Dakota State University

College of Education

Social Studies Lesson

Name: Rachel Kegley

Grade Level: 2nd Grade, MCL

School: Dakota Prairie Elementary School

Date: March 29, 2019

Time: 2:15-3:00

Reflection from prior lesson:

- This week we have been focusing on the political roles of leaders in the larger
community.
- On Monday, we learned about the Mayor and how the Mayor helps us.
- On Tuesday, we learned more about the Governor of South Dakota.
- Students have many facts about the political leaders in our city, state, and country. They
enjoy sharing their facts with the rest of the class.
- We had a conversation about what a fact versus opinion is, so if someone was going to
explain an opinion, they had to change their thought into a fact.
- Students have been working in their Flipbooks that we created in the beginning of the
week and they have added two facts about each person, and one thing that they would do
if they could be the Mayor or Governor.
- Some students are far behind on this assignment because they have been gone or refuse to
work. Today, my cooperating teacher and I will be catching students up and determining
a behavior plan for one student in order for the student to get the work done.

Lesson Goal(s) / Standards:

2.C.2.1 Explain the basic political roles of leaders in the larger community.

2.E.1.1 Identify goods and services available in the students’ communities.

Lesson Objectives:

- By the end of today’s lesson, students will be able to describe two facts about the
President of the United States.
- By the end of today’s lesson, students will be able to write one thing that they would do if
they could be the President.
- By the end of today’s lesson, students will be able to identify two facts about the Mayor
with 100% accuracy.
- By the end of today’s lesson, students will be able to identify two facts about the
Governor of South Dakota with 100% accuracy.

Materials Needed:

- Computer
- BrainPOP Jr. - https://jr.brainpop.com/socialstudies/government/president/
- Student Flipbooks
- Pencils

Contextual Factors/ Learner Characteristics:

- There are 22 students in this classroom, 11 boys and 11 girls.

- I will be teaching this lesson at the end of the day when the students typically have more
energy and are anxiously awaiting to go home.
- I will incorporate technology to keep the students focused. There is a quiz embedded at
the end of the video and students often like to try the quiz.
- I will allow students to choose their seat with our flexible seating classroom, but I reserve
the right to move the student if they are not on task.
- There are three students on IEPs. One student has an IEP for behavior, the second student
has an IEP in reading only, and the third student has an IEP for math, reading, and
writing, and she works with a special education teacher for 15-30 minutes each day in
these subjects.
- This lesson will be extended into Monday as a review of what the roles of the Mayor,
Governor, and President are.
A. The Lesson

1. Introduction (3-4 min)

T: “Today we are going to be learning about the President of the United States. Before we get
started, I want to know what you already know! I want you to turn and talk to a partner for one
minute and talk about what facts you already know about the President.”

- Remind the students what the difference between a fact and an opinion is. Make sure that
we are stating facts and not an opinion!

T: “Raise your hand and give me one fact about the President!”

- Students will turn and talk while I get the video ready.

T: “Once you have at least one fact about the President, put your hands on your head.”

- Students will put their hands on their heads, and I will wait until everyone’s hands are on
their head before I start calling on people.

T: “Okay, raise your hand and give me one fact that you know about the President!”

S: Students will raise their hands with various facts about the President.

T: “You guys know a ton of things about the President! However, I want to learn even more!”

2. Content Delivery (10 min)

- Instructional strategies: Whole group instruction, technology, peer discussion, prior

knowledge activation, interactive instruction, hands-on activity, observation
- T: “We are going to watch a BrainPOP video about the President. Let’s see what else we
can learn!”
- Watch the BrainPOP video (approximately 5:30 minutes)
- T: “What facts did you hear that you didn’t already know?”
- S: Students will raise their hands and talk about facts whether they knew them previously
or not.
- T: “You guys are doing so awesome with this. Let’s try the “easy quiz” at the bottom of
this video. I will draw sticks and if I draw your name, you can come answer the question.
If you’d prefer to pass, just say “pass” and I will draw another stick.”
- We will practice the “easy quiz” and see what new things the students learned
about the President.
3. Closure (5 min)

- T: “Give me three new facts that we learned from the video that we did not already say
before we watched the video!”
- S: Students will raise their hands and share more facts with me.
- T: “Great. Now that you guys know so much more about the President, you will write
two facts in the ‘President’ section of your Flipbook. On the flip side of your book, you
will write one thing that you would do if you could be the President.”
- T: “How many facts do you need to write about the President?”
- S: “Two!”
- T: “What do you do on the flip part of the book?”
- S: “Write what we would do if we could be the President!”
- T: “Awesome. What questions do you have?”
- S: Students will ask any remaining questions.
- T: “Since this is our last section in our Flipbook, you may turn it in to the social studies
bucket when you are finished. Once you finish, you may work on your favorite US
Symbols paper or booklet.”
- T: “When I call your number, you may get your Flipbook from your cubby and begin
working.”

- Call numbers 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-22

B. Assessments Used

- Observation: How students talked with each other to share facts

- Flipbook: Check how many facts each student has in their Flipbook and if they are
accurate facts.
- Informal: hands on head to determine when to move forward.
- Quiz: BrainPOP quiz after we finished watching the video.

C. Differentiated Instruction

Remediation: For students struggling in this lesson, I will guide prompting questions such as
“Where does the President live?” or “Where does the President work?” I will also ask the
students to tell me what they already know and together we will come up with multiple facts
about the President.

Enrichment: For students that are excelling in this activity, I will ask them to help other students
that may need additional help. I will tell them that they can write even more facts about the
President if they’d like, or they can attach an extra piece of paper explaining all of the cool
things that they would do if they could be the President for a day.
IEP: For the student that has an IEP to assist in writing, I will have her write one fact rather than
two facts, and I will have her verbally explain to me what she would do if she could be the
President for the day. The other two students that have an IEP are to continue working on this as
usual, with two facts and one thing that they would do if they could be the President for a day.

D. Resources

BrainPOP Jr. - https://jr.brainpop.com/socialstudies/government/president/

Flipbook (attached below)

 Governor

President
Mayor

Roles of Our Leaders

By: _________________________________