Kelsey Jurewicz

Term 4 Integrated Curriculum Unit

Lesson Plan II
Integrated Social Studies and Science Lesson: Nigerian Resources, Part I
Location:
Grade:
Duration:
Anticipated Date/Time:

Powel Elementary School

Third grade
40 minutes
Thursday, March 10th, 2:00pm 2:40pm

Goals and Objectives

Essential Question(s):
What and how can we learn about another culture?
How does where someone lives affect how they live?
Relevant Unit-Long Understanding Goal(s):
Students will understand where Nigeria is in the world and how it contributes to the
rest of the world.
Students will understand how geography, resources and climate contribute to shaping a
culture.
Students will understand how to gather information from text and use it to construct
their own writing.
Content Objectives:
Students will be able to
use provided resources to conduct research about a given resource or product.
analyze and explain the role of a given resource/product in Nigerias economy and
culture.
present a summary of their resource/product to the rest of the class.
Standards
Social Studies, PA SAS
- (PA SAS) 7.2.3.A. Identify the physical characteristics of places and regions.
- (NCSS) D3.4.3-5. Use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.
Science, PA SAS
- 4.3.3.A. Identify the natural resources used to make various products.
Literacy, Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.2. Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key
details and explain how they support the main idea.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5. Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words,
sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.7. Conduct short research projects that build knowledge
about a topic.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.8. Recall information from experiences or gather

information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence
into provided categories.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.4. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an
experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an
understandable pace.

Materials

Pre-arranged groupings of 3-4 students

Select (and possibly modified) resources for student research
Laptops [technology requirement]
Promethean board [technology requirement]
Flocabulary video, Natural Resources [technology requirement]
Pencils
Resources/produce graphic organizer

Classroom Arrangement and Management

Arrangement and materials: Students will begin the lesson at their assigned desks, which
are arranged in three tables. After instructions are given and groups are assigned, groups will
move to specified areas of the classroom. Each student will bring a pencil with them to their
group. I will call one student from each group to come retrieve the groups materials (one
graphic organizer for each group member, one laptop and one set of research materials on their
assigned resource or export). Students will return to their assigned desks for the share-out portion
of the lesson.
Management: Within the context of group work, there is higher potential for behavior to
be off-task. I will mitigate this in several ways. First, groups will be created very intentionally. I
will make sure that each group has at least one student that I can count on to keep the rest of the
group on-task. Additionally, I know there are some students who do not work well together, and I
will be sure to keep these students in separate groups. Secondly, the research materials provided
will be accessible to a variety of learners (in terms of mode and difficulty) in an effort to
maximize student engagement. Finally, when assigning groups a place to work, I will keep
potential behavior problems at the tables where they will be less distracted and allow the more
self-sufficient groups to work at the carpet or kidney tables in the back of the room.
As always, staying consistent with my CMs management procedures will also be
important for effective classroom management during this lesson.
Plan
Task (40 minutes total)
Students will conduct jigsawed research of Nigerian resources/products and share their findings
with their classmates.
Before task (2 minutes)
Establish norms

o Tell students that we will be doing research (in groups) on Nigerian resources
today.
o Remind students of the classroom norms and expectations for working
collaboratively in groups (get along, respect others, on-task behavior, level 1
(quiet) voices, everyone participates).
Hook (8 minutes)
Watch Natural Resources video on Flocabulary.
Define natural resource and product (put definitions on whiteboard).
Show and discuss a resource/product map of the United States.
Body (20 minutes)
Reiterate to students that their task will be to, as a group, research their assigned
resource/product and summarize their findings in a brief presentation to the rest of the
class.
Assign groups; assign each group a location in the room; ask one student from each
group to retrieve the materials for their group.
Allow groups adequate time to research their topic.
o Circulate the room, providing support and clarification as needed. Make sure
groups are staying on task. Check to see that groups are utilizing their graphic
organizers to take notes.
Give groups a 5-minute warning, and encourage them to designate 1-2 people who will
share out for their group and start thinking about what these people will say.
Have students return to their seats.
Close (10 minutes)
The speaker(s) for each group have approximately a minute and a half to briefly share the
resource/product they researched and highlight the most important takeaways.
o As students are listening, they should be writing down at least one fact about each
resource on their graphic organizer.
Thank students for their hard work, and inform them that we will continuing with
resources by completing resource maps of Nigeria tomorrow.
Assessment of Goals and Objectives
Formal assessment: None during this lesson, but the following days lesson will involve
applying todays learning to the creation of a resource map of Nigeria.
Informal assessment: teacher observation of group work / group share-outs
Did students
meaningfully engage with the provided research materials?
contribute to the group discussion?
identify main ideas from their research materials and summarize their findings
accurately?

exhibit an understanding of the role each resource plays in Nigerian culture and
economy?

Anticipating Students Responses

Groups may be unsure of which facts about their resource are the most important/ worthy of
being shared with the rest of the class. I will address this by using probing questions to guide
their discussion.
Disagreements may arise among group members, in which case, I will intervene to remind
students of our group norms and expectations and help guide them toward a resolution.
Accommodations
My class consists of students with a wide range of abilities. With about half of the class having
IEPs, differentiation will be key for this activity. I plan to do this by providing a variety of
research materials to each group, including not only varied levels of reading difficulty, but also
multimodal resources, such as pictures and videos. In this way, at least some of the materials
should be accessible to each student in the group. The nature of group work also allows for
collaboration among students, which will help to support students who may have struggled to do
this task independently. Additionally, certain students will be given a differentiated graphic
organizer that has sentence starters to help scaffold their note-taking. If students are taking the
time to thoroughly analyze their research sources, they should not be finishing early or finding
the work too easy.