TWS Overview

This mini-unit was designed for fourth and fifth grade students at East End Community School. The topic
of my Teacher Work Sample is building background knowledge of the historical era of Colonial America
through inferences and explicit information. The five lessons will take place over the course of two
academic weeks. The content areas included in this sample are Reading, Writing, and Social Studies.
One of the mandated Social Studies topics for our grade level is Colonial America and students have been
reading historical fiction during their independent reading time in order to develop a sense of different
times and places, how people talked and acted differently in comparison to present day, and to establish a
general interest in events of the past. My mentor and I have also started a read aloud of Blood On the
River: Jamestown, 1607 by Lisa Carbone, as a way to introduce, increase, and diversify student contact
with the the content, because there is no time specifically set aside for Social Studies instruction in the
classroom schedule. I felt it was important for students to be able to engage with the content on
consecutive days, so I chose to integrate the Social Studies content into the Reading and Writing
Workshop block from 11:00-12:15.

During these lessons, students will learn to answer inferential and literal questions as they build their
background knowledge about what life was like in Colonial America. Students will be introduced to
primary source documents, historical texts, pictures, videos, and other digital resources, and through them
will gain an understanding of the challenges colonists faced and how they overcame them. They will gain
a deeper understanding of how colonists depended on each other for survival, and begin to explore gender
roles in colonies and colonial households. Students will learn to support their inferences with examples
and details from informational text. The contextual factors from my CFA that guided my planning for
this mini-unit were student ability levels, interests, and learning styles. Based on the wide range of ability
levels in this classroom, I wanted to have heterogeneous grouping, so that higher performing peers could
model thinking, reading, writing, and speaking on the topic. Lesson modifications, accommodations, and
extensions were all informed by the knowledge of the students strengths and needs that were addressed in
my CFA. The entire class of students really enjoys one another, but for the learners who identified as
social learners, flexible grouping was incorporated heavily, so that students had daily opportunities to
engage in learning with multiple peers. Many of my students are visual learners, so I included
opportunities to learn and engage with content visually in each lesson, through pictures, video, digital
media, or graphic organizers, which also benefits the ELL students.
 April 2017
Date Lesson Learning Objectives Activities Assessments
Goals

4/3/17 Lesson 1: Introduction LG1 SLO1: Student will be able -Class KWL (whole Pre-assessment:
of the unit topic to identify a major theme, group)
(Colonial America) and event, or person from the -Colonial America
pre-assessing student Colonial era. -Padlet (independent) Pre-Assessment
knowledge Questionnaire
SLO2: -Whole-group share
Students will be able of individual KWL -Class KWL
demonstrate their ability to (whole group) (K-W columns
pose specific questions only)
about the topic.
Formative:

-KWL Exit Ticket

Self-Assessment:
Exit Ticket

4/4/17 Lesson 2: Discovering LG1,LG2 SLO3: Students will be -Exploring Mystery Formative:
the Topic Colonial able make inferences based Documents -I Notice/I
America: Inferring and on information from, (independent & small Wonder graphic
Confirming Using pictures, charts, timelines, group) organizer
Evidence maps, and text. (individual
-Filling out I version)
Notice/I Wonder
charts (small group) -Quick Check Exit
Ticket

4/5/17 Lesson 3: Connecting LG1,LG2, SLO4: Students will -Read Aloud: Blood Formative:
Explicit Information LG3 demonstrate the ability to On the River:
About Colonists and write an explanatory text Jamestown, 1607 - -Colonial America
their Lives with Natural examining a visual that Noticing details and Pictures Written
Inferences relates to the unit topic, making inferences Response
supporting inferences with
explicit details and personal -Explanatory text Self-Assessment:
knowledge of the era. examining visuals on
the topic -Self-Assessment
(independent) Tracker

-Reenactment
Activity (small
group)

4/12/17 Lesson 4: Explicit vs. LG1, SLO5: Students will be
Inferred Information: LG2,LG3 able to identify examples of
Farming in Colonial explicit information in both
America text and visual formats.
SLO6: Students will
demonstrate the ability to
interpret information
presented in a visual and
explain how the
information contributed to
-Learning Formative:
Target/Vocabulary
review (whole group) -Three-Column
Graphic Organizer
-Create Explicit vs. for Farming in
Inferred anchor chart Colonial America
(whole group) (individual
version)
-Use Three-Column
Graphic Organizer -Written response
for Farming in (worksheet)
 an understanding of a
related text.
Colonial America
text and visual to -Exit Ticket
organize information (Google Forms)
(small
group/independent)

-Written response
prompt

-Share work with

classmate (partner
group)

4/13/17 Lesson 5: LG1, LG2, SLO7: Students will -Kahoot Review Formative:
Review and Mid-Unit LG3 demonstrate the ability to Challenge (whole
Assessment identify explicit group) -Kahoot Review
information in visual and Challenge
text formats, make -Explicit & Inferred
inferences that show Information Summative:
knowledge of the unit topic, Summative
and use evidence to support Assessment -Explicit &
a claim. (independent) Inferred
Information
Summative
Assessment
(independent)