Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Social Studies

Student: Maryn Wallen School: Allen Elementary

IWU Supervisor: Dr. Karla Karr Co-op Teacher: Mrs. Satterlee
Teaching Date: November 16, 2018 Grade Level: 2nd Grade

Lesson Rationale
Social Studies is an essential area of study that opens our eyes to other perspectives in a variety of
cultures. In this lesson, students will explore how time has changed as the years grown. Students will
observe and participate in activities that show the “then and now” perspective of the Holiday
Thanksgiving.

Readiness
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
1. Goal(s) –
i. Students will explore changes within their community and traditions.
2. Objective(s) –
i. Students will identify differences between the aspects of the first thanksgiving
and the current thanksgiving that we celebrate annually.
3. Standard(s):
i. IAS. 2.1.4 Identify and describe community celebrations, symbols, and traditions
and explain why they are important. (Example: Local and regional festivals, city
flags and seals, and community mottos)
ii. NCSS 2 – Time, Continuity and Change

II. Materials:
Time: 55 minutes (8:00am-8:55am)
Anticipatory Set: 5 minutes (Attention Grabber)
Instruction: 5 minutes (Mini-lesson with transitions)
Check for Understanding: 35 minutes (transition to stations – 8 minutes)
Closure: 10 minutes (Google Form – Summative Assessment)
Space: Students will be sitting at their desks to begin. Then I will call them over to the carpet
for the mini-lesson. Students will transition into stations on a set of 3 rotations around the
room. For the closure, students will go back to their seat for the remainder of the time.
Behavior: Students will be expected to participate in the lesson at all times. I will state my
expectations throughout the lesson for each activity. I will give students a piece of candy if
they follow the expectations throughout the lesson as a positive incentive. If a student
chooses not to listen, I will give him/her a personal warning. If I have to warn them again,
they will owe me laps at recess or loss of candy as a consequence.

III. Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)

Then/Now Pictures
 I will bring in some pictures of me in my elementary years from the time I was an infant until
about 5th grade.
Here I have some pictures to show you in my time traveler’s bag way back to the late 1900’s.
Start by showing a photo of when you were born. Can you guess who is in this photo? Hold
up the photo. This is a picture of me was when I was a little girl. See how different I look
back then.
Look at me now and how much I have grown up? People change over time just like I have
changed over time. Not only do people change, but so do the items people use like phones,
computers and the environment of places like school and how to teach.

IV. Purpose:

Today we are going to talk about how our community celebrations have changed over time.

Plan for Instruction

 Adaptation to Diverse Students: I will adapt my lesson by having stations set up for students to
walk around and interact with a group for a few minutes. For those who struggle to write, they
can either take notes on their IPad or their on the recording sheet. They can send the notes to
me through Seesaw if needed. The activities at the stations are hands on and visual for all
learners.

Lesson Presentation (Input/Output): (7 minutes with transitions)

What is a community celebration coming up in a couple of weeks? Students will say Thanksgiving. That is
correct, and I would like some of you to raise your hand and tell me what you usually do on thanksgiving.
Students will share what they normally do on thanksgiving. I will write their responses on the easel.

Propose the question: I want you to think about this question and not blurt out, do you think that
thanksgiving has always been like it is today? Give students some time to think. Allow them to share
their thoughts after a minute. Give me a thumbs up for yes there have been changes and thumbs down if
you think there have not been changes. How might it have changed over time? What are some specific
items people use and the environment we are in? How might those have changed? Allow students to
respond.

Well, there is something you need to know. Thanksgiving was not always like it is today as it was back
then. Over time we have started to celebrate thanksgiving different than we do now.

Some differences that we have seen change over the years are food that we eat, the clothing that we
wear, the community we are surrounded by, and the way we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Show examples on the PowerPoint of a phone that has changed over time and a restaurant that has
changed over time.

“Here we see a phone like Mrs. Johnson has in her room. You dial the numbers. Maybe sometime she can
show you how to use it. She uses it as a tattle phone in her classroom. See how the phones have changed
over the years.” Then show the picture of a Steak n’ Shake back then compared to now. “Look at this
Steak n’ Shake back then and now what it looks like. Also notice the color change. Photos used to be in
black and white, not color”.

Today in groups you will be at different centers around the room looking at the differences of
thanksgiving “then vs. now.”

Now I have you all split up into groups, and you will be in stations around the room. The group names
are Pumpkins, Turkeys, Cinnamon, and Leaves.

V. Check for Understanding – (35 minutes: 8 minute stations)

Guided Stations:

Directions:

You are going to visit stations and look at the idea of “then and now”. I have planned for you to go to
two stations today. If we have time you might be able to go to a third but if we run out of time you will
only visit two. At the end of your time exploring stations we will come back together and review all of the
information we learned so everyone will get a chance to learn about “then and now”.

I have a recording sheet (model sheet as you are talking to them and what they are to do) for you to fill
out as you go through each station. The recording sheet is at your station. Take one for you to bring to
the rest of the stations. If you want to take notes, go on See Saw make sure that you write neatly so I can
read it or take a video answering the questions.

There will be a group meeting at the Kidney Table and you will focus on clothing “then vs. now”. You will
read the directions first and then complete the activity by sorting the clothing. You will need scissors and
glue for this station.

There will be a group meeting at the Circle Table, and you will explore food “then vs. now”. My laptop is
over there with a presentation on it. When you are done reading the directions, raise your hand and I will
come over and login so you can look at the presentation. Do not shout at me but simply raise your hand.

There will be a group meeting on the carpet and you will be discussing Community. You will read the
directions and the small paragraph then discuss community then and now.

There will be a group meeting on the floor by the door and you will be discussing Celebrations. You will
need your IPad, headphones and a highlighter for this station. You will watch a quick video and talk
about it with your other group members and read a short paragraph about celebrations back then.

Change the slide on the board to groups and members in each group.

Stay in your spot on the carpet but look for your name and what group you are in. I will give you a
minute to look. When you know where you are going show me a thumbs up. If you do not know where
you are going, raise your hand once you have looked. Students will look. I will change the board to the
rotation schedule and location.

Cinnamon. Look to see where your group is meeting first. Stand up and point to where you are going. Sit
down. Turkeys look to see where you are meeting on the board. Stand up and point to where you are
going. Sit down. Leaves look to see where you are meeting. Stand up, point to where you are going and
then sit down. Then Pumpkins you will be on the carpet. You do not need to stand up. Now stand up and
walk to get your materials and go to your station.

 Transition: Let students look at their name on the board and then I will have them stand up and
point to where they are going and then when I say go students will move to that spot.

LOCATION States Carpet Kidney Table Round Table Table by Door

Rotation 1 Pumpkins Cinnamon Leaves Turkeys
Rotation 2 Turkeys Pumpkins Cinnamon Leaves
Rotation 3 Leaves Turkeys Pumpkins Cinnamon
Rotation 4 Cinnamon Leaves Turkeys Pumpkin

Pumpkins: Aleah, Lylah, Victor, Jenipher

Turkeys: Shaun, Nadia, K’majai, Sophie, Jonothan
Leaves: Audrianna, Alex, Ja’Kyra, Justice, Maranda
Cinnamon: A’Mariah, Timmy, Elijah, Caitlinn

VI. Review Learning Outcomes/ Closure – (10 minutes)

 Transition: Wind chimes – focus/clean up

Students will go to their seats and we will review what different groups learned. Then students will fill
out a google form answering some questions about what they learned in the mini-lesson and centers.

Directions: Everyone go back to your seats. Students will go back to their seat. I know someone went to
the community station where you talked about the community then and now. Someone who went there
raise your hand and tell me what you noticed. Everyone else be sure to write down what I am writing
down on the easel if you did not go to this station. You will have an exit slip to fill out in a few.
I know someone went to the station about food where you looked at some pictures of food then and
now. Someone who went there raise your hand and tell me what you noticed. What were one of the
foods you wanted to try. I would want to try deer. Student will share.
I know someone went to the celebrations station. Someone who went there raise your hand and tell me
what you watched and what you learned about the celebrations then and now. Student will share.
I know someone went to the clothing station. Someone who went there raise your hand and tell me what
you saw that in the different pieces of clothing. Student will share.
When you finish writing down the information from this board I want you to raise your hand and I will
pass out an exit slip for you to fill out.

Plan for Assessment

Formative Assessment – When students are finished at centers students from different groups will share
what they learned and wrote. I will be able to assess whether or not they were able to find changes
“then and now” during thanksgiving. During centers, I will be asking students questions related to
thanksgiving “then and now”. I will ask the changes that they notice then and the changes we have now.
Summative – At the end, students will fill out an exit slip assessing their knowledge of “then and now”.
They will also give an example of what they learned at those two stations about thanksgiving.

Reflection and Post Analysis

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
Students did identify differences between the aspects of the first thanksgiving and the current
thanksgiving that we celebrate annually.
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
I gave explicit instruction and clear transitions. We have been working on that in Mrs. Satterlee’s
class. My weaknesses would have been saying the word “so or umm”. Working on trying to
decrease the amount of times I use those phrases in my lesson. I also believe that stations could
have been more independent and not as reliable on a teacher (dependent instructions).
3. How should I alter this lesson?
I would change the stations activity to be more independent instead of reliant upon someone to
help students. I would want them to do an activity that they would need little amount of
assistance.
4. How would I pace it differently?
If I could pace this lesson differently, I would have focused on two stations only. They just would
have been spread out into groups. I would also have a timer on the screen or have the screen
change when the timer is up with a sound.
5. Were all the students actively participating? If not, why not?
Yes all of the students were participating. At times when students were distracted I was able to
help them refocus on their station.
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels
a. Bloom’s Taxonomy: create, analyze, apply, understand and remember. Students, in this
lesson, were able to meet all of the criteria listed above. They were learning about
Thanksgiving and analyzing the information given to them. They had to understand
context and apply what they were learning to the questions. When having a discussion,
students had to recall information they learned in groups.
b. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences: Visual – Spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, verbal – linguistic
7. Were my transitions smooth? Were students able to transition well? If not, how could they
improve?
My transitions were really smooth today. Students were able to move to where they needed to
be. We have been working really hard on transitions and I was really proud of them. They
remembered what they needed to do.
8. Were my procedures and expectations of students clear and direct? If not, how could they have
been delivered better?
My procedures and expectations were clear and direct for the students to follow. They could
have been delivered better when students were at stations, but other than that students did an
excellent job listening.