Social Studies Lesson Plans
3rd Grade Unit 1
Communities: Rural, Suburban, and Urban
Date: _______________
Desired Results: (Unit
Understanding)
People choose the community they
live in based on the characteristics
of the community.
Unit Questions:
Are all communities the same? Why do
people choose to live in one
community over another?
Assessment:
Time Allotted: Days 1-2
Objective/TEKS:
I can identify different kinds of communities.
Communities Matrix Chart with
word bank
Anticipatory Set: (Universal Understanding) (Hook) - Communities are both alike and
different.
Create a transparency of a picture displaying a rural community- sample attached. Utilize the Visual
Discovery Strategy (see attached directions). Review what a community is referring to previous
lessons. Tell students they will be learning about a rural community today.
Instructional Input: (Line) Modeled/Guided Practice
-Give directions for viewing and analyzing the picture with a partner.
What do you see in this picture?
Ask questions- What type of activities might happen here? Where would somebody work in this
community? Describe the types of homes or places to live that would be found there.
-Create a class chart to record observations about the picture.
- Watch the rural video clip found on Discovery Ed
-Break class into 3 groups and complete a Gallery Walk Strategy (attached) using the topics- LIVE,
WORK, PLAY for the charts. Allow 5 minutes for each group to be at each chart/poster to record
information learned from the Visual Discovery and the Discovery Ed video clip.
Topic:
Communities
Rural
Urban
Suburban
Vocabulary:
rural, urban, suburban,
population, location
Materials/Resources:
Transparency of a rural
community
Chart Paper
Markers
Fact Finding Sheet
Discovery Ed-(formerly
United Streaming )video
segment on rural
communities
-Allow the last 10 minutes for students to record information onto their own individual fact sheet
(attached)
Independent Practice: (Sinker)
No IP for today.
Modifications/Extensions:
Teacher will help students where needed. Support students who have difficulty with completing the
chart.
How will you check
for understanding?
Monitor students as
they discuss to answer
questions or clarify any
misconceptions. Have
them explain how their
findings describe a rural
community and why
they think people chose
to live there.
Closure:
Students will share their learning about a rural community from their fact sheets.
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
1
Social Studies Lesson Plans
3rd Grade Unit #1
Communities: Rural, Suburban, and Urban
Date: _______________
Desired Results: (Unit
Understanding)
People choose the community they
live in based on the characteristics
of the community.
Unit Questions:
Are all communities the same? Why do
people choose to live in one
community over another?
Assessment:
Time Allotted: Days 3-4
Objective/TEKS:
I can identify different kinds of communities.
Communities Matrix Chart with
word bank
Anticipatory Set: (Universal Generalization) (Hook) - Communities are both alike and
different.
Create a transparency of a picture displaying a suburban community- sample attached. Utilize the
Visual Discovery Strategy (see attached directions). Review what a community is referring to previous
lessons. Tell students they will be learning about a suburban community today.
Instructional Input: (Line) Modeled/Guided Practice
-Give directions for viewing and analyzing the picture with a partner.
What do you see in this picture?
Ask questions- What type of activities might happen here? Where would somebody work in this
community? Describe the types of homes or places to live that would be found there.
-Create a class chart to record observations about the picture.
- Watch the suburban video clip found on Discovery Ed
-Break class into 3 groups and complete a Gallery Walk Strategy (attached) using the topics- LIVE,
WORK, PLAY for the charts. Allow 5 minutes for each group to be at each chart/poster to record
information learned from the Visual Discovery and the Discovery Ed video clip.
Topic:
Communities
Rural
Urban
Suburban
Vocabulary:
rural, urban, suburban,
population, location
Materials/Resources:
Transparency of a
suburban community
Fact Finding sheet
Chart paper
Markers
Discovery Ed video on
urban communities
-Allow the last 10 minutes for students to record information onto their own individual fact sheet
(attached)
Independent Practice: (Sinker)
No IP for today.
Modifications/Extensions:
Teacher will help students where needed. Support students who have difficulty with the chart.
Closure:
Ask students to share their learning about a suburban community.
How will you check
for understanding?
Monitor students as
they work to answer
questions or clarify any
misconceptions. Have
them explain how their
findings describe a
suburban community
and why they think
people chose to live
there.
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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Social Studies Lesson Plans
3rd Grade Unit #1
Communities: Rural, Suburban, and Urban
Date: _______________
Desired Results: (Unit
Understanding)
People choose the community they
live in based on the characteristics
of the community.
Time Allotted: Days 4-5
Unit Questions:
Are all communities the same? Why do
people choose to live in one
community over another?
Assessment:
Objective/TEKS:
I can identify different kinds of communities.
Communities Matrix Chart with
word bank
Anticipatory Set: (Universal Generalization) (Hook) - Communities are both alike and
different.
Create a transparency of a picture displaying an urban community- sample attached. Utilize the Visual
Discovery Strategy (see attached directions). Review what a community is referring to previous
lessons. Tell students they will be learning about an urban community today.
Topic:
Communities
Rural
Urban
Suburban
Vocabulary:
rural, urban, suburban,
population, location
Instructional Input: (Line) Modeled/Guided Practice
-Give directions for viewing and analyzing the picture with a partner.
What do you see in this picture?
Ask questions- What type of activities might happen here? Where would somebody work in this
community? Describe the types of homes or places to live that would be found there.
Materials/Resources:
Transparency of an
urban community
Fact Finding sheet
Chart paper for
community comparison
matrix chart
Markers
-Create a class chart to record observations about the picture.
- Watch the urban video clip found on Discovery Ed
-Break class into 3 groups and complete a Gallery Walk Strategy (attached) using the topics- LIVE,
WORK, PLAY for the charts. Allow 5 minutes for each group to be at each chart/poster to record
information learned from the Visual Discovery and the Discovery Ed video clip.
-Allow the last 10 minutes for students to record information onto their own individual fact sheet
(attached) These can be put into their interactive student notebooks when completed and checked.
Independent Practice: (Sinker)
How will you check
for understanding?
Monitor students as
they work to answer
questions or clarify any
misconceptions. Have
them explain how their
findings describe an
urban community and
why they think people
chose to live there.
No IP for today.
Modifications/Extensions:
Teacher will help students where needed. Support students who have difficulty reading the text.
Closure:
Ask students to share their learning about an urban community.
With teacher, students can create a comparison matrix describing specific attributes of each
community.
Note: Teacher may want to create a matrix on chart paper for students to refer to as a review before
the assessment tomorrow. All facts for the assessment will come from their individual fact sheets.
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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Social Studies Lesson Plans
3rd Grade Unit #1
Communities: Rural, Suburban, and Urban
Date: _______________
Desired Results: (Unit
Understanding)
People choose the community they
live in based on the characteristics
of the community.
Time Allotted: Day 6
Unit Questions:
Are all communities the same? Why do
people choose to live in one
community over another?
Assessment:
Objective/TEKS:
I can identify different kinds of communities.
Communities Matrix Chart with
word bank
Anticipatory Set: (Universal Generalization) (Hook) - Communities are both alike and
different.
Show the transparencies of each type of community as a quick visual review.
Topic:
Communities
Rural
Urban
Suburban
Vocabulary:
rural, urban, suburban,
population, location
Instructional Input: (Line) Modeled/Guided Practice
No modeled/guided practice due to this being an assessment.
Materials/Resources:
Comparison matrix
assessment
Independent Practice: (Sinker)
Students will use their knowledge learned through the Visual Discovery and Gallery Walk Strategies to
complete a matrix focusing on the three types of communities, their definitions, and where you work,
live, and play in each type of community.
How will you check
for understanding?
Monitor students as
they work on the
assessment.
Modifications/Extensions:
Monitor progress as students work on the assessment.
Closure:
Collect students’ completed assessments and check for thorough understanding. Take a class poll to
decide which type of community the majority of the students would like to live in and gather reasons
why. Review with them that there are great reasons to live in each type of community and people
choose to live where they live because of their own personal needs.
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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Visual Discovery
What is it? Students view, touch, analyze, and act out images projected on
overhead transparencies. As the teacher asks a series of inquiry questions,
students discover key social studies concepts.
The key to a successful Visual Discovery activity is using a few powerful
images that represent key concepts of the lesson. The right image will stay
in students’ minds for months or even years and will serve as a powerful
visual referent to help them recall key social studies concepts.
Characteristics of images that that will grab students’ attention:
 Images that clearly convey the key concepts you are trying to teach.
 Images that show emotion, drama, or human interaction.
 Images with abundant details that are connected to the reading.
 Variety of images.
To get the most from the visual-inquiry process:
 The first question to ask is always: What do you see in this image?
 To increase interaction among all students, ask a question and allow pairs
of students a minute to discuss it.
 Use a “detective analogy” to create spiral questions that will help students
better analyze and interpret visuals. Ask students to think of an image as
a “scene from a time or place” that they, as detectives, need to
investigate. Level 1 questions explain the details—what a detective would
call evidence—that students could actually touch if they were somehow
able to step into the scene. Level 2 questions challenge students to
formulate ideas or make inferences based on existing evidence. Level 3
questions encourage them to consider the scene as a whole and make
hypotheses about what is happening and why, much as a detective
surmises motive for an event.
 Teach students basic visual-literacy skills that they can use for each new
image displayed. Upper-elementary students should be able to point out
details in each quadrant (upper right, lower left; or northeast, southwest
to reinforce geography skills) and distinguish between the background and
foreground.
To follow the viewing of the image:
 Challenge students to read about the image and apply what they learn.
Allow time for students to read about the image and look for details in the
text that are also in the photograph.
 Give time for students to share their findings. There are often new details
gleaned from the reading that were not noticed in the first look at the
image.
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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RURAL COMMUNITY
URBAN COMMUNITY
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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SUBURBAN COMMUNITY
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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Name: _______________________________________________ Date:____________________
Unit 1 Communities Fact Sheet
Rural Communities
Suburban Communities
Urban Communities
Definition of the
type of community
(can be in written in
words or drawn in
picture form)
Where would you
live?
Where might you
work?
Where would you be
able to play?
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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Name:_______________________________________ Date:____________________________
Unit 1 Rural, Suburban, and Urban Communities Assessment
in a house
Word Bank
playgrounds
at a school
in an apartment
in the fields
at a pond or lake
on a farm
at a bank
at a basketball court
Place the phrases from the word bank above in the correct area of the matrix chart below. Please
use each answer only ONE time.
Rural Communities
Suburban Communities
Urban Communities
Where would you
live?
Where could you
work?
Where could you
play?
Create a definition of
each type of
community
(you may use words
or a picture for your
definition)
Please write a complete answer to the following question
Why do people choose to live in one community over another? Explain your thinking
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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SOCIAL STUDIES
STRATEGIES
GALLERY WALK
1. Generate Questions
Think of four to five questions to use around a central class concept. See
Higher Order Thinking and Bloom's Taxonomy and Examples of Gallery Walk for guidance
on writing appropriate questions. Student teams in a Gallery Walk typically number three
to five. So, for a class of twenty write four to five questions. For larger classes either write
more questions or repeat the same set of four to five questions, posting the same
question set in different sections of the class.
2. Write Questions
Before class time, write the Gallery Walk questions on large sheets of chart paper. Write
one question for one sheet of paper.
3. Post Questions -- Post the questions on the wall around the class, giving sufficient
separation space between sheets.
4. Prepare Students -- The first time Gallery Walk is used, give students instructions for
carrying out the technique. If the Gallery Walk has formal oral and written evaluation,
mention the important components of that evaluation. See Assessing Gallery Walk for a
variety of assessment rubrics.
5. Group Students and Assign Roles -- Arrange students into teams of three to five.
Provide each group with a different colored marker, pen, or crayon. Ask that each group
member introduce themselves. If cooperative learning techniques will be used, assign
roles like leader, reporter, monitor, and recorder. The role should be alternated between
each team member.
6. Begin Gallery Walk
Direct teams to different charts or "stations." Upon arriving at the station, each team
writes comments for the question posed at the station. To avoid chart clutter and
rambling comments, encourage the recorder to write in a pithy bulleted format closest to
the top of the chart.
7. Rotate to New Station and Add Content -- After a short period of time, say three to
five minutes but the exact time will depend upon the nature of the question, say “rotate.”
The group then rotates, clockwise, to the next station. At the new station the group adds
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
11
new comments and responds to comments left by the previous group. To involve all
group members, switch recorders at each station.
8. Instructor Monitors Progress -- As groups rotate, the instructor nurtures student
discussion and involves all group members. Be ready to a) rephrase questions or to
provide hints if students either don't understand or misinterpret questions; be ready to
provide instructions for those that still don't understand how to conduct a Gallery Walk.
To spur discussion, ask questions like "Your group seems to think ..... about this issue.
How would you rephrase or summarize what has been discussed so far?" or "What
similarities and differences do you see between the responses you are giving at this
station and what was summarized at the last station?" For a more complete list of
questioning strategies, see the "Informal Evaluation" section of Assessing Gallery Walk.
On a personal level: encourage developing ideas and praise insight. Couch criticism
constructively.
9. Return to Starting Point -- Teams continue to review the answers already contributed
by previous groups, adding their own comments. This procedure continues until groups
have visited all stations and return to the station at which they started. Instruct students
to record their original (starting) question and to sit down in their teams to begin the
"Report Out" stage.
10. Report Out -- In the “Report Out” stage, the group synthesizes what has been written
about their original discussion question. Allow about ten minutes for the group to
synthesize comments. The “reporter” chosen earlier, summarizes the group's comments
with the help of other group members and makes an oral presentation to the class using
the blackboard or on an overhead projector. The oral report should not exceed five
minutes in length. Alternatively, students can write a written report composed either
individually or as a group.
11. Gauge for Student Understanding -- During “Report Out” stage, the instructor
reinforces correctly expressed concepts and corrects for misconceptions and errors. What,
for example, did students seem to readily understand? What did they find difficult and
how can I adjust my teaching to accommodate students?
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gallerywalk/step.html
Unit 1: 3rd Grade
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