POWERFUL SOCIAL STUDIES LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program: ELED 434 ALL SECTIONS

The following information should be included in the header of the lesson plan:
Katie Miller
Ms. S. Throneburg
W.W. Robinson Elementary School
5th Grade
_Wednesday, December 3,2014 @ 10:20am-11:58am
Date: _Monday, November 24, 2014_
Signature: _On Copy Turned In_
A. TITLE OF LESSON: The United States, Spain, Russia, and China=] is the NameTrading is the Game!!!
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
The students will be learning about the United States, Canada, and Mexico and the significance that
each of these countries has on each other in political, social, cultural, and economic areas. I will be
expanding on the idea of trade with other countries by talking about trading amongst ourselves. This is
an appropriate activity for the students because we are constantly trading whether as a country or as
individuals. The students are at the end of the concrete operational stage. They are gaining a better
understanding of mental operations and they are also thinking more logically about concrete events. At
this stage in their lives the students are able to reason logically about things as long as the reasoning
can be applied to concrete and specific examples. Piaget considered the concrete operational stage a
major point in the childs cognitive development, because it marks the beginning of logical or
operational thought (McLeod, 2010, pg. 1).
McLeod, S. (2010, January 1). Concrete Operational Stage | Simply Psychology. Retrieved October 11,
2014.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand what are the
broad generalizations the
students should begin to

Know what are the facts,

rules, specific data the
students will gain through this

Do what are the specific

thinking behaviors students
will be able to do or practice

develop? (These can be

difficult to assess in one
lesson.)
Students will be able to
understand that countries
throughout the world in both
the past and present have
had substantial impact on the
political, social, cultural, and
economic development of the
United States.

lesson? (These knows must

be assessed in your lesson.)
Students will know how
Russia, Spain and China
impacted the United States
throughout history.
Students will know how the
United States impacted
Russia, Spain and China
throughout history.
Students will know where
Russia, Spain and China are
on the map.
Students will know
vocabulary:
Export: to transport goods to
another place for trade
Import: to bring in a good or
service from another area for
trade
Interdependence: people
relying on each other for
goods, services, and ideas
Trade: buying, selling, or
exchanging of goods and
services
United States Imports:
Electronic equipment;

as a result of this lesson?

(These will also be assessed
in your lesson.)
Students will be able to find
Russia, Spain and China on
maps.
Students will also be able to
verbalize how Russia, Spain,
China and the United States
impacted each other through
political, social, cultural, and
economic aspects.
Students will be able to name
5 products that each country
imports and exports.

machines, engines, and

pumps; furniture, lighting,
and signs; toys and games;
footwear; knit or crochet
clothing; clothing (not knit or
crochet); plastics; vehicles;
and medical, technical
equipment; oil;
pharmaceuticals; iron or steel
products; organic chemicals;
collector items, art, and
antiques; alcoholic
beverages; rubber; inorganic
chemicals; fertilizers; gems,
precious metals and coins;
aluminum; fish; other base
metals
Chinese Imports from U.S.:
Oil seed; aircraft and
spacecraft; machines,
engines, and pumps;
electronic equipment;
vehicles; medical, technical
equipment; plastics;
woodpulp; copper; and
organic chemicals
Spanish Imports from U.S.:
pharmaceuticals; oil; aircraft
and spacecraft; machines,
engines, and pumps; organic
chemicals; fruits and nuts; oil
seed; electronic equipment;
medical, technical equipment;
and vehicles

Russian Imports from U.S.:

machines, engines, and
pumps; vehicles; aircraft and
spacecraft; electronic
equipment; medical, technical
equipment; plastics; meat;
inorganic chemicals; fruits
and nuts; other chemical
goods

D. ASSESSING LEARNING:
What will your students do or say, specifically, that indicate every student has achieved your
objectives? Rememberevery objective must be assessed for every student!
Task:
Diagnostic features:
Support:
What learning tasks have you
What resources can you

What features will

organized that can be used for
draw upon (or adaptations
you look for in student
assessment?
can you make) to be
responses or products
certain you are actually
from the task(s)?
assessing the objectives

What criteria will you

youve set for this lesson?
use for assessment?
Some children may still be
developing the basic skills
needed to complete your
assessment, but it does
not mean they have not
learned the objectives for
your lesson. How will you
support these students?

The students will be

playing a game after we
talk about trade between
Spain, Russia, China and
the United States. The
game is called The
Trading Game. The
students will use their
knowledge about trade
between the countries to
make decisions about
what they want to trade
and with what country.
After roughly 10 minutes,
a world situation occurs
and the outcome makes
changes in the trading
world. After having a
world change and
outcome we will tally up
which country wins and
then talk about:
Did any countries end the
game richer or poorer
than they started? Which
ones?
What was it like to be a
rich country? A poor

I will look to see if

students can accurately
name items that each
country trades.
I will look to see if
students can locate and
label the countries on a
map.
These assessments will
be written so that I know
that each student
understands.

For students who have

trouble writing down
their ideas they will be
able to verbally respond
to the questions. They
will also be able to
show me on a map
where each of the
countries are.

country?
Was it easy or difficult to
trade? Why?
Did any countries feel
especially powerful or
powerless?
Which items were most
popular? Which were
least popular? Why?
E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)
Fifth Grade Historical Survey Course Standards
Shenandoah County Public Schools Standard: HS5 Geo.3 The student will use maps, globes,
photographs, pictures, and tables to locate and identify countries and regions important throughout
United States history.
English
Standard 5.1: The student will listen, draw conclusions, and share responses in subject-related group
learning activities.
d. Communicate new ideas to others.
e. Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
Handouts for each Countries Imports/Exports me
Prezime
Vocab handoutme

 Trading gameme
Questions to answer after the game and lessonme
Sources Used
Top US Exports. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2014.
U.S. Relations With Russia.
U.S. Relations With Spain.
U.S. Relations With China.

G. PROCEDURE
(Use this graphic organizer if it is helpful for you. If you create your own format you must include each
aspect listed below, in the column headings). NOTE: You are not required to include 4 learning events if
your lesson will not include this many! The extra events are only included for the sake of
demonstration.
Activity Element
& Time (in
minutes)

Procedures and management

Step-by step procedures
including questions and main
points visualize what you are
going to say to the students. It
might be helpful to script out
what you are going to say,
although during the lesson you
do not need to use this language
verbatim.

Students
Describe what the students will
be doing as a result of your
instructions

Academic, physical,
social & linguistic
differentiation,
resources, and
support
How will you support ALL
students by
differentiating aspects of
your lesson based on
readiness and interest,
and according to
content, process, and
product? It isnt always
necessary to include
differentiation in
logistical aspects of the
lesson such as
transitions.

Introduction of
International Trade
10-15 minutes

Event 1
Time to play the
game
30 minutes

Today we will be talking

about International Trade.
Who can tell me what
International trade is? Talk
about it with the people
sitting next to you for about a
minute. (Now call on
someone)
Show prezi and talk about
what international trade,
import, export and
interdependence are.
I will also hand out the
vocab sheets and the
Countries imports/exports are.
When we come back from
I.E. there will be markers
(show them what im referring
to) on the desks indicating the
groups.
Please sit at the desks that
are labels with the country
that you drew earlier.
The students will have
drawn papers indicating which
group they are in earlier in the
day.
Group 1: (United States)
Group 2: (Russia)
Group 3: (China)
Group 3: (Spain)
You need to find a way to
trade amongst the countries

Talking with their

classmates around them and
thinking about what trade,
import, export and
interdependence are.

For the students

who are having
trouble sitting still,
I may have them
handout the
papers.

The students will be

working as a team to trade
amongst the other countries
to gather the items that they
need for the citizens of their
country or for items that they
can trade to another country
for more money.
They will need to decide
together who they want to
trade with and what goods
they want to trade.
If they are not able to
trade with a country due to
restrictions then they will

The students can

talk about what
country they want
to trade with and
they can choose
one person that
will do the talking
so the ones who
do not want to talk
or do not
understand the
concepts that they
are working on. If
they are still
confused about

to end up with the items that

your country needs to survive.
Each item will be worth a
certain number of points at
the end and those points will
be listed on the screen at all
times.
Everything that you need
is on the table/desks where
you are sitting. You all need to
work together as a team to
trade wisely and make the
best decisions for your
country.
After 10 minutes a bell will
ring, we will tally up the
number of points that each
group has and then you all
will need to listen to hear
what has changed in the
world that will affect your
trading.
1st World Situation: The
world is running out of oil,
making oil extremely rare and
much more expensive.
Outcome: The worth of oil
increases by two points.
After the World Situation
we will play for 2 more
minutes under that situation.
Another bell will ring and
we will re-tally the points.
Listen carefully after you tally
your points because there will

need to find a way to gather

the goods that they want
through another country.
They will also need to be
able to use critical thinking
skills during the world
situation.

the ideas of
trading or what
they need to do
they may not want
to talk about or
trade with the
other countries.


Transition
Head by to seats
where the game
started.
2 minutes
Event 2
Class Discussion
15 minutes

be another World Situation

China learns to make
counterfeit electronics,
making its electronics
cheaper.Outcome: China
takes one electronic unit from
each country.
Now we are going to retally the points to see which
country has the most points.
Now we need to head back
to the seats where we started
the game.

We are going to discussion what

happened during the game.

Did any countries end the

game richer or poorer than
they started? Which ones?
What was it like to be a
rich country? A poor
country?
Was it easy or difficult to
trade? Why?
Did any countries feel
especially powerful or
powerless?
Which items were most
popular? Which were least
popular? Why?
If you were not able to
trade certain items with

The students should move

back to their starting seats.

They should be able to talk

about the game and how they
feel that the game went.
They will need to talk
amongst their groups
(countries) and discussion the
questions:
Did any countries end the
game richer or poorer than
they started? Which ones?
What was it like to be a
rich country? A poor
country?
Was it easy or difficult to
trade? Why?
Did any countries feel
especially powerful or
powerless?
Which items were most

For the students

who do not like to
talk in front of the
class they will be
able to discuss the
questions with
their groups and
someone else in
the group can
answer out loud.

certain countries how did

you manage to or figure
out what needed to be
done to be able to acquire
those items?

Conclusion:

I will answer any questions

that the students still have
about trading.

popular? Which were least

popular? Why?
If you were not able to
trade certain items with
certain countries how did you
manage to or figure out what
needed to be done to be able
to acquire those items?
The students should be
asking any questions that
they still have regarding
trade.

If the students do
not want to ask
their questions out
loud they can
write them down
and place them in
a box in the room
and I will answer
them without
anyone knowing
who is asking the
question.

H. DIFFERENTIATION:
I have met all the needs of the students in the classroom with my lesson because my lesson
includes a prezi presentation, a hands-on game where the students will be moving around, and a class
discussion. The prezi presentation will meet the needs of auditory learners because they will be
gathering the information while listening to me. For the students who are not able to sit still or need to
move around frequently they can hand out the papers to each of the students. The hands-on game is a
great way for the kinesthetic learners since they will be physically playing a game where they will be
trading with other countries. The class discussion is a great way for the students who feel that they
need to say things out loud to understand them because they have the opportunity to ask questions to
make sure that they understand what is going on and to make sure that they accurately comprehend
the material.

All of the students in my class speak English so there will be no issues with some of the students
not understanding what I am doing. The students are all healthy and are in great physical condition so
moving around the room during the game is not going to be a problem for anyone. If there are any
students who are struggling with the objectives or need more help understand then I will try to explain
it to them a little better so that they understand the material. If there are students who find the content
minimally challenging then I will ask them to see if they can find a way to make the trading a little more
difficult for them. Maybe they could try to trade with a country that they have restrictions with to see
what happens and if there are restrictions then what will they do to find a way to trade with that
country or how will they obtain the goods that they need if they cannot trade with that particular
country.
I.

RATIONALE: 1-Double-spaced page that justifies what you are teaching and why it is important for
students to develop a deep understanding of what is being taught. Be sure to emphasize how it
contributes to students development as citizens and to their lives beyond school. Explain why it
matters in terms of its meaning to students, the value of the subject content, opportunities for inquiry
and its importance to the community and to society. The rationale should not be that the lesson fits
within the state or school curriculum.

This lesson is important for the students to understand the concept of trade and develop critical thinking skills. If the
students are aware of the trade that we partake in with other countries then they will be able to make informed
decisions later in life. Not only do we trade with other countries, but students also trade among themselves. For
example, Sam has cookies in his lunch and Tyler has an apple in his lunch, Tyler will try to trade his apple for the
cookies that Sam has. If students understand the concept of trade then they will be able to make more sense of how
we acquire certain products and why we have to attain them from various countries. I think that it is important for
students to understand that different parts of the world provide goods that are imperative to the rest of the world. I
think this will enable the students to look at products that we use on a daily basis and think about where we would

be as a community or a country if we did not have the products coming into us through trade. I chose the countries
that I did because I want the students to encounter challenges that they will need to stop and think about critically
to find ways that they can trade with specific countries.

J.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Think about this! It may help you avoid an embarrassing situation. Look over the choices youve made
for teaching this lesson. What extenuating circumstances (based on what you know if your students,
their schedules, and the context in which you teach) could potentially derail your otherwise excellent
plan? Identify at least 4 potential problems and thoughtfully describe your plan for addressing them
when they arise? IN other words, what are your contingency plans?
Prezi may not work so in that case I would have a PowerPoint presentation ready to go as a
backup. In the case that my PowerPoint is not working I will have all the information needed
either printed out and write it on the board or have posters ready with the information.
The students may not completely understand the concept of trade or they may not understand
the different vocabulary. In this case I will break the concepts down even more to help them
understand the ideas.
The students may not understand different strategies that can be used to solve the problems.

Name:

Date: