Katie Scupp

LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

The following information should be included in the header of the lesson plan:

Katie I Scupp

Ms. Grim at Fulks Run Elementary School, First Grade

Tuesday October 25th at 1:00pm

Submitted and reviewed on October 13th

(Include the title of each of the following sections in your written plan.)

A. CREATE A TREASURE MAP

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON

In Ms. Grim’s classroom, I have observed the students learning about maps for several weeks now.
After talking with Ms. Grim, she requested that I plan an activity to tie together their map unit. They
have worked with the cardinal directions, various types of maps, and discussed parts of a map. They
have learned a lot about maps, but this activity will allow students to create their own map and tell
about it.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand – Know – Do –
Students will understand the Students will know Students will
principles of a map. a. how to create a basic map a. create a treasure map,
b. how to use the cardinal including the three map
directions. essentials.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING

Students will create a treasure map. This treasure map must include the three map essentials, a key, a
compass rose and a title. To assess their knowledge of this I will be able to look at the maps and check
for these three things. After they have created their map, they will write a story based on their map.
Their story should include at least one direction, for example, the treasure is east of the mountain. This
will allow the teacher to access their understanding of the cardinal directions and the uses of maps.

Did the student include Did the student Did the student
Student
a compass rose? include a title? include a key?
Drew a key but
Lance Yes Yes
did not label it.
Ashby Yes Yes Yes
Yes, very nice and
Caleb Yes Yes
detailed.
Taylor Yes Yes Yes
Quaid Yes Yes Yes, nice legend.
Drew a key but
Rose Yes Yes
did not label.
 Katie Scupp
Kydan Yes Yes Yes
Addelyn Yes Yes Yes
Drew a key but
Kynlee Yes Yes
did not label.
Mason Yes No Yes
Yendeil Yes Yes Yes
Leland Yes Yes No
Drew a key but
Julia Yes Yes
did not label
Eve Yes Yes Yes
Joey Yes No Yes

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)

This activity relates to Virginia SOL 1.4

The student will develop map skills by
a) recognizing basic map symbols, including references to land, water, cities, and roads;
b) using cardinal directions on maps

F. MATERIALS NEEDED

Markers or a coloring device (Found in classroom)

Notebook paper (Found in classroom)
Aged map paper (Provided by Katie Scupp)
Pencils (Found in classroom)

G. PROCEDURE

 Prior to class, dye printer paper with tea bags and fray the edges.
 When students return to the classroom they will be instructed to take their seats and pull out
their pencil boxes.
 To engage the students, I will ask students to tell me what they have learned about maps over
the last few days. I will be looking for students to tell me about the compass rose, various
uses for maps among other facts.
 To start the lesson, I will then pull up a picture of a treasure map on the smartboard and ask
them what they see.
 I will ask them what they know about treasure maps
 And what kind of landmarks they think a treasure map should have (island, mountains, and x
ect)
 We will discuss the compass rose, and the correct order for the directions to go.
 Never, Eat, Slimy, Worms.
 We will also discuss the key within the map and what possible things we should include in our
map keys.
 I will then pass out the map paper, one piece to each student.
 We will then talk about why our paper might be brown
 I will guide the students to talk about how the treasure map is old and worn.
 Katie Scupp
 Then the students will be told to make a treasure map on their paper.
 They will be allowed to use any coloring utensil that they want; markers, colored
pencils or crayons.
 Since we brainstormed possible landmarks, the hope is that they will not need
prompting on what to draw. If they need help I will guide them by asking questions
like, “what is your treasure,” “Where is your treasure hiding,” “What would you see
there”
 The students will need to include the compass rose, title and a key on their map.
 Once students finish, they will be given a piece of paper to write a story about their map. In
their story they need to include one direction, for example, the treasure is east of the mountain.
Their story could be about how the treasure got there or how to find the treasure.
 Closure
 To close the activity, I ask a few students to share their map and story with the class. We will
talk about how the map would look different if the treasure was buried in a different location, for
example in a city or in the north pole.
 No clean-up is required

H. DIFFERENTIATION

There are some children in the class who are more comfortable creating writing than others. I would
differentiate the story portion for the less confident students by writing some of the commonly used
words on the white board, words like treasure.

I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

There are a few things that could go wrong with this lesson. If students are not familiar with the
concept of a treasure map, it would make the task of creating one harder. If we start and the students
are not familiar, I will take time to explain that they have the task of hiding something very special to
them, they want to hide it somewhere safe, that a person could not find it without help. I would
explain, that the map they are about to create is the help people would need to find their special thing.

J. EXAMPLE
 Katie Scupp

K. LESSON PLAN RELECTION

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, reflect on the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

A. How did your actual lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes you made & explain why you
made them. Be thorough & specific in your description.
Different from my original plan, I mainly followed my plan. However, at one point I did deviate. Originally, I
had wanted the students to write a story about their map. In this story I asked the students to give one direction, which
someone could use to find their treasure. However, once I got to this section of the lesson, I quickly realized that I had
overestimated their writing level. When walking around I found that the students could verbalize their direction, for
example the treasure is south of the volcano, yet they could not write the sentence on their own- even with the main
words on the board (treasure, north, south, east and west). Once I realized this I instead verbally went around and
asked students to tell me how to get to their treasure map.
I also deviated from the lesson plan in that I had not taken into account that some students would finish before
others. Due to this, I had students raising their hands to tell me they were finished, yet I was still helping others write
their sentences I had a brief moment of being unsure of the best option. After thinking I told students they could go
read quietly when they were done, a technique I had seen my cooperating teacher use many times so I knew the
students would be independent with that task. In the future, I will plan an activity for early finishers which would
enrich the lesson being presented. For example, I could bring various maps for the students to explore and find
children’s books about pirates or maps.
 Katie Scupp

B. Evaluate the impact of the lesson based on your plan for assessing learning and the individual data you
collected on each objective. Cite multiple examples of student behavior & language that document your
conclusions.
Overall, I feel the lesson was effective. The main goal was to assess if the students could identify and create the
three main components of a map. When examining my data sheet, I found that not only did every student include a
compass rose, but every student had their compass rose labeled correctly. This was encouraging to see how much of an
understanding the students had of the compass. When I was walking around and talking with the students, I was also
pleasantly surprised at how well several of the students could give directions using their map. For example, Kydan,
drew a path of someone to follow to his treasure, when I asked him to explain it to me he said, “First you go east, then
go south at the volcano and west at the sword fighting. These directions matched his map perfectly. His explanation
showed that he has a strong grasp of how to apply the cardinal directions.
However, I noticed that five out of the fifteen students did not label their key. They would all draw a box, put
symbols inside the box which related to symbols on the map, however five students did not label what those symbols
meant. I feel those students do understand what a key is on a map, I also believe that the students who did not label
their key may not have known how to spell their symbols and chose to leave it blank due to this. To follow up, I would
have a discussion with the students to elaborate why a key is needed and why labeling our key is important.

C. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to present this lesson again.
As mentioned above, my students were not ready to write their sentences independently. In the future, I would
give them a premade sentence structure for writing the direction and then provide lines for them to write another
sentence if they wanted.
For example: My treasure is _________ of the ___________.
 In the first blank students would write the direction and in the second block students would write the
landmark.
I feel this would be better, because it would enable me to assess their knowledge of the cardinal directions without
relying on their writing skills as heavily.

D. If you were the teacher in this classroom, what follow-up experiences would you plan? (Develop your
answer based on the data that was collected and your observations during the lesson.)
As mentioned above, I would have followed up the activity with a detailed discussion about the uses of keys and
why it is important to not just include them, but label them as well. Another follow-up activity I would include would
be for students to work in groups to create a map of the school. I believe this activity would help the students make real
life connections to maps. Another enriching experience would be to have a cartographer visit the classroom and have
him/her walk the students through making a map of the playground of example. I believe this experience would further
the real life applications and help students see that there is a career which could be made out of mapmaking.

E1. Share something you learned about young children as a result of planning and conducting the activity. Relate
this new knowledge to principles of child development or appropriate curriculum from your ELED 308 and
ECED 372 courses.
One thing I learned about young children as a result of conducting this lesson is that students, especially in the
younger grades, have the mental capacity to understand far more than they may be able to express. I found this to
be true when asking students about the cardinal directions. First off, the majority of the students were unable to
express their knowledge of directions through writing, due to the developmental stage they are in with their
literacy. I also found that the students found it much easier to explain concrete details, versus abstract
information. When in my opening I asked students what directions were and how we used them, they struggled to
 Katie Scupp
find the words, however, when walking around I found the students could easily tell me about how to get to their
treasure, using the cardinal maps.
Relating to 308, we have discussed how one’s developmental readiness depends on their age and stage. There
is one student in the class who only made the cut off for first grade by one day, if he had been born one day later
he would have started school a year later. This student’s lower age plays a role in his school readiness. I observed
in my lesson and others given by my cooperating teacher that he is often the last to become engaged and ready to
learn. When talking with my cooperating teacher, she shared with me that she feels the student is not
developmentally ready for the level of work required for first grade.

E2. Share something you learned about teaching as a result of planning and conducting this activity. Describe
how you will apply this new knowledge to upcoming opportunities for developing learning experiences for
children.
As mentioned above, I learned that I always need to have an activity prepared for students who finish before
their classmates. I loathed that moment during my lesson when I felt unprepared. After that moment I will always
have some form of an activity up my sleeve to keep students engaged and learning. I also learned that I prefer to
be fully prepared when it comes to my lesson plans. Before my lesson, I sat down and played out how I would
like the lesson to go in my head. Even though the lesson did not go exactly according to plan, knowing I had an
outline planed and prepared helped me to keep calm. Another take away I have is that it is always better to over
plan and under plan. If an activity needs to roll into the next day that is by far preferable to being unprepared.

E3. Share something you learned about yourself as a result of planning & conducting this activity?
Through this lesson I learned a lot about myself. I have been a PASS leader at JMU for three semesters now,
and really enjoy holding review sessions with my college students. I thought that after holding so many sessions,
that I would not get nervous when my time came to give my lesson. However, I felt the usual butterflies creeping
into my belly as I watched the clock tick to my time. I have found that I am a perfectionist, and that this trait will
make my job as a teacher both more worthwhile and also harder for me. It will make my job harder because it
does add an element of stress and I will likely put far more time into my lesson plans than is actually necessary,
however on the flip side, it will also make teaching so much more worthwhile because I will be so invested in my
students. I was excited for my lesson but also wanted everything thing to go perfectly, without a hitch. I realize
that this is not always possible when working in a room with several first graders. No matter what I end up
teaching, there will always be unexpected hiccups that occur. Throughout the rest of my practicum placements
and student teaching I hope to find a balance between being a perfectionist and realistic.