Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template(Social Studies)

Grade Level/Subject: 3rd

Grade/ Social Studies

Central Focus: Learning how the government helps the

community.

Essential Standard/Common Core Objective:

3.C&G.2.2: Exemplify how citizens contribute to the wellbeing of the communitys natural environment
3.C&G.1.2: Describe the structure of local government and
how it functions to serve citizens.

Date submitted:
taught:

Date

Daily Lesson Objective: Students will exemplify how they can contribute to the community by
writing a narrative about what they would do to improve their community. Within their letter they
must give 3 examples of how they think they can better their community and be able to explain
why.
Students will also hear a talk from Mayor Stan Anthony of Shelby, NC.
21 Century Skills:
st

Academic Language Demand (Language Function and

Vocabulary):Students will synthesize new ideas to better their
community.

Prior Knowledge: Basic knowledge of government

Activity

Description of Activities and

Setting

1. Focus and Review

(to be done on the following day after

Mayor talk in Teacher Input)
Yesterday we had a visitor, what did
he talk to you all about? Heads inbutts up group talk time for a minute
and then students will share
something they remembered from the
mayor talk.

2. Statement of Objective
for Student

Using what you learned from Mayor

Anthony yesterday we are going to
learn a little bit more about leaders
who have helped their communities.
At the end of this lesson you will be
writing a narrative describing if you
were mayor that will include three
things you would do to improve your
community.

3. Teacher Input

Mayor of Shelby, NC will speak to

students about his job and about local
government.
Mayor Talk
1.
Overview of Municipal Govt
a.
Council / Manager form of
municipal government

b.
c.
d.

Role of the Mayor

Role of the City Council
Role of City Manager

2.
Overview of the municipal
services
a.
Electric
b.
Gas
c.
Sewer/water
d.
Parks and Recreation
e.
Streets / Public works
3.
a.
b.
c.
d.
4.

Duties of the Mayor

City Council meetings
Ambassador for the City
Economic Development
Legal responsibilities
Questions

4. Guided Practice

Students will read as groups, pages

196-199 (should take about 15
minutes) in the Social Studies book.
They will read about some local and
global leaders.
Questions to ask after the reading:
1. What do local leaders want?
2. Can anyone give me an
example of a local leader?
3. What is a global leader?
4. What is the difference in a
global leader and a local
leader?
5. Who knows someone that is a
global leader?

5. Independent Practice

The students will write a If I Were

Mayor narrative.
Start If I were mayor. and include
three ideas on how they would
improve their community. These ideas
should include, but are not limited to:
gardens, recycling, parks,
transportation, etc.

6. Assessment Methods of

Their If I were mayor narrative must include:

3 improvement ideas.3 points
3 reasons for these improvements.3 points
< 3 punctuation mistakes...1 point
< 3 capitalization mistakes...1 point
Name and date...2 points

7. Closure

8. Assessment Results of
all objectives/skills:
Targeted Students
Modifications/Accommodation
s:

What is a local leader?

What are some things you
can do to improve your
community?
8 of 56 students were 100% proficient
Student/Small Group Modifications/Accommodations: for
students with ESL you may have to help them read the
passage. Also they can write in their home language if they
feel more comfortable doing it.

Materials/Technology: Guest speaker, Social Studies book, paper, pencils

References: Mayor Stan Anthony, Harcourt Social Studies textbook
Reflection on lesson: This lesson went well. Having the mayor of Shelby come to speak to the
whole third grade was very exciting. They were so excited to meet him! He gave an in-depth
explanation on local government and then he answered their questions. The following day, I
asked them some questions about what the mayor spoke about. During the discussion, I was
very impressed by how much they remembered even though he had given a long speech. I
almost fell asleep! on of the students told me. I gave them their written assignment. While
grading them I noticed a lot of the students had poor grammar, which made for lost points for
many of them. Most of them got the concept of what we were talking about which was good!