ED 345 Calvin College Lesson Planning Form

Teacher: Miss Dunn

Community?

Date: 10/7/16

Subject/ Topic/ Theme: Social Studies What is a

I. Objectives
What is the main focus of this lesson?
The main focus of this lesson is to introduce the students to our unit on communities. The students will
be learning about four different aspects of communities, and they will be comparing their learning to their
own lives.
How does this lesson tie in to a unit plan? (If applicable.)
This lesson ties into a unit plan on communities. This is the first lesson, and later on in the unit we will be
learning about several different types of communities.
What are your objectives for this lesson? (As many as needed.) Indicate connections to
applicable national or state standards. If an objective applies to only certain students write the
name(s) of the student(s) to whom it applies.
2 C5.0.1: Identify ways citizens participate in community decisions.
The students will be able to discuss different ways citizens participate in community decisions.
2 G5.0.1: Suggest ways people can responsibly interact with the environment in the local
community.
The students will be able to discuss what types of work people will do within the community, and how that
work affects the environment.
2 G4.0.3: Use components of culture (e.g., foods, language, religion, traditions) to describe
diversity in the local community.
The students will be able to tell the class about their own communities they live in, and then we will have
a conversation about how different communities have different aspects to them.
2 G2.0.1: Compare the physical and human characteristics of the local community with those
of another community.
The students will be able to discuss differences between their own communities, and figure out why there
are those differences.
II. Before you start
Prerequisite knowledge
and skills.

The students should already know that they live in a community.

The students should be able to give an example of a community.

Assessment
(formative and
summative)

Pre-assessment: The students will be writing what they know about

communities on our dining room table.
- Formative: I will be having discussions about each part of the
community, and will be able to formatively assess how they are
understanding the concepts.
- Summative: The students will be drawing/writing examples of each
part of the community on a piece of paper (organizer), so I will be
able to see if they understand the concepts by looking at that.
Universal Design for Learning Networks/Domains (see UDL Guidelines)

RECOGNITION
Multiple Means of Representation
Options for Perception
We will be reading aloud from the book
which provides an auditory message as
well as a visual message.

STRATEGIC
Multiple Means of Expression
(Action)
Options for action/interaction
The students are sitting on the
carpet for some of the lesson, at
their seats for part of it, and
standing up to repeat after me
using specific motions.

AFFECTIVE
Multiple Means of
Engagement
Options for recruiting interest
The students are able to choose
what picture they are going to
draw in each part of the organizer
as long as it goes with the part of
the community that is written at
the bottom.

Options for Expression

Options for Sustaining Effort &
The students will be constructing
Persistence
an organizer to show what they
The students will be working
have learned about communities
together while we have a
by drawing pictures of the types
discussion to deepen their
of communities and writing a
knowledge of communities.
sentence that goes along with it.
Options for Comprehension
Options for Executive Function
Options for Self-Regulation
For the pre-assessment, I am having them
I will be monitoring the students
The students will be able to
write on our dining room table what
progress through our discussions,
reflect on their learning by using
they know about communities.
and by seeing what they
their knowledge to complete the
write/draw on their organizers.
communities organizers.
- Dining room table paper
Materials-what materials
-Communities organizer
(books, handouts, etc) do -Social Studies book (1 per student, or two students may share a book if
you need for this lesson
needed)
and do you have them?
-Teacher copy of the Social Studies book (large book)
-ELMO
- We will be on the carpet while we are reading from the book. The
students will be sitting down facing me, and I will be in the front of
Do you need to set up
the room with the large book.
your classroom in any
- When it is time for them to fill in their communities organizers, I will
special way for this
let them go sit wherever they would like to draw/write examples.
lesson? If so, describe it.
- When we come back together to summarize, we will be sitting on
the carpet in the front of the room again.
Options for Language/Symbols
We will be discussing specific parts of a
community like a city hall and clarifying
what it is.

III. The Plan

Tim
Parts
e
Motivatio
n
(Opening/
Introducti
on/
Engageme
nt)
10
min
s

The description of (script for) the lesson, wherein you describe teacher
activities and student activities
-Tell the students that they need to get a visible marker, and bring it to the
carpet. Sit in a circle around the dining room table.
-For a few weeks now, we are going to be talking about communities in social
studies.
-Do you remember when we wrote about our interests on a dining room
table?
-I have another dining room table set up for today, but this time I want
you to write what you know about communities.
- When you hear the word communities, what do you think of? What pops into your
brain when you hear communities?
-When they have finished writing, have students TURN AND TALK with a
partner to share their knowledge. When they are done sharing, come back
together to share what your PARTNER said. (ELBOW TO ELBOW, KNEE TO
KNEE, SHOULDER TO SHOULDER).
-Then, have the students go put away their markers, and grab a social studies
book from the counter, and come back to the carpet.

20
min
s

Developm
ent

-Read What is a community?

-Stand up: Have students repeat after you USING MOTIONS, A community is a
place. Where people live. Work. Play. And solve problems together.
(place = hands out, palms up, live = house over the head, work = hammer, play =
run in place, solve problems = point to head).
**Were going to read through each section and then have a discussion
after each. **
-Are there any volunteers who want to read A Place to Live?
-Does everyone have a home to live in? (No, some people are homeless. Where
have you seen homeless people? Most people have homes to live in. What are
some of the places people live in?
- Are there any volunteers who want to read A Place to Work?
- Where do people work in your community? (At school, office buildings,
outside in construction, post office, restaurants). Name a place in our
community that you know people work at. What are the jobs they do?
- Are there any volunteers who want to read A Place to Play?
-Where do you have fun in your community? (Parks, home, neighborhood).
What do you like to do to have fun in your community?
- Are there any volunteers who want to read A Place to Solve Problems?
-Where do people go to solve problems in your community? Is there more
than one place? We solve problems when we sit down for dinner, etc. Where do
we solve problems at school? (Classroom, principals office). Class was bad with
substitute and we solved our problem by talking about it.
-City Hall: a town/citys headquarters where big decisions are made.
(Mayor, council).
-Since we know the places within communities, we have to think about
how we can be good citizens within the community. How can we do that?
(Take care of your trash, help others out if they need it, try your best in everything
you do).
-Is it important to be good citizens? Why? (Yes, because we cant have a good
community if we are not good citizens).
-How might citizens participate in community decisions? (committees,
voting).

20
min
s

-When all four sections have been read, explain the communities organizer to the
students. Send students to put book away, get an organizer, and go back to
their seats.
-(ELMO) Explain that they will be dividing this paper up into 4 parts (FOLD
WITH THEM): drawing examples for each of the four parts of the
community that we learned about today. These examples can be from ANY
community. You will draw a picture at the top, and write a sentence about
it at the bottom.
-Send students back to their seats to work on this organizer.
-Can read if they get done early.

10
min
s

Closure

-Come back to the carpet, in a circle, with our communities organizers.

-Have students share examples of what they drew/wrote about in their organizer
that shows what different parts of the community can look like.

Your reflection on the lesson including ideas for improvement for next time:
I thought this lesson went really well. The students followed along while I was teaching, and they were all
very eager to participate. When it came to completing the organizers, the students understood what they had to
do, and ran with their ideas. They really seemed to understand what the four parts of a community are. I did
have some problems with how chatty the students were though. It seemed like I constantly had students
talking whether I was teaching or a peer was reading aloud. I felt like I was constantly saying be quiet or
listen closely or one at a time. I also had some students reading ahead in the textbook, so I had to call out
a few students for that.