UNIT PLAN TEMPLATE

BACKWARD DESIGN/DOWNWARD DESIGN CROSS-CURRICULAR PLANNING MODEL

Grade(s): 2

Subjects /Strands: Strand B: People and Environments – Global Communities

STEP 1: CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

Big Idea for This Unit What is important for learners to know? What are the enduring understandings?
and Overall Plan for
Unit (paragraph form)
What are you going to do?
● This unit plan will teach Grade 2 students about various continents and countries around the
world. Students will discover global communities and different ways of living regarding location,
climate, and social institutions of each region. Lessons throughout this unit plan will implement
multiple strategies to investigate differences between the students’ country and other places
discussed in this unit. This will involve viewing maps, comparing activities, providing interesting
facts through readings and engaging activities, and more. To conclude the unit, students will
participate in a pen-pal activity that will provide a Social Studies and Language Arts assessment
and allow students to communicate with another student in a different global community.

Inquiry Questions What is the big open question to inform learning and link curricula? (consider starting with Big Ideas in
Social Studies pg. 14 of Ontario Curriculum Document and each respective grade level overview as a
resource to begin)

● The climate and physical features of a region affect how people in that region live.
● Different people have adapted to similar climates and physical features in similar ways.

What will learners learn? Only those being assessed in the unit/lesson sequence. List in full sentences as
Overall Expectation(s)
per document. (Ex. A1 - Application: describe some of the ways in which…)
[OE]
 ● Application: describe some similarities and differences in the ways in which people in two or more
communities in different parts of the world meet their needs and have adapted to the location,
climate, and physical features of their regions
● Inquiry: use the social studies inquiry process to investigate aspects of the interrelationship
between the natural environment, including the climate, of selected communities and the ways in
which people in those communities live
● Understanding Context: identify and locate various physical features and selected communities
around the world, and describe some aspects of people’s ways of life in those communities

What specific expectations from the curriculum documents will be addressed throughout the unit/lessons?
Specific Expectation(s)
Only those being assessed in the unit/lesson. These can be listed by number rather than copy and
[SE]
pasting entire Curriculum document statements. (Ex A1.1)
● B1.1
● B1.2
● B1.3
● B2.2
● B2.3
● B2.5
● B2.6
● B3.2
● B3.4
● B3.8

Include subject, strand, OE and SE.

Cross-Curricular
● Language Arts
Connections
Strand: Writing
Overall Expectations:
● Generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and
audience;

Specific Expectations:
 ● Research
● 1.3 gather information to support ideas for writing in a variety of ways and/or from a variety of
sources
● Review
● 1.6 determine whether the ideas and information they have gathered are suitable for the purpose,
and gather new material if necessary
● Producing Finished Works
● 3.8 produce pieces of published work to meet criteria identified by the teacher, based on the
expectations

Overall Expectations:

● Use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a
variety of purposes;

Specific Expectations:

● Demonstrating Understanding
● 1.4 demonstrate an understanding of the information and ideas in oral texts by retelling the story
or restating the information, including the main idea and several interesting details

Overall Expectations (Writing):

1. Generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and
audience
2. Draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and
stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience;

Specific expectations:

● (Purpose and Audience) 1.1 identify the topic, purpose, audience, and form for writing.
● (Form) 2.1 write short texts using several simple forms.
STEP 2: CULMINATING TASKS – ASSESSMENT ‘OF’ LEARNING

Provide a thorough description of the Culminating task as if you were telling the learners about it.
Rich Performance
Assessment Task(s)
Throughout the course of this lesson, students will build off the knowledge they learned regarding viewing
and interpreting the global community to create a pen-pal letter to interact with a student from a different
class across the world. In their letters, students will draw connections to continents, location, climate,
traditions, culture, wildlife, and other areas explored throughout the rest of the unit.

Prior to introducing the activity, teachers from both classrooms will collaborate through an online website
called epals.com. The goal is to find a classroom from a country already explored in class (Brazil, Nigeria,
South Korea, or Russia) to give students a real contact as a form of experiential learning.

Teachers will work together to create an introductory letter that will be read aloud to their respective
classes. Both letters will showcase general information about their class, where they live, and about their
school. Furthermore, teachers will collaborate to assign everyone with a student e-pal to provide an
experiential component.

Keeping in mind the grade level, letter writing will be modeled to scaffold student success. Depending on
the skill level of your class, sentences may need to be started by the teacher as a form of prompting. To help
with their letter, students will be able to explore their previous work, books provided from the library on
the country of interest, or the internet as a form of research to help better inform their letter writing.

Once finished, everyone will hand in the finished product to be sent to their e-pal. After getting clearance
from your school, attach a photo of the letter writer to their letter. In the case that sending through mail is
too expensive/ unfeasible, pictures will be taken of each letter and sent to their class online. Eventually,
their letters will be reciprocated, and class time can be dedicated to sharing their letters with their peers.
In the case that contact with another class around the world is not possible, the lesson can be altered to
have the class write to a character from a book or from a make belief scenario.
Assessment Tools What recording tools will be used for the culminating task: Describe when/how these will be used. Include
tools in the unit plan (lesson description).
[x] Checklist ☐ Rubric ☐ Rating Scale [x] Anecdotal Comments

☐ Feedback Form ☐ Self/Peer ☐ Other (Specify)

Describe when/how
Assessment for this lesson is primarily done through a checklist. The goal is to provide students with
enough flexibility to personalize their letter while still including each of the different success criteria
provided to them. Anecdotal notes will also be taken through class discussion and brainstorming to
support student success and learning.

What learners are expected to know and be able to do in a language they can understand. These are
Learning Goals
provided with each lesson.

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to compare their community and lifestyle to another community
around the world by drawing prior learning as well as through the use of letter writing.

How will learners demonstrate what they learn? These are provided with each lesson.
Success Criteria

Students will create a letter to its intended audience that includes:

● A letter introduction and conclusion

● The country they live in and its location
● The country of the letter recipient and its location
● The approximate climate of both countries
● Something different about their day to day life in comparison to the letter recipient.
● Something similar about their day to day life in comparison to the letter recipient.
STEP 3: ASSESSMENT ‘AS’ AND ‘FOR’ LEARNING
Lesson #1 - Continents and Maps
Specific Expectations (SE) (ex.
A1.2)
Lesson description with
instructional strategies,
prompts, questions
● B1.1
● B1.2
● B2.3
Introductory Activity:
● The lesson will be introduced using the song Seven Continents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6DSMZ8b3LE. While playing the
song, encourage students to sing aloud while reading the lyrics
● State Learning Goal - Students will be able to name and identify the seven
basic continents in the world and compare their community to their
peers.
● Have students write one thing about their community in terms of
lifestyle, people or basic (i.e. what their house may look like, where
people go to buy their groceries such as a local market or grocery store)
needs on a sticky note or piece of paper and call upon students to share
what they have written.
Activity 1:
● Using a globe or the map of the world, explain to students that just like
the song showed, there are many places and parts of the world.
● The seven large areas of land the world is broken into are called
 continents.
● Provide students the map worksheet - blank template in which students
will fill in.
● Using the overhead projector, show students a map where continents are
labelled.
● Point to each continent and name each one (Asia, Africa, Europe, North
America, South America, Antarctica, Australia).
● Describe the position of each continent and how they are in relation to
other continents using words like besides, below, next to and above.
● Ask students to help find the location of continents on the map and fill in
their worksheets guiding students and allowing students to come up to
the board and point to the continent they have identified.
● Have students label their worksheet and colour.

Activity 2:
● Students will then be provided a Venn diagram worksheet and asked to
fill in information about where they are from, their community and the
people that belong to their community in part of the diagram. (i.e. natural
environment, climate, interpersonal relationships etc.)
● Students will then be paired up and asked to discuss the information
they have written about themselves with a peer.
● Students will then compare their information with their partners and
complete the Venn diagram.

Culminating Activity:
● To culminate the lesson, ask students to share the continents they have
listed on their worksheet with the class. Provide a blank map on the
smartboard and see if students can label the map on the smartboard.
● Allow them to Think, Pair, and Share this part of the lesson - review their
worksheet and Venn diagram, speak with a partner about their findings,

Assessment purpose, mode,
strategy, tool with criteria
☑For ▢As Learning
Connection with culminating
task (What skills are being
developed in lesson?)
Resources and materials
Lesson #2 - Location and Climate
Specific Expectations (SE) (ex.
A1.2)
Lesson description with
instructional strategies,
prompts, questions
and discuss this with the class orally.
● In this lesson, students will be assessed by their level of engagement in
discussion and readings as the teacher will keep anecdotal notes during
this part of the lesson.
● Since this lesson is at the beginning of the unit, assessment for learning
will be used to gain an understanding of the students’ strengths and
needs in the subject area.
● The lesson relates to the culminating tasks, since students begin to
identify continents and familiarize themselves with the global
community. By learning that the world is divided into seven parts, each
part being considered its own continent, students will begin to
familiarize themselves with the world and learn that there are many
communities and ways in which people live including natural
environments, climate and interpersonal relationships.
● Sticky Notes
● Chromebook & projector
● Venn diagram worksheet + map worksheet
● Map/Globe
● B1.1
● B1.3
● B 2.3
Introductory Activity:
● The lesson will begin by reviewing the song Seven Continents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6DSMZ8b3LE. While playing the
 song, encourages students to sing aloud while reading the lyrics
● State Learning Goal - Today students will learn that communities need to
adapt to their location and climate.
● My Weather Report!
○ Students will conduct a weather report using the worksheet
provided.
○ As a class, students will go outside to observe the temperature,
including the wind, and whether it is sunny, cloudy or raining.
Students will record their findings and will be seated back at
their desks.
● Students will read the Climates of the World poem.

Activity 1: Climates of the World

● Using the overhead projector and Climates of the World worksheet,
students will brainstorm what they think the climate would be in certain
regions or climatic zones
● Students will then record their answers stating whether they think the
zone is polar - cold and try, temperature - cold winters and mild
summers or tropical - hot and wet all year round.
● Students will then take up their answers, which will be displayed using
the overhead projector.

Activity 2: I Am Travelling What Should I Pack?

● Success criteria
❏ I have brainstormed with my peers about the climate and
weather in that area
❏ I have packed the necessary clothing
❏ I have written and drawn a picture of the clothes I brought
❏ I understand the climate and weather of the location given.
● A set of task cards will be given to the class for applying knowledge of

Culminating Activity:
Assessment purpose, mode,
strategy, tool with criteria
☑For ▢As Learning
Connection with culminating
task (What skills are being
developed in lesson?)
the relations to location and climate and how humans use basic needs
such as clothing to adapt to climate.
● Put students into groups and provide each group with a task card.
● Have students show what they know by “packing”
○ Picking actual pieces of clothing out of a bin to “pack” suitcase as
a group
○ Braining storming on a piece of paper, the climate of the location
given and what clothes they would pack.
○ Writing the type of clothing he or she would bring and draw the
piece of clothing.
● To culminate the lesson, ask students to share the climates and zones
they have listed on their worksheet with the class.
● Allow them to Think, Pair, and Share this part of the lesson - review
climates in specific locations (Northern American, Antarctica, South
Africa etc.) speak with their group and then present their groups findings
to the class orally.
● In this lesson, students will be assessed by their level of engagement in
discussion and readings as the teacher will keep anecdotal notes during
this part of the lesson.
● Since this lesson is at the beginning of the unit, assessment for learning
will be used to gain an understanding of the students’ strengths and
needs in the subject area.
● Students will be required to hand in their task cards and will be assessed
using the success criteria provided at the beginning of the lesson.
● The lesson relates to the culminating tasks, since students begin to
identify the climates of locations and familiarize themselves with the
global community. By learning that people adapt to their community
depending on the location and the type of climate, students will begin to
understand that there are many different parts of the world in which

Resources and materials
Lesson #3 - Our Community
Specific Expectations (SE) (ex.
A1.2)
Lesson description with
instructional strategies,
prompts, questions
people live in that have different natural environments, climates and
interpersonal relationships.
● Chromebook & projector
● Task Cards + success criteria handout
● Climates of the World worksheet and poem
● My Weather Report worksheet
 B1.1
 B2.5
 B2.6
Introductory Activity:
 The lesson will be introduced by proposing the question, “What Defines
Our Community?”. This question serves as a diagnostic regarding what
the students retained from the previous lessons. A leading question
instigates the students to voice their current and acquired knowledge
along with academic discourse present amongst the students. This
process will occur through verbalization and the creation of a class
anchor chart. The students will be gathered around the carpet as we
create the chart together using inserts of what they believe defines a
community using their own words and pictures. Including the students in
the process allows them to feel a sense of ownership in their learning
along with an increased engagement level.
Activity One:
  As students are becoming familiar with the different continents and the
climates around the world, the students will then be required to apply
their knowledge as they must connect these concepts with how they may
affect the community’s way of living and compare it to our own. Students
will be presented with an educational YouTube video, “Climate Zones of
the World and Affecting Factors” https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=C1cUEXmDXgc. Although this video presents the students with an
abundance of information, it is repetitive, presented at a slow pace, and
reviews climate zones based on where they are located on the globe. As
students have previously examined where the continents are placed on
the map, they are now able to visualize the climate change between the
varying communities. The teacher is required to consistently pause the
video to discuss what the characters in the videos are discussing and
why. For instance, when the cartoon characters discuss the equator and
its relevance to climate differences, the teacher should pause the video to
repeat the terminology and discuss the significance. As we make
connections to our previous lessons, the students are required to
participate in investigating what climate means in regard to ways of
living. Questions such as, “What is the climate like in the Arctic regions
and how would this change how they live their lives?”. During this
section we are reviewing terminology and meaning, which will be
written on the board and transferred on an anchor chart for students to
refer to throughout the unit. The purpose of this section is for students to
understand how the climate in varying places affects how we go about to
live our life and how it differs in our community based on climate
differences.

Activity Two:

 As a class, students will be directed to write down curriculum vocabulary

 words that they are required to familiarize themselves with and use in
the following activity. The words along with their definitions will be
written on the board for them to copy into their workbooks. Students are
required to discuss how the words relate to our community with their
elbow partner, once they have completed the transference of the words
into their workbooks. The words include, globe, sphere, hemisphere,
continent, country, equator, North Pole, South Pole, model, distance,
culture.

Culminating Activity:

 Students will be placed in heterogeneous groups that the educator will

construct based on a class and student profile they have conducted
throughout the year. The grouping choice should ensure that students
will understand the importance’s of working together to achieve the
same goal through collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.
Students will be able to collectively choose the climate they would like to
focus on for the task based on their interest in it. If students cannot
harmoniously agree on a climate, they will be given one to compare.
Students will have to discuss their way of living based on our climate and
compare it to the way of living in a different climate zone. For example,
some students may be placed in hockey or occasionally skate because it
is a part of our climate, culture, and community living. Another example
can include the farms in our community that are only working during
some parts of the season due to our climate. How does this differ from
those living in a different climate zone? Can they go skating? Do they play
other sports? Do they swim often? Are they able to farm or hunt?
Students are also encouraged to utilize and share personal experiences,
such as what ways of living they witnessed if they have travelled

Assessment purpose, mode,
strategy, tool with criteria
☑ For ▢As Learning
Connection with culminating
task (What skills are being
developed in lesson?)
anywhere, seen in movies or videos, or even just heard about!
Students are provided multiple opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge
throughout the present lesson. The educator should be constantly circulating the
room to record anecdotal notes on specific observations and conversations that
took place. The introductory activity serves as a diagnostic form of assessment
utilized to inform the educator on where the students are placed in terms of
readiness to learn. Following this, students are guided through repetition on the
important terminology and concepts they must attain and communicate. As for
the presentations, students are essentially consolidating and reflecting on their
newly acquired knowledge and application of making realistic connections.
Success Criteria (presented on the bulletin board for constant referencing):
● Students will have a total of 5 minutes to present their work in front of
the class.
● The presentation must be presented using oral communication with each
individual speaking on what they contributed to the work.
● The presentation must discuss the climate of our region and how it
affects our ways of living compared to other communities living in a
different climate zone
● Using personal experiences and acquired knowledge to make
connections
● Use considerable amount of terminology to reflect on findings
● Students must present their work in a creative way (visual
representation, poster, song, etc).
● The following lesson presents students with a multitude of ways to
comprehend the curriculum content and demonstrate their
understanding. Students are building learning skills and work habits that

Resources and materials
Lesson #4 - South America Global Community: Brazil
Specific Expectations (SE) (ex.
A1.2)
Lesson description with
instructional strategies,
prompts, questions
contribute to molding an effective learner. The culminating activity
requires students to use varying communicative skills to illustrate their
understanding and make connections to students who experience
different ways of living due to their climate zones.
● Chrome book
● Projector
● Anchor charts
● Markers
● Workbooks
● Pencils
● Paper
 B3.4
 B3.7
 B3.8
Introductory Activity:
 Students will be asked about the country, Brazil. Questions such as,
“Have you ever heard of the country, Brazil? Do you know what continent
Brazil belongs to? What climate region is Brazil in? How do you think
these factors affect their way of life, traditions, customs, wildlife, etc. As a
class, we will construct our very own KWL, which will state multiple
statements from students on what they currently know, what they would
 like to learn, and leave the last section open to fill in after the final
activity.

Activity One:

 The educator will project a YouTube video onto the board using a
Chromebook and projector. This educational video serves as multimodal
resources that engages the students through visual and auditory
communication. The video, “Short Stories for Kids- Trip to Brazil,”
stimulates more than one sensory component of learning, therefore
increasing retention. The Video follows a group of animated children and
animals who explore Brazil and discuss its many aspects pertaining to
this lesson’s curriculum expectations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GuvP9Nv2hw. Throughout the
video the educator will once again pause at crucial moments and discuss
pivotal information. Information that will be discussed includes:

● The location- South America

● Cultural aspects- The Carnival, foods, traditions, etc.
● Language- Portuguese
● Landmarks/Physical features- Jungles and deserts, the Amazon River and
Rainforest, Amazon Museum, Devil's Throat Waterfall
● Activities- sandboarding
● Wildlife- tigers, pythons, piranhas, insects, birds

Activity Two:

 Following the video, students have an idea of what Brazil is encompassed

of and how it compares to our community. Based on the previous lesson,
students have a stronger understanding of how to compare differing
communities based on their climate zone. Students will be placed into
groups based on whether they would like to further research Brazil's
 Climate, their way of living (traditions, customs, etc.), physical features,
and their wildlife. Students will be provided to use Chromebooks to
research their specific topics independently. This section highlights self-
regulation, responsibility, independence, critical thinking, creativity, and
21st century skills to gather and interpret relevant information. Students
must gather facts and pictures to validate the information they have
gathered.

Culminating Activity- Gallery Walk:

 Students are required to share their information with their groups based
on what topic they decided to focus on. The group must now work
collaboratively to connect their information together to make visually
appealing and easily comprehensible. Students can colour previously
created drawings of different aspects of brazil (ex. Flag, wildlife, foods,
etc.) or create their own. Each project must compare their findings to our
community. Once students have completed, they are required to walk
around the classroom and visit the different miniature projects created
on each component we discussed in Brazil. As students visit each station,
they are required to write down “A Star” and “A wish” for each group,
representing what they liked and what they wished the group could have
added or expanded on. These forms of peer evaluation will be completed
on sticky notes and reviewed by the teacher prior to being given to the
groups!

Success Criteria (presented on the bulletin board for constant referencing):

● Information gathered is relevant to the provided topic

● Verifiable information
● Visual aids
● Compare and contrast their findings to those of our community
● Completion of peer evaluations
Assessment purpose, mode,
strategy, tool with criteria
☑For ▢As Learning
Connection with culminating
task (What skills are being
developed in lesson?)
Resources and materials
Lesson #5 - Africa Global Community: Nigeria
Specific Expectations (SE) (ex.
A1.2)
The assessment for this lesson allows for the teacher to reflect on their own
teaching as this lesson is a transition from the previous lesson. Based on
anecdotal notes, the educator can record and analyze the progress in the
classroom and adjust the lesson based on these results. The students also
participate in peer evaluation with the “Star and Wish” aspect, encouraging
students to reflect the work they see and communicate these findings. The
students will also be assessed based on the success criteria which they will be
provided descriptive feedback on.
Evidently, this lesson is extremely helpful as it scaffolds for what is expected in
the culminating task. Students are required to learn about a differing community
and its multiple components. Students will practice gathering and interpreting
data by applying their acquired knowledge to make connections between
themselves and their community and that of another country. Students will
examine how climate affects how people live, their wildlife, physical features,
and culture. This lesson differs from the previous one as it requires students to
delve into a specific community and identify specific details that highlight the
differences based on the climate zone.
● Chromebooks
● Chart paper
● Printer
● Markers and coloured pencils
● Overhead projector
● B1.1
● B1.2
● B1.3
 ● B2.6
● B3.7
● B3.8

Lesson description with Introductory Activity:

instructional strategies,
prompts, questions
Activity 1:
Activity 2:
● Introduce the lesson by carrying a discussion on the new country and
community you will be discussing today; Nigeria
● Recall the position of Nigeria is very close to the equator. Allow students
to share predictions about the climate, food, and homes in Nigeria
● Instruct students to write their predictions down on sticky notes and
share them with the class
● Using a Chromebook and projector, pull up the map of Nigeria using
Google Maps to display it on the whiteboard and discuss students’
comments on this
● Then ask students to turn to page 80 and 81 in their Many Gifts textbook.
The textbook will provide information on Nigeria regarding the map, the
community, and characteristics of the region
● Read these pages together and ask the following questions:
-Do we have wetlands or drylands in our community? What natural
features do we have in our community?
-How many seasons do we have in our community?
-Which seasons have rain in our community?
-What do you notice in the photo of the busy street?
-How can you tell that even though it is raining, the climate is still hot?
-What would you wear if you were in the playground in February?
-How is the climate in our community different from the climate in
Nigeria?
● Ask students to flip to page 82 and 83 and read the title and first
 paragraph, then ask what does “About half the people” mean. Continue to
ask what half of the people in this classroom is
● Allow students to make a connection with their community and ask do
half of the people in the class live in a village or farm?
● Continue to read the photo captions and ask students:
-What do you notice about these photos?
-What are houses in your community typically made of? How can you
compare that to a house in Nigeria?
-What are some modes of transportation you use in your community?
How can you compare that to modes of transportation in Nigeria?
Activity 3:
● After reading the textbook and discovering the map, provide each
student with a worksheet and explain the instructions
● Students will be asked to compare their own community with a
community in Nigeria in chart form and make connections in complete
sentences
● Students will be asked to compare the following: the map, transportation,
wildlife, climate, homes, and food
● Permit the students with time to work on the worksheet
Culminating Activity:
● To culminate the lesson, ask students to share their points made in the
chart orally
● Then review the sticky notes of predictions they wrote in the beginning
of the lesson and ask the students to describe whether or not their
predictions were correct or incorrect
● Allow them to Think, Pair, and Share this part of the lesson - review their
sticky notes, speak with a partner about their findings, and discuss this
with the class orally

Assessment purpose, mode, ● In this lesson, students will be assessed by their level of engagement in
strategy, tool with criteria discussion and readings as the teacher will keep anecdotal notes during
 ☑For ▢As Learning
Connection with culminating
task (What skills are being
developed in lesson?)
Resources and materials
Lesson #6 - Asia Global Community: South Korea
this part of the lesson.
● This will be an assessment for learning as students are assessed during
the learning, as students understand what is expected of them through
constant feedback and advice on improvements from the teacher.
● Moreover, the teacher will provide assessment for learning through the
comparing worksheet the students are to submit. This will provide the
teacher with insight on what the students learned from the lesson, how
they were able to use that information to compare, and provide
immediate feedback once completed.
● This lesson is connected to the culminating task the students will
participate in as it introduces them and begins to familiarize them with a
new global community. The culminating task will involve the students
choosing a global community that they found most interesting
throughout this unit and wish to discover more about by writing to
another student from that community. In this particular lesson, students
are developing the skills of being able to compare their community with
another foreign community, in terms of lifestyle and ways in which
people reach their needs. Moreover, students will be introduced to and
encouraged to communicate the results of their inquiries, using
appropriate vocabulary, which they will be expected to do in the
culminating task as well.
● Sticky notes
● Chromebook & projector
● Google Maps
● Many Gifts Textbook
● Comparing Communities Worksheet
Specific Expectations (SE) (ex.
A1.2)
Lesson description with
instructional strategies,
prompts, questions
● B1.1
● B1.2
● B1.3
● B2.6
● B3.7
● B3.8
Introductory Activity:
● Project a world map onto the whiteboard using the Chromebook and
projector
● Ask the students if they have ever heard of the country South Korea and
to find this country on the map in front of them
● Once the country is pointed out, ask students to raise their hands if they
think it is the continent North America/ Europe/ South America/ Asia,
etc. If they thought it was in Asia tell them to give themself a pat on the
back
● Carry a discussion by asking the students to look at the map and tell me
what things they can infer about South Korea just by looking at the map
in terms of its location, climate, etc.
● On a piece of chart paper, have a large Venn diagram previously drawn
out with one side labeled My Community and the other side labeled
South Korea
● Review with students how to properly use a Venn diagram and explain
that throughout today’s lesson you will fill it out as a class
Activity 1:
● Using Google Maps to display a closer map of South Korea on the
whiteboard, ask the students to analyze the map through the parts they
see and to explain them (legend: mountain, river, etc., compass, scale)
● Now view the Padlet that would have been previously created by the
teacher that will include information and pictures of the community
 Seoul, South Korea. The following headings in the Padlet should include:
Where Do People Live, Seasons, What Do People Eat, How Do People
Travel
● Read the Padlet and its information together as a class, asking volunteers
to read and share their views on what they are seeing in the pictures
● While reading each heading in the Padlet, ask the students to compare it
to their own community in Canada
● Quickly review how the Venn diagram works to the students and tell
them, using the Padlet, identify parts of Seoul we learned today and list
them
● Then ask them to compare these parts to our community and ask if they
have anything to put in the middle that both communities may acquire
Activity 2:
● Put the Venn diagram to the side for now and ask the students to think of
some foods we can grow in our garden or farms. Allow them to share
their answers with you
● Then ask the students what do you think we will be learning about South
Korea today?
● Using an image from Google, display what buildings look like in South
Korea (farms on rooftops and balconies)
● Ask the students:
-How would planting gardens on rooftops and balconies help people?
-How does this compare to your community?
● Then show them images of different meals in South Korea
● Allow students to examine the images on and ask the following
questions:
-What do you notice about the meal?
-Where have you seen chopsticks before, and have you ever used them?
-How do these foods compare to the foods you eat?
-Is there a food that your family eats at most meals? What is it?
 -What do you notice in the photos?
● Now go back to the Venn diagram and allow the students to fill it with
what they just learned about South Korea
Activity 3:
● Instruct students to sign into their Google Classroom using their
classroom Chromebooks
● In their Google Classroom they will find charts in which they are
required to input information on comparing their community with South
Korea regarding where people live and what people eat
● They will be asked to write this information, as well as rationally explain
it
● They will also be required to find pictures that display their findings
● Permit students with class time to work on this task and instruct them to
submit it online once completed
● They will be encouraged to utilize the Venn diagram and Padlet
● For classroom without Chromebooks, these charts can be printed -
information can be written out and pictures may be drawn
Culminating Activity:
● To conclude the lesson, students will each be given a blank sheet of paper
● On this blank sheet of paper students will be asked to write a compare
sentence regarding any domain they discussed today (food, climate,
living, etc.)
● They will compare South Korea with their own community with a fact of
their choice that they had learned today and found most interesting
● They will also be asked to draw a compare picture of this and orally
discuss it with the rest of the class explaining the comparison and why
they found it most interesting

Assessment purpose, mode, ● Students will be assessed as learning in this lesson as they gather
strategy, tool with criteria information about their learning themselves through the various
☑For ☑As Learning activities.

Connection with culminating
task (What skills are being
developed in lesson?)
Resources and materials
● They will be expected to discover the Padlet in this lesson and use the
information they learned to complete the Google Classroom task that
involves them finding images that they will use to compare their
community with another community they learned about.
● Students will also be assessed for learning as the teacher will provide
direct feedback to their answers and level of engagement in discussion
and completion of the class Venn diagram.
● Their Google Classroom submissions will be assessed for learning as the
teacher can identify learning needs of students or groups from this
activity and thus provide immediate feedback and direction for those
students.
● This is another lesson directly related to developing the skills required to
succeed in the culminating task of this unit. Students will be directly
immersed in learning about a new community via technology outlets that
will support their learning. Google and Padlet will be used to introduce a
new global community through multimedia to provide students with a
clear understanding and accommodate various types of learners. As
students complete a Venn diagram together, they will be acquiring the
skills of collaboration and expectation of communicating their learning.
This lesson also involves the students identifying a new place in the
world in terms of location, and comparing their way of living through
housing, food, climate, and more. This will be a continuation of learning
about more global communities and allow students to familiarize with
them in order to choose one for their final culminating task of the unit.
● Chromebook & projector
● Google Maps
● Padlet
● Google Classroom -worksheet
● Chart paper

Lesson #7 - European Global Community: Russia
Specific Expectations (SE) (ex.
A1.2)
Lesson description with
instructional strategies,
prompts, questions
● Blank paper
 B1.1
 B1.2
 B2.6
 B3.4
 B3.7
 B3.8
Introduction:
● Hook: Gain interest by introducing the fact they'll be exploring the largest
country in the entire world: Russia
● Ask if anyone in the class knows what continent Russia is in and if they
can show where that content is on the map as a means to reinforce
learning. Explain that Russia is a country that is in both Europe and Asia
where the two parts are separated by a large mountain range.
● Through a Think-Pair-Share, brainstorm what the climate might be like
in Russia based on what they know of its location. Have them explain
why they think that way.
Activity 1:
● Gather everyone together on the carpet to read the book “Living in…
Russia” By Chole Perkins.
● As the book progresses, have the class take note of the differences and
similarities present throughout the day (school day, food, locations,
clothing, language, etc.).
● As Observations arise, make note of them to create an anchor chart to
 record their thoughts.
● Optional: if available, bring in an ushanka-hat (hat with earflaps) as a
potential experiential component from the book. Ask why they think this
sort of hat would be commonly worn in Russia based on where the
country is in the world.
Activity 2:
● After reading about the different places in Russia, as a class it will be time
to explore these places through google street view on the smartboard as
an experiential component.
● Allow those who have been on task to select the locations to visit first as
a means of providing an incentive for class management.
● Make note of various features such as bodies of water and clothing as
they arise to reinforce learning.
Activity 3:
● Go over their thoughts and ideas from the book recorded on the anchor
chart. Add any more final thoughts as they arise.
● Hand out the “All About Russia” worksheet. Have students refer to the
chart when filling the questions
○ Questions involve location, climate, clothing, food, language, their
school day and one interesting fact; all areas explicitly stated in
the book
● When done, on the opposite side of the page students will design an all
about Russia poster that involves many of the different things outlined in
the worksheet. Books and Chromebooks will be made available for
inspiration.
● For those who finish early, they can work with others to draw and colour
the Russian flag to hang up and celebrate their collective
accomplishment in learning.

Assessment purpose, mode,

strategy, tool with criteria ● The purpose of the assessment is to provide students with practice in
 ☑For ☑As Learning
Connection with culminating
task (What skills are being
developed in lesson?)
Resources and materials
Lesson #8 - Pen Pal Writing
Specific Expectations (SE) (ex.
A1.2)
identifying and drawing connections between their community and the
new community using the skills and knowledge learned so far.
● Assessment as learning takes place through class discussion and the
book reading since their background knowledge is continuously used to
make sense of new information in an environment that the teacher can
provide immediate and relevant feedback.
● Assessment for learning takes place through the “All About Russia”
worksheet as it’s another activity that uses the skills that will be useful in
the completion of culminating activity all the while still providing an
opportunity for feedback and improvement to help scaffold their success.
The task provides students with further opportunities of reflective research into
a community that differs from their own as well as others they explored in the
past. By exploring different global communities, the students continue to achieve
a broader sense of global citizenship. Although this is an important aspect of the
final lesson of the unit, developing an awareness for a variety of global
communities increases their capacity for a greater degree of ongoing learning, as
well as a deeper appreciation of the diversity taking place in the classroom.
● “Living in… Russia” by Chloe Perkins
● “All about Russia” Worksheet
● Chromebooks
● Smartboard
Social Studies (People and Environments: Global Communities)
 B1.1
 B3.8
 Language Arts (Writing)
 1.1
 2.1

Lesson description with Introduction

instructional strategies,
prompts, questions
Activity Instruction and Modeling
● Hook: Begin by asking the class if they know anyone from outside of
Canada. Prompt with questions like “Where are they from?” and “Where
is it located?” Allow everyone a chance to share if they wish to do so.
● Inform the class that they will all meet some new friends from across the
world in Brazil (The country used in this lesson is based on the class you
collaborate with prior through epals.com. Though for the purpose of this
lesson plan I will use Brazil as the country of choice, this can be any
country previously explored together as a class).
● Begin by recalling what the class already knows through a Think-Pair-
Share. Build on ideas of location, climate, and culture to ensure everyone
is on the same page
● Read a letter of introduction provided by the teacher from Brazil created
prior to starting the lesson. This letter will showcase general information
about their class, where they live, and about their school. Have students
share their initial thoughts and brainstorm some similarities and
differences between their class and the Brazilian class
● Inform the class they will each be writing a letter response to a different
student in the Brazilian class (Student pairings will be assigned prior to
the start of the lesson).
● Review the structure of a letter together as a class. Model a sample letter
together as a class in the format of what you are expecting as the teacher.
Emphasize that their letter should have a letter introduction and
conclusion (ex, “Dear Mr. Brown,”“Love, John”), Both their country and
the recipient's, the climate of both, as well as something similar and
something different about their day to day lives.
 ● Leave the sample letter created together as a means of setting clear
expectations.
● Have the class repeat expectations back to the instructor to ensure
understanding.
Activity
● The class can begin to write their personalized letters once they have
been assigned their Brazilian student.
● Depending on the skill level of the class, sentences may need to be begun
by the teacher to scaffold learning. A potential accommodation for this
exercise for those who need it could be for them to create a video letter
recording that includes each of the success criteria outlined on the
checklist.
● Students will be provided with Chromebooks or specially selected books
from the library (In addition to past work) if they wish to search for
information/research relevant to the contents of their letter
● When complete, students will attach a picture of themselves to their
letter to help a face to their name. This will only be done once there is
clearance from the school ahead of time.
● Before sending the letters, provide time to allow students to share their
letters to celebrate their achievement.
Post-Activity
● Once the letters have been sent back, provide an opportunity to share
their letters. Ask questions like “What was something interesting you
found in your response?” and “How do you think the responses would be
different if we sent them to Russia? South Korea?”

Assessment purpose, mode,

strategy, tool with criteria ● Assessment for this lesson is primarily done through a checklist
☑For ☑As Learning ● The goal is to provide students with enough flexibility to personalize
their letter while still including each of the different success criteria
provided to them.
 ● Anecdotal notes can be taken through class discussion and
brainstorming to support student success and learning.

Connection with culminating
task (What skills are being
developed in lesson?)
This lesson implements the culminating task by providing students with an
experiential learning opportunity to interact with the global community rather
than just research it. Students are using real world skills to develop letters (or
emails) that are used to communicate with their intended audience around the
world. To do so effectively, they need to make critical reflections on the
similarities and differences present in both their own communities and the ones
of their letter recipients. This exercise helps develop the class as global citizens
and realize that there are many similar people going about their lives under
different physical and cultural environments than that of their own. Fostering
this idea helps emphasize the potential they have to impact different areas in the
world outside those of their immediate vicinity.

Resources and materials ● Website: https://www.epals.com/#/connections

● Lined paper
● Pencils
● Chromebooks and books about the target country (optional: research)
● Device for taking pictures

STEP 4: REFLECTION

As future educators, we discovered the many integral components that significantly impact the overall trajectory of a
lesson that ultimately depend on who we are as individuals and educators. Having a classroom of our own involves developing
a class profile that should be utilized to dictate the various modes of instructional strategies implemented into lesson planning.
Conscientiously planning this lesson plan has illustrated how crucial it is to be patient when creating lessons that embody
Universal Design for Learning. Discovering these aspects highlights the passion we have for teaching and the critical role we
play in our students' success. If we do not plan lessons that engage our students, they will not be motivated, attentive or
further inquire to strengthen their academic profile. Creating lessons based on the principles of students having agency over
their learning will improve levels of achievement. Furthermore, putting forth effort to plan for all students, providing them
with freedom, and planning to target their interests will not only create a more effective classroom, but as teachers we will
continue to grow with our students. Having attained such ideology has encouraged us to examine various ways to engage our
students during this lesson and for the future.
Based on our reflection of the overall unit plan and its various components, we have attained further knowledge on
planning for future lessons. Throughout the lesson we encourage each other to incorporate the principles outlined in the
Growing Success document and Learning for All documents as we believed the integration of these documents was crucial for
a balanced approach to planning this lesson. Following completion of the present assignment, we determined the importance
of first outlining the success criteria we expect our students to achieve and work from an end goal standpoint to add details to
each lesson. Having these documents as a basis for our unit plan ensures that our students will be provided with transparent
expectations, equitable teaching, differentiated instruction, and 21st Century Learning Skills.
The unit our group has created, incorporates and supports the use of instructional resources, assessments and
evaluations, and differentiated instruction techniques. While creating this unit, our group demonstrated a sounding
understanding of the Ontario Curriculum and were surprised at how well each member planned lessons to meet the diverse
learning styles of the students in the classroom. Furthermore, we were surprised at how well we were able to incorporate
creativity and questioning skills into the unit. In order to create new and exciting activities, each member incorporated the use
of visual and auditory aids to support the learning and the needs of each student. We were able to collaborate well with each
other and apply cooperative learning strategies to create lessons that included small-group and whole group instruction as
well as one to one conferencing, hands on activities and instructional games. Some of the challenges experienced during this
unit had to do with planning and instruction. While the group was able to cooperate effectively, it was difficult to plan
activities in order of sequence of events and designate members to specific topics of interest. Our main concern was that prior
knowledge was needed in certain subject areas to make sense of the information being introduced. For example, prior to
introducing students to countries on a global scale, it was important for students to have basic knowledge of the world and
how places and communities change in terms of location, climate, and interactions.
The most important learning aspects of this assignment was in relation to accommodations in lesson plans, delivery
and assessments to ensure that each student had the opportunity to be successful in the classroom. According to the Growing
Success document, it is important to ensure that each student has equitable access to resources and that instruction is fair and
transparent. Furthermore, as a whole we made sure that our lessons were in accordance with the students’ accommodations
or modifications which may or may not be listed on the students Individual Education Plan.