Peer-Teaching Lesson Plan Template

Name: Kailey Morash

Target Grade Level: Fourth Grade
Subject: Science
Standards:
Science Standard:
4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth's features.
[Clarification statement: Maps can include topographic maps of Earth's land and ocean
floor, as well as maps of the locations of mountains, continental boundaries, volcanoes,
and earthquakes.]
Robinson's Music Standard:
Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
Teaching Materials:
Oregon Trail Co-Equal Lessons Prezi
http://prezi.com/cnxxiz76fi9w/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=e
x0share
Maps of the Oregon Trail from the following Websites
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-oregontrail.html ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_of_the_Oregon_Trail ,
http://idahoptv.org/outdoors/shows/pathwaysofpioneers/trailmaps.cfm , and
https://www.nps.gov/oreg/planyourvisit/maps.htm
Americas Landforms Worksheet
Composing with Geography Worksheet
Objective: (What will your students do to demonstrate their learning?)
Science Objective: Students will be able to identify geographical patterns along the
Oregon Trail.
Music Objective: Students will be able to create a piece of music from geographical
patterns along the Oregon Trail.
Rationale:
This is important for students to know because they need to be able to identify landforms and
other geographical items in their lives. The lesson will also allow for students to gain a better
understanding of how geography effects the way people live their day to day lives.
Teaching/Learning Sequence:

Introduction: (Grab students attention and establish learning expectations. Make

connection to curricular content.)
o The teacher will begin the lesson by showing the students several photos from
National Geographic. Each of the three photos will be of different landforms.

o The teacher will ask the students what they know about each landform and have
them discuss with their shoulder partners what the definitions are.
o After discussion the teacher will explain that the lesson will be on landforms
along the Oregon Trail that they have been studying for the past week.

Body: (Primary teaching/learning activities that address the objective.)

o The teacher will have the students review landforms by completing the America's
Landforms worksheet. Students will be given directions to use their atlases to
locate landforms from the given list and then give information about where it was
found-page and state, and then have them give a definition of the landform.
o After the students have completed the review worksheet they will be asked if they
remember where the Oregon Trail began. Students will answer the question with
their shoulder partners. After brief discussion the teacher will call on one or two
students to get their answers.
o The teacher will then pass out another worksheet and explain that the Oregon
Trail started in what is now Independence, MO and that it ended in what is now
Portland, OR. The teacher will hand out a new worksheet with three different
websites on it that allow students to explore the Oregon Trail through the digital
format. As they look at the online maps the students will be looking for landform
patterns that follow the path of the Oregon Trail. Students will choose four
landforms that occur along the Oregon Trail and write them down on their
worksheet.
o Once they have chosen their four landforms they will be asked to create a song
using the landforms that they chose. To create their song they will be using four
basic notes (whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes) to correlate with their
landforms. On their worksheet they will write a key that tells the teacher which
landform correlates with which note. They will then use the patterns that appear
along the trail to compose their song.

Closure: (Concluding student activity to wrap-up and assess student learning.)

o After they have composed their song they will have the choice to perform their
composition but it will not be mandatory. The students will then write a short two
to three paragraph reflection about why/how they think that the settlers who took
the Oregon Trail might have relied on the landforms that they chose.
o Music Standard Assessment: Students will be assessed based upon their ability to
create musical patterns using the basic notes (eighth, quarter, half, and whole) that
correlate with the patterns that they found in the geography along the Oregon
Trail.
o Science Standard Assessment: Students will be asked to highlight or outline
patterns that they see along the Oregon Trail using four different colors. Each of
the colors will represent one of the four geographical items that they have chosen.
They will then be able to describe why they think the settlers took that path based
upon the geographic patterns.