MANCHESTER COLLEGE
Education Department
LESSON PLAN by Scott Stalbaum
Lesson: Start of civil war – setting the seen by creating a map to be used throughout unit
Length: 50 minutes
Age or Grade Intended: 8th
Academic Standards:
8.3.2
Map and locate all states of the United States, major cities, mountain
ranges, and river systems of the United States.
8.3.10
Explain the importance of the major mountain ranges and the major river
systems in the development of the United States in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries.
Example: Locate major cities, and suggest reasons for their location and
development.
Performance Objectives:
-
Given a list of cities, states, rivers, oceans, mountain ranges, and territories that
need to be mapped, students will be able to complete the map correctly labeling
all the information with 85% accuracy.
Advanced Preparation by Teacher:
-
Write the days Agenda on the board:
o Gather into groups of 4
o Work together to create a poster board map of America as it was in 1861
at the start of the civil war
o Come together as a class, look and talk about maps
-
Make sure there is enough markers for each group to complete their map
o Blue markers for oceans, seas, rivers
o Black markers for States
o Brown markers for territories
o Red markers for cities
-
Have a transparency of an outline of America on the overhead so students can
trace the outline of America onto their poster board
-
Have four pieces of poster board to hand out to the four groups
-
Organize resources in the back of the room (globes, books, textbooks,
dictionaries) so that students can easily find the information to complete the map
-
Provide a list of Cities, Rivers, States, Oceans, Territories, and Mountain Ranges
that the students need to look up and have on their map
Procedure:
Introduction:
After welcoming the students to class, I will have the students write down the
day’s agenda into their assignment notebooks, while I take attendance.
Step-By-Step Plan:
1. Explain to the students that today we will be separating into groups and making a
map of the United States as it was in 1861 at the beginning of the civil war
(Gardner Visual Spatial) (Gardner Bodily/Kinesthetic)
2. Explain to them that we are doing this in order to have a visual aid to use
throughout the Unit, and also to understand how different the country was then
compared to now
3. Count students off by 4’s to make 4 groups of students
a. Assign 1’s states, 2’s cities, 3’s territories, and 4’s rivers/oceans/and
mountain ranges
4. Hand each group a poster board and some markers: give each person a different
color marker
a. 1’s black, 2’s red, 3’s brown, and 4’s blue
5. Show students the resources available to them to look up the information they
need to complete a map of the united states in 1861 (Bloom’s Knowledge)
a. Computer, dictionaries, globes, books, textbooks, and of course the
teacher if they need help
6. Show students the outline of the united states that is projected on the white board
for them to trace onto their paper before starting
a. Have students diplomatically decide who gets to trace (Gardner
Interpersonal)
7. Have groups go to 4 separate corners of the room so they do not distract each
other and have them get started, let them know they have the whole period to get
the map done and to make it look neat because we will be using the map
throughout the Unit
8. If students finish early take time to go over the map with them and compliment
them on there excellent work, post maps all around the room in places that it will
be easy to go up and add information in the coming weeks
Closure:
I will explain to the students that we will be using these maps throughout the unit.
We will add battles, highlight areas that are North or South, and add other important
information as it comes to us in the chapters.
Adaptations/Enrichment:
- For students who have trouble focusing through lecture and like to move around I
designed this group activity to get them out of their seats and bonding with their peers
Self Reflection: