Lesson Plan #3: Integrating Language Arts & Social Studies

Grade: 3rdSocial Studies Strand: History

Submitted By: Rebecca Call

EDEL 453: Teaching Elementary School Social ScienceNevada State College – Spring 2014Instructor: Karen Powell

Lesson Plan #3 – History submitted by: Rebecca Call

B. Summary of the Lesson Plan : This social studies lesson is designed for 3rd grade students to learn about their culture as well as the culture of others using photos as their primary source. This lesson uses Strategy 5: Images as Primary Sources from the textbook “Integrating Language Arts and Social Studies” (p. 31-38).

C. Basic Information: Grade Level: 3rd grade Time to Complete this Lesson: 50 minutes Groupings: group discussion, partners for activity, & independent for assessment

D. Materials: photos of students pens/pencilsdata sheets

E. Objectives: o NV State Social Studies Standards

H3.3.3 - Define ethnicity and explain that people who make contributions to their communities include those who have diverse ethnic origins, customs, and traditions.

o Student-Friendly Standards I can define ethnicity and explain people who make contributions to

their community are ones who have different ethnicities, customs, and traditions.

F. Vocabulary

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 2

Lesson Plan #3 – History submitted by: Rebecca Call

culture – a word for people's 'way of life', meaning the way groups do things ethnicity - of or relating to races or large groups of people who have the same

customs, religion, origin, etc.

G. Procedure: 1. Refer to the textbook “Integrating Language Arts and Social Studies” page 33 –

“Procedures” (1st paragraph) & “Special Considerations” before beginning lesson.o Share a photo with the students and start a discussion of what the photo

tells them about the lives of the person or people in the photoo Identify differences or things that all people share by giving examples

(home, dwelling, food, family, friends, fun)o Introduce vocabulary term culture

2. The teacher will then instruct students to pair up with their shoulder partner and swap photos they have brought in from home. (photos will be sent/provided from each student’s home or by the teacher beforehand to avoid any student from not having a photo, pg. 33)

3. Using the data sheet provided students will record their thoughts on what is happening in the photo.

4. To help students’ analysis the teacher can ask the following questions:o Who is in the picture?o How do you think the people in the photo are related or connected?o What can you tell me about what the people are doing?o Are there objects in the photo that tell you something about the people?o What do you notice about the background of the photo?o Can you determine where the photo was taken?o Is there anything in the photo that tells you when it might have been taken?o Is there anything missing from the photo that you would expect to see?

5. The students will then pair up with their partner who brought in the photo they had and share their observations they recorded. The photo owner will then share with their partner the actual story of the photo, and the pair will discuss the differences and similarities of the inferences versus facts.

H. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding?

Data Sheets pg. 37: What is your analysis of your partner’s photo? Write down observations of the photo you can gather by making inferences. After discussing with your partner about the facts, write down the photo owner’s response.

Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson. Students will write their observations on the data sheets provided to them. Writing the inferences they made and the facts of the photo owners will show if the students can make observations about another person’s culture.

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 3

Lesson Plan #3 – History submitted by: Rebecca Call

I. Closure: A whole –class teacher led discussion on these questions:

o What were they able to discern just from looking at the photos?o What types of things were impossible for them to know? o Did any students make any incorrect assumptions?o What led to those inaccuracies?

J. Reflection: 1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach?

I think the easiest part of the lesson to teach will be to teach students how to make inferences.

2. Which part will be most challenging for you to teach? The most challenging part to teach for me will be the definition of culture and what it really means in reference to themselves.

3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson?To extend the lesson I would have the students swap with a different peer in the class and repeat the same activity.

4. What can you do for students who don’t grasp the concepts?For the students who do not grasp the concepts I can work with them quietly off to the side to reteach the lesson, and have it be more of a guided practice lesson.

5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change?I do not think there is anything I need to change, but that could change after doing the lesson with a group of students.

6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part?The most difficult part for me is always the procedure because I want it to be perfect. I want to make sure that the procedure is something I would actually do in a classroom.

7. Explain the strategy from “Integrating Language Arts & Social Studies” that you included in this lesson plan.

I chose Strategy 5 on pages 31-38 in the textbook “Integrating Language Arts & Social Studies. This strategy is to have photographs be the primary source to build understanding on their culture as well as the culture of others. It supports students by drawing a personal connection to their everyday lives.

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 4