It’s A Small World After All: Unit Overview
Unit Goal: Students will explore the world they live in while observing similarities and differences within multiple cultural contexts.
DAY #1
Objective Students will… state how the
events in Last Stop on Market
Street by Matt De La Pena
impacted the overall main idea of
the text.
Acknowledge the difference in CJ
and his grandmother’s point of
view throughout the story and
discuss how CJ’s outlook changed.
Standards IAS: 2.RL.2.1; 2.RL.3.2
Materials The book, Last Stop on Market
Street by Matt De La Pena, picture
of Ms. Lewis at a soup kitchen in
Chicago, geode, response WS.
Management Students will be seated at their
desks for their independent work,
and on the carpet when
instructed, sitting quietly
throughout the lesson. We will go
over the “give me five”
expectation.
Anticipatory Ask, “Does anyone know what a
Set geode is?” Show the outside of the
geode, “What does this look like?
Describe it to me.” Turn the geode
around to the beautiful crystals.
“Now what do you see?” Explain
how not everything is as it seems
on the outside. Accepting
differences.
Purpose “I am going to read you a fantastic
story written by Matt De La Pena,
called Last Stop on Market Street.
I want you to listen and observe
for how the characters interact
with one another and how that
creates the overall theme of the
story.
Lesson Input:
Presentation Read Aloud
Output:
Grand conversation, prompt
students to begin thinking about
the main theme behind the story.
Begin with natural response then
continue to probe for deeper
thinking.
Closure or “It is very easy to look at the
Conclusion negative of a situation or
experience, especially when we see
others with things that we want…
Also, to realize that each individual
is different and that makes us who
we are and that is something we
should be proud of! How does
Nana respond to CJ after he
notices the negative in the
situation?”
Formative Questions, student responses,
Assessment response worksheet, observing
Adaptations See Lesson plan:
Enrichment: Peer/ teacher
support, pictures
Enhancement: write/ draw
pictures to display
comprehension.
Summative N/A
Assessment
(as needed)
DAY #2
Students will be able to…
- Identify what makes up a
community.
- Discuss and display how their
community differs from Big
Birds.
- Record his or her knowledge
using a Venn diagram.
NCSS: 1 (culture), 3 PPE ;IAS:
2.2.4; 2.3.3; ISTE: 5a
Communities WS, Sesame
Street song on YouTube,
slideshow pictures, compare/
contrast WS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA
45UBu5cJM
Students will be seated at their
desks quietly throughout the
lesson, unless instructed to
move to the carpet on my
direction. We will go over the
“give me five” expectation.
Sesame Street Neighborhood
video:
“Has anyone heard of Sesame
Street?” play video, after ask
the following questions.
“Does Sesame Street seem like
a fun place? Would you want
to live there? What were some
places/ buildings on Sesame
Street that you remember?”
Make a list.
“Today we will be learning
about our community around
us. We will explore what
makes up a community and
compare it to the community
and neighborhood displayed in
the Sesame Street video.”
Input:
Show example of my
community back home. Model
for the students my
expectations for them.
Community’s worksheet:
independent.
Output:
Compare/ contrast WS
Using the video as a guide
“Can someone share with me
one similarity and one
difference between our
community and Big Birds
community? Wait for student’s
response. What is one thing
that you learned today? Raise
your hand please. Can
someone tell me what a
community is?”
Questions, listening to
student’s responses, walking
around the classroom and
observing, community
worksheet, compare/
contrasting neighborhood
closure activity.
See Lesson plan:
Remediation: peer/ teacher
support. Draw pictures rather
than write sentences.
Enrichment: Additional work
N/A
Name: Carly Lewis
DAY #3
After going through the four learning centers,
students will have gathered information regarding
their designated country in an organized fashion and
be able to form inferences.
NCSS: 3 PPE ;IAS: 2.3.4; ISTE: 1c, 3a
Pictures/ videos from the DR, graphic organizer for
country information, books for each country (Kenya,
Italy, Mexico, and Japan), laptops/ ipads,
paper/pencils.
Students will be seated at their desks quietly
throughout the initial instruction and then will stay
on 0 while rotating from center to center. We will go
over the “give me five” expectation.
Show the students pictures and videos from
when I lived in the Dominican. Show pictures of
the different neighborhoods, people, food,
housing, transportation and culture.
“Today we will be exploring neighborhoods in
different countries and comparing them with our
neighborhood here in Gas City. It is important to
realize that not every neighborhood is the same, but
to also recognize the similarities!”
Input:
Introduce talking about neighborhoods across the
globe. Check again for understanding on what makes
up a neighborhood. Introduce center time/ assign
each group a country to research.
Centers: Students are pre-assigned to their center
group (same groups as math and reading rotations).
Writing- write to a student in their designated
country.
Technology (Ipads/ laptops)-look up information on
pre-determined sites.
Literature- gather information using picture books.
Output: Active Learning
Students will navigate through the four learning
centers, gathering information to add to their
cultural outline.
Ask, “What is one difference someone found
between our neighborhood and one in a different
country? What makes up a neighborhood? Are the
things that make up our neighborhood different than
what make up neighborhoods in other cultures?
What is one observation you noticed about your
countries neighborhood?”
Reteach anything if need be.
Walking around the classroom, monitor each group/
learning center, questions, student responses,
graphic organizer of information, post-it closure
activity.
See Lesson plan:
Enrichment: peer/ TA support
Enhancement: Additional research
For a different day/ follow up assessment: create a
poster that displays the information they gathered. It
should compare both the neighborhood they
explored and their own neighborhood in Indiana.
DAY #4
Students will…
Examine the free verse poem writing
structure and create an original piece.
Use proper sentence structure to
construct their poem.
Perform their poem in front of the class.
IAS: 2.SL.4.1
Notecards, “The Important Book”
(YouTube video and physical book), slips
of paper with student names, poem
outline, “poetry praise” lights and mini
stage.
Students will be seated at their desks
quietly throughout the lesson. We will go
over the “give me five” expectation.
Ask, “what is important to you?”
Play video of read-aloud:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS6
F2EBWyk4
“How did you like the story? What did
you learn? What was your favorite
part?”
“Today we will be reading a story about
the importance of things around us and
writing our own poem in response. It is
fun to find the importance in the things
that surround us, especially things we
enjoy! We can learn to appreciate and
accept the people and places we
encounter, even if they are different
than us!”
Input:
Teacher instruction over adjectives;
reintroducing poetry/ specifically free-
verse poems.
Writing: work together as a class to
create a poem using the prompt.
Output:
Independent work; creating their own
poem using the prompt: “The Important
Thing About the World is…”
“Poetry Praise” Time
Students will recite their poem in front
of one another. Then, will chose a name
of one of their peers from a hat and
write one praise to them about their
poem.
Questions, listening to student’s
responses, walking around the classroom
and observing, creating a poem together
in class, poetry praise time.
See Lesson plan:
Enrichment: peer/ teacher or TA
support.
Enhancement: Additional poetry writing
“The Important Thing About the
World…” Poem