DIRECT INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN
Name: Lindsay Phinney
Grade Level/Subject: 4th
NCES/CCSS Standard
and Objective
Behavioral Objective
Objective Rationale
Prerequisite Knowledge
and Skills
Focus/Review (prepares
students for the lesson)
Objective as stated for
students (helps students set
their own goals for the
lesson)
Teacher Input (provides
the content to students in a
teacher-directed manner)
Guided Practice (scaffolded
practice with the content;
helps students make sense
of the content provided in
Teacher Input)
Topic: State Symbols
4.H.2 Understand how notable structures, symbols and place
names are significant to North Carolina.
4.H.2.2 Explain the historical significance of North
Carolina’s state symbols.
The students will be able to comprehend information that
they read about the state symbols, take notes, and teach their
peers what they have learned.
It’s important for the students to know about their state’s
history, symbols, and about the symbols.
Students should already be able to comprehend what they
read in order to take notes and be informed about the
information. They should also be familiar with some of the
state symbols.
Content and Strategies
Review what the students have been learning in social
studies (state symbols) Ask for volunteers to tell what some
of the certain symbols are (mammal, flower, tree, etc.)
Today we will learn about the state symbols in detail. By the
end of the lesson you will be able to distinguish between the
different symbols and answer specific questions about each one.
Begin the lesson by talking about a particular state symbol
(beverage-milk). Ask the students if they know what the
state beverage is and tell them that you have a fact sheet
about the beverage. Explain that last night you were
researching the state beverage and came across a lot of
interesting information. Share the information with the
students and tell them that they will be doing the same thing
with different state symbols. Tell them that they will become
experts on their particular symbol and then teach their peers
all about it. Put the students into groups of 5 and proceed to
pass out the fact sheets to each group.
Each group will be responsible for one state symbol. They
will research the symbol by reading over the fact sheets and
picking out important/interesting facts. Each person in the
group will take notes on the symbol and when all groups
have finished they will “jigsaw” into smaller groups. The
students in each group will be numbered off 1-5. Each
number will have a designated spot in the classroom and the
students will move to their new groups. In these groups, the
students will now teach the symbol that they had to the rest
of their group. The group members should take notes on
what they learn from their peers. After this process, all
Revised for spring, 2012
Independent Practice
(application activities to
help students use and
demonstrate what they
have learned)
Closure (provides a wrapup for the lesson)
Evaluation (How will you
assess students’ learning so
that you can determine if
they met the objective of
the lesson?)
Plans for Individual
Differences
(differentiations needed for
students)
Materials used in the lesson;
Resources used in
developing the lesson
students should have some knowledge of each of the five
state symbols that were researched. The class will then come
together as a whole and discuss what they learned. Ask
students to share some facts they found interesting and to
name some things they learned from their peers.
Each student will take out their whiteboards and we will play
a game to test their understanding of what they learned. Take the
list of questions and read them out loud to the students. The
questions are based off of facts that were on the information
sheets for each symbol. The students will then write down what
they think the correct answer is and hold it up. During this time
observe the answers that the students are holding up to make
sure that everyone is on the same page.
Ask the students to share something interesting that they
learned about the state symbols that they did not know
before. Have them share some of the things that they learned
from their peers and some things that changed their ways of
thinking. Then have some students tell some things that they
would like to have found out that maybe they did not find
during their research.
Formative:
Walking around asking students questions about their state
symbol would be the formative assessment. This takes place
during the guided practice. If students are taking notes on correct
information, and can answer your questions then they are
meeting the objectives of the lesson.
Summative
Assess the students learning by playing the game at the end
of the lesson. As the students play the game during
independent practice keep an eye out and observe the
students answers. If they answer a majority (8/10) correctly
then they have met the objective If they continually get the
answer wrong or are getting help from a peer they have not
met the objective.
For those students who may be struggling with learning
information on their own, try and place them with students
who have a better understanding that they can learn from
when they have questions and listen to.
The only materials needed for this lesson are:
 Whiteboard/marker
 (5) State symbol informational sheets.
(http://www.statesymbolsusa.org)
Revised for spring, 2012