Cassidy Blevins

Social Studies Unit Plan

Peopling of Colorado
Social Studies Unit Plan:
Peopling of Colorado
Grade 4

Rationale:

I chose to focus on this Colorado unit plan for a variety of reasons. This unit will come as the
second part of the broader Colorado unit taught in the fourth grade classroom. Within the
broader unit, students spend around 3 months exploring many different aspects of Colorado,
including: the regions of Colorado, peopling of Colorado, Colorado in the twentieth century,
economics in Colorado over time, and government and issues in Colorado. For the purposes of
this unit plan, my emphasis of planning will be related to the peopling of Colorado, which will give
my fourth grade students the opportunity to look at the historical settlers in Colorado that made
our wonderful state what it is today. Importantly, this unit can tie back directly to many of my
students lives, as we discuss people, places and occupations that they might be familiar with
from their own family members or friends. Many of my current students are Colorado natives,
and therefore have the background information, most likely passed down through their family
line, to really bring this learning to life within our classroom walls. The main objective of this unit
is to expose students to the wide variety of groups of people that have called Colorado home over
time so that they can recognize that groups of people, just like those that exist today, have
migrated, adapted and determined Colorado history throughout the years. As students have
continued to grapple with the idea of choice and opportunity cost throughout the fourth grade
school year, this unit will connect to the technological, economic and regional reasons that people
of any given region might stay or go over timea reality that is just as true today as it was
hundreds of years ago.



Grade Level:
4th Grade
Subject /Topic:
The Peopling of Colorado
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Content Standards
Addressed


Standard 1: History
GLE 2: The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas and
themes in Colorado history and their relationship to key
events in the United States.

Standard 2: Geography
GLE 2: Connections within and across human and physical
systems are developed.
EO a: Describe how the physical environment provides
opportunities for and places constraints on human activities.
(DOK 1-2)
EO b: Explain how physical environments influenced and
limited immigration into the state. (DOK 1-2)
Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado
EO c: Analyze how people use geographic factors in creating
settlements and have adapted to and modified the local
physical environment (DOK 1-3)
EO d: Describe how places in Colorado are connected by
movement of goods and services and technology (DOK 1-2)

ELD Standard Addressed

ELLs communicate information, ideas, and concepts for
achieving academic success in the content area of social
studies.

Essential Question(s) What is the role of an individual in a society?
What makes people leave a place and go to another?
What do they take with them? What do they leave?
Why do people continue to come to Colorado?
In what ways do we see Colorados history reflected in
the state today?

Enduring
Understandings/
Big Ideas
What are the
overarching
understandings that we
want students to have
after participating in this
unit?
Diverse people, events, and ideas impact regional
history and culture of the state.
Geography continues to influence settlement in
Colorado.
Analyzing historical settlements in Colorado can help
make sense of the way our cities and towns are
constructed in Colorado today.
Primary sources and tiered timelines help to construct
our knowledge and understanding of Colorado and US
history

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Learner Outcomes
At the end of this unit,
what should students be
able to do? (Based on
District Benchmarks or
Expected Learning
Results)
Students will be able to:
1. Compare and contrast different groups of people that
settled in Colorado over time.
2. Use cause and effect relationships when describing the
history, interactions, and contributions of the diverse
people and cultures in Colorados history.
3. Describe why people came to Colorado in different
eras, their impact and identify how this resulted in
change and development in Colorado over time.
4. Chronologically organize significant groups of peoples
in Colorado using primary sources and a tiered timeline


Overview of Major
activities

Throughout this unit, students will study the diverse groups
and cultures that lived in or migrated to Colorado over time.
Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado
(Must include a
culminating
activity/product)
For the organization of the unit, I have broken the various
groups down into the following list:
Early People and Ancestral Puebloans
The Utes and Plains Indians
Explorers in Colorado
The San Luis Valley and Hispanic Settlers
Trappers, Mountain Men and Traders
Miners, Ranchers and Farmers
Colorados Mix of people over time: including people
of African American, Asian, Japanese and Mexican
heritage
Major Activities:
1. Colorado People Readers Theater: one readers theater
done within each group of people studied (L.O. #3)
2. Compare/contrast different groups of people listed above
using on-going graphic organizer and geographical regional
map of Colorado (completed in Colorado Region unit) (L.O. #1)
3. Cause and effect group analysis: interactive activity in
which students are given various cause and effects of
Colorado migration over time; students work in groups to
determine which group the cause/effect realities represent,
put them in the correct order, and defend their reasoning to
whole class (L.O. #2) *also can be used as formative
assessment activity
4. Create a timeline of Colorado people: start with individual
timelines that add up to culminating timeline that the entire
class collaborates on (L.O. #4)
5. Personal Colorado Journal: throughout the unit, students
are given time to work on their own Colorado journal in which
they reflect on what brought them/their families here
identify reasons for migration, incentives and influences, and
impact made by own family being Colorado citizens (L.O. #3)
6. You are Here: Street Smarts activity (Schmidt, p. 134,
2007) (L.O. #3 & #1)
What do you know about our town (city,
neighborhood)?
Whats the most interesting part of our
community?
Who lives here? Who doesnt? why?
What kind of work do people do?
What do people do for fun?
Compare/contrast with chosen group of
Colorado settlers from the past
Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado
What would you tell a first-time visitor about our town?
6. Culminating Activity: Colorful Colorado Characters
presentation/interview: students take on persona of listed
Colorado individuals from various groups; hold a mock press
conference to interview each student on their personal lives
within the history of Colorado; students conduct research on
individuals, formulate speeches as individuals and dress up as
individuals for day of interview (L.O. #2 & #3)

Assessments
Activities and projects in
which students will
demonstrate what they
know and can do tie to
activities
Formative (ongoing)
*Exit Tickets at the end of
each lesson that have
students explain
something they learned
that day: i.e.: Give me
one reason the ______
group originally came to
Colorado. Did they stay
here or did they go?
Why? (L.O. #3)
*Colorado Journal (L.O.
#3)
*Compare/Contrast
graphic organizer (L.O.
#1)
*Cause and effect group
analysis: interactive
activity in which students
are given various cause
and effects of Colorado
migration over time;
students work in groups
to determine which
group the cause/effect
realities represent, put
them in the correct
order, and defend their
reasoning to whole class
(L.O. #2)
*Rapid Fire Writing: At
the end of the social
studies block, students sit
in rows of 6 students.
Summative (end of unit)
Activity #6: Colorful Colorado
Characters presentation &
interview (L.O. #2 & #3)

Self-assessment Rubric:
*I can describe the different
groups of settlers in Colorado.
*I can compare these different
groups based on what they did,
where they lived and whether or
not they stayed in Colorado.
*I recognize the significance of
why certain people lived certain
places, and what caused them to
do what they did.
Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado
One end of the row starts
with the piece of paper
and writes as much as
they can about
everything they learned
for one minute, once
minute is up, pass to next
person and they do the
sameuntil every student
has gotten the chance to
write. (L.O. #1-4)

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Key Concepts and
Vocabulary needed to
access Big Ideas
Key Vocabulary:
Opportunity
Exploration
Settlement
Constraint
Mountains
Plains
Plateau
Culture
Migration

Specific ideas for visual
representation of the
abstract concepts
(Visuals, graphic
organizers, realia,
gestures)
Abstract concepts: *see appendix A for visual pictures
Opportunity
Exploration
Settlement
Constraint
Migration

Overview of Language
Forms and Functions
essential to this unit
(based on the ongoing
and culminating activity)
Language Functions & Form present in this unit:
Summarizing
First,..and second,..
A few important details about ______ are:..
This primary source explains the origin of _______....

Comparing/contrasting
A distinction between _____ and _____ might be
A similarity between ______ and _____ is.
_____ and _____ have a few common attributes.They
also have some definable differences..

Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado








Appendix A: Visuals for Abstract Concepts:
*Some of these visuals would need further explanationdifficult concepts to depict visually

Opportunity:




Sequencing/order
First, the ______ came to Colorado.subsequently, the
_______ arrived
As can be seen from the timeline, the ____ were the first
settlers to arrive in Colorado.the second settlers were the
_______....



Cause and effect
Due to the fact that ________, the ____ decide to.
In order to ______, the _____ had to _____....
Because of _____, the people of the _____ had to


Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado
Exploration:



Settlement:







Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado

Constraint:




Migration:






Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado








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Family and Community
Outreach
1. Creation of class flags that represent family culture to
be displayed in our room throughout the unit
2. Guest lectures by Colorado native family members
3. Family interviews: When did you or your ancestors
first arrive in Colorado? What brought you/them to
Colorado? What have been the biggest changes you
have you seen in Colorado throughout time?
4. Creation of People of Colorado timeline to be
displayed in front office of school so other students,
parents and community members can access it.
5. You are Here: Street Smarts activity (Schmidt, p. 134,
2007)
What do you know about our town (city,
neighborhood)?
Whats the most interesting part of our
community?
Who lives here? Who doesnt? why?
What kind of work do people do?
What do people do for fun?
What would you tell a first-time visitor about
our town?

Field trips (real and
virtual)
*Walk to Lake Arbor and analyze if the location would be a
sufficient place for settlers to have lived back in the day
*Colorado History Museum
*Blair Caldwell Library: history of development of Denver and
Five Points area
*Arvada Public Library for research on towns history
*Virtual field trip of one-room school houses in Colorado
(analysis of the people that got schooling)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni5OMnEhxmM


Teacher Resources

*See Literacy and Oral Language Matrix


Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado

Matrix of Literacy and Oral Language
Fiction/Narrative Non-Fiction/Expository
Reading/Viewing
Book titles, websites,
multimedia, primary sources,
no need to annotate

(Aim for 10-12 references in
each category)
La Mariposa by Briseida Ramos

The Long Way to a New Land by Joan
Sandin

Coming to AmericaThe Story of
Immigration by Betsy Maestro

My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits

Tall Boys Journey by Joanna Halpert
Kraus

Who Belongs Here by Margy Burns
Knight

Pedritos Day by Luis Garay

Videos:

The Miners from Colorado History
Museum

Websites:

www.coloradohistory.org

http://www.cpluhna.nau.edu

http://www.colorado.gov/dpa
/doit/archives/history/histchron.htm








Discover Colorado: Its People,
Places and Times by Matthew
T. Downey

Colorado: Crossroads of the
West by Matthew T. Downey
& Fay D. Metcalf

The Colorado Story by
Thomas J. Noel & Debra
Faulkner

Tales, Trails and
Tommyknockers by Myriam
Friggens

A Rendezvous with Colorado
History by Dorthy Dutton

Colorado Place Names by
William Bright & Geo R.
Eichler

Colorado: A History of the
Centennial State by Stephen J.
Leonard & Thomas J. Noel

Hispanic ColoradoColorado
Chronicles by Eleanor H. Ayer
& Jane Kline

Mountain MenTrue Grit &
Tall Tales by Andrew Glass

Colorado: A History in
Photographs by Duane A.
Smith & Richard Ellis

Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado
Writing
Different kinds of writing,
think about Fisher and Frye,
include prompts

(Aim for 5 or more ideas in
each category)

*Write a fictional story about a
Colorado settler of your choosing
*Create a haiku that describes the
Hispanic settlers in the San Luis
Valley
*Describe a time that you traveled
to a different city in Colorado. What
did you see? Who did you interact
with? What was the weather like?
*Participate in a Generative Writing
Activity to explain what you know
about explores in Colorado. (Start
with a word that starts with the
letter B. Use that word in the
second position of a sentence. Use
this sentence as the first line in a
paragraph.)
*R.A.F.T Activity: see below




*Write an I Am poem from
the point of view of either a
miner, a rancher or a farmer (I
am, I wonder, I hear, I want, I
am, I pretend, I feel, I touch, I
worry, I cry, I am, I
understand, I say, I dream, I
try, I hope, I am)
*Complete an A-Z Writing
Chart for one of the various
groups of Colorado Settlers
(Everything I know about
_____, A-Z)
*Construct a story pyramid
based off the primary text for
the Utes and Plains Indians
*Write a list of all the things
you know about the different
people of Colorado. Write a
list of questions you still have
*Write a letter to on old
Colorado settler: tell them
what youve learned about
the changes in Colorado over
time and what Colorado is
currently like
Oral Interaction
Topics
Groupings: whole, pair

(Aim for 5 or more ideas in
each category)
*Rapid Fire Talking: after completing
Rapid Fire Writing activity, students
are prompted with One day, in the
___ region of Colorado, the ____
came to settle and students take
turns sharing for the story (small
group)
*Tell a story about a horse that
traveled with the explorers into
Colorado (pairs)
*Tell a story of when the mountain
men, miners, ranchers and Utes all
met for the first time (small group)
*Tell a story about a Colorado
herowhat did he/she do? (small
group)
*Imagine you are the creator of the
*Students participate in
interview and presentation
(whole class)
*Students do turn-and-talks
to discuss the things they
have learned throughout the
unit
*Students work in small
groups to conduct Colorado
Readers Theater at various
times throughout unit
*Students share personal
reflections from their Journals
(pairs)
*Students share their family
interviews (pairs & whole
group)
Cassidy Blevins
Social Studies Unit Plan
Peopling of Colorado
bow & arrow. Explain how you
came up with invention. (pairs)
*Show and tell Colorado
artifacts from personal life


Raft Activity Example:
Role Audience Format Topic

Miner

Colorado Residents


Newspaper Article

Gold Rush!

Mountain Men
Someone who is
traveling to the Rocky
Mountains for the first
time

Advice

How to survive

Farmers Wife


Farmer

Love Letter

Thank you for all you
do