Katie Hardy

Miss OHanlon, P4, St. Clares Abbey Primary School

Date and time lesson to be presented: June 8th, 2016 at 9:30am

EDUC 501 Lesson Plan

A. TITLE OF LESSON: Investigating the Regions of the United States of America

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON

By the time this lesson will be completed, I would have been in my P4 class practicum
placement for at least 3 weeks. Throughout those 3 weeks, I have observed and interacted
with the students in my practicum, and have gotten to see their different attitudes towards
school and learning. This lesson asks for students to work in groups, which can help develop
students social and group work skills. A pre-assessment will be completed prior to this
lesson to see what students already know about America.

This lesson is appropriate because they students havent really been exposed to what
America is like. Some students have some misconceptions about America, and this lesson of
introducing the concept of different parts of America can help expose them to a way of life
outside of their own. This lesson also fits the standards under the topic The World Around
Us, while also meeting a few literacy standards as well. In addition to the Northern Ireland
standards, this lesson is tailored to meet some second grade standards in social studies and
English. The curriculum at St. Clares is very fluid, as long as the lessons address some
standards; also, it is almost the end of the year, so most of the major learning is completed.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Understand Know Do
1. The USA is made up The student will identify Students will label the
of different regions regions of the United States regions on the United States
on a printed map.

2. Each region of the The student will describe
USA has different what an assigned region in
characteristics that the United States is like. The
make it unique. student will describe
characteristics like weather,
cities, food, and any
interesting facts.
Students will conduct
research and prepare a
presentation to inform their
peers on information about
an assigned region of the
USA.
 D. ASSESSING LEARNING

Objective Assessment
1. The student will Students will label and color a map of the United States that
identify regions of the illustrates the different regions. Students will label the
United States. following regions of the USA: New England/Northeast, Mid-
Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, West, Northwest.
2. The student will For their assigned region, students will create a visual
describe what an representation of the different characteristics of their region
assigned region in the of the USA. The following characteristics have to be
United States is like. included in the presentation: what major cities are in the
The student will region, what is the weather and climate like during each
describe season (temperature, precipitation, wind, etc.), popular food
characteristics like options, travel destinations, and any interesting facts.
weather, cities, food,
and any interesting
facts.

E. RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING/NORTHERN IRELAND STANDARDS

Northern Ireland

The World Around Us (Place). Pupils should be enabled to explore:

1. how place influences plant and animal life,
2. ways in which living things depend on and adapt to their environment,
3. features of the immediate world and comparison between places
Literacy (Writing): Pupils should be enabled to:
8. organize, structure, and present ideas and information using traditional and digital
means
Literacy (Reading): Pupils should be enabled to:
2) read, explore, understand and make use of a wide range of traditional and digital
texts;
5) use traditional and digital sources to locate, select, evaluate and communicate
information relevant for a particular task;
6) represent their understanding of texts in a range of ways, including visual, oral,
dramatic, and digital
VA SOLs

Social Studies
2.4: the student will develop map skills by a) locating the Unite States on world maps
English
2.3: the student will use oral communication skills a)use oral language for different
purposes: to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to clarify, and to respond; c) participate as
a contributor and leader in a group
 2.10: the student will demonstrate comprehension of information in reference materials b)
use pictures, captions, and charts; d) use online resources
Computer Technology
K-2.6: Communicate effectively with others in collaborative learning situations a) use
technology tools for individual and collaborative writing, communication, and
presentation activities (use word processing to practice writing skills, use common
graphic and presentation tools when preparing and providing presentations)
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
Computers to conduct research and make poster (?)
Guided Research Worksheets for students
Blank map of the United States
Interactive PowerPoint for intro of lesson (displayed on Promethean Board)

G. PROCEDURE

Preparation of the Learning Environment

Because this lesson will occur in the morning, I will be setting up the lesson while students
are completing their morning work. The first part of this lesson requires the use of a
computer and the Promethean board, so I will have to make sure that the technology is
working. Copies of worksheets will be made before the students walk in to the classroom.

Introduction

To start the conversation about life in America, I will ask for volunteers to share their
ideas and thoughts about America. Some comments may include weather patterns
(Its warmer there), famous people (President Obama, other politicians), or even
places that they have been to (WDW, DisneyLand, Florida, California). I will direct
the conversation to focus on if they know about different parts of America.
To aid the discussion and introduction that America is made up of different regions, I
will create an interactive map of the USA using the website/app Thinglink. With
this website, I can display multiple images and videos at once of different parts of the
USA. The interactive map will have at least an image or a video to provide a visual
representation of each region of America.
o Students will be given a blank map of America. As I show different visuals of
the different regions, I will ask for students to color and label each region as I
introduce it to them. Each region will have its own color and name.
o Link to Thinglink: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/794594790866944000
After showing a snapshot of each region to the students and their map of the USA is
complete, I will introduce the task that students need to complete.
 o Students will research a specific region of the USA. The students will work in
groups to complete this research, and they will also be given a guided
research sheet to help them find important information about their region.
o After students complete their sheet and their research, they will have to create
a poster to display the information they have learned about their respective
region.

Implementation

To begin this part of the lesson, I will have the students already broken up into groups of 3;
these groups will have been created with the consultation of the cooperating teacher.

As students are working in groups, I will be walking around the room and checking in to see
how students are doing and answer any questions they may have.

Closure

If students can find the information about their region in a respectful amount of time, then
students will be able to share their posters about their assigned region to the rest of the class.
If there is not enough time before lunch break, then the students can share their posters
another time.

Clean-Up

The clean-up for this lesson is minimal: students will be asked to put the laptops away and
tidy up their papers. All I will have to do is close out the materials that I used on the
computer/Promethean board.

H. DIFFERENTIATION
Because this lesson has students working in small groups, these groups will be
prearranged before this lesson will be taught. The groups will be created with
consultation of the cooperating teacher, and will focus on mixing students from a
variety of levels. Each member of the group will be assigned a role, so that way
each child can be assessed and contribute the same amount of work.
I will be circulating around the room while the students are working in their small
groups, and will answer questions as they arise. If I notice a student struggling to
follow instructions or identify the different characteristics of the assignment, I
will work one-on-one with that student to help get him/her on track.
For those students that finish early, they can spend time researching answers to
questions that they may have America. They can also plan what place they would
like to visit in America, and write a small paragraph explaining why they want to
visit that destination.
A good number of students in this class have their own IEPs. There are total of 8
students with IEPs, and the students disabilities range from selective mutism,
 social emotional behavior difficulties, ADHD, dyslexia, and difficulty acquiring
literacy and numeracy skills.
I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO
ABOUT IT?
Students may also have difficulty working in small groups. Students may be
distracted by working with others, or may need some assistance with getting work
done in small groups. In my introduction to this lesson, I will try and prevent this
kind of thing from happening by stressing the importance of working with others
and focusing on the task at hand. However, if need be, I could change this small
group, hands on lesson to a whole group demonstration if students cannot handle
this amount of responsibility in working in groups.
The technology required for this lesson could malfunction or just not be
cooperative before the lesson begins. If this were to happen, I would change this
lesson to focus more on answering questions students may have about America,
and encouraging discussions about what America is like to live in. I could also
ask for students to write letters to a friend who is visiting America, or for me to
take back with me to have read in my future classroom.

REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 REGION ASSIGNED: _________________________________________

Researcher:___________ Documenter:_______________ Presenter:______________

Some major cities include:

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

The weather and climate in this region is:

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Some specific foods that can be found in this region include:

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Some fun places that you could visit are:

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Other interesting facts about this region include:

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Shade your region on the map!