Alief ISD
Social Studies Lesson Plan
Grade 5 Unit 1
Exploration and Colonization: Motivations for Exploration
Date: _______________
Desired Results: (Unit Understanding)
England established colonies in
America to increase its wealth and to
compete with other countries that
were seeking empires in the New
World
Time Allotted: 5-6 days
Assessment:
Student Friendly TEKS:
Independent Writing
Prompt – Museum Curator
I can identify the reasons why England
wanted to send its people to the New
World to establish colonies (5.11A)
History Alive Assessment 4
Anticipatory Set: (Universal Generalization) (Hook) Organizations seek out new
opportunities that will help them survive and improve.
History Alive Lesson 4 (Preview) – Write “air-tight space suit”, “dehydrated food”, and “flag”
on overhead. Ask students to explain why astronauts bring these items with them when
traveling in space. Ask how space exploration could benefit the countries that send astronauts
to new places. Be sure to direct discussion to emphasize ideas of the universal generalization
– that organizations (groups of astronauts flying for a country or company, countries,
explorers, etc.) seek out new opportunities that will help them survive and improve. After
students have shared their answers, explain that in this activity they will examine objects
carried by people who explored “new worlds” 500 years ago, and they will analyze what these
objects revealed about the explorer’s motives.
Instructional Input: (Line) Modeled/Guided Practice
[Day 1]
Shared Reading: Section 4.1 in History Alive. Be sure to explain boldfaced vocabulary words,
and record the words in our Social Studies vocabulary notes for future reference.
Introduce History Alive Graphic Organizer Transparency 4: Archeologists Investigate a Sunken
Ship by projecting the transparency and guiding a discussion based on the following
questions: What do you see here? Why would people investigate a sunken ship? What items
or artifacts might you find on a ship that has been underwater for 400 years? What would
people who investigate sunken ships want to carefully track where they found each item?
How does this relate to our essential Social Studies Questions: What is History? Why Study
History? How is “then” important to “now”?
Topics/Concepts:
Founding the 13
Colonies
 Political Motives
 Economic Motives
 Social Motives
 Early Settlements
Vocabulary
 New World
 Age of Exploration
 Explorer
 Colony
 Empire
 Charter
 Stock
 Archeologist
 Ore
 Cash Crop
Resources:
History Alive Lesson
4 materials
Optional: Power
Point
[Day 2 – Day 3]
Classroom arranged with “sunken ship” as described in History Alive Lesson 4.
Project Transparency 4. Revisit questions posed to the class the day before to check for
understanding. Read History Alive section 4.2 as a class. Pass out History Alive Reading
Notes 4. Project image on overhead and discuss the activity, rules, and expectations. Model
correct (and incorrect!) behavior, as well as satisfactory (and unsatisfactory!) notes for the
activity.
Note: Divergence from History Alive! Based on prior experience with this lesson (not all groups finished,
all students not reading the sections, confusion regarding which objects were represented on a placard,
etc.), I have decided to conduct the “excavation project” as a class, with groups of 3 students each
responsible for the excavation of one placard, and presentation of the material to the class. After
excavating the object, the group of “archeologists” will determine which object it is and thoroughly read
the section on that object. When they are finished, they are to create the notes on chart paper and
present the information to the class. Notes should include information regarding what the object is,
5th Grade Unit 1
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Alief ISD
what it was used for, why it was important, and a classification as either “motives”, “technology”, or
“products”. Categorizations should be justified and will be discussed as a class. As students present
their information to the class, teacher supplements notes as necessary and directs students to read and
look at specific parts of History Alive Chapter 4. Notes are completed on the overhead using the same
graphic organizer as the students.
Students will work with groups to rank each of the items (within each category) from most
important to least important and discuss as a class. Be sure to direct the class discussion in
such a way as to keep in mind the universal generalization – organizations seek out new
opportunities that will help them survive and improve).
Exit ticket: Independently, students must choose what they feel is the most important artifact
discovered. They should justify why it is the most important on the grounds of how it will help
England to survive and improve.
Independent Practice: (Sinker)
[Day 4]
Review objects (names and importance). Review how each contributes to the unit
understanding. England established colonies in America to increase its wealth and to compete
with other countries that were seeking empires in the New World.
Writing Prompt (History Alive Lesson 4) *Modified:
How will you
check for
understanding?
Questioning.
Circulation and
conferencing.
Students have two options to choose from:
[1] Tell students to imagine they are explorers returning from a visit to the New World. They
should explain 1. why they wanted to explore, 2. one new technology that helped them, and
3. one new object they brought back to Europe from the New World.
[2] Tell students to imagine they are museum curators and they have just gotten word about
the discovery of the excavated items from the sunken ship. You would love to display all of
them, but unfortunately you only have room for three of them. They should write a letter to
the undersea archeologists explaining which three objects you want to put in your museum for
the exhibit on “Why Europeans left for the New World”. Be sure to give EVIDENCE for your
choices.
Model example on overhead. Ask for student input. Then students complete writing prompt
independently.
[Day 5]
Students complete History Alive Lesson 4 Assessment.
Modifications/Extensions:
Students placed in mixed ability groups. Notes written on overhead as well as discussed
orally. Other modifications as deemed necessary by the specific students in the class.
Students finishing early may write a second letter, from a person in England, in response to
the original letter.
Students may rank all of the objects by the importance.
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Alief ISD
Closure:
Discussion of answer to unit understanding. How have our answers changed since the
beginning of the unit? How does the content (England’s colonization of the New World)
generalize to organizations across the board? What other examples can we think of to
support these claims?
Now that we’ve discussed organizations (like countries), predict why individual people would
want to explore?
Discussion of answers to Social Studies Questions: What is History? Why study History? How
is “then” important to “now”?
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