A: Third grade Social Studies class, 25 students: 15 Caucasian, 6 Hispanic, 3 African American, 1 Asian. It is the third quarter of the school year, and students have had several lessons in reading maps and using relevant computer applications such as Google Earth. In addition, students are able to recall all 50 United States. Students’ learning styles are an even mix of verbal, visual, and tactile.
S: SS.3.G.2.2: Identify the five regions of the United States. SS.3.G.2.3: Label the states in each of the five regions of the United States. SS.3.G.2.5: Identify natural and man-made landmarks in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. SS.3.G.2.6: Investigate how people perceive places and regions differently by conducting interviews, mental mapping, and studying news, poems, legends, and songs about a region or area. SS.3.G.4.3: Compare the cultural characteristics of diverse populations in one of the five regions of the United States with Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean. -Students will be able to identify* the five regions of the United States and the states that make them up on a written exam with 90% accuracy. -Students will be able to report the unique characteristics of the given states in their websites with mastery. -Students will be able to design an effective website on Wikispaces with mastery. *Bolded words denote level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
S: Materials: -Computer hooked up to projection screen -Laptops for student use with Google Earth software installed -Internet access -Several political maps of the United States for students to use in groups -Slips of paper with the coordinates for different states written down, excluding home state. -USB drive for each student
U: Teacher will present a map of the United States from Google Earth on the projection screen. He or she will ask introductory questions such as “How many states are there?” “What does ‘contiguous’ mean?” “Do you think that the country could be divided any other way besides into states?” “What are ‘regions?’” “What are ‘coordinates’ and what are they used for?” Ask several students to answer each question, giving their own interpretation. Introduce the five regions of the United States: The West, Midwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast. Next, teacher will pass out slips of paper with coordinates on them. Ask, “what do the numbers on the papers mean?” Teacher will present project: Each coordinate is located in a different state. Students will use Google Earth to find out which state is theirs, and will do a research project on that state. After research is completed, students will create individual Wikispaces to report their research. Students will then present their Wikis to the class on a projector and present a five question quiz following the presentation.
Block 1: Students will type their coordinates into Google Earth to find out what state they will be researching. Then they will find 20 facts using an online search engine, and meet in regional groups to discuss similarities between the states. Students will save their information to a Word document of their USB drives.
Block 2: Students will use Google Earth to find a landmark in their state. They will click on the camera icons to view images of landmarks and choose their favorite. Then, students will research the landmark and write one paragraph about it. Students must also find a few photos of the landmark and the link to the state website, and save all of this information to another Word document on their USB drives.
Block 3: Students will plan a fictitious trip to the landmark for June 3-7. Using travel websites, they will find the price of plane tickets, hotel, and car rental. They must also find out if their landmark requires a ticket to visit and include that on the page. Finally, they must create a list of no more than 20 items that they would pack, using the weather a guide. They should once again save this information to another Word document on their USB drives.
Block 4: Students have already had a lesson in creating a Wiki, so today they will independently log into their Wikispaces accounts (which they created in the Wiki-creating lesson) and create a new Wiki titled the name of their state. They will copy and paste all the information from their 3 Word documents and format it on the Wiki. Finally, they will create the 5 questions for their “quiz” page.
Block 5: Students will use this time to finish their Wikis and participate in peer review of the Wikis. Students must have at least one other student review their Wiki, and in turn review that student’s Wiki. The following day, students will present the Wikis.
R: Student research will be independent, with occasional group work. Students will be essentially “teaching” the rest of the class about their state and quizzing them about key facts.
E: Student Wikis will be reviewed during presentation by the teacher and given a grade. Review the quality of student Wikis. If students had a hard time using Wikispaces, adapt the lesson next time by finding a different program or by requiring a brochure or poster created on a word processor or on Glogster (for example). If students had difficulty researching their states, next time provide some websites as a starting point.
Rubric for student wikis: -Wiki must contain three pages: Basic Information, Landmark, and Quiz -Basic Information: This is where students list the 20 facts about their state. Must include population size, year it became a state, state bird, flower, flag, etc., average temperature for this time of year, and any other points of interest. The information can be in either paragraph form, like a report, or in bullets. Page must contain at least 3 photos or images pertaining to the state, such as a map, a photo of a landmark, etc. Must also contain link to state government website and one other relevant link. -Landmark: This page must contain at least 3 paragraphs about the landmark and several photos of the landmark (at least 2.) If possible, students should include a link to an official website for the landmark. -Quiz: This page will be shown to the class as a way of measuring their understanding of the presentation. Questions can be multiple choice or short answer, and students will answer them verbally by raising their hands. Questions must be about information that was clearly presented in the previous pages, but should still be challenging. The page must contain exactly 5 questions. Answers must be written in a very small yet readable font at the bottom of the page.
A: Third grade Social Studies class, 25 students: 15 Caucasian, 6 Hispanic, 3 African American, 1 Asian. It is the third quarter of the school year, and students have had several lessons in reading maps and using relevant computer applications such as Google Earth. In addition, students are able to recall all 50 United States. Students’ learning styles are an even mix of verbal, visual, and tactile.
S: SS.3.G.2.2: Identify the five regions of the United States.
SS.3.G.2.3: Label the states in each of the five regions of the United States.
SS.3.G.2.5: Identify natural and man-made landmarks in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
SS.3.G.2.6: Investigate how people perceive places and regions differently by conducting interviews, mental mapping, and studying news, poems, legends, and songs about a region or area.
SS.3.G.4.3: Compare the cultural characteristics of diverse populations in one of the five regions of the United States with Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean.
-Students will be able to identify* the five regions of the United States and the states that make them up on a written exam with 90% accuracy.
-Students will be able to report the unique characteristics of the given states in their websites with mastery.
-Students will be able to design an effective website on Wikispaces with mastery.
*Bolded words denote level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
S: Materials:
-Computer hooked up to projection screen
-Laptops for student use with Google Earth software installed
-Internet access
-Several political maps of the United States for students to use in groups
-Slips of paper with the coordinates for different states written down, excluding home state.
-USB drive for each student
U: Teacher will present a map of the United States from Google Earth on the projection screen. He or she will ask introductory questions such as “How many states are there?” “What does ‘contiguous’ mean?” “Do you think that the country could be divided any other way besides into states?” “What are ‘regions?’” “What are ‘coordinates’ and what are they used for?” Ask several students to answer each question, giving their own interpretation. Introduce the five regions of the United States: The West, Midwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast.
Next, teacher will pass out slips of paper with coordinates on them. Ask, “what do the numbers on the papers mean?”
Teacher will present project: Each coordinate is located in a different state. Students will use Google Earth to find out which state is theirs, and will do a research project on that state. After research is completed, students will create individual Wikispaces to report their research. Students will then present their Wikis to the class on a projector and present a five question quiz following the presentation.
Block 1: Students will type their coordinates into Google Earth to find out what state they will be researching. Then they will find 20 facts using an online search engine, and meet in regional groups to discuss similarities between the states. Students will save their information to a Word document of their USB drives.
Block 2: Students will use Google Earth to find a landmark in their state. They will click on the camera icons to view images of landmarks and choose their favorite. Then, students will research the landmark and write one paragraph about it. Students must also find a few photos of the landmark and the link to the state website, and save all of this information to another Word document on their USB drives.
Block 3: Students will plan a fictitious trip to the landmark for June 3-7. Using travel websites, they will find the price of plane tickets, hotel, and car rental. They must also find out if their landmark requires a ticket to visit and include that on the page. Finally, they must create a list of no more than 20 items that they would pack, using the weather a guide. They should once again save this information to another Word document on their USB drives.
Block 4: Students have already had a lesson in creating a Wiki, so today they will independently log into their Wikispaces accounts (which they created in the Wiki-creating lesson) and create a new Wiki titled the name of their state. They will copy and paste all the information from their 3 Word documents and format it on the Wiki. Finally, they will create the 5 questions for their “quiz” page.
Block 5: Students will use this time to finish their Wikis and participate in peer review of the Wikis. Students must have at least one other student review their Wiki, and in turn review that student’s Wiki. The following day, students will present the Wikis.
R: Student research will be independent, with occasional group work. Students will be essentially “teaching” the rest of the class about their state and quizzing them about key facts.
E: Student Wikis will be reviewed during presentation by the teacher and given a grade. Review the quality of student Wikis. If students had a hard time using Wikispaces, adapt the lesson next time by finding a different program or by requiring a brochure or poster created on a word processor or on Glogster (for example). If students had difficulty researching their states, next time provide some websites as a starting point.
Rubric for student wikis:
-Wiki must contain three pages: Basic Information, Landmark, and Quiz
-Basic Information: This is where students list the 20 facts about their state. Must include population size, year it became a state, state bird, flower, flag, etc., average temperature for this time of year, and any other points of interest. The information can be in either paragraph form, like a report, or in bullets. Page must contain at least 3 photos or images pertaining to the state, such as a map, a photo of a landmark, etc. Must also contain link to state government website and one other relevant link.
-Landmark: This page must contain at least 3 paragraphs about the landmark and several photos of the landmark (at least 2.) If possible, students should include a link to an official website for the landmark.
-Quiz: This page will be shown to the class as a way of measuring their understanding of the presentation. Questions can be multiple choice or short answer, and students will answer them verbally by raising their hands. Questions must be about information that was clearly presented in the previous pages, but should still be challenging. The page must contain exactly 5 questions. Answers must be written in a very small yet readable font at the bottom of the page.