Cultures in the Community – Grade Three
Ohio Standards
Connection:
People in Societies
Benchmark B
Explain the reasons people
from various cultural
groups came to North
America and the
consequences of their
interactions with each
other.
Indicator 3
Describe the settlement
patterns of various cultural
groups within the local
community.
Lesson Summary:
This lesson will raise the students’ awareness of the various
cultural settlements within their own community and the
reasons for the settlement patterns. Students will look at a
map depicting the cultural settlements of their community
and will describe the patterns they observe.
Estimated Duration: One hour and 30 minutes to two hours
Commentary:
It was suggested that this lesson be implemented before
indicators one and two of Benchmark A which compare
practices and products of cultural groups. This lesson
focuses on describing the settlement patterns of various
cultural groups within the local community, but teachers
may want to extend it to include additional information
about the cultures. This lesson and the research extension
could be part of a unit about local community which
integrates related third-grade geography, history and social
studies skills and methods indicators.
One field test participant used this lesson to teach students
about the cultural settlements that were established long ago
in their community and extended the lesson to have students
compare those settlements to existing cultural groups in the
local community today. “Because of the comparison
activity, students gained a better understanding of, and
appreciation for, those who came before us.”
Pre-Assessment:
 Lead the whole class in an informal group discussion or
brief review of the cultural groups found in the local
community.
 Use a series of guiding questions to lead the discussion.
1. What is a culture?
2. What cultures are represented in our community?
3. What might be some of the reasons that people would
settle in our community?
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Cultures in the Community – Grade Three


Have students complete the Pre-Assessment Worksheet, Attachment A, individually.
After students finish the pre-assessment worksheet, list the responses on chart paper,
overhead or chalkboard.
Scoring Guidelines:
The pre-assessment is not scored. Use the student responses in planning for differentiated
instruction for this indicator. Enrichment opportunities should be provided for any student
who was able to complete the worksheet with a clearly defined cultural group, community
name and viable reason for settlement.
Post-Assessment:
For this post-assessment, teachers will need to copy or create a map based on the data found
for their own community. Have students write a paragraph to answer the prompt given
below.
Prompt:
After looking at the community map, describe the cultural settlements of our community.
Scoring Guidelines:
Students will be scored according to the Post-Assessment Essay Rubric, Attachment B.
Instructional Procedures:
1. Project a map of the local community using an overhead or computer projection system.
If you are unable to project a map, give each student or group of students a copy of a
local community map. Explain to students that when groups of people move to a
community, they often choose to live near others who share their language and culture.
2. Have students explore photographs of the community, brochures for community festivals,
and phone book listings for ethnic restaurants, specialty shops, and religious institutions
to discover evidence of different cultures in the community. Mark the locations on the
map. Develop a key to indicate any cultural areas that are found in your community.
3. Upon completion of the map coloring, lead the class in a discussion using the following
guiding questions:
 After looking at the map, what patterns do you notice?
 Why do you think the specific cultural groups settled here?
In many communities in Ohio patterns will be less evident today than they were in the
past. Having little evidence of cultural differences may be the only pattern found in some
communities.
4. Have students complete a “quick-write” to address the questions from the discussion in
the previous step.
Instructional Tip:
The teacher should also participate in the “quick-write” session (modeling). Share the writing
on an overhead transparency. Let the students know how much time they have for the “quick
write.”
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Cultures in the Community – Grade Three
5. When time is up, have students share their information from the “quick-write.” In
preparation for the post-assessment, direct students to look at your writing on the
overhead. Model correct paragraph formation by using your “quick-write” responses.
Instructional Tip:
Have students share information first before working on paragraph writing. Students need to
understand that the paragraph writing exercise is to help with their own writing on the postassessment. The purpose of the “quick write” is to be able to write down what someone's
thinking quickly without worrying about spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.
Work with the local historical society to obtain accurate information for this part of the
lesson.
6. Have students work in groups to research each of the cultural groups that settled in the
local community. For each group’s settlement have students find such information as:
 Where in the community did the group settle?
 When and why did the group settle in that area?
 Describe the types of buildings that were part of their settlement.
 Describe the occupations that people had.
7. Have students create a brochure for the local historical society that describes the cultural
settlements of the current community. Their brochure should include:
 A brief history of the cultural group’s settlement of the area (i.e., when, where, why,
how);
 Photos of area cultural events, activities, etc.;
 Brief descriptions of area building structures or architecture;
 Cultural dining experiences, events and activities.
8. Close the lesson by having students share and discuss their brochures with the class or
other classes. If possible, invite members of the local historical society to be guest
speakers for the class and/or be present during the sharing of brochures.
Differentiated Instructional Support:
Instruction is differentiated according to learner needs to help all learners either meet the
intent of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the
specified indicator(s).
 Instead of writing about the settlement patterns, have students describe their observations
orally.
 Allow students to create multimedia presentations about cultural settlement patterns in
addition to the written assignment.
Extensions:
 Have students create their own cultural map of the community.
 Have students prepare a class display of various cultural groups.
 Have students listen to a variety of cultural guest speakers.
 Have students conduct a community culture fair.
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Cultures in the Community – Grade Three


Have students research and explain reasons for immigration.
Involve members of the local historical society to be guest speakers in the classroom or to
arrange a field trip for the students.
Homework Options and Home Connections:
 Have students identify the cultural groups of their neighborhood and share the
information with the class.
 Have students gather information from family members about their own family’s cultural
background.
Materials and Resources:
The inclusion of a specific resource in any lesson formulated by the Ohio Department of
Education should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that particular resource, or any of
its contents, by the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education does
not endorse any particular resource. The Web addresses listed are for a given site’s main
page, therefore, it may be necessary to search within that site to find the specific information
required for a given lesson. Please note that information published on the Internet changes
over time, therefore the links provided may no longer contain the specific information related
to a given lesson. Teachers are advised to preview all sites before using them with students.
For the teacher: Local community map (from county engineer’s office), data regarding
cultural settlements within the community (from local historical society,
census bureau data, etc.).
For the students: Notebook paper, pencils, community map, crayons or colored pencils.
Vocabulary:
 culture
 settlement
 settlement patterns
 community
Research Connections:
Marzano, R. et al. Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for
Increasing Student Achievement, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, 2001.
Nonlinguistic representations help students think about and recall knowledge. This
includes the following:
 Creating graphic representations;
 Making and using physical models;
 Generating mental pictures;
 Drawing pictures and pictographs;
 Engaging in kinesthetic activity.
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Cultures in the Community – Grade Three
Daniels, H. and M. Bizar, M. Methods that Matter: Six Structures for Best Practice
Classrooms, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 1998.
Having students examine the cultural settlements of their community provides
relevance to their learning experiences. Authentic experiences help students develop
real-world knowledge and skills and apply their learning in ways that prepare them
for their careers and lives beyond school.
General Tips:
 For the post-assessment, teachers will need to find and copy a map based on the data
found for their own community.
 A community map can be obtained from the local county engineer’s office or a local
historical society. Let students know where the maps can be found so they might be
aware of resources available in the community.
Attachments:
Attachment A, Cultures in the Community: Pre-Assessment Worksheet
Attachment B, Cultures in the Community: Post-Assessment Essay Rubric
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Cultures in the Community – Grade Three
Attachment A
Cultures in the Community:
Pre-Assessment Worksheet
A culture is:
These cultural groups are found in our community:
These groups might have settled here because:
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Cultures in the Community – Grade Three
Attachment B
Cultures in the Community:
Post-Assessment Rubric
2
1
0
Cultural
Groups
Cultural groups
are clearly
identified
Few cultural
groups are
identified
No cultural
groups are
identified
Descriptions
Cultural groups
are accurately
described
Cultural groups
are described
with some
inaccuracies
Cultural groups
are not accurately
described
Language
and Usage
Good sentence
structure and
spelling
Fair sentence
structure and
spelling
Poor sentence
structure and
spelling
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