Name: Shannon Russo

Grade/ Subject Area: Grade 1, Social Studies

Type of setting: Urban Elementary School
Date of Lesson: September 29, 2016
1. PURPOSE
This is the second lesson about family structure that the students are being taught.
The purpose of this lesson is to give students a basic understanding of the
difference between nuclear and extended family members and the different
generations a family consists of. Students will also learn what family trees
represent and why they are important.
Essential Questions
What is a family?
Who are the members of a family?
Content Understanding
Families are diverse
Families have different structures
Families are multigenerational (great grandparents, grandparents, etc.)
Families are both the same and different in many ways
2. VOCABULARY AND KEY TERMS
Family- a group of people who are related to each other
Nuclear family- parents and their children
Extended family- family that includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and
cousins.
Family Tree- shows the relationships of family members to one another by
linking them together
Generation
3. SKILLS
Name members of the family
Compare and contrast families pictured in a book
Organize leaves on a family tree
Describe the students family
4. OBJECTIVE(S)
Identify diverse family structures.
Compare and contrast diverse families.
Students will be able to create their own family tree and label it with the
names of their family members, organizing the family members by
generation.

Given the lesson on families and a sentence strip, students will write a
sentence accurately describing their family.

5. STANDARDS
New York City Social Studies Scope and Sequence
1.1 Language, beliefs, customs, and traditions help shape the identity and culture
of a family and a community.
1.1a Families are a basic unit of all societies, and different people define family
differently.
1.1b People and families of diverse racial, religious, national, and ethnic groups
share their beliefs, customs, and traditions, which creates a multicultural
community
6. PRE-ASSESSMENT
In order to gain an understanding of how much students already know about this
topic, I will use the sketches of their families they drew in a previous lesson. I will
also informally ask a few review questions at the beginning of the lesson to see
how much the students remember from the lesson taught the previous day.
7. LESSON PRESENTATION
a. SET INDUCTION
Call students to the meeting area by table
Show Discovery education video (01:06) Many kinds of families
o Turn and Talk Partner A tell Partner B What type of family
do you have?
Review what we learned in the previous lesson about families. Chart
responses. Read Aloud - A Family is Special
o Look back at the pictures in the book to refresh our memories
o Families do many things together Partner B tell Partner A
One thing your family does together.
o Families can be big or small Think Aloud I have ? members
in my family. Stop and think how many members in your
family?
o Families take care of each other - Partner A tell Partner B one
way your family takes care of each other.
o Think aloud - Families are both the same and
different in many ways.
b. PROCEDURE
Introduce the concept of a family tree
o Has anyone ever heard of a family tree? We talked about
them a little bit last week. Family trees show how the
people in your family are related.
o Family trees can be very complex if your family is big, or
they can be simple and only show part of your family

o Draw a family tree on chart paper

Grandparents go at the top of the family tree. They
are the roots of your family tree. All of your other
family came from your grandparents.
Next, we add the grandparents children. Who do
you think your grandparents children are? Turn and
talk- Partner A tell partner B
Add parents, aunts, uncles to family tree
Add my dad to family tree
Add myself to family tree, add my brother next to
me because he is around the same age
Why do you think family trees are important? Turn
and talk- Partner B tell partner A. Family trees show
us all of our relatives. All of the people at the same
level are around the same age. This is called a
generation. A family tree shows us the generations
in our family.
Model creating a family tree with my family
o Show materials on the elmo
o Write the names of my family members on leaves
o Put grandparents at the top of the tree because they are the
oldest, they are the roots, they are what holds the family
together. Then place my parents next
o Turn and tell your partner. Where would I go on my family
tree. My brother will go next to me because we are the
around the same age.
o Write a sentence describing my family My family is
special because we care about each other. Or, My family
is special because we love to do fun things together.
Have students make their own family trees
o Explain that all of the students will now make their own
family trees. They will all look different because we all
have different families.
They can include only their nuclear family if their
extended family is very large
Tell students to write a sentence under their tree to
describe their family or say why it is special
o Have students go back to their desks and take out their
crayons
o Review that the oldest people are at the top of the tree and
you are at the bottom
o Walk around the room to monitor student work
c. CLOSURE
Clap to get students attention

Tell students that social studies is almost over but we will review
what we learned first.
Ask a few students to share their sentences
Have students put their crayons away and collect family trees

8. MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

Paper leaves
Family tree worksheet
Crayons
Glue
Pencils
Elmo
A Family is Special book
9. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY/ASSIGNMENT
Since the students are learning to write about small moments in writing, they
will write a three page (beginning, middle, end) small moment piece about the
people on their family tree.
10. EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT
Students will be evaluated on their knowledge of family based on their family tree
and the sentence they write beneath.
11. DIFFERENTIATED
Struggling readers- students will receive a sentence prompt to use
Struggling writers will have assistance completing their family tree and
assistance with writing their sentence
12. RESOURCES
Walton, D. (2002). A family is special. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn.

Family Tree Rubric:

Recognize members of my family

Know why a family tree is so important

Know why family is so special

Know who the roots of the family are