Bridgewater College Teacher Education Program Lesson Plan

Conley___
Date: Jan. 10, 2014

Title of Lesson: The Worst of Friends

Subject Area(s):

Grade Level(s):

Language Arts &

History

4th grade

Name___Megan

VA SOL:
USI.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the causes and results of the American Revolution by
a) identifying the issues of dissatisfaction that led to the American Revolution;
b) identifying how political ideas shaped the revolutionary movement in America and led to the
Declaration of Independence;
c) describing key events and the roles of key individuals in the American Revolution, with emphasis on
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry
Content Objective(s):
-The student will be able to read and comprehend the relationship between presidents John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson by reading the book, The Worst of Friends.
-The student will be able to determine the differences between the characters using a web diagram.
-The student will be able to help fill out a timeline using events of the book.
-The student will be able to compose sentences by unscrambling words of sentences from the book and
putting them in the correct order.
-The student will be able to give a written response to the reading through a Venn Diagram of the similarities
and differences between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
Accommodations/
Differentiation
Assessment (based on objectives):

See how well the students do on the sentence scramble by walking

around and checking the sentence structure.

Check the response journals of each student after they turn them in at
the end of the lesson.
Materials:

Book: The Worst of Friends

Web diagraph and Timeline sheet (class set- 18)

Class set of sentence unscramble cards (9 sets)

Venn Diagram (class set- 18)

Class set of Reading Response Journals

Glue

Each child has writing utensil

Integration of technology:
-Use elmo to project teacher copy of web diagram and timeline.
Alternative Plan:
-Write on chalkboard in front of the classroom.

Make sure before the

lesson to see that the
projector is working.
Otherwise, have the
chalkboard ready.
Accommodati Time
ons/
Plann
Differentiatio ed
n

Anticipatory Set (Hook & Agenda):

1 min
Introduce book

This is the story of two men who started out as enemies but later
became friends. Their names are John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, but
the author refers to them as Tom and John. As you will see, these two
men did not agree on much of anything, plus they were very different in
their likes and dislikes.

Access/Review Prior Knowledge:

2-3
min

Review knowledge of John Adams (2nd U.S. President)

Review knowledge of Thomas Jefferson (3rd U.S. President, author of
Declaration of Independence)
Review knowledge of American colony relationship with England and King
George.

Teaching Process & Modeling:

-Have the book The Worst of Friends.
-Talk about the title of the book. Why is this an interesting title? What is the
subtitle? What is a subtitle used for? What is a feud?
-Hand out reading response journals.
-Hand out Web diagram/Timeline worksheet to all students.
-Start building a web diagram of both characters together as a class: John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson. Explain to the students that we will add information to the
diagram as we read. This chart will be projected on the board by using the elmo.
-Start a timeline for the book. This will also be projected. Start the timeline at
1776, when the Declaration of Independence and end it at 1826, the year they
died.
-Read the book The Worst of Friends. Stop at the end of the pages and add to the
web diagrams and the timeline.

Raise your hand if you think that two friends can be very different and
still be friends.

(Page with signing of the Declaration of Independence):

o 1. What is another difference between them mentioned in this page?
One is a good
speaker, the other a good writer. Then fill out this
information on the web diagram.
o 2. What is another they are alike? they both wanted the colonies to be
free from Great Britain. Add to chart.
o 3. Add 1776 to the timeline as the date of the signing of the Declaration
of Independence.

(Page with King George):

Make sure
students are
raising hands to
answer
questions and
not blurting out
answers.

10
min

Do you think that John Adams really tried to fight King George?
Picture is an exaggeration.

Guided Practice & Checking for Understanding:

-Sentence Composing

Unscramble the sentences. The title of the book will be written out on
flashcards where only a few words of the title are on each card. The cards
will be scrambled out of order. As a class, we will put the cards in order to
create the sentence of the full title. This will be done by having the cards
on the elmo and projected onto the screen.
o The Worst of Friends
Independent Practice:
-Have the students pair up with a partner. Each partner set will be given
scrambled sentences flashcard sets of sentences taken from the book. There will
be three sentences for the students to unscramble. Each sentence will be precut
and printed on three different colors to show students which flashcards go
together as a sentence. The sentences are:

They were as different as pickles and ice cream.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the best of friends- even though
they were completely different.

Whenever they had a chance to work for their country, they did it
together.
-Walk around and check the sentences as the students finish.
-Review the sentences as a class.

3-4
min

Partners may
need to be the
person they are
setting beside
(determined on
previous
behavior).

This work needs

to be done
individually.

5-6
mi
n

5
mi
n

-Written Response Journal

Students need to get out their ongoing response journals.

Hand out Venn Diagram sheets.

Their task is to make a Venn Diagram showing the differences and

similarities of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Venn Diagram is to be handed in to be graded.

Closure:
-Have students turn in their response journals.

1 min

Declarative Statement Summary:

-Great job today students! I hope you learned a lot about John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson. We learned about their friendship and how different they are.

10
sec