Karisma Cruell

TWS 4 April 7, 2014

TWS 4
Assessment Plan
My showcase lesson is a Social Studies lesson taught on the comparison of natural
resources in North and South America. All of the first grade classes had their own continent to
study and my class had South America. I chose North America as a comparison because that is
where we live; it was more relatable for them to compare a country that they know about
because they live here.
Standard: 1-1.4: Compare the ways that people use land and natural resources in different
settings round the world.
Overview of Assessment Plan:
Lesson Objective
Using examples of
natural resources,
students will be able to
compare natural
resources in South
America and North
America, through
drawings, with 100%
accuracy.

Assessments
Pre-Assessment: First, I
will ask some probing
questions (1. What are
natural resources? 2.
How do we use natural
resources daily? 3. Who
can tell me why natural
resources are
important?). Next, I
will explain the
meaning of natural
resources and talk
about how they impact
us (North America) and
South America. Show
part of a video, and a
Prezi with pictures of
different natural
resources.
During: I will draw a
chart on the board, with
one side labeled North
America and the other
side labeled South
America, and have
them call out some
natural resources to
me.
Post-Assessment: I will
have them draw
examples of a natural
resource of their choice
in a map of South
America and North
America (two
drawings).

Format of Formative
Assessments
Pre: Anecdotal recordsIt helps determine what
they already know
about natural resources
in general
During: Checklist- It
allows me to determine
if my instruction was
effective
Post: Worksheet- The
drawings help
determine if they
understand the
difference between
natural resources in
North and South
America and how those
natural resources can
be used.

Accommodations
There are no students
that are challenged or
have IEPs. I will have
early finishers write
anything of their
choices in their writing
journals while waiting
for everyone to
complete their
drawings. For slowerpaced learners, I will be
walking around the
room to help them and
answer any questions.

For my Showcase Lesson, I used a worksheet for drawing and comparing natural
resources in North and South America to assess my students. I believe this assessment is valid

Karisma Cruell
TWS 4 April 7, 2014
because it aligns with the standard and because children remember things better when they
have had a good learning experience on a subject.
The criterion that I used to decide if my students had the pre-requisite knowledge to
complete this lesson was observation. I asked questions at the beginning and tried to get
answers from every student in the classroom.
Description of Pre-, During, and Post Assessments:
During this lesson, I incorporated several formative assessments. For the preassessment, I used anecdotal records. This assessment was aligned to the lesson objective
because I did not include that students needed to know the definition of natural resources; I
assumed that they already did. Therefore, I took notes on how many students were aware of the
knowledge previously learned. For this assessment, the students needed to raise their hands and
be able to tell me what a natural resource is, how we use natural resources, and why they are
important. I determined their success by observation and anecdotal records; I called on some
who were not eager to answer, just to be sure they grasped the concept. This assessment was
valid because it helped to know, in advance, the students that would likely need extra help with
the post-assessment. I made adaptations to meet the individual needs of my students or the
contextual factors by allowing them to share what they already know with the class and creating
a positive learning environment for the lesson.
The assessment that I used during instruction was a T-chart on the white board (while
recording on a checklist). This assessment was aligned to the lesson objective because compared
the natural resources of North and South America; natural resources of North America in one
column and South America in the other column. For this assessment, the students needed to
raise their hands and tell me a natural resource that they remembered from the Prezi and which
continent it comes from. I determined success by checklist; who all raised their hands (that
could have known some answers), and who all actually answered. This assessment was valid
because it allowed me to see how effective my lesson truly was and if they grasped the concepts.
I made adaptations to meet the individual needs of my students or the contextual factors by
letting them answer, they like to have chances to tell what they know.

The assessment that I used after instruction was draw an example (or examples) of a
natural resource that they learned about. This assessment was aligned to the lesson objective
because the objective stated through drawings For this assessment, the students needed
to draw an example (or examples) of a natural resource, of their choice, in the two continents
(two drawings). For example, if a student wanted to draw sugar, they could draw a cake or a
cupcake and, right above the picture, write: sugar. They were also required to write the natural
resource near the picture so I would know which natural resource they were drawing about. I
measured success by seeing how many resources they drew and how detailed the pictures were.
Seeing detailed pictures let me know that they knew the natural resources and some things we
use them for. This assessment was valid because the standard was about comparing the ways
resources are used around the world and they compared by drawing different pictures, for the
two different continents, of how some of those resources can be used. I made adaptations to

Karisma Cruell
TWS 4 April 7, 2014
meet the individual needs of my students or the contextual factors by allowing them to do an
activity that keeps them interested. They like being able to put their own touch to things; being
able to pick the natural resources to draw, and draw anything that used those resources, gave
them a sense of individuality.
Use of Formative Assessment:
I used my pre-assessment data to determine how much they already knew about natural
resources and get an idea of the students who may need extra help during the post-assessment.
Data gathered during the lesson was used to determine how effective my teaching was;
determine if they are grasping the concepts of the lesson. At the end of the lesson, based on my
data, I decided that the students love being able to draw and show off their individuality to the
class. For a few of my students, I found that I needed to find a different way to keep them
engaged. Some of them wrote out the natural resources in the continents instead of drawing
pictures to represent them; not because they didnt understand how natural resources are used,
but because they would rather not color and draw.
Pre & Post Assessment Results for each Child
Students

Pre-Assessment
Results

1
2
3

Did not participate

Very quiet; Did not

participate very well

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

DuringAssessment
Results
Did not participate

Did not participate

very well

Post-Assessment
Results

Answer Key

They can draw pictures of the

Karisma
Cruell
natural resources
OR
just write
TWS 4 April 7, 2014
them in the continent; either
way, they are required to write
the natural resource above the
drawing.

Corn
Cotton
Apples
Bananas
Cows (milk)
Goat (cheese)

Sugar
Pineapple
Beef
Potatoes
Gold
Silver
Oil