. For example, one of
my children read with 98% accuracy on Dibbles while one of my children read 2 words in a
minute with no chance at comprehension. There seem to be many struggling readers in this class.
Most of these students who struggled are pulled out for additional resources from other teachers
throughout the day. My students enjoy visuals and interacting with manipulatives to learn. They
seem to struggle with copying down information and working individually. My instructional
implications will keep these students in mind; I will be sure to include a lot of whole group
instruction and hands on activities to keep the students engaged in their learning.
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Learning Goals
At the end of the Unit about Maps, the students will be able to:
3. Construct maps using all necessary elements of a map, i.e. key, scale, titles (Learning
Goal 3)
These learning goals align under the South Carolina Social Studies Standard 2-1: The
student will demonstrate an understanding of the local community as well as the fact that
geography influences not only the development of communities but also the interactions between
people and the environment. Learning Goal 1 and 3 focuses on indicator 2-1.1: Identify on a map
the location of places and geographic features of the local community (e.g., landforms, bodies of
water, parks) using the legend and the cardinal directions. Learning Goal 2 focuses on indicator
2-1.2: Recognize characteristics of the local region, including its geographic features and natural
resources.
Learning Goal 1 will be focusing on the understanding level of Bloom’s taxonomy. The
students will have to put their knowledge to use and be able to interpret the meaning of the map
tools and symbols. The students will be asked to fill in a compass rose and identify map tools
apart from one another. This will mostly involve simply understanding the content. Learning
Goal 2 will focus on the analyzing level of Bloom’s taxonomy. The students will have to take the
content that they have learned and be able to tell the difference between two or more landforms,
as well as be able to elaborate upon a landform to explain how one is classified from the next.
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The students will be asked to carry out/use the new content by being faced with different
landforms and doing an activity where they must know the difference in the landforms. Learning
Goal 3 will target the synthesis level of Bloom’s taxonomy. The student will have to create a
map that includes map tools and symbols. The student will have to integrate information learned
from this unit to form the map. Many different maps will be formed over the course of the unit,
These learning goals are appropriate for the students because students have a general
understanding of location and maps from their previous grades; the students need to be able to
know and understand map tools and symbols in a deeper intensity of comprehension to be able to
navigate both for assessments to meet the standard’s expectation and in real life. Students will be
faced with maps very often in life, in many different situations. Some examples of these
instances are: touring a building, navigating a new town, exploring a trail, and many more. After
meeting these learning goals in 2nd grade, the students will move on to understanding the
different regions of SC, the population around the world, settlers, etc. Establishing this strong
Assessment Plan
Learning goal 1: Pre-assessment The pre-test is a paper and pencil I will scaffold the students by
assessment. Questions 1, 4, and 8 reading all of the question and
Interpret map tools tested the knowledge that students answer choices to the students. The
and symbols had with being able to interpret students will have the appropriate
different map tools and symbols. amount of time per question to
prove their knowledge.
The students will use their
whiteboards to answer the questions I will read the questions and
displayed on the smartboard. The answer choices. I will instruct the
Formative questions stem from the A-Z passage students to flip their boards over
Assessment about Map tools. once they’ve written their answer.
Sticky note activity: students list map Give them an example with
tool example on sticky note and stick something other than map tools
it to chart. before actual assignment.
Post-assessment: The post-test is a paper and pencil I will scaffold the students by
assessment. Questions 2, 5, and 9 reading all of the question and
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The learning goals that I created for the unit were tested in both the pre-test and post-test
before and after my unit was taught, as well as in formal assessments throughout the various
lessons within the unit. Testing the information in a pre-test allowed me to confirm that I was not
spending valuable time re-teaching information to students that they were already familiar with. I
used the results from the pre-test to create the instructional plan. Both the pre and post-test were
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identical so that I was able to fully measure growth within the students. The tests were 100 points
(10 questions at 10 points each). I did not fully expect the students to do well on the pre-test; this
is because they have not had much experience with things like cardinal directions, and other map
tools. In order for student performance to meet the learning goals in place for them, I expected
the students to reach 80% or above on the post-test. This is because the students will have
properly gotten the instruction needed to know and understand the elements of the standard. The
students also need to master this content, since map standards do not end in second grade.
Following (or during) each lesson, I gave students formal assessments to test how they
were reacting to the content being taught daily, rather than just before and after the unit. This
allowed me to assess their learning during the time before the post-test. Some of the assessment
was given for the students to complete individually, with their shoulder partners, or in a whole
group setting. Some examples are: Q&A, whiteboard quizzes, sticky note activities, and creating
maps. All of the assessments appropriately assessed my learning goals by requiring the students
to use the knowledge just taught to them to complete the activities. For example, one of the
assessments include the students creating a map of a farm. The students must formulate a map
key and place the symbols in the appropriate spots according to a list of directions. I will grade
The assignments given to students were appropriate for their learning. Students were
shown with models before individually working on the activities and were given instructions
thoroughly and multiple times during their assessments. The assessments were developmentally
appropriate for second grade students, and I kept my students who struggled with reading and
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focusing in mind when planning the lessons and activities. I read all assessments aloud because
the majority of my class struggles with reading. I repeated instructions for the students, as well as
things like test items and answer choices. Monitoring was something I did during all activities
and assessments so that students were scaffolded through; I offered assistance, redirected, or re-
Below, I have included the pre and post-test given to the students before and after the unit
and one rubric I used to assess an activity. The test was graded the same both times given to the
students, as far as item weight and answer expectation. The rubric that I used to grade the
student’s maps of the playground and farm during learning goal 3 was used to assess the
students’ knowledge on the content mid-way through the unit. I will know that students properly
understand the content regarding creating maps if most of the students are able to score about
70% on the map assignments. This assessment is appropriate because the students have to use
1. Label the compass with correct cardinal directions (North, South, East, West)
A. Map key
B. Compass with cardinal directions
C. The temperature
D. Names of cities
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5. A landform is…
a. A natural area of land
b. A building
c. A flower
d. A farm
6. What road would you take to get from Madison Park to the Hospital?
a. Lincoln Way
b. Apple Lane
c. Peach Avenue
d. Washington Street
a. The museum
b. City hall
c. The hospital
d. Main Street
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
A. Pond
B. Mountain
C. Desert
D. Island
CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
Map key Map key contains Map key contains Map key contains Map key is
all symbols most of the few symbols missing needed
needed. symbols needed. needed. May be symbols. Little or
May be missing 1 missing 3-5. no symbols.
or 2.
Labels & 90-100% of the 89-80% of the 79-70% of the Less than 70% of
Features - labels/features labels/features labels/features the labels/features
Neatness can be read can be read can be read can be read
easily. easily. easily. easily.
According to the results from the pre-assessment, I can see that the ability of the
students answering correctly varies strongly throughout the test. It appears that the
students have a strong background with learning goal 1. This is because this goal is
mostly covered in first grade. For this section of the unit, I might spend more time
working with applying the knowledge rather than spending time reteaching it since scores
were so high. I will need to deeply cover learning goal 2 throughout the lesson because it
appears that most students were not familiar with the content, as most questions did not
have a good turnout. Learning goal 3 had a range from almost all students answering
correctly to almost none of the students answering correctly. I will need to focus on most
of this content so that the students who have not received the content knowledge get a
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chance; the students that did get it may have just guessed correctly or been briefly
Unit Overview:
Day Topic Activity Learning Goal
A-Z Passage
Monday Map tools Discussion Learning Goal 1
Questions
Multiple Choice
Questions
BrainPop Video
Tuesday Landforms Hard/Easy Quiz Learning Goal 2
Anchor Chart
Think-Pair-
Share
Anchor Chart
Landforms (Bodies Interactive
of Water) Game Learning Goal 2
Wednesday Worksheet
Playground
Map Elements Map Learning Goal 3
Friday
Activities:
Learning Experience 1-
Due to my pre-assessment results, I know that I need to focus on landforms with the
students. Based on the students in my class, they haven’t been exposed first hand to any other
landforms besides the plains of the area around us, so they have nothing personal to reference.
The concept is entirely new to the second graders that I am teaching. One activity that I am doing
with the students is having them complete an interactive game on the smartboard and a
worksheet with their shoulder partner on landforms. These activities will require: smartboard,
writing utensil, and the worksheet. This relates to my instructional goals because students need to
be able to classify and distinguish between different types of landforms; this activity will require
that they are able to do that. I will assess the students by the correctness of their worksheet. I will
feel confident in their understanding if most students reach an 85% or higher. Before these
activities, the students will be introduced the content by anchor charts and videos. I will have
verbally explained landforms and given them visuals to reference; the activity should be a fun
Learning Experience 2-
In order to target Learning Goal 3, I will be constructing a map with the students.
According to the pre-assessment test, there was a wide variety of students who answered some
correctly and some incorrectly. Completing the map with the students will require the students to
understand the necessary elements that form a map. This relates to the learning goal because the
learning goal consists of having the students knowing the elements of a map. In order to compete
this activity, we will need: cut out pieces for map, glue, blank map, map key, and smartboard
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program. I will have previously cut out the materials in order to save time and keep anxiety
levels down with my students, since I know how they react with things of this nature. I will
assess the students learning during the activity by their engagement and by the completeness of
Learning Experience 3-
Learning goal 1 appeared to be a section of this unit that my students were already rather
students straight forward information that would cause recall in their minds to the things they
had previously learned. To do this, we read an A-Z passage on Map Tools. The passage talked
about the compass rose, cardinal directions, and why we use maps. This relates to learning goal 1
because that goal requires students to interpret map tools and symbols. In order to complete this,
we will need: the A-Z passage, multiple choice questions on smartboard, white board, and
discussion questions. The students will all have a copy of the passage so that they are able to
view it at their own will; I will be reading aloud for all of struggling readers. I will assess the
students by informally observing their answers the students hold up on their whiteboards on the
Technology:
I plan to use technology as frequently as I can during my planning and instruction. I feel
as though it is a very beneficial way to keep students engaged throughout the day. One way that I
plan on using technology is during the “Creating a Map” day of the unit. I will have a program
created on the SmartBoard that allows me to drag and drop the pieces that the students are gluing
on their blank maps directly on the board. This will act as a model for the students. Another way
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that I will use technology is by presenting the Hard/Easy Landform quiz on the board. When I do
this, the students will record their answers on their whiteboards and hold them up for me to
informally assess. I will also be using technology during the review section of the unit on Friday;
I will have a Kahoot made for the students, and they will be using their Laptops and iPads to
answer the questions on their own regarding the content from the entire unit.
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Decision 1:
During my unit in the field, one of the learning goals for the students was for the students
to be able to construct maps using all of the necessary elements of a map (i.e. map key, compass
rose, cardinal directions). I had been teaching the students all of the individual map tools on the
days prior to this planned day. Initially, the lessons called for the students to create two maps
(one of a playground, then one of a farm) in one day. On the final day of instruction on map
tools, I noticed that students were not catching on the tools as well as I assumed that they would.
The students were constantly needing to be reminded of the taught acronym for the cardinal
directions and couldn’t fill in a map key without proper modeling. My cooperating teacher
informed me that the students had never really gotten instruction on map tools before second
grade, so I knew I would need to spend extra time with them with that part of the standard.
Because of the way the students were reacting to the instruction on map tools, I assumed
that they would severely struggle with trying to fit both the farm map and the playground map
into a one-day block. I then made the instructional decision the day before the lesson to change
the plans and split the map activities into two separate days. Specifically, I did the Playground
Map the first day and then the Farm map the following day. The Playground map is a simpler,
more straightforward activity compared to the Farm. I did this first in hopes that it would allow
me to spend more time modelling and scaffolding with the students the first day of creating a
map so that I could reiterate cardinal directions, how to make map keys, etc. I created a
SmartBoard program that allowed a more visual format of modelling for the students. The
following day, the students worked as a whole group again to create the Farm map but with less
modeling and more reliance on me for instruction. I feel as though dividing the maps into two
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days was a smart decision because following day two of creating maps instruction, the students
were doing better with creating map and using map tools because they had longer to process the
information and have hands-on learning time with the content in a non-rushed format as opposed
Decision 2:
Landforms. One of the goals for my students was for them to be able to classify and distinguish
between different types of landforms. I spent one day introducing the different types of
landforms using an anchor chart and a BrainPop Video. I informally assessed the students by
having them answer the questions to a hard and an easy quiz on their whiteboards. The students
were able to successfully answer the easy quiz almost the entire time; every student was getting
the question right. The hard quiz, though, caused struggle for almost all of the students. The hard
quiz targeted more on their ability to distinguish between the different types of landforms.
Initially, I planned for the students to move right into creating maps the following day. After
assessing the student’s whiteboard quizzes, I realized that they needed more than one day with
In order to give the students more instructional time with landforms, I pushed back the
lesson plans and allowed some time at the beginning of the lesson the following day to be
devoted to landforms again instead of jumping right in to creating maps. I started with reviewing
the anchor chart and provided real life examples of where we can find these landforms. I created
an activity for the students to be shown a photo of a landform and to write the correlating name
of the landform on their whiteboards. The students showed me their answers and I informally
checked their knowledge. Following that, the students had to get into groups and list as many
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different types of landforms that they could on sticky notes for a group-collaboration poster.
Together, they had to come up with short definitions for each other their landforms and write
them in their SS notebook. I think that this instructional decision was very relevant because
following the new lesson plan, the students had a better understanding on Landforms. They were
able to meet the learning goal at the end of day two of instruction because they had more time
with the content. There were many different types of landforms they were expected to know and
I knew that moving on would mean that most of my students would have just forgotten the
information.
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Average
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Whole Group
In the beginning of the unit, students will take a pre-assessment that will determine their
knowledge and allow me to plan instruction for the entirety of the unit. The average score on the
pre-assessment in my class was a 63%. The student’s scores ranged from 40% to 90%. I used
many informal assessments and instructional activities to introduce the content to the students
over the course of the unit. The students were taught all of the necessary content needed to meet
the learning goals and to make an increase in scores on the post-test. Following the post-test, the
average score was an 85%. The scores ranged from 60-100%. A majority of the students did very
well on the post-test and all students made some form of an increase in their score. This lead me
to believe that my learning goals were met throughout the unit. The percentage of questions met
per learning goal also increased from the pre-test to the post-test. Learning goal 2 seemed to be
the learning goal that students did not have much background on, since the average amount of
points scored for that section was 18%. For the post-test, though, that number increased to 27%.
There was huge increase and I was very pleased to see that in my results.
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Subgroups
In order to analyze student learning even further, I broke up the whole group into
subgroups based on gender. I did this because my class is nearly equal when split into groups
based on gender. Diving my class into a different subgroup would create an unfair unbalance
between the test scores since it ranges so much in number. I expected to see a difference between
the two subgroups because typically (from my studies), I’ve learned that boys prefer history and
content regarding that over girls. I predicted that the boys would succeed over the girls on this
assessment. In result, the girl’s average for the pre-assessment was 61%. The boys average for
the pre-assessment was 61.25%. Contrary to my prediction, following instruction and informal
assessment, the girls average on the post-test was 85%; the boys average on the post test was
82.5%. Both subgroups made improvements when comparing their pre-assessment and post-test
scores. I was shocked to see the girls score rise over the boys, but I was just as proud! I felt as
though the Learning Goals proved to be met even when looking even further into the data. I felt
that the instruction was effective enough to increase students’ knowledge in what they needed to
know in order to meet their objectives since such an improvement was shown, but that there was
room for even more improvement throughout the unit for both goals.
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Individuals
After looking at the subgroups of my class, I decided to focus on two students in which I
will refer to as Student A and Student B. Student A is a child who is very shy and quiet. Student
A struggles with reading and comprehension but is typically a very sound listener when it comes
to instruction and hands-on activities. On the pre-test, Student A scored a 40 points out of 100,
making his score a 40%. This student has an IEP and is pulled out of class to meet with a
resource teacher to further his classroom instruction. This student was in my class for all class
instruction days within my unit. I chose this student primarily to focus on how having an IEP
affected the test scores compared to a student who did not. On the post test, Student A scored 90
points out of 100, or a 90%. This was very exciting for me as I saw incredible amounts of growth
Student B is a student who is generally very talkative and easily distracted. She is very
bright and typically scores very well on unit test in class. She is a very fluent reader and
comprehends grade level text higher than her recommended Lexile. Student B scored a 40% on
her pre-test. During the pre-assessment, she seemed very distracted. She was not paying attention
and seemed to be filling in random answers. She missed most questions on the pre-assessment,
and I was very shocked at her performance. Student B is pulled out for speech during the
morning; she attended all instructional days for my unit. I chose this student because she is
typically a very high scoring student; I wanted to see her growth over time with the unit, since I
had never seen her score the way she did on the pre-assessment. I wanted to see if it was the
subject or the topic causing her confusion. When she took the post-test, Student B scored a
100%. She got all of the points under each Learning Goal and got a perfect score. I was very
pleased with her performance because she showed amazing growth over time.
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Looking over the data charts that compared the results from the pre-assessment to the
post-test, it is clear that Learning Goal two was the most successful growth area for my students.
Learning goal 2 was the goal that involved students being able to classify and distinguish
between different landforms. The average points scored among my class on the pre-assessment
was 18%. After instruction and teaching the entire unit, the score increased to a 27% on the post-
test. The students in my class had no prior knowledge on this topic. I also feel that the students
struggled with this concept because most of the students in my classroom were born and raised in
Conway, South Carolina. Most of the area around Conway is plains; the students didn’t have any
first-hand experience on the different types of landforms, so it was a challenge to explain to them
the difference when they had never seen or heard of any of the landforms in the first place. Only
one student did not increase or stay the same during this section. I believe that this had to do with
the distraction elements of my student; during test time, he becomes very stressed out and zones
out during most of the test. When he notices that the time is almost up, he begins circling random
choices. Every other student either maintained a solid score or increased to meet the goal.
I believe that this learning goal was the most successful because I started the unit
knowing that students were going to need more scaffolding on this. When I started teaching, the
students were not catching on as well as I expected them to and I knew then that I needed to
make some adjustments to my lesson plans in order to broaden the time I had reserved for
instruction on landforms. I think increasing the amount of time that students got exposure to the
content gave a huge hand in the students meeting learning goal two as well as they did. I feel as
though if I had not given them that additional day to work with landforms that they would have
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easily forgotten the content, since there was so much to teach in such a little time with only one
instructional day as initially planned. I think another reason that the students had such success
with this learning goal was the anchor chart provided to the students and the activity worked with
the students. The anchor chart that I made for the class hung in the room and was a constant
reminder for them to compare the different landforms throughout their day; it was very detailed
and had pictures that I think really resonated with the students. The activity I did on day two of
landforms also really seemed to make the students “click” with the content. The students had to
brainstorm all of the landforms that they could think of with their groups and then formulate
definitions of those landforms in their Social Studies notebook. While the students were doing
this activity, I noticed them working extra hard trying to compare the difference between the
landforms to write down the definitions. The students didn’t even realize, but, while they were
working on this activity, they were assisting themselves in meeting the learning goal.
Oppositely, learning goal one was the goal where my students were least successful.
There was still growth within all of the students, with the exception of one, but the growth was a
few percentages shy compared to the other learning goals. Learning goal one consisted of the
students being able to interpret map tools and symbols. Like learning goal two, the students in
my class seemed to have no prior knowledge on the topic. The students for the most part seemed
to know that directions could be found using a device like a cell phone, but had no solid
foundation of North, East, South, and West and what it meant to follow those directions or to
read symbols off of a map. This could be because of the middle-class family setting exposing
most of the students to technology that did not require having to learn these things, as Apps and
During instructional days for this learning goal, I read an A-Z passage with the students
about Map Tools and why maps are important. The information really seemed to resonate with
the students; on this day, we reviewed the acronym Never Eat Soggy Waffles to teach North,
East, South, and West with the directions on a Compass Rose. The students were all very excited
to learn this acronym and were able to recite it along with me at the end of the lesson. Part of the
pre and post assessment for the unit involved having the students know cardinal directions like
Southeast and Northwest, etc. I think that I spent enough time learning NESW, but lacked
reviewing the directions in between the major directions. I reviewed it once or twice and how to
follow the Compass Rose to meet these directions but failed to touch on it in the following days.
One thing that I might do to assist the students in reaching this learning goal even further would
be to come up with a fun way to remember the entire compass rose, not just the major directions.
Another reason that the students didn’t reach the learning goal as well as they could have may
have been because the lack of hands on activities for this section. During the instructional days
for this learning goal, we spent more time working as a group and doing things like having
discussions and answering questions on the smartboard. I think having the students do something
like filling out their own personal compass rose may assist in them learning the content more
deeply. Filling out the worksheet and allow them to have that reference may make it easier since
When it comes to teaching, two professional learning goals that I have formulated for
myself are: (1) The teacher will incorporate a stronger variety of informal assessment into her
classroom, and (2) The teacher will be more mindful of student’s extra needs during instructional
activity planning.
Learning goal one means doing more different types of activities with the students. With my
class being a second-grade class and having only thirty minutes to compete the lesson, I really
struggled with having time to complete a full lesson with the students. Because of that, most of
my lessons felt very short and sweet. I spent a lot of my time with the students doing group work
so that it was easier for me to assess their learning. I think that doing this, though, took away the
chance for the students to learn from each other and interact with the content. In order to meet
my learning goal, I will first study more on time management and how to get the most out of a
short amount of time with younger grades. I felt like after I got all of the students situated and
ready to learn, 10 minutes was already gone from our time. I need to be more effective at
pushing the transition time and getting the students ready to learn quicker. Next, I will both
research and develop on my own some different activities that are good for second graders to
learn social studies. Whole group instruction is beneficial but more of our time needed to be
devoted to them working with partners or individually. It will be a goal of mine to increase my
knowledge on different types of activities that they can do to make the most out of the time that
they have.
Learning goal two focuses on me spending more time during planning on creating
activities that make sure all of my students are targeted. When I am planning, I always keep my
students that struggle in my mind when I am planning how I will introduce new content or
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activities. I always write down the information in the lesson plan, but for some reason- when I
get to teaching, I am spending more time making sure that I have the student’s attention and
making sure that they are following procedures and I am spending less time making sure that my
student who can’t see the board is able to see and that my student that is easily distracted during
class is in an area that is convenient for his learning. Focusing on these things are truly important
to me and I want to always be mindful of my students who have specific needs in order to have
an effective learning environment, so I want to make this learning goal a priority of mine inside
the classroom. In order to make this happen, the first thing that I will do is to make sure that I am
always aware of any special allocations that my students might ever need. For example, a student
not being able to see the board from the back of the room, a student being distracted by loud
noises, a student who struggles with reading, etc. I will always be mindful and take the time to
write out extensive plans particularly for those students so that I am prepared with ways to help
those students. Secondly, I will always make sure that I am prepared enough to be 100%
comfortable with the flow of the lesson plan so that I am more likely to be able to have the time
to make sure that all of my students are accommodated. Being prepared is something that I
always try to reach, but the nervousness of standing in front of a classroom sometimes causes
additional stress that causes these things to slip my mind. Completing this learning goal is
something that is very important to me; meeting both of these learning goals, I feel, with make a
Lesson Plans
Ashley King
Standards: Standard 2-1- The student will demonstrate an understanding of the local community
as well as the fact that geography influences not only the development of communities but also
Indicator: 2-1.1 Identify on a map the location of places and geographic features of the
local community (e.g., landforms, bodies of water, parks) using the legend and the cardinal
directions.
Objectives: The students will be able to interpret map tools and symbols.
Review:
“Good afternoon guys! Last week we briefly mentioned that we were going to be starting a new
unit about maps! I know that you have had some prior exposure to maps before in 1st grade! Can
anyone raise their hand and tell me what they think a map is?” The students should raise their
hands and say something along the lines of: a map is something that shows us around a place.
“Great job! You seem to have a decent foundation that will help you in growing that knowledge
Overview:
“Today we are going to be talking about why we use maps! We are also going to learn about the
different map tools that are included on maps so that we are able to use maps more efficiently!
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We will be reading a passage together, having partner discussions, and then answering some
questions as a group on the smartboard! Knowing about maps and map tools are very important
because we could easily get into a situation where depending on a map to get us around is the
Presentation:
I will instruct that the students meet me at their assigned seat on the carpet. I will pass out a
packet to each of the students. “I am going to read this article aloud to you. I want you guys
following along as I read.” I will read the passage to the students; the passage is included
“Great job. Now, I want you all to turn to your partners. Attached to the article is a list of
discussion questions. I want you to turn to your partner and discuss each question as I read them.
I will read the question to the students, allow them to discuss with their partner, and have a
volunteer answer. After the volunteer answers, we will have a brief discussion as a group about
the answer.
I will teach the acronym “Never Eat Soggy Waffles” to remember NESW by modeling it on the
Exercise:
I will have a multiple-choice activity presented on the board that reflects what we learned from
the A-Z Passage about maps. I will read the questions to the students and they will write their
Summary:
“Great work today, everyone! I am really proud of the way that you guys paid attention during
instructional time! Remember- maps are very important tools. We use them very often and they
are very resourceful. Always make sure you pay attention to keys, scales, etc! Remind me one
more time what the directions of a compass rose are?” Students should answer: North, East,
South, West.
Assessment:
I will assess the students by the answers they provide during the multiple-choice activity. I will
also assess the students by listening in on their partner discussions following the A-Z reading. I
want all students to be participating in the partner discussions, and not simply have one person
doing all the talking. I will also ask the students to write an example of a map tool that learned
from today and to stick this sticky note on a chart labeled “Map Tools” on the board. This will
serve as a sort of exit slip so that I am able to see that students took away some of the main ideas
Interventions:
For my students that struggle with reading, I will be reading the passage aloud (as well as the
multiple choice and the discussion questions). For my student who struggles with viewing the
board, I will make sure the multiple-choice questions are in the highest font I can make it, and
Early finishers:
If I have students who finish the discussion questions with their partner early, I will instruct
those students to talk about a time that they have used a map and how they problem solved
Ashley King
Standards: Standard 2-1- The student will demonstrate an understanding of the local community
as well as the fact that geography influences not only the development of communities but also
Indicator: 2-1.1 Identify on a map the location of places and geographic features of the
local community (e.g., landforms, bodies of water, parks) using the legend and the cardinal
directions.
Objectives: The students will be able to classify and distinguish between different landforms.
Review:
“Good afternoon boys and girls! Yesterday we talked all about how we can use maps in our
everyday life and some of the tools that are on a map. Can someone remind me why maps are
important?” Students should answer with: they help us find out way around, they help when we
are lost, they give us directions. “Great answers! I can tell that you guys were really paying
attention! Remind me: what are the cardinal directions on a compass rose?” The students should
be able to tell me North, East, South, and West. I will draw the compass rose up on the board.
Overview:
“Today we are going to focus on landforms. I know you guys haven’t had much exposure to
these, but they’re very important to know so that you are able to identify different types and help
38
us know where you are based on the landforms around you. Knowing about them will also assist
you in reading certain maps! Recognizing landforms helps us explain why different areas are
Presentation:
“Okay guys, I need you to quickly and quietly grab a whiteboard and a marker and meet me on
your assigned seat on the carpet.” I will wait for the students to meet me there.
I will show an anchor chart to the students. The anchor chart with show illustrations of different
types of landforms, for example: continents, hills, mountains, plateaus, valleys, coasts, etc.
I will have a discussion with the students. I will start by saying: “Okay guys, this chart displays
some of the many different types of landforms! These are the ones that I want you to engrave
For example: “Everyone look right at the chart. First up is a mountain! A mountain is a landform
that rises above its surrounding land and normally comes to a peak! Mountains are illustrated in
the picture right here!” I will do this with all of the other landforms on the chart.
“Now that I’ve briefly explained all of the different landforms that you need to know by using
I will play the video for the students. Here is the link to the video:
https://jr.brainpop.com/science/land/landforms/
The video goes more into detail about all the different types of landforms that I expected students
to know. I will ask a few students to explained to me what they learned from the video.
Exercise:
“Now that we have learned from two different resources all about landforms, we are going to put
some of that knowledge to use on the easy/hard quizzes! I want you to all write the correct
answer choice on your boards after I read the question and answer choices. When you finish
writing your answer, turn your board face-down. When I say “Go!”, you will hold your board up.
We will answer the quizzes on the smart board as a class!” I will have the hard and easy quizzes
from the BrainPOP video pulled up on the smart board. I will read each question to the students,
and they will answer them on their boards. We will do the quizzes on the smart board as a class.
Summary:
“You guys did a great job today! I am so proud of the way you participated. I hope you learned a
lot about landforms. Turn to your partner and tell your partner one thing you learned about
landforms!” I will give the students 1 or 2 minutes to do so. “Awesome job! Everyone return to
Assessment: I will be assessing students while they answer the questions to the hard and easy
quizzes to the BrainPOP video. I will jot down a few names following the lesson if a student was
not following the concept of landforms that way I am able to address their misunderstandings at
a later time.
Interventions: There is a few students in my class that really struggle with reading. In order to
accommodate these students, I will read the hard and easy quizzes out loud to the students that
way they are able to answer to the best of their ability without panicking over reading
41
incorrectly. I have one student who is unable to focus with too many distractions, so I will pay
special attention to the people chattering around her and make sure that she is able to see clearly
Early Finishers: This doesn’t really apply since most of this lesson is done as a whole group; I
will, however, instruct the students who answer the hard/easy quizzes quicker than their
classmates to wait patiently for everyone to catch up so that we can go over the answers as a
group.
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Ashley King
Standards: Standard 2-1- The student will demonstrate an understanding of the local community
as well as the fact that geography influences not only the development of communities but also
Indicator: 2-1.1 Identify on a map the location of places and geographic features of the
local community (e.g., landforms, bodies of water, parks) using the legend and the cardinal
directions.
Objectives: The students will be able to classify and distinguish between different bodies of
water.
Materials: Anchor chart from previous lesson, sticky notes, blank chart paper, whiteboards,
Review:
“Good afternoon, class. Yesterday we were introduced to landforms. Can anyone give me an
example of one of the landforms we learned about yesterday?” The students should be able to
answer with: Hill, mountain, valley, plateau, etc. “Great job. I noticed that we were getting kind
of hung up on the different types of landforms yesterday, but I totally understand. It is a lot of
information to take in! There are so many different types of awesome landforms to know all
about!”
43
Overview: “Today we are going to get back into the topic of Landforms and we are going to
focus on being able to classify all of the different landforms based on graphics and definitions!
We are going to classify some pictures, do some group work with forming definitions, then have
a discussion! These landforms are very important to know so that we are able to point them out
on graphic maps and so that we are able to describe the different landforms that are within
different areas!”
Presentation:
I will review the anchor chart with the students again. An example of the anchor chart is in the
previous day’s lesson plan. This time, though, the presentation will be student lead. The students
should have prior knowledge from yesterday, so they should be able to reiterate the discussion
from yesterday. I will explain to the students: “I want a volunteer to come up to the board and
use the anchor chart to remind our classmates what one of the landforms on the chart is and some
unique characteristics about it!” I will ask for a volunteer. The student will come up and explain
“Great job, guys. Those are the very important landforms that I want you to try your best to
remember. It is easy to get them mixed up but it is very important to remember the unique details
I will have the students stay seated on the carpet; I will show real photos of landforms and have
the students write on their whiteboard which landform I am displaying. For example, I will
show:
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The students should write: Mountain on their whiteboard. When I have checked their answers, I
will call on a student to explain why they wrote mountain. They should answer with: It comes to
a pointy top!
After many photo examples, I will explain to the kids: “I want you to go back to your seats. You
are going to be working with your groups to come up with as many examples as you can of
landforms! Start thinking now as you make your way to your seat. GO!”
Exercise:
The students will be forming as many examples of landforms as they can off the top of their head
with their groups. They will copy the landforms that they wrote on the sticky notes into their
Social Studies notebook along with a brief description of what makes the landform unique.
When the entire group is finished copying into their notebooks, the students will stick their sticky
notes on a blank poster at the front of the room. The poster will be a Landform-name collection
poster where we will see how many different landforms we were able to come up with!
Summary:
I will have the students come back to the carpet. Together, we will have a group discussion about
the different landforms that we added to our group chart. I will remind the students that their goal
is to be able to classify between different landforms. “Good job today, guys! Give me a thumb
45
up if you think you have a better grasp on landforms now that we have spent more time on it?”
The students will put their thumbs up or down. I will use this to decide further instruction.
Assessment:
I will be assessing the students by looking at their whiteboards when they are classifying the
landform photos. I will also be assessing them by the types of landforms they are able to come
up with for the group chart. If the whole class if repeating the same handful of landforms, I will
Interventions:
For my student who can’t read as well, I will make sure he is in a group with a strong reader so
that he is able to bounce his brain off of his partner. I will make sure that my student that is
easily distracted is working well with her group and stays on task.
Early Finisher:
If the students finish copying their definitions in their Social Studies notebook before the rest of
the class is finished, they can get on PebbleGo and search Landforms in the search bar. They can
browse the information on the website until the rest of the class is ready to move on.
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Ashley King
Standards: Standard 2-1- The student will demonstrate an understanding of the local community
as well as the fact that geography influences not only the development of communities but also
Indicator: 2-1.1 Identify on a map the location of places and geographic features of the
local community (e.g., landforms, bodies of water, parks) using the legend and the cardinal
directions.
Objectives: The students will be able to create a map of a Playground using a map key.
Materials: Blank playground map, Playground Map Key, Glue, Cut-out symbols from key,
smartboard program
Review:
“Good afternoon, everyone! Yesterday we finished up talking about landforms! Can anyone
remind me what a landform is?” The students should be able to list some landforms, such as:
mountains, hills, canyons, islands. “Great job, I can tell you were paying attention! The anchor
chart we used the last couple of days is hanging on the wall over there if you want to refresh your
memory on landforms!”
Overview:
“Today we are going to put what we have been learning to use! We are going to learn how to
create our own map of a playground using some cut out pieces! Learning how to create maps is
47
very important because it helps us become experts at reading them and can help us if we are ever
in a situation and need to draw a map to help a friend or ourselves get around!”
Presentation:
“Okay, I need you guys to go back to your desks quickly and quietly. I need three volunteers to
help me pass out some materials.” I will select 3 students to help me pass out the blank map of
the playground, the map key, and glue sticks to the class. I will count back from ten seconds so
that students move with quickness and so that we do not waste a lot of class time.
I will display my map on the smartboard; my symbols have duplicates and can be
dragged/dropped to model for the students before they glue onto their final map copy. I will ask
the students to put the map key in their hands and hold it up so that I can see that everyone has it.
“Let’s get started. Everyone should have a plastic bag with all of the symbols that you see.
Remove the pieces from your bag.” I will hold up the map key for the students. “Okay guys, this
is your map key! Someone remind us what a map key is used for!” A student should say: It helps
us located things on a map. “Great job! We are going to use this map key to help us follow the
directions. The blank map, map key, and directions are inserted below:
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I will read Direction #1 aloud: “Show the pond in the MIDDLE of the playground.” “Everyone,
grab the pond out of your plastic bag. Place it in the middle of the playground map. I am going to
model it on the smartboard so watch closely if you are unsure.” I will drag the pond sticker to the
middle of the playground and tell the students that when theirs looks as mine does, that they are
Exercise:
We will complete the map as a class. I will have students volunteer to demonstrate the
placements of the following procedures so that the students are engaged. After each instruction,
Summary: “Great job today, guys! Creating maps is something that can be very fun but
challenging! It is important to make sure we follow all of the appropriate procedures and make
sure we are paying extra attention to the location that we place things in! Turn to your shoulder
49
partner and tell your partner one thing you found challenging about making maps and what
advice you could give someone if they were going through the same struggle!”
Assessment:
I will assess the students by the completeness of their maps. Since I am modelling the map for
them on the smartboard, I will not grade this assignment; however, I do expect the students to
give me their full participation and to be engaged with the activity. I will also be informally
assessing their conversations with their shoulder partners at the end of the lesson to make sure
that the know how to work through their struggles with creating maps.
Interventions:
I will make sure that my student who cannot see the board is in a spot that she can clearly see so
that she is able to follow along with creating the map. I will read all of the directions aloud so
Early Finishers:
This does not apply since we will be working as a whole group on this activity. The students
Ashley King
Standards: Standard 2-1- The student will demonstrate an understanding of the local community
as well as the fact that geography influences not only the development of communities but also
Indicator: 2-1.1 Identify on a map the location of places and geographic features of the
local community (e.g., landforms, bodies of water, parks) using the legend and the cardinal
directions.
Objectives: The students will be able to create a map of a farm using a map key.
Materials: Blank chart, chart markers, blank farm map, map key, writing utensil, Kahoot!,
laptop/iPad
Review:
“Good afternoon, class! Yesterday we spent the day working through how to build our map of a
Playground as a class. What was the main thing that lead us through creating that map?” The
students should be able to say: the map key or the directions. “Great job. We relied on the
directions to tell us where on the map to place the symbols from the map key! Very good.
Remember- using our cardinal directions and compass rose are key components of knowing how
Overview:
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“Today we are going to create a map of Farm! This time, we are going to have more detailed
directions that require us to think harder about our cardinal directions. We also won’t have a map
key given to us; we are going to have to create that ourselves! Being able to create a map key and
follow directions are very important because often times in life, you will have to be able to
explain where the location of something is to someone who is unsure! It will be up to you to
make sure that directions are clear and that your symbols make sense in order to more properly
follow directions!”
Presentation:
“Like yesterday, today I need 2 volunteers to help me pass out some materials!” One student will
pass out a blank farm map, and the other student will pass out the direction sheet/map key.
Whenever all of the students have the required materials, we will get started. I will draw out the
map key on chart paper so that I am able to come up with the symbols along with the students.
We will have a group consensus on which symbols we want to use for each component of the
map. I will fill it in as we go, as will the students on their own piece of paper. I will read the first
direction to the students. The directions, map key, and blank map are inserted below:
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“I want you to work with your shoulder partner to complete the rest of the map.”
Exercise:
The students will work in partners to compete their farm map. They will use the map key that we
completed as a class and will follow the directions to place the proper symbols in the proper
places. I will give the students about 10 minutes to finish up the rest of the farm map. I will take
this map up for a grade. The rubric is listed under the assessment section.
Summary:
“Great job guys! I saw you all working very hard with your partners to compete the farm map.
Does anybody have any questions? This has been a great week and I have really enjoyed
teaching you all about map tools, landforms, and other things. I have seen really strong
improvements in all of you and I couldn’t be prouder. For the last 10 minutes of class, I want to
play a Kahoot with you guys to review for your test on Monday!” We will play the prepared
Kahoot. The top 3 winners get candy from the candy jar!
Assessment:
I will be checking for understanding during the group discussion of creating the map key. I will
be paying attention to the pairs of partners and how the students are able to follow the directions
of the map. I will grade the students’ map based on the following rubric:
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CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
Map key Map key contains Map key contains Map key contains Map key is
all symbols most of the few symbols missing needed
needed. symbols needed. needed. May be symbols. Little or
May be missing 1 missing 3-5. no symbols.
or 2.
Labels & 90-100% of the 89-80% of the 79-70% of the Less than 70% of
Features - labels/features labels/features labels/features the labels/features
Neatness can be read can be read can be read can be read
easily. easily. easily. easily.
Total: __/12
Interventions:
For my struggling readers, I will frequently monitor them and make sure that not being able to
read the directions isn’t holding them back in the assignment. I may read it to them if need be.
For my student who struggles with seeing the board, I will make sure I am visually repeating
which symbols we are choosing for the map key while I write it, that way she has two ways of
Early finishers:
Early finishers should get their technology ready for the review game that we will be playing