Miss Jessie, Miss Keri, and Miss Christina
Unit
Topic/Theme: Social Studies
Grade: 5th
Lesson
topic/theme: facts about the individual states in America
Lesson
objectives:
1.
Students will have retained a
foundation of each states’ specific facts regarding its
location, capital, motto, and flag.
2.
Students will effectively apply
prior knowledge that they have about the states to the
questions in the provided trivia game.
3.
Students will be able to answer
state-related questions through the provided online game
ranging in difficulty (easier questions, such as one word
or obvious answers are worth 100 points, hardest questions
that require a full definition or a more complex answer
are worth 300 points.)
Instructional
Technique: Individual demonstration; working independently
on the computers and completing the “What Do You Know
about the USA?” trivia game. Also, partner work when they
are quizzing one another, creating new and innovative
questions.
Instructional
Materials:
·
Computer
·
Pencil and paper (to loosely
record points or difficult questions that were answered
incorrectly)
·
Possibly any prior worksheets
regarding all that the students have learned about the
states
·
Possibly a blank map for those
that are applicable learners to actively record locations,
capitals, etc. on the provided states
Theoretical
Perspective:
This
information is crucial for students to learn and
understand primarily because it is so applicable to their
everyday lives. They are residing in the country and
specifically, the states that they are learning so much
about. Information regarding these states and how they are
unique (capitals, mottos, flags) as well as how they are
similar (location) relates to more complex concepts that
they will be learning about in their future years of
schooling, such as history (relations between states,
background information of each state, each state’s natural
resources, landforms, etc.) or politics (strengths of
political parties in each state, those that support
certain ideas and those that oppose and why- connecting to
location, strengths, weaknesses, common beliefs in those
states, etc.)
Procedure:
A. Introductory
Activity- Students will have completed a collective
worksheet containing all of the crucial information about
each state (over a series of days). As our class continues
to learn about each state and the history behind our
country, the students will fill in specific facts
regarding each state. Sometimes, this will be done at home
for research homework, as a class when we (the teachers)
discuss particular states, or as a computer activity done
with partners. This will allow the student to learn the
material and record it in a variety of formats. IF there
are some students who don’t like participating in group
discussions because they are shy or have low self-esteem
in this subject, then they can still work on the
fact-sheet and actively learn through independent or peer
methods.
B.
Step-by-step (descriptive
outline) - To begin, we will review the introductory
activity/fact-sheet on each state. This includes correct
location, such as having students take turns pointing out
where each state is on a large map of the United States,
or drawing flags on the white/chalkboards in the
classroom. This will allow any students to make changes to
their review sheet before the exam.
We will then instruct the students to keep it out
while being directed to the interactive “What Do You Know
about the USA?” trivia game. This is to be a review game
for their upcoming exam on the states/their specific facts
(each state’s motto, capital, etc.); we will instruct the
students to take out a pencil, and we will distribute
plain white paper to them as a way to keep track of the
“points” that they receive, as well as write down any
questions that they got stuck on or answered incorrectly
so that they can practice them for the assessment. For
each question that they answer wrong, they are to go to
the provided link to help them answer correctly, and
record the right answer with the question on their papers.
They cannot use their sheets while playing the game. They
must keep them out but flipped over until they get an
answer incorrect; then they may look at their sheets.
When a student has finished, he/she must find a
classmate that is also done with the game and partner up.
Then, they will create pretend trivia questions that
contain any information that is not already in the
interactive game, and quiz one another. They cannot use
their sheets while quizzing one another until, like during
the game, they get an answer wrong.
C.
Closure- after a certain amount
of time has passed in order to complete the activity
(approximately 25 minutes), we will come together as a
class and review the game’s questions. The students will
not share their point values in order to oppress a
competitive nature in the classroom; however, those sheets
will be collected by us so that we can potentially detect
any students who are really struggling or are simply
having a hard time memorizing the information. That way,
they can be helped before taking the exam and most likely
doing poorly.
D. Adaptations-
Possible adaptations for students with sensory needs, such
as visual impairments, can be paired with a partner for
the entirety of the activity. The student’s peer can read
the question out loud to them and can be quizzed verbally
instead of having to read the smaller print on the screen.
Also, the student can be given a fact-sheet with larger
writing on it, being provided larger boxes in order to
write/draw to his/her convenience. For students that are
hearing impaired, the interactive website does not contain
sound, so they can complete that efficiently and can work
one-on-one with an aid or one of the teachers while other
peers pair up so that, by being close to their educator,
clearly hear the questions and answer them.
This activity is perfect for students with poor
study skills because this website is designed to be an
enjoyable tool and resource for those that may not know
how to begin studying worksheets and reviewing information
in their head. Therefore, they can use this website and
their own creative questions to challenge themselves.
Struggling readers and non-native speakers can work with
an educator or special aid to help as they decipher
questions (for those that have less advanced reading
skills or ELLs), as well as translating the questions for
them into their native language.
E.
Homework- to review their
worksheets and the trivia game for the exam. A minimum
amount of time spent on the game should be no less than 10
minutes.
Evaluation:
A. Lesson objectives:
·
Students will have retained a
foundation of each states’ specific facts regarding its
location, capital, motto, and flag.
·
Students will effectively apply
prior knowledge that they have about the states to the
questions in the provided trivia game.
·
Students will be able to answer
state-related questions through the provided online game
ranging in difficulty (easier questions, such as one word
or obvious answers are worth 100 points, hardest questions
that require a full definition or a more complex answer
are worth 300 points.)
Knowing that students achieved lesson objective #1
will be a simple check, check plus, or check minus grade
on their state fact-sheet. This will done while reviewing
it before completing the interactive game.
~A check minus exhibits minimal effort or the list
contains a variety of incorrect or misplaced information.
The list may also include many spelling errors, is messy,
or is very disorganized.
~A check reveals that the student included the
satisfactory amount of information required of each state.
They have a few spelling errors, and their list is mostly
organized and neat.
~A check plus shows that the student went above and
beyond on his/her fact sheet, providing excellent visuals
or other helpful hints to aid them studying in for the
exam. They are very neat, organized, and have minimal or
no spelling errors.
Objectives #2 and #3 will be shown to have been
achieved through the point sheet that each student
completes (#2 and #3), the answers that they record from
their lists on difficult questions (#2) as well as the
questions that they made to quiz their partners (#3).
B.
Concerns or questions- If any,
just ensuring that students have enough time to complete
the game and get a very solid grasp on the material before
being assessed. It is a large amount of information for 5th
graders to remember (especially those that may have some
kind of exceptional learning need). Possibly, the exam
could be split into section exams (?); so, the entire exam
of all 50 states could be split into 5 quizzes, each
containing 10 states. That way, students can study for one
exam at a time.