Alief ISD
Social Studies Lesson Plans
Grade 1 Unit 2
Past & Present
Date: _______________
Desired Results: (Unit
Understanding)
Events that happen now will
become events of the past.
Time Allotted: 4-5 Days
Unit Question:
Is there a difference
between the past and
the present?
Assessment:
Objective/TEKS:
I can tell the difference between past and
present. 3A
Anticipatory Set: (Universal Generalization) (Hook) Some events
happen now and some events happened before.
Ask students a question to activate schema about the terms- past and present as well as
schema for farming so that there are connections to the literature.
Examples:
What did you do yesterday? What did you do today?
What grade where you in last year? What grade are you in this year?
What does it mean if you did something in the past? What does it mean to be doing
something in the present?
Is there a difference between the past and the present?
In what ways has life changed since my parents and grandparents were my
age?
What kinds of artifacts can teach us about the past?
What would you find on a farm? Are the things you would find on a farm today the
same as things you would find on a farm in the past? Why or why not?
Topics:
past
present
Vocabulary:
past
present
farm
ox-cart
field
Materials/Resources:
Literature Connections:
The Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
Instructional Input: (Line) Modeled/Guided Practice
Discuss the terms past and present. The past is something that has already happened.
The present is something that is happening now. Refer to responses from the questions
asked during the anticipatory set and put these terms and definitions on a chart. Support
students with the terminology/vocabulary and model this with examples such as “I used
to…” and “Now I…”
Allow students to turn and talk to discuss the past and present using the vocabulary and
phrases that you modeled.
Heartland by Diane Siebert
Read aloud The Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and discuss elements of a farm as you
encounter them and focus students’ attention on things you would find in the past. As
students notice people, places and things from the story, keep a list on chart paper.
Next, read aloud Heartland by Diane Siebert and continue the process of discussing
elements of a farm with an emphasis on people, places and things that the students
notice. Chart responses on the alternate side of a t-chart.
The Ox-Cart Man
Heartland
by Donald Hall
by Diane Siebert
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farm
fields
ox-cart
farmer
Grade 1 Unit 2
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To view a partial video of this lesson
being taught, click here:
http://www.learner.org/resources/series176.html
Scroll down to Workshop 6: Engaging
Students in Active Learning. Once the
video begins, forward to 38:15.
fields
tractor
farmer
barn
1
Alief ISD
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barn
Independent Practice: (Sinker)
Students create a timeline wheel to demonstrate understanding of past and present using
the information from the two texts.
Allow students time to share their timeline wheels either in whole group or small
groups or with another group of students from another classroom.
Timeline Wheel:
Each student will receive two circles of the same shape with one circle being cut from
tag board or thicker paper. The other circle will have ½ of the wheel cut out to make a
window.
Students will complete each 1/3 of the bottom circle at a time. In the first 1/3 o the
circle, the students will draw a picture of something that represents the past from the
book, The Ox-Cart Man. Then the student will write a sentence describing what person,
place or thing is from the past underneath.
Students will complete the next 1/3 of the circle by drawing a picture of a person, place
or thing from the present as represented through the book, Heartland. Then they will
write a sentence describing their illustration and how it relates to the present.
Last, students will choose a person, place or thing that is depicted in both stories as
something that can be found in the past and the present and complete a descriptive
sentence.
Circle One (first layer- top)
How will you check for
understanding?
 Conferring with students as
they work through their
assignment.
 Refer back to the unit
question “Is there a difference
between the past and the
present?” Student can
respond verbally or in
writing.
Circle Two (second layerbottom)
past
present
both
The student completes their sentence for
each picture here.
this part is cut out to create a ‘window’
The teacher will help students put their timeline wheel together placing the two circles
together and holding them together with a brad placed through teh middle so students
can spin the timeline wheel.
Modifications/Extensions:
Closure:
Ask students to describe what the difference is between the past and present. Check for
understanding by assessing students’ responds in terms of what is happening now, in
the present, and what has already happened in the past.
Students need a fundamental understanding of the past and present for the remaining
units for the year which will continually focus on “Then and Now”.
Ask students to draw and write about a picture of the past and the present. Thus,
creating a “past and present” class book with a collection of their pictures and
writing.
Grade 1 Unit 2
2