Lesson Plan: Citizenship

Lesson Standard: Essential Knowledge:

Standards: The purpose of rules and laws is to keep
2.3 The students will compare the lives and people safe and maintain order.
contributions of three American Indian
cultures of the past and present with an
emphasis on:
2.3b The Lakota of the Plains Commented [PB1]: While the focus of the lesson was
derived from the state standards in which all of my lessons
2.11. The Student will explain the must be planned according to, the lesson also follows in
responsibilities of a good citizen with accordance with NCSS Standards in which students “identify
examples of rights and responsibilities of citizens” (National
emphasis on: Council for the Social Studies, n.d.).
2.11.c describing actions that can improve
Commented [PB2]: To provide a high level of education
the school and community. to all students in my classroom I have made sure to include
Pre-Assessment: Post-Assessment: accommodations for students who have limited access to
Entrance ticket: What is a good citizen? Exit slip: What is a good citizen? communicating in English. In doing so, I have begun to work
toward closing the achievement gap (Parker, 2012, p.19).
Differentiation for students identified as ESOL
Similar accommodations have been provided to these
Students identified as ESOL will be partnered up with a reading partner for the reading portion students throughout the school year thus far to ensure they
of the lesson. Additionally, sentence stems will be posted for students to use during classroom are familiar with the procedures for doing so.
discussions. The sentence stems will be visible for all learners throughout the lesson. Finally, Commented [PB3]: After introducing the vocabulary
during the entrance and exit slips, the students will have the opportunity to dictate to a scribe, associated, ie, citizenship, the word will be added into our
or draw a picture of their response. classroom word wall for students to continually reflect on.
Link Commented [PB4]: Sharing with students about the
We have been learning a lot about different American Indian tribes over the last few weeks. meaning of citizenship at the beginning of the lesson let’s
We have learned that for their community to function smoothly, that it was important for students understand and discuss about the true meaning of
the language being used throughout the rest of the lesson.
everyone to do their part. This is very similar to something that we do in our own lives even to
this day. This is called citizenship. Commented [PB5]: The students in my classroom range
in ages from seven to eight years old. Over the years, when
Focus Lesson introducing the concept of citizenship, I have found that this
What does citizenship mean? 1. Being responsible and respectful to concept is often abstract and difficult for students to grasp.
people, animals, and the environment. To change my instruction in this area, I have taken the
2. Caring about your community and opportunity in this lesson to teach the idea of citizenship to
students in a less intimidating way. To do this, I introduced
country. the information in relation to their family community, our
3. Being informed about the needs within classroom community, and our school community. This sets
your school and community. it up so that these are “ideas that can be revisited later with
greater precision” (Parker, 2012, p.10). Later in the school
What are ways you can show good 1. Follow the rules at school, home, and year, in the fourth quarter, we will be revisiting this topic as
citizenship? in your community. a grade level to determine how citizenship relates to our
What are some of the rules that we have in - Various student responses based on government.
our classroom? In our school? At home? interpretation of expectations in the Commented [PB6]: Each student comes from a different
classroom, at school, and at home. background and a different home scenario. Allowing
Why is citizenship important? 1. We need good citizens to make our students the chance to share about their home dynamic is
an added opportunity for the other students in the class to
school and community better for learn about the different personal backgrounds that make
everyone. up our classroom community.
Is there only one type of citizen? Justify your - Students will talk with a partner that is Commented [PB7]: Encouraging students to reflect on
thinking with a turn and talk partner. designated as their turn and talk the different types of citizens through student led discussion
partner on the rug. The teacher will allows students to develop their own awareness of the
different types of people that make up a society.
 listen in to conversations and help
provide students with probing
questions based on their
conversations. Commented [PB8]: In this part of the lesson, students are
What do you think our school and - Various answers may include: working with partners to share their ideas. By listening in to
multiple conversations, I will begin to gather additional
community would be like if people were not unorganized, not able to get a lot of evidence as to the effectiveness of the instruction
good citizens? What if they did not follow the things done, unsafe, etc.. completed thus far.
rules and respect one another?
Ask: Do you think you have the power to Yes.
make a positive difference in your
community?
Yes, you are correct. There are so many ways Students will break into their reading
to make a difference in our school and in our partnerships to read a provided article. Commented [PB10]: Providing students with readings at
community. Today I am going to share with their level is often difficult to do with the varying reading
levels in my classroom. However, in this lesson, by using
you a story about someone who wanted to
literature to share information with students about how
make a change in their community. You will one person can have an effect on an entire community and
be working in reading partnerships today to country, I am developing an interest in non-fiction
read the Scholastic News article. When literature. Additionally, it allows the students the
opportunity to engage in their own learning.
reading, remember to take turns with each
other. If you finish early, talk with your
reading partner about how the person in this
story could make a change in their community
and answer the questions on the back. Commented [PB9]: Due to the achievement gap in
Closure reading and writing, it is important to continuously
integrate these concepts into other subject areas. By
Today we learned about citizenship and how it can impact our lives and community. We combining multiple areas of learning into one lesson, it
learned how we can use our citizenship to influence society and make changes. Now that we helps to ensure that neither subject area misses out on
have learned about this, for your exit ticket today I ask that you define citizenship in your own instructional time daily (Parker, 2002, p. 24) In my
words. classroom, we often utilize Scholastic News articles to link
social studies concepts to the real world. By allowing the
Follow-up students to read the content, discuss the content with a
Students will create a flag or symbol that represents their family to share with the class. Flags peer, and work on completing comprehension questions,
will be displayed outside the classroom for other students to learn about the different citizens the students are practicing many of the fundamental skills
that are being represented in the school. By completing this activity, students will be actively needed to master the English Language Arts state
standards.
bringing awareness to their peers.
References
National Council for the Social Studies. (n.d.). Curriculum standards for social studies. Retrieved
https://www.mhschool.com/socialstudies/2009/teacher/pdf/ncss.pdf
Parker, W. C. (2012) Social studies in elementary education (14th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.