Southeast Region Unit Plan -...

Social Studies

By: Melissa

Stevenson

Southeast Region Unit Plan

Melissa Stevenson


2

a). Unit Title: The Southeast Region: A Social Studies Inquiry and Literacy Integration

Unit

b). Rationale:

This unit will explore how geography affects the Southeast Region of the United

States. Over the course of the unit the students will be researchers and will learn

specifically about the landforms (elevation), bodies of water, natural resources,

agricultural and weather in the Southeast Region. Students will read textbook, articles

and watch videos to help them take note to write their essay on the Southeast region. A

social studies unit on the Southeast region will allow the students to link their prior

knowledge to form a deeper understanding of the Southeast Region of the United States.

c). Unit Objectives:

1) When given the textbooks, videos and articles each student will be able to pull out the

important information to summarize the important details about the geography of the

Southeast.

2) Students will collaborate with group members when given their research topic to help

them include all the necessary details in their paragraphs.

3) When given the POWER+P model, each student will follow the stages of planning,

organizing, writing, editing, revising, and publishing to share their injury unit of the

Southeast Region.

4) When given a web on the Southeast Region, each student will be able organize the

important information.

5) Students will be able to draw conclusions of how geography affects the Southeast

Region.

d). Unit Standards or Grade Level Content Expectations:

Social Studies

4 – G2.0.1 Describe ways in which the United States can be divided into different regions

(e.g., political regions, economic regions, landform regions, vegetation regions).

Literacy Integration

4.RIT.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively and explain

how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

Part I: Lesson Overview

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4.W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are

appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

4.W.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing

as needed by planning, revising, and editing

4.W.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of

different aspects of a topic

e) Unit Materials: -White board and dry erase markers

-Social studies book

-Social studies research packet

-Pencil

-Live Binders (online class website)

-Powerpoint

f) Prior Knowledge: Students know the major cities and states of the southeast region.

Ch. 7 Vocabulary

Foothills- a hilly region at the base of a mountain range

Navigable- deep enough and wide enough for ships to use

Fall Line- an imaginary line, marked by rapids and waterfalls, where rivers start to drop

from higher land to lower land

Natural Resource- a resource supplied by nature

Industry- an organized economic activity connected with the production, manufacture,

or construction of a particular products or range of products

Agriculture- the business of growing crops and raising animals

Floodplain- the low, flat land along a river that may be underwater during a flood

Tornado- a violent windstorm whose center is a cloud in the shape of a funnel

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Who are my students?

This semester I have had the pleasure of working in a fourth grade general

education classroom teaching 26 students ranging from nine to ten years old. I have

sixteen girls and ten boys in my class. All the students in my class spend more than 80

percent of the time in the general education setting. For the reading lessons I will be

working with my whole class in large groups, small groups and individually.

The students are from a suburban neighborhood and there is very limited

diversity. Ninety two percent of the students in the class are Caucasian. In the classroom,

there is one African American student and one Latino student. The students have been

accepting of different cultures but do not have much experience with diversity in the

classroom.

Most of the students in the class live with both their mother and father. However,

they still do not get much of the support that they need at home because their parents are

consistently working. At the beginning of the year, nearly half of the class qualified for

response to intervention services to help support the struggling students. Throughout the

semester, I have seen great strides in the students. The school provides response to

intervention (RTI) support to the bottom thirty percent. After the winter benchmark

assessments, only three of the students qualified for RTI support. These three students

receive tier two RTI support for thirty minutes each day to help improve their

comprehension and reading fluency. On average, all the students in my class perform

academically at a fourth grade level, with exception of my three students receiving

response to intervention (RTI) support.

I do have one student with an individualized education plan. The student has a

“hearing impairment”. She has an interpreter with her at to ensure that she is receiving

the necessary accommodations in the classroom.

As readers, my students read between a third grade and fifth grade reading level.

Most of them are reading about 110 words per minute. My students are able to

comprehend most everything that they read and make a connection into their lives. The

students have the foundations of reading and only struggle with the interpreting of

various test structures.

Part II: Learning Environment

Part III: Individual Lesson Plans

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Date: 2/12/13

Procedure:

1) Explain the goal of the lesson.

a. “Today our brainstorm and discuss how the geography affects the

Southeast region.”

2) Say: “To start our lesson lets reflect on our tour of the Southeast Region. Let’s

look at the bulletin board.”

3) Say: “How has geography helped shape daily like in the Southeast region? Let’s

brainstorm!”

a. Think about it silently

b. Pair up and tell a partner

c. Share out loud to the class

4) Read Chapter 7.1 in Social Studies Alive

5) Go to the Computer Lab and show the class website

6) Say, “For this unit we are going to be researchers and use the class website I

created to do more research/ note taking”.

7) Show the class the website as a whole class show them the different tabs and

explain the project that they will be completing

8) Watch video on the class created live binders:

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=781463

9) Have the students write down what questions they want to find out and place it on

a post-it to adhere to our what stuck with you today bulletin board.

Assessment:

Assessment informal observation

I will be listening to the groups as they share how they think geography affect the

Southeast region of the United States.

Expansion:

If the lesson moves a lot quicker then I expect then we will discuss what good

researchers do to prep the students in the beginning of their research project. Tell the

students that they will be receiving a research packet for them to fill in all the important

information that they learn. Tell the students that the packet will be a tool for me to assess

what they are learning in their research.

Date: 2/13/13

Procedure:


a. “Today our goal is to research elevation of the Southeast.”

2) Read aloud chapter 7.2 on Elevation: Lowlands and highlands

3) Look at the elevation on page 105 in the textbook

4) Define the vocabulary of foothills and discuss the important information that was

gathered from the textbook.


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5) After the class finished reading model how to pull out the important information

from the textbook. Show the students how they would pull out the important

information to write their notes on the important information about the elevation.

Write notes on the board so the students are able to understand what the important

information is.

6) Say: “I want you to now create your notes on your elevation page like we did

together on the board. It is important that we can pull out these important details

to help us to become good researchers”. “I want you to first partner read the

article that I have put into your research packet because it gives you a little more

details about the elevation. Then I want you to create a page of notes on the

elevation in the Southeast region with the same partner.”

7) Have the students partner read the Southeast Region Geography article on the

class live binders


8) Have the students complete the notes on the elevation

9) Have the students take a post-it note and write down one important fact about the

Southeast Region that they learned

10) Wrap up by having the students stick the post-it on the door and have a few

students share the important information that was learned.

11) Collect the research notebooks and dismiss the class

Assessment:

Assessment informal curriculum-based objective completion

The research notebook will be collected to review the notes that were taken to ensure

that the students are able to pull out the important information from the multiple

forms of text.

Expansion:

If the students finish the note taking assignment early then the students are going to

create a map of the southeast region showing the elevation with different colored pencils.

Date: 2/14/13

Procedure:


a. “Today our goal is to research the rivers, ocean and fall lines of the

Southeast.”

2) Read aloud chapter 7.3 on Rivers and Oceans

3) Guide the students to pull out the important information in the textbook and create

write them on the board for the students to follow along

4) Direct the students to look at chapter 7.4 on The Fall line

5) Define the vocabulary of navigable and fall line

6) Say: “I want you to now create your notes on your rivers, oceans and fall line

organizer like we did together on the board. Please ensure that you guys are being


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good researchers and pulling only important information out of the textbook. “I

want you to first partner read the chapter 7.4 the fall lines. Then I want you to

create a page of notes on the rivers, oceans and the fall line in the Southeast

region with the same partner.”

7) Have the students partner read Chapter 7.4

8) Have the students complete the notes on the rivers, oceans and fall lines

9) Start concluding the lesson by having the students fill-out a post-it note about the

most important piece of information that they learned today.

10) Wrap up by having the students stick the post-it on the door and having a few



Assessment:




forms of text.


I will observe how the students are working together and pulling out the important

information from the text.

Expansion:


create a map of the southeast region showing the bodies of water in the Southeast Region.

Date: 2/18/13

Procedure:


a. “Today our goal is to research the Natural Resource of the Southeast.”

2) Read aloud chapter 7.5 on Natural Resources

3) Have the students do a think, pair, share on the important information in the

textbook

4) Define the vocabulary of natural resources and industry

5) Say: “I want you to now create your notes on the natural resources of the

southeast region. Your note page for the natural resources looks slightly different.

On the top of your worksheet you are going to list three facts that you learned

from the reading. You are then going to make two connections with the reading

based on background knowledge and finally you are going to write one thing that

you thought was the most interesting out the natural resource in the Southeast

Region”.

6) Have the students complete the natural resources

7) Start concluding the lesson by having the students fill-out a post-it note about one

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of the connection you made to the reading.




Assessment:



that the students are able to pull out the important information from the text.

Expansion:

If the students finish the note taking assignment early then I will have books on the

natural resources out around the classroom for the students to read to learn more about

the natural resources when they are done.

Date: 2/19/13

Procedure:

1) Have the student’s line up at the door to go to the computer lab.


a. “Today our goal is to research the agriculture of the Southeast.”

3) Read aloud chapter 7.6 on agriculture

4) Guide the students to pull out the important information in the text

5) Define the vocabulary of agriculture

6) Connect with the student’s prior knowledge by asking, “What kind of crops were

grown on plantations?”

7) Say: “I want you to go back to your computers in a minute and read about the

classroom website to find out more information on the agriculture of the

southeast. Then I want you to write down four facts that you learned from the

readings in complete sentences.

8) Dismiss the students to their computers

9) Have the students read and then complete their notes.

10) Start concluding the lesson by having the students fill-out a post-it note about

anything they are still wondering.




Assessment:




forms of text.

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Expansion:


explore the geography map on our class website so they can see where farming, forestry,

manufacturing, livestock, fishing and mining are located in the Southeast.

Date: 2/20/13

Procedure:

1) Have the student’s line up at the door to go to the computer lab.


a. “Today our goal is to research the weather of the Southeast.”

3) Read aloud chapter 7.7 on dangerous weather

4) Guide the students to pull out the important information in the text

5) Define the vocabulary of floodplain and tornado

6) Connect with the student’s prior knowledge by asking, “What was the name of the

hurricane that hit Florida in 1992?”

7) Say: “I want you to go back to your computers in a minute and read about the

classroom website to find out more information on the dangerous weather of the

southeast. I have an article attached to our webpage that I want you to explore.

Then I want you to write down four facts that you learned from the readings in

complete sentences.

8) Dismiss the students to their computers

9) Have the students read and then complete their notes.

10) Start concluding the lesson by having the students fill-out a post-it note about one

important piece of information that they learned.




Assessment:




forms of text.

Expansion:


explore the Southeast Region article attached to the class web page to review.

Date: 2/21/13

Procedure:


a. “Today our goal is to create a map labeling all the states and capitals to

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prep for your states and capitals quiz next week.”

2) Hand out board game with the blank map of the Southeast Region

3) Say, “This is your board game that you are going to play at home with your

family. Today we are going to make a key for the game to ensure that you can

check to make sure you are playing the game correctly.”

4) Use the overhead with a blank map on it.

5) Guide the students through labeling all the Southeast Region states.

6) Have the students follow along and label the states with the guided practice

7) Guide the students to fill in the capitals of each state on in the Southeast Region

8) Have the students label all the capitals.

9) Have the students color their maps (8 minutes)

10) Assign the students to five different groups: elevation, bodies of water, natural

resources, agriculture and weather.

11) Teach the students the POWER+P model and what they will be doing at each

stage during our unit on the southeast.

12) Plan/ Think/ sheet. Have the students answer the questions who am I writing this

for, where can I get the information from and everything that they know about the

southeast.

Assessment:


The students plan/think sheet will be collected to review to ensure that the groups

know who they are writing their paragraphs for.

Date: 2/26/13

Procedure:


a. “Today our goal is to complete the O stage in our POWER model, we are

going to organize our work in a web.”

2) Model how to create a web organizer by pulling in all our important information

that we gathered.

3) Have each group share the information that they found online and in the textbook.

4) Have each student copy the organizer to have their own.

5) Go over steps to writing.

6) Using the hamburger-writing model to explain how to organize each paragraph.

7) Use the class wide organizer to pull information in the hamburger writing.

8) Have the students create their own hamburger paragraphs as a group.

9) Have a few students share aloud to the whole class.

Assessment:


I will observe the information that the students share on our classroom web and their

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information they write as a group in their paragraphs.

Date: 2/27/13

Procedure:


a. “Today we are going to complete our paragraphs and edit them as a

group.”

2) Say: “I have wrote an introduction paragraph and a conclusion paragraph.

However, I am not sure which ones we should use. I created two of each and want

you guys to choose which one you want for our essay.”

3) Read both introductions and conclusions and have the students pick which one

they want for their essay.

4) After the students pick the introduction and the conclusion have the students

finish their paragraphs on their assigned topics.

5) Have the students edit there paragraphs with an editing rubric

a. Does your paragraph have a topic sentence

b. Does your paragraph have transitions

c. Does your paragraph have at least three support details

d. Does your paragraph have the correct spelling and grammar

e. Does your paragraph have a wrap-up sentence

6) Have the students make changes if they need to.

7) Dismiss the students.

Assessment:


I will collect the one paragraph from each group to edit and grade.

Expansion:

If the students are done editing early have them switch with another group to edit

their paragraphs.

Date: 2/28/13

Procedure:


a. “Today we are going to share our paragraphs to the class and take our

states and capital quiz.”

2) Say: “To start we are going to share our paragraphs in a PowerPoint format that I

put together for you.

3) Each group is going to present their paragraph to the class. Each group member

will read one sentence to share.

4) Once the presentation is over the students, will head back to the classroom and

take a quiz on the states and capitals.

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Assessment:


The final paragraphs will be graded based on a rubric.

Assessment informal curriculum-based objectivefill in the blank

The students will match each state with the correct capital.

Southeast Region Unit Plan -...

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