Huffman 1
Jordan Huffman
Curriculum Development Project
EDUC 350 Elementary Social Studies Methods
Fall 2014
Dr. Bradley
Demographics: This unit it for a third grade class, I had my third graders at afterschool in mind as I created it. These students are eight
and nine years old. They attend Salem City Public Schools, reasonably good environment with good parent support, typically all
middle class families. My classroom is mixed with a few below grade level, the majority on level, a few above grade level, and a few
students with learning disabilities. We meet one for one hour every day, Monday through Friday. I am teaching this unit of social
studies on government and the power and authority that our government has. It also teaches about civics and economics. This unit is
important for students to understand the community and nation that they live in, and how they live in democracy form of government
that they have freedom in a lot of ways but laws have been passed as restrictions to keep our nation’s population safe.
Resources:
The Cat and the Hat by: Dr. Seuss
The Little Red Hen by Diane Muldrow
The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman
We the Kids: the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States by David Catrow
Who Was George Washington? by Roberta Edwards
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Who was Ulysses S. Grant by Megan Stine
Who was Theodore Roosevelt by Michael Burgan
Who Was Davy Crockett by Gail Herman
Who was Ben Franklin by Dennis Brindell Fradin
Pinterest: Our Classroom Bill of Rights/ Creating a Classroom Constitution for Constitution Day
Branches of Government Sort
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Illustrate the Bill of Rights
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Constitution Day Activities and Printable
U.S. Constitution Detectives Activity Project Common Core Standards
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Foldable for Branches of Government
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Fakebook- create a fake page for someone
The Standards & SOL-based Instructional Resources
www.loc.gov- Constitution resource I have students use
rubistar.4teachers.org –rubrics for assessment
(authority vs. power: Social Studies Coalition of Delaware)
Day One
Scenarios
a. John is going swimming after school.
b. Julia’s mother made her wait an hour after eating before going in the
pool.
c. Rich could not watch the baseball game because his brother kept
changing the channel.
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d. Tommy gave a dollar to her friend to buy a snack
e. Taylor’s father said she could not go outside to play until her
homework was finished.
f. Ashley wrote a letter to her friend in Florida.
g. Sean and Steve are going to the park to play football.
h. Brian demanded Susan’s lunch money so he could buy his lunch.
3. Have the students turn and talk to a partner about the scenarios in which someone
acted on his/her own and when the person acted because someone had power over
him/her. Next, have them respond to these two questions in their journals:
o Describe a time that you acted on your own when you made a choice.
o Describe a time when you acted because someone had power over you.
If time permits, have students share their responses with the class or partner.
Day 2
Skit Scenarios
a. A teacher assigning homework/class work to his/her class.
b. A parent telling children to do their chores.
c. A bully forcing children to leave the playground.
d. A student demanding money for snack from another student.
e. A police officer giving someone a ticket.
f. A thief robbing a bank.
g. A principal telling students to eat quietly in the cafeteria.
Day 3
In which of the following situations is the person using power without authority?
a. a teacher assigning daily homework
b a student taking someone’s lunch money
c. a police officer giving a speeding ticket
d. a bus driver telling students to sit in their seats.
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AAL
Goals:
K.U.D. Planning
K: KNOW
Examples: facts,
vocabulary, definitions,
places, information, etc.
TSW know the importance of government in the community, in Virginia,
and the United States
TSW understand the roles that George Washington played in our Country
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U: UNDERSTAND
Examples: essential
truths, principles and
generalizations, big
ideas of a discipline, etc.
Statement: I want
students to understand
that…
I want students to understand that the branches of government to make
laws, carry out laws, and decide if laws have been broken are important
for our safety.
D: DO
Examples: basic skills,
thinking skills, planning
skills, uses verbs or
phrases, etc.
TSW create three branches of government with their roles in a diagram
format
K.U.D. Planning
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K: KNOW
Examples: facts,
vocabulary, definitions,
places, information, etc.
TSW explain the importance of basic principles that form the foundation
of a republican form of government
TSW know the definitions of power and authority
TSW describe individual rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness, as well as equality under the law
TSW describe how people serve the community and our nation
TSW be able to distinguish the difference between power and authority
U: UNDERSTAND
Examples: essential
truths, principles and
generalizations, big
ideas of a discipline, etc.
Statement: I want
students to understand
that…
I want students to understand that we are all equal and that we have
rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as United States
citizens.
I want students to understand that we have people who have power and
authority to serve our community and our nation in order to protect us
and our rights.
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D: DO
Examples: basic skills,
thinking skills, planning
skills, uses verbs or
phrases, etc.
TSW distinguish scenarios to tell if they are showing power or authority
TSW act out skits portraying power and authority
TSW determine a person who showed power or authority through
literature
TSW act out a town meeting showing different areas of power, authority,
and/or government in the community or state
Government, Power, and Authority 3rd Grade Unit Scope and Sequence
Concept(s):
TSW understand that positions of
authority carry responsibilities and
develop the understanding of authority
versus power.
TSW identify the characteristics the
branches of government and that a
democracy is where people participate in
governing themselves.
TSW conduct a town meeting to
S.O.L.(s):
3.10 The Student will recognize the
importance of government in the
community, Virginia, and the United States
of America
a.) explaining the purposes of rules and laws
b.) explaining the basic purposes of
government are to make laws, carry out
laws, and decide if laws have been broken
3.11 The student will explain the importance
of the basic principles that form the
Additional Content S.O.L.(s):
Social Studies curriculum
standards:
II Time, Continuity, and Change
V Individuals, Groups, and
Institutions
VI Power, Authority, and
Governance
CE.3 e.) evaluating how civic and social
duties address community needs and
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demonstrate knowledge of republican form foundation of a republican form of
of government.
government
a.) describing individuals rights to life,
liberty, pursuit of happiness; and equality
TSW analyze the Constitution, Preamble,
under the law
and Bill of Rights to understand why we
have the government in place that we have d.) describing how people can serve the
community, state, and nation
and how our founding fathers developed
our way of government the way we have it
today.
serve the public good
Sequence
Objective:
Pre-Assessment:
Activities:
Materials:
Post Assessment:
Day 1
TSW distinguish scenarios
of people using power
through putting their
thumbs up on scenarios that
show a person using power,
getting the majority of the
scenarios correct.
Discuss power and
people that use power
out loud as a class
writing answers on the
board.
Write on the board
a definition of the
word power.
Play the “thumbs
up, thumbs down”
game. Get scenario
and read it. If the
scenario shows a
person acting on
his/her own the
class should put
their thumbs up. If
the scenario shows
a person
acting because
someone had
power over
him/her, the class
should put their
thumbs down. Stop
• Note cards for
scenarios and role
playing
• Pencils
Board and markers
Materials for
collages
Tell homework
due day 3:
TSW design and construct
a collage that portrays
power and authority
through a minimum of
three photos.
TSW answer questions
about power and authority
correctly answering the
questions asked in class.
Technology:
c/t5.2 operate devices
c/t5.3 use search strategies to retrieve
electronic information
(Have students
make a collage
using pictures from
magazines that
show
Power / authority.)
Show examples
and give materials
out to get started.
Ask questions
about power to
assess what they
learned.
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and discuss each
scenario.
Day 2
• TSW compare and
contrast the differences
between power and
authority through scenarios
of persons in the school,
home, community, and
government, for 1 example
for each power and
authority, and answer
questions asked about
power and authority
correctly.
TSW write about power
and authority picking 1
topic out of the two topics
to write about in their
journals.
Review the discussion
from the day before.
Ask students to define
POWER and have the
student’s describe a
scenario in which
someone acts on their
own and a scenario in
which someone acts
because someone has
power over them.
Ask children what
authority is. List any
reasonable answers on
the board.
Write the
definition of
AUTHORITY.
Ask the children to
identify people in
different contexts
who they believe
have authority.
(home, school,
community)
Invite the principal
in to talk about
their power and
authority in their
job.
Pencils
Scenario cards
Board and makers
Thank you gift for
principal
Journal
Raft choices
In small groups the
students will act
out scenarios that
show people acting
with either power
or authority. After
the skits, the other
students in the
class will have to
describe whether
the skit illustrated
the use of power or
authority and
explain their
reasoning. After
splitting children
up give each
student a skit
scenario written on
a note card. Allow
several minutes to
plan and practice
skits. Have each
group take turns
performing their
skits. After each
skit ask a nonactor to decide if
the skit shows the
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concept of power
or authority and
explain why.
Ask students
questions for
understanding
distinguishing the
difference between
authority and
power.
Day 3
TSW distinguish the
differences between power
and authority through
writing and illustrating in
their journals about at least
one character showing
power and authority from
the story read to the class.
TSW plan and produce a
project that shows images
demonstrating their
knowledge of the
difference of power and
authority, correctly
demonstrating their
Review the concepts of
power and authority
using the questions of
scenarios.
Homework due: share
collages
Read The Cat and
the Hat to students
and tell them to be
thinking about the
concepts of power
and authority as
you read the story.
Discuss and tell
journal prompt.
Collages
Pencils
Journals
Board and markers
The Cat and the
Hat
Raft writing
assignment in
journal. Finish for
homework if you
do not finish in
class.
On one page in
their journals have
them draw and
write about the
character that is
using power
without authority.
Then on another
page in their
journal have them
write about the
character who is
using authority.
Have the students
share their
responses with a
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understanding of power
versus authority.
Day 4
(civics/
economics
lesson plan
with it)collaborative
learning
TSW construct a
community map working
independently and in small
groups with construction
paper to create buildings
and structures in a
community setting,
distinguishing between
privately owned buildings
and government
businesses.
TSW explore goods and
services available in their
community and determine
that some are privately
produced and the
government provides other
goods and services, and
they will distinguish
between goods and services
by private businesses and
the government through
building their community
buildings.
The teacher will show
a picture of a blank
community with no
buildings. She will ask
the students what is
missing in the image.
Discuss who provides
the community with
goods and services.
What is a good? What
is a service?
Create foldable
with terms of
goods and services
on the outside flap
and on the inside
draw an image
showing it with the
definition. Glue
them into note
books. Hand out
notecards face
down, numbered
and assigned a
duty. Get in small
groups and create
the communities.
Share the
communities.
Discuss who
provides the
community with
goods and services
through private
business and
government.
partner and then
have several share
their responses
with the class.
Collect the
journals to check
for understanding.
Large paper,
As we finish with
construction paper,
the activity the
crayons, glue, tape, teacher will give
scissors,
everyone a job on
PowerPoint,
another notecard to
images of
help clean up. Sit
buildings, cards
in a circle for class
Examples of fables
discussion by
to show
student lead
questions I assist
on.
Show examples of
fables. (The Little
Red Hen by Diane
Muldrow) (The
Wolf Who Cried
Boy by Bob
Hartman) – read
parts of the books
if time permits.
Tell the students
what a fable is and
assign students to
write a fable
teaching a lesson
how goods and
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TSW explain that taxes
collected by the
government are used to pay
for goods and services
provided by the
government by answering
questions asked out loud
correctly.
Day 5
TSW research how the
Constitution was created,
(Technology how it is structured, and
lesson)how it applies to students’
collaborative present-day lives looking at
learning
the United States
government, and report his
or her findings to the class
orally.
All students will use
laptops. Hand out
KWL Constitution
Detective sheet- split
into small groups have
resource of
constitution online
-fill out what you
know
What you want to
know
Each group can write
what they already
know on the board
before they look at it
Read We the
Kids: the Preamble
to the Constitution
of the United
States. By David
Catrow.
Introduce
PowerPoint to
teach the
Constitution and
the United States
strong government
How it is
structured:
preamble, articles
I-VII, bill of rights
/ amendments 1-10
(in lesson teach
certain words for
activity)
Note cards,
pens/pencils and
paper, board and
markers, KWL
Constitution
Detective sheet
Laptops for online
access to
constitution
PowerPoint
Candy
We the Kids book
Journals
services priced by
the government
benefit the
community, and
they will share
them in class the
next day.
Finish fables for
homework for
sharing them with
the class the next
day.
At the end of
learning about
constitution
another member of
group can mark
out and add to the
list on the board of
what they knew
before learning
about the
constitution and
we will talk
through it.
Tally up the
numbers of correct
definitions. Present
the group with the
most correct
answers with
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candy.
Activity: Power
Words-Break up
the students into
groups of four.
Give them terms
without
definitions.
Have the students
define the terms
from memory in
their groups and
assign certain
groups to present
them out loud.
Can work on this
at home for
homework if want.
Research prompt
using laptops. pick
2 of the 4 to
research about and
share findings with
the class in their
own creative way,
1 of the 4 for some
students or 3 of the
4 for some
students:
1. How is the
Constitution
structured?
2. Which, if any,
rights are protected
by this
Constitution?
3. What are the
key points of the
Constitution of the
United States?
4. If you could add
one item to
the U.S.
Constitution, what
would it be?
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AND students
must pick one
founding father
that took part in
the constitution to
do a short
biography on.
Create it for
homework by
writing it down on
piece of paper.
Read Who Was
George
Washington? By
Roberta Edwards –
to show what
biographies need
to include for
when they make
theirs.- go over the
important facts out
loud with the
students about
George
Washington.
Also show Who
was Ulysses S.
Grant by Megan
Stine
And show Who
was Theodore
Roosevelt by
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Michael Burgan
and Who Was
Davy Crockett by
Gail Herman and
Who was Ben
Franklin by Dennis
Brindell Fradin as
examples and the
students can pass
them around and
look at them for
ideas.
AAL
Day 6
(Biography
lesson plan
from
homework
the day
before and
started in
class the day
before)
TSW construct his or her
Take the biographies
own bill of rights for the
created for homework
classroom through their
the day before and type
understanding of the bill of
up on computers and
rights, creating six different
find an image of the
bills of rights that are
founding father that
relevant to our classroom,
goes with their
similar in format to the Bill
biography. Have the
of Rights put in place for
students print these out
our country.
and give them to them
to glue to cereal boxes
TSW create a bibliography with image on one side
for a founding father,
and biography on the
including an image of the
other one. Or they can
founding father and
create a fakebook
important information
online about their
about their founding father
person to present
through research on the
instead. Set up around
computer and taping it to a
room as they finish.
Do you know your
rights? Create
classroom bill of
rights individually
and vote on the
best
Board and markers
Bill of rights sheet
Pencils
Illustration bill of
rights sheet
PowerPoint of bill
of rights
Cereal boxes
Laptops
Printer
Markers
Paper
journals
Do you know your
rights? Create
classroom bill of
rights as classhave every student
and teacher sign
Homework if you
don’t finish in
class: Journal
prompt – write
about your favorite
class bill of right
and why you like it
the best and pick
one of the raft
choices to do.
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cereal box.
Learn bill of rightshave sheet as we
discuss to illustrate
each bill of rights in
the proper box which
they can use for
creating their own bill
of rights.
TSW demonstrate their
knowledge of the
Constitution, Bill of Rights,
and power and authority in
communities through
assessment methods of
bingo and jeopardy, getting
the majority of the
questions correct.
Catch up day finish all
activities we have not
finished yet.
Day 7
If finished:
Groups: 1 stationwatch short clip
about preamble
and create We the
kids preamble
working together
in the small group
While I help other
students get ready
with their materials
to catch up.
Once students
catching up are
working
independently
Give finished
students premade
bingo cards about
the constitution
and call out bingo
as a review ( as
Bingo sheets
Online jeopardy
Candy
All make up
materials from
prior activities
Preamble clip
We the kids
preamble sheet
Review jeopardy
through
PowerPoint
presentation about
the constitution,
bill of rights, and
power and
authority.
Homework: study
for test!
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students finish
with make up work
they can join in)
Day 8
TSW conclude his or her
knowledge about positions
(lesson plan) of authority, whether
elected, appointed, and the
roles of government carry
responsibilities and should
be respected and the
constitution and bill of
rights on their test.
Start out class: bell
ringer study notes for
quiz
Test- demonstrating
student knowledge on
power, authority,
communities,
Constitution, and Bill
of Rights.
Discussion:
Create three
columns on the
board with each of
the three branches,
and list the rights
and responsibilities
of each one.
Large paper book
Markers
Journals
Pencils
Board and markers
paper
During discussion
students create
Draw three branches of foldable with three
government tree :
flaps of each
Provide students with a branch and the
helpful chart and lead a duties of each
discussion of the three branch
branches of
government and the
Discussion
roles of each.
Questions
Day 9-10
(lesson plan
continued)
TSW examine the reasons
for parliamentary
procedure, and will be able
to bring issues that matter
Discussion of issues of
importance to students
in the classroom.
Announce that the
class will
participate in a
town meeting,
Journal Prompt: If
you were going to
work for one of
the three branches
of government,
which would it be?
Why? Or pick a
Raft Choice to
write about.
Branches of
government sort:
sort out cut out
sheet cards in the
right branches
Journals
Pencils
Makeshift scaffold
Materials needed
I will walk around
and check each
student before they
can put them up to
make sure they are
all correct.
Do the sort again
for homework and
show an adult!
At the end of this
lesson the students
will go in to a
‘reflection period’
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to them to a vote, working
with classmates in a town
meeting.
TSW perform in a town
meeting discussing and
debating matters of
importance to their
classroom, coming to a
conclusion on at least one
classroom issue.
which is a debate,
to dispute an issue.
Each student will
have a vote on the
matter, and the
class as a whole
will elect officials to
run the meeting.
Before the meeting
students will have
to have a classroom
election to elect
representatives:
board of five
selectmen and
women that have a
regular classroom
job or assignment,
a clerk who sends
out the agenda for
the meeting, a
record keeper of
the meeting, a
person who is in
charge of the list of
all the voters which
are the class
members, and a
moderator who
runs the meeting.
After the election
has occurred and
students have
discussed possible
items to be decided
at the town
for town meeting
after the Town
Meeting, in which
students think
about how it went,
what could be
done differently, or
in a better way and
write about it in
their journal
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meeting, the board
of select men and
women will meet to
finalize the town
meeting agenda.
The agenda can
cover more than
one item, but it
must have at least
one item. All the
town meeting
voters (all
classmates) will be
given an agenda
printout.
The town meeting
day will be the next
day. The select men
and women will sit
at the front of the
room with the town
clerk and
moderator. The
moderator will call
the meeting into
order and the items
of the agenda will
be read. A vote will
be held on each
item discussed. A
simple majority is
sufficient for
passage on a vote.
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Learning experiences to teach content? town meeting activity, skits, collages, journals, bill of rights activity, constitution research;
group work, individual work, and class work/discussion
Prior Knowledge or Skills Needed: Students should be able to identify
people who have responsibilities and identify what those responsibilities are. They
also have learned about leaders in their home (parents), school (teachers, principals), and in their communities (police officers,
firemen,). This prior knowledge will help connect the concepts of power and authority at a government level.
Raft Choices: Day 2
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Town person
Mayor/ governor
Friendly Letter
Disusing a certain
topic you feel needs
attention in your town
Principal
Students
8 line poem
School expectations
Lesson Plan: Day 4 in Unit
Lesson Plan Format
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Name: Jordan Huffman
Virginia SOL:
Grade:3rd
CE3 c evaluating
how civic and
social duties
address
community needs
and serve the
public good
Subject:
Start time:
Civics/Economics
Total time 1 hr
Date:
11/15/14
Stop time:
Lesson Title: Community Goods and Services (Civics/Economics Lesson incorporated with
collaborative learning)
Objectives (What do you want students to know, do, or feel as a result of your instruction?)
1.
TSW construct a community map working independently and in small groups with
construction paper to create buildings and structures in a community setting,
distinguishing between privately owned buildings and government businesses through
correctly designing and labeling one building for the community.
2.
TSW explore goods and services available in their community and determine that some
are privately produced and the government provides other goods and services, and they
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will distinguish between goods and services by private businesses and the government
through answering questions asked out loud in class and getting the majority of them
correct.
Goods, public goods, the role of government, services, taxes
Critical vocabulary:
Materials/resources:
Large paper, construction paper, crayons, glue/tape, scissors, PowerPoint,
images of buildings, cards, fables
Pre-assessment: (How will you know if your students already know what you are teaching?)
The teacher will show a picture of a blank community with no buildings. She will ask the
students what is missing in the image. Discuss who provides the community with goods and
services. What is a good and what is a service?
Intro (how do you capture their attention and get them interested?):
Create foldable with terms of goods and services on the outside flap and on the inside draw and
image showing one with the definition. The student will glue them into their notebooks.
The teacher will hand out a notecard face down on each student’s desk, and she will ask them to
keep them face down until she says to flip them over. On the notecard there will be a group
number one to four and a building or business. She will get them to flip the cards over and then
find their groups. She will hand out the materials and discuss what they will be doing, creating a
community in small groups with the paper provided including the places on their cards. Have
them draw roads and decorate their communities how they want.
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Body (what comes after your interesting intro?)
Share the communities. Discuss who provides the community with goods and services through
private businesses and the government.
As we finish, the teacher will give everyone in the classroom one particular job on another
notecard with a task on it to help clean up. One group will have the majority of the work and it
will be very noticeable it is not evenly distributed. Once the room is back to normal we will sit in
a circle and discuss some questions, student lead, through the activity think pair share: is it fair
that one group had all the work?, what might happen if we asked everyone to clean up
voluntarily?, and discuss the last activity and what happens when people make a mess in our
city?, and who pays for fast food places, movies, and grocery stores?
Closure (purposeful summary-help them remember today or anticipate tomorrow):
Show examples of fables. (The Little Red Hen by Diane Muldrow) (The Wolf Who Cried Boy
by Bob Hartman) – read parts of the books if time permits.
Discuss what a fable is, that it is when an animal talks in a short story. Ask students to write one
teaching a lesson how goods and services provided by government benefit the community. Tell
them they will be sharing them in class the next day, if they would like.
Homework: Finish the fables for homework if they did not finish in class. Illustrate your fable’s
cover. Share with a grown up if you would like.
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Assessment: (How will you assess if they have mastered your objectives? Be specific.)
Think pair share questions, as the teacher sits back and just listens and helps as needed.
Discourse students learning through discussion together. The fable they complete at the end of
class and for homework showing their understanding of government and privately owned
businesses creating goods and services in the community.
Are you differentiating lesson content, process, or product by readiness, interest, or learning
profile? Explain.
I can differentiate the groups making them equal. I can differentiate by assigning easier buildings
to students who have a harder time and more challenging buildings to students that need a
challenge. The cards can also be distributed by interest if I know certain students are interested in
certain things I can include a building in the community for them to build that has to do with that
interest. Because we had one project where we are constructing something and working in small
groups, I also made sure to talk as an entire group for students that prefer that form of work. I
also changed from hands on activity to a writing activity as the closure. This way both drawers
and writers get a way to shine. Students can have shorter or longer fables.
For cooperative learning explain how you have insured:
positive interdependence- the student being able to identify if their building assigned is a
government run business or privately owned
individual accountability- the student creating their own building is their task in building their
community-also their classroom cleanup task
group processing- the students working in small groups to solve the problem given and develop a
well-developed community
Huffman 29
social skills- the students working in small groups, talking out loud in think pair share activity,
sharing their fables to the class portraying what they are trying to stay
face-to-face interaction- the students are working in close small groups constructing and
discussing. The students being part of the conversation speaking to the class
Country Side
Classics Store
Sheetz Gas
Station
PostOffice
Office
Post
School
Fire Station
Police Station
Bank
Lesson Plan Day 5 in Unit
Mac and Bobs
Huffman 30
Lesson Plan Format
Name:
Virginia SOL:
Jordan Huffman
Technology:
c/t5.2 operate
devices
c/t5.3 use search
strategies to
retrieve
electronic
information
3.11 The student
will explain the
importance of
the basic
principles that
form the
foundation of a
republican form
of government
a.) describing
individuals rights
to life, liberty,
Grade: 3rd
Date:11/15/14
Huffman 31
pursuit of
happiness; and
equality under
the law
d.) describing
how people can
serve the
community,
state, and nation
Subject:
Start time:
Stop time:
Government/ Social Studies
1 hr
Continue to next day
Lesson Title:
United States Constitution Detectives
learning incorporated)
(Technology Lesson/ start biographies) (collaborative
Objectives (What do you want students to know, do, or feel as a result of your instruction?)
1.
TSW research how the Constitution was created, how it is structured, and how it applies to
students’ present-day lives looking at the United States government, and report his or her
findings to the class orally, or through another method they choose.
2.
TSW use computers to research electronic information and retrieve knowledge about the
United States Constitution and deliver the information they found to class through a
presenting it to their fellow classmates and adding to the classroom discussion.
Huffman 32
Materials/resources:
Note cards,
pens/pencils and
paper, board and
markers, KWL
Constitution
Detective sheet
Laptops for online
access to
constitution
PowerPoint
Candy
We the Kids book
Journals
Pre-assessment: (How will you know if your students already know what you are teaching?)
The teacher will hand out the KWL Constitution Detective sheet. Then she will split the class
into small groups and have resources of constitution online for each group. (www.loc.gov) All
students will have laptops to complete this task. Before giving them the resources the students
will be asked to fill out the K for what they think they already know about the Constitution and
fill out the W for what they want to know about the Constitution. They will write this on their
KWL sheets to use for class, and they can discuss it in their small groups. We can talk together
as a class about what the students put on these two columns before sending them off to learn
more, this way the teacher knows what they already know going into the lesson. Make a list on
the board for each group. Students can write for their group.
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Intro (how do you capture their attention and get them interested?):
Read We the Kids: the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States by David Catrow out
loud for the class. Discuss the book and the Preamble to the Constitution.
Introduce PowerPoint to teach the Constitution and the United States strong government
How it is structured: preamble, articles I-VII, bill of rights / amendments 1-10
(in lesson teach certain words for activity)
Body (what comes after your interesting intro?)
Activity: Power Words (critical vocabulary words are the words they will be finding)- the
students will already be split up in groups of four. Give them terms without definitions. The
students will define the terms from memory in their groups and I will assign certain groups to
present them out loud. They can use their laptops to check their definitions they come up with
before presenting them out loud.
Closure (purposeful summary-help them remember today or anticipate tomorrow):
Using their resources of the Constitution and the PowerPoint and book discussed in class
complete the learned section of the KWL chart.
At the end of learning about constitution another member of group can mark out and add to the
list on the board of what they knew before learning about the constitution and we will talk
through it.
Tally up the numbers of correct definitions. Present the group with the most correct answers with
candy.
Start research prompts using laptops. These will be due tomorrow. If students do not have
computer access at home and do not finish assist them in other ways. Pick 2 of the 4 to research
Huffman 34
about and share findings with the class in their own creative way, 1 of the 4 for some students or
3 of the 4 for some students:
1. How is the Constitution structured?
2. Which, if any, rights are protected by this Constitution?
3. What are the key points of the
Constitution of the United States?
4. If you could add one item to
the U.S. Constitution, what would it be?
AND students must pick one founding father that took part in the constitution to do a short
biography on. Create it for homework by writing it down on piece of paper.
Read Who Was George Washington? By Roberta Edwards – to show what biographies need to
include for when they make theirs.- go over the important facts out loud with the students about
George Washington. Also show Who was Ulysses S. Grant by Megan Stine, Who was Theodore
Roosevelt by Michael Burgan, Who Was Davy Crockett by Gail Herman, and Who was Ben
Franklin by Dennis Brindell Fradin as examples and the students can pass them around and look
at them for ideas for their on biographies to write and use for their projects the next day.
Homework:
Research Prompts and biographies on Founding Fathers
Assessment: (How will you assess if they have mastered your objectives? Be specific.)
Day 5 Discussion Questions:
Huffman 35
1. What is a constitution?
2. Who were the Founding Fathers?
3. Why do you think the Founding
Fathers believed that rules about
government should be written down?
4. Do you agree or disagree? Why or
why not?
These questions asked to the students can be assessed for their understanding.
The research prompts are an assessment.
Creating their own definitions of the critical vocabulary words are assessing them on their
understanding.
The KWL chart and chart put up on the board by the students.
Are you differentiating lesson content, process, or product by readiness, interest, or learning
profile? Explain.
The research prompt can be done not on the computers for students who don’t have access or
need another way. There are more or fewer options for the research prompt as needed by each
student’s readiness level. They get to pick the founding father they can to do for their biography
project by their interest.
For cooperative learning explain how you have insured:
Huffman 36
positive interdependence-using the computer individually to work on all activities and speaking
out loud on findings
individual accountability- each person has their own sheets to make sure they are writing down
and contributing so all the sheets will be taken up for assessment and graded. Everyone working
independently on research prompts and biographies
group processing-working in small groups to research about the Constitution, working in the
groups to create lists on the board of what they know, change the lists to what they learned,
working together to create definitions
social skills-talking in small groups and out loud to the class
face-to-face interaction- with peers and to teacher if participating in class discussion
Lesson Plan Day 6 in Unit
Lesson Plan Format
Huffman 37
Name: Jordan Huffman
Subject: Social Studies/ Government/
History
Virginia SOL:
Start time:
Grade:3rd
Grade
Date:
11/15/14
Stop time:
1 hr
Lesson Title: Biographies of Founding Fathers (started in lesson plan on the day before on Day
5)/ Bill of Rights of our Classroom (technology also included for fakebook)- (collaborative
learning also included)
Objectives (What do you want students to know, do, or feel as a result of your instruction?)
1.
TSW construct his or her own bill of rights for the classroom through their understanding
of the bill of rights, creating six different bills of rights that are relevant to our classroom,
similar in format to the Bill of Rights put in place for our country.
2.
TSW create a bibliography for a founding father, including an image of the founding
father and important information about their founding father through research on the
computer and taping it to a cereal box or through creating a fakebook online presenting
important information about their particular person.
3.
Bill of Rights,
Critical vocabulary:
Board and markers, Bill of Rights sheet, Pencils, Illustration bill of rights
sheet, PowerPoint of Bill of Rights, cereal boxes, laptops, Fakebook
Huffman 38
Materials/resources:
website, printer, markers, paper, glue, journals
Pre-assessment: (How will you know if your students already know what you are teaching?)
Do you know your rights? Put a slide up on the PowerPoint of a list of the Bill of Rights. Have
the students create classroom bill of rights individually and vote on the best
Intro (how do you capture their attention and get them interested?):
Take the biographies created for homework the day before and type up on computers and find an
image of the founding father that goes with their biography. Have the students print these out and
glue them to cereal boxes with image on one side and biography on the other one. Set them up
around room as they finish on display. If they prefer to create a fakebook on their founding father
instead, of their choice, they can do that to demonstrate their knowledge on their particular
person using a laptop. As we all finish we will have the students present their founding father
biographies to the class.
Body: Learn bill of rights. Give the students a sheet that they will have as we discuss to illustrate
each bill of rights in the proper box which they can use for creating their own bill of rights. We
will discuss each of the Bill or Rights in detail during this.
Closure: Discussion of issues of importance to students in the classroom. (Classroom rules, uses
of resources such as art supplies or computer time, ways of interacting with one another that
produce, or any issue or issues that students believe to be important.) Have the students create a
classroom bill of rights as class and have every student and teacher sign
Journal Prompt: write about your favorite class bill of right and why you like it the best and how
it compares to an actual one of the Bill of Rights and pick one of the raft choices to do.
Raft Choices:
Huffman 39
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Founding Fathers
The People
Conversation
Creating the
Constitution
A Founding Father
To another Founding
Father
Speech
Why create the Bill
of Rights
The People
Founding Fathers
Friendly Letter
About Creating the
Constitution or Bill of
Rights
Homework: if you do not finish your journal prompt and/or raft choice do that
Assessment: (How will you assess if they have mastered your objectives? Be specific.)
Fakebook or cereal box biography demonstrating knowledge on a particular founding father,
their bill of rights sheets, and journal prompts
Are you differentiating lesson content, process, or product by readiness, interest, or learning
profile? Explain.
Based on learning profile and interest the student can choose how they want to do their
biography assignment through a creative cereal box or creating an online fakebook biography
book about their founding father.
Huffman 40
For cooperative learning explain how you have insured:
positive interdependence- biography project, illustrating their own bill of rights for each of the
bill of rights
individual accountability-creating their personal belief of a classroom set of bill of rights and
taking a vote on their favorite
group processing-working as a class to form the classroom set of bill of rights
social skills-talking to classmates about the classroom set of bill of rights
face-to-face interaction- working with classmates sharing their opinions
Lesson Plans for Days 8-10 in Unit
Lesson Plan Format
Name:
Virginia SOL:
Jordan Huffman
Subject: Social Studies
Start time:
Grade: 3rd
grade
Stop time:
Date:
11/15/14
Huffman 41
Day 8 1 hour
Day 10 1 hour
Lesson Title: Test and Town Meeting Assessments
Objectives (What do you want students to know, do, or feel as a result of your instruction?)
1.
TSW conclude his or her knowledge about positions of authority, whether
elected, appointed, and the roles of government carry responsibilities and should be
respected and the constitution and bill of rights on their test getting at least 2/3 of all
questions correct.
2.
TSW examine the reasons for parliamentary procedure, and will be able to bring issues
that matter to them to a vote inside a classroom debate, playing their own particular role.
3.
TSW perform in a town meeting and gain experience in discussing and debating matters
of importance to their classroom, fighting for at least one prominent issue to them,
achieving an adequate score on their rubric I grade them on.
Critical vocabulary:
large paper book, markers, journals, pencils, board and markers, paper,
makeshift scaffold, materials needed for town meeting
Materials/resources:
Pre-assessment: (How will you know if your students already know what you are teaching?)
Day 8: Start out class: Bell Ringer study notes for test
Huffman 42
Test- demonstrating student knowledge on power, authority, communities, Constitution, and Bill
of Rights.
Intro (how do you capture their attention and get them interested?): Discussion:
Draw three branches of government tree : Provide students with a helpful chart and lead a
discussion of the three branches of government and the roles of each Create three columns on the
board with each of the three branches, and list the rights and responsibilities of each one.
During discussion students create foldable with three flaps of each branch and the duties of each
branch.
Discussion Questions:
Why do you think the authors of the Constitution created these branches? Why doesn’t the
President just run everything? 2. Do you think our country needs a constitution? What if the
United States had no rules at all? What would happen if the rules changed frequently? 3. Discuss
how the Constitution set up centralized rules, called the federal government, so that some rules
will be the same from state to state. For example, as you travel from one state to another, the
currency is the same, there are post offices that carry letters and packages across states, and there
are armed forces that represent the entire nation. Why is this important? What would the United
States be like, for example, if each state had its own form of currency?
Journal Prompt: If you were going to work for one of the three branches of government, which
would it be? Why? Or pick a Raft Choice to write about.
Raft Choices
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Huffman 43
Law maker
Other lawmaker
Propose a bill
Creating a new law
Judge
Writing in their
personal diary
8 lines
The importance of the
branches of
government, in
particular the judicial
branch
Branches of government sort: sort out cut out sheet cards in the right branches. I will walk
around and check each student before they can put them up to make sure they are all correct.
Body:
Day 9: Discuss classroom rules, uses of resources such as art supplies or computer time, ways of
interacting with one another that produce, or any issue or issues that students believe to be
important. Announce that the class will participate in a town meeting, which is a debate, to dispute
an issue. Each student will have a vote on the matter, and the class as a whole will elect officials to
run the meeting. Before the meeting students will have to have a classroom election to elect
representatives: board of five selectmen and women that have a regular classroom job or
assignment, a clerk who sends out the agenda for the meeting, a record keeper of the meeting, a
person who is in charge of the list of all the voters which are the class members, and a moderator
who runs the meeting. After the election has occurred and students have discussed possible items
to be decided at the town meeting, the board of select men and women will meet to finalize the
town meeting agenda. The agenda can cover more than one item, but it must have at least one item.
All the town meeting voters (all classmates) will be given an agenda printout.
Day 10: The town meeting day will be the next day. The select men and women will sit at the front
of the room with the town clerk and moderator. The moderator will call the meeting into order and
Huffman 44
the items of the agenda will be read. A vote will be held on each item discussed. A simple majority is
sufficient for passage on a vote.
Closure (purposeful summary-help them remember today or anticipate tomorrow):
At the end of this lesson the students will go in to a ‘reflection period’ after the Town Meeting,
in which students think about how it went, what could be done differently, or in a better way and
write about it in their journal.
Homework: Day 8: Do the branches of government sort again for homework and show an adult!
Assessment: (How will you assess if they have mastered your objectives? Be specific.)
Day 8: Test, sort, Day 9 and 10: Town Meeting
Are you differentiating lesson content, process, or product by readiness, interest, or learning
profile? Explain.
I am differentiating in giving my students two ways to show me what they learned during the unit
through the test and the town meeting. I can also differentiate on readiness level in giving different
tests and giving students the proper amount of work they need to succeed in the town meeting. The
two different forms of assessment also apply to two different forms of interest and learning
profiles.
For cooperative learning explain how you have insured:
positive interdependence- test, journals
individual accountability-personal role in town meeting and placing their vote on items
group processing- working with classmates in debate
Huffman 45
social skills-voicing their opinion on issues and voting
face-to-face interaction-town meeting
ESS
Class Debate : Town Meeting
Teacher Name: Jordan Huffman
Student Name:
CATEGORY
________________________________________
4
3
2
1
All information
presented in the
debate was clear,
accurate and
thorough.
Most
information
presented in the
debate was clear,
accurate and
thorough.
Most information
presented in the
debate was clear
and accurate, but
was not usually
thorough.
Information had
several
inaccuracies OR
was usually not
clear.
Presentation Style Team
consistently used
gestures, eye
contact, tone of
voice and a level
of enthusiasm in
a way that kept
the attention of
the audience.
Team usually
used gestures,
eye contact, tone
of voice and a
level of
enthusiasm in a
way that kept the
attention of the
audience.
Team sometimes
used gestures,
eye contact, tone
of voice and a
level of
enthusiasm in a
way that kept the
attention of the
audience.
One or more
members of the
team had a
presentation style
that did not keep
the attention of
the audience.
Information
Huffman 46
Respect for Other All statements,
Team
body language,
and responses
were respectful
and were in
appropriate
language.
Statements and
responses were
respectful and
used appropriate
language, but
once or twice
body language
was not.
Most statements
and responses
were respectful
and in
appropriate
language, but
there was one
sarcastic remark.
Use of
Facts/Statistics
Every major
point was
adequately
supported with
relevant facts,
statistics and/or
examples.
Every major
Every point was
point was
not supported.
supported with
facts, statistics
and/or examples,
but the relevance
of some was
questionable.
Every major
point was well
supported with
several relevant
facts, statistics
and/or examples.
Statements,
responses and/or
body language
were consistently
not respectful.
Assessment: The assessment will be ongoing throughout the unit. TSW be informally assessed by their participation in group
discussions, the way they interact with their classmates, and in the way they respond in their journal, test, and town meeting.
Works Cited:
Documenting Democracy: Lesson Plans on the United States Constitution. In Commemoration of. Constitution Day. On September
17, 1787, the United. www.history.com/images/media/pdf/Constitution-LessonPlans.pdf
Constitutional Rights Foundation. Free Constitution Lessons. (2014). Retrieved November 2014, from http://www.crf-usa.org
Huffman 47
Fakebook. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2014, from http://www.classtools.net/FB/home-page
History.com. Branches of Government and the Constitution. Retrieved November 2014, from
http://www.history.com/images/media/pdf/Constitution-LessonPlans.pdf
Lesson Plans: Teaching Six Bid Ideas in the Constitution. National Archives and Records Administration. (n.d.)., Retrieved November
2014, from http://www.archives.gov/.../constitution
"Pinterest.".(n.d.)., Retrieved November 2014, from http://www.pinterest.com/
Social Studies Coalition of Delaware. Authority versus Power. Melissa McDermott. (n.d.)., Retrieved November 2014, from
http://www.sscde.org/lessons/files/c_k3_les_authorityversuspower.pdf
The National First Ladies Library. (n.d.)., Retrieved November 2014, from
http://www.firstladies.org/curriculum/curriculum.aspx?Curriculum=933
"The Standards & SOL-based Instructional Resources." VDOE ::. Virginia Department of Education, Commonwealth of Virginia, (2012). Retrieved
November 2014, from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/