Social Studies Lesson Plan

First Name

Jennerra

Last Name

Maemori

UH Email

Maemori9@hawaii.edu

Date

December 3, 2015

Semester

Fall

Year

2015

Grade Level/
S.S. Strand

Grade 1 Geography

Lesson Plan #

Teaching in
LP #1 _X__ LP#2___ field?

Title

Community characteristics

45 min

Lesson Duration
Yes __X__ No ____

Central Focus and Enduring Understandings

A brief description of the key concept(s) to be learned, along with the important
understanding(s) that will be emphasized during the lesson that the students can apply to
their lives
Central Focus: Students will become familiar with the concept of community. They will get the
opportunity to depict a community map of its physical and human characteristics.
Enduring Understanding:
Each person should contribute to his or her community.
We should appreciate the place where we live.

Content Standard(s)
Both the S.S. Hawaii Content & Performance Standard (HCPS III), the Topic, AND the
specific Benchmark under that Topic that align with the central focus as well as a Common
Core State Standard (CCSS) in ELA or Math that can be met during the lesson
HCPS III Standard 7: Geography
Topic: Human and Physical Characteristics in Spatial Terms
SS.1.7.1 -Construct and use simple maps to represent physical (natural) and human characteristics of a
community.
SL.1.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with
peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- This standard is embedded into the discussion portion where students will be challenged to
question their understanding of community and also to pair and share their ideas with others.

Student Learning Objectives

Outcomes to be achieved by the end of the lesson or end of multi-lesson learning segment
Students will differentiate between physical and human characteristics.
Students will identify physical and human characteristics on a map.
Students will be able to connect features on a map to characteristics they see in real life.

Assessments
The procedures to gather evidence of students learning of lesson objective(s) including
formative (informal) assessments applied throughout the lesson and a summative
assessment (formal) of what students learned by the end of the lesson (include any
assessment tools)
Formative Assessment:
Structured observation
Gallery walk
Think-Pair-Square
Summative Assessment:
Criteria
Identifies 3 human characteristics
Identifies 3 physical characteristics

Yes

Not yet

Students Prior Academic Knowledge and Assets

The students content knowledge, skills, prior academic experiences, and
personal/cultural/community assets to draw upon to support learning
The concept of community: a group of people in a designated area that share common interests and
backgrounds.
Students should have an idea of the type of community that they live in and familiarity with the
common human and natural characteristics that surround them.

Academic Language
Oral and written language that the students need to learn and use to participate and engage
in the content
Community
Characteristic: something used to describe or identify a person place or thing
Human characteristic: man made features
Physical characteristic: Natural features in the environment

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

A description of what the teacher will do, say and ask and what the students will do during
the lesson that 1) uses clear steps that convey the use of multiple strategies, supports, and
resources and 2) lists opportunities offered for multiple modes of participation
Grabber: Starting now, we all have to live in trees.
- What would it be like if all man made things such as houses, schools and hospitals were taken away?
Could we survive? What is the importance of these features or characteristics in our community?
- Introduce human and natural characteristics. Explain what each one is and provide examples.
- Take out pictorial cards with labels and use a t-chart to sort human and natural.
- Explain that the focus for the day will be about the community that we live in. They will be split into
small groups to construct their own map of a community while includes both physical and human
characteristics. Later they will get a chance to present their map poster to the class.
- Through oral dictation, each student will be asked to identify a human and a natural characteristic and
to explain how they know. (Summative)
- Check for understanding before beginning.
- Create an exemplar together as a class so that they know what the expectation is.
- Divide them into groups using cards (colors, numbers, letters, shapes, clothes, fruits) send them to
designated areas to wait for instructions.
- Pass out 1 piece of construction paper (with island already drawn on it) to each group. Have them use
their knowledge of what they see in the community to add to their community map. If they are having
trouble getting started, advise them where they can look for help. (The board with the t-chart they just
did)
- Give them about 20 minutes to work in groups.
- Walk around to make sure everyone is on task. Observe size and spatial awareness when they are
drawing. Correct them if necessary.
- Once groups are finished, tape products to the front of the classroom. Have them sit on the floor and
wait for the rest of the groups to finish.
- Give each group 2 minutes to present/ explain what they drew and why. Acknowledge the groups that
put in the effort to add in their own characteristics. Ask them to identify unknown drawings and if its
human or natural.
- After all groups have shared, review with them once more what human and physical characteristics
are and where we can find them in our community.
- (closing) Pose an essential question:
Should we have more physical characteristics than human characteristics?
What if we had more buildings than trees?

What if the human planted a tree? What does that make it, human or physical?
We should take care of our environment (enduring understanding)
- Discuss the connection of what they learned today to what they see in their community and how if
affects them.

Differentiation
Adaptations to instructional strategies, the learning environment, content, and/or assessments
to meet the needs of students who require further support (e.g., ELL/MLL, struggling,
accelerated, 504/IEP, etc.)
504/IEPs: Have the teacher exemplar displayed in the front of the class to refer to. Manipulate the
random selection to have this student(s) placed with a higher-level student where their learning
experience will benefit from their teamwork. They can also refer to the t-chart with the pictorial card
examples.
Struggling learners: Prompting guidance to help them get started on the activity. They will have peers
within the group to help them along the way.
Accelerated learners: Challenge them to come up with their own symbols that represent characteristics
that we didnt go over yet. What else is in our community that is either human or natural? They will
have the opportunity to share their knowledge with their peers so that everyone can learn from them.

Instructional Resources and Materials

Books, texts, and other materials needed for the lesson
Community map for depiction
Extra map exemplar of different community type
Exemplar of student expectation for group activity
White construction paper (1 for each group)
Pictorial cards with labels (i.e. buildings, bridges, rivers, mountains, etc.)
Pencil
Crayons