Teaching Social Studies: Final ProjectAshley Lyon, Abby Diamond, and Grace Mintz

A. Write 3 learning objectives to adequately teach the content of focus.

1. Grace: By completing this lesson, students will understand the difference between and island, a peninsula, and an isthmus through writing a one page narrative using all three terms correctly.

2. Abby: Students will correctly identify all six major landforms on a worksheet.3. Ashley: When selecting 3 vocabulary words pertaining to glaciers, students

will be able to write a sentence displaying the the words meaning and application.

B. Content needed for students to be successful in achieving the objectives (outline or overview). Provide a summary of how this content aligns with the learning objectives.1. Grace: Students must understand the difference between an island, a peninsula, and an isthmus. All three of these landforms are defined by how much they are surrounded by water. The teacher will begin the lesson by listening to the teacher read aloud the book “The Little Island” by Margaret Wise Brown and Leonard Weisegard. The teacher will ask pre and post reading questions about the students’ background knowledge of islands. The book goes in depth to describe the properties of an island, and it even describes how the land of the island goes underneath the water and continues on the ocean floor. After reading this book, the students will define the word “island” in their landforms booklet.  After covering background knowledge on islands, the student will use their chrome books to explore the website (http://www.diffen.com/difference/Isthmus_vs_Peninsula) which gives an in depth look at peninsula vs isthmus. Students will record 5 things that they learn from the website in their science journals, and then the class will share what they learned in order to create a class definition for the words “peninsula” and “island.” The class will then record these definitions in their landforms booklet, as well. Sample definitions are listed below.

Island: a piece of land that is completely surrounded by water on all sides. Peninsula: a body of land that is surrounded by water on three sides. Isthmus: a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land masses. An

isthmus has water on two sides.

2. Abby: The teacher will start by introducing what landforms are and defining the word “landform.” The students should already be familiar with some of these from earlier grades and already have a background knowledge of landforms. Landforms can be defined as the solid features formed on the earth’s crust. The teacher will

explain that a landform is any natural formation of rock and dirt, found on Earth. A landform can be as large as a mountain range, or as small as a hill. It can be as large as a continent or as small as a pond. The teacher will then read the book Introducing Landforms (Looking at Earth) by Bobbie Kalman. Specifically, the teacher will teach about rivers, lakes, oceans, hills, mountains, and valleys. She will define each of the major landforms they will be discussing in class that day using the definitions listed below:-Hill: a raised area or mound of land-Lake: a large body of water surrounded by land on all sides. Really huge lakes are called seas. -Mountain: a very tall high, natural place on Earth, higher than a hill. -Ocean: a large body of salt water that surrounds a continent. -River: a large, flowing body of water that usually empties into a sea or ocean -Valley: a low place between mountainsThe teacher will then explore the website http://worldlandforms.com/ as a class. She will use this website to go over each of the definitions for these 6 landforms and then show pictures of each from the website. She will lead a discussion of the landforms while they are learning more about them from the website. While she is going over the website, the students will take notes on each by creating a concept map with “Major Landforms” in the middle and each of the 6 major landforms we went over in a separate bubble (rivers, lakes, oceans, hills, mountains, and valleys). They will then start making their own landform book. They will title it “My Book of Landforms.” On each page in the book, they will draw a picture of the landform using crayons and then write a description of the landform. After they have made their landform booklet and have put in entries for all 6 major landforms, they will move on to the assessment. For the assessment, I will pass out the worksheet with the landforms on it and students will be expected to complete this on their own.

3. Ashley: As a class they will be Glacier Investigators. Teacher will briefly discuss what glaciers are, how they move, components, locations, and effects on people and the land. Teacher will read the book “The Glaciers are Melting” by Donna Love and ask questions about previous knowledge pertaining to the book. . Teacher will have the https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/information.html pulled up on her screen and briefly go through the different tabs and all the information available on the site. Then Students will then be responsible for exploring https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/information.html individually. Teacher will have friction, deposition, glacier, glacier marks, sliding, gravity, weight, rocks & sediments, melting pressure, flow, ice, freezing, snow, and inertia written on the board. These are highlighted words students should be looking during their investigations of the website. While students explore this site they will record five new findings in their science journals. After giving them time to read through the site and write their facts in their journals we will come back together as a class. As a class we will discuss all our different findings and new facts pertaining to glaciers. We will go over the definitions and meanings of each of the highlighted words from the board that students should have found during their investigation of the website. Once we have discussed as a class they will write in My Book of Landforms their own definition of glaciers.  

SUMMARY: All of the content that is included in this section directly relates to each specific learning objectives. To start off with, Abby’s learning objective is that students will be able to identify six major landforms: mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, valleys and hills. She starts off by reviewing what landforms are to make sure students are familiar with them. The book that is read helps students review and define what a landform is as well as give a brief overview of some of the major landforms found on Earth. The website and activity help define the specific six landforms that the learning objective identifies that the students need to know. By having students make a concept map while they learn about each of the six landforms, this will ensure that students are paying attention and understand the six major landforms that are being discussed. The assessment will then assess each of the landforms that have been explored on the website and which the teacher has explicitly taught and defined. Grace’s learning objective is that students will learn the difference between an island, a peninsula, and an isthmus through writing a one-page narrative. Her content relates to this because she teaches about each of these landforms. She uses the book “The Little Island” to teach about islands and then the website to have students learn about isthmus and peninsula. Throughout the lesson, the teacher has the students record the differences between isthmus and peninsulas and island through writing in their journals and through class discussion. The students also have to define each landform so this will help them further understand what each landform is so that they can write about them. All of this will prepare the students to be able to complete the assessment which is writing a narrative with each of the words in it. Ashley’s learning objective is that students will be able to use specific words to describe to glaciers. The teacher will first provide an overview about glaciers by reading a book about glaciers. They will then learn the actual words they need to know by looking through the website first all together, and then the students exploring the website on their own. They will already know the words they are looking for while exploring the website because all of the words are highlighted on the board. By having to record the words in their science journal while searching the website, this will make sure students understand the words on the board. This aligns with the assessment because the assessment is that students have to write three sentences using some of the vocab words they already went over.

C. Develop 3 learning activities for each objective. Provide a summary of how these activities will support the learning objectives.

1. Grace: The students will use paper plates and clay in order to make a model of an island, an isthmus, and a peninsula. The paper plate will be colored blue to represent water, and the students will use the clay to show an island surrounded by water, a peninsula connected to the mainland and with water on three sides, and an isthmus with water on only two sides. the students will then use toothpicks and paper to label each of the three landforms.

2. Abby: The students will create their own “My Book of Landforms.” It will be made of paper with cardboard as the front and back cover. This will be an ongoing booklet that they will add on to each class. For today, the students

will just enter in the 6 major landforms they learned about that day. These are mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, lakes, and oceans. They will draw their own picture of each landform and then write their own definition under it using a sample format that the teacher will show them.

3. Ashley: Teacher will first instruct student to put their hand flat down on the table with their other hand on top. They will push down for a minute. When they release and feel the other side of their hand they will notice multiple things. Teacher will discuss the temperature of their hand caused by the pressure and friction. Teacher will segway this into their demonstration with frozen ice cubes as their model of glaciers. The teacher will have pre frozen an ice tray with gravel pieces frozen at the bottom and a popsicle stick in the top of each. These will be their own mini example of a glacier. Each student will have a clay circle that will simulate land. They will then push down on their popsicle stick and glacier to simulate the glacier moving across the land. Teacher  will keep this as accurate as possible, representing the moving of glacier slowly and only in one direction. Student will see the effect of glaciers to the land and on the glacier itself. This will display an example of friction, deposition, glacier, glacier marks, sliding, gravity, weight, rocks, sediments, and melting pressure in a real life example. Students will get to interact and have a hands on experience with glaciers and many of their highlighted vocabulary words through this activity.

SUMMARY: These learning activities provide students with the opportunity to practice the information that they have learned. For the first activity, the students must make a visual representation of the three different landforms in the lesson. This visual aid will help the students reach the learning objective, because it will allow them to compare and contrast the differences in each of the landforms side by side. Each of the landforms differ by how many sides are surrounded by water. This visual representation of the different landforms will force students to see how the amount of water surrounding a landform determines the specific type of landform. Through creating this visual representation, students will more easily be able to complete the assessment clearly and confidently. The second learning activity is creating a booklet of the different landforms covered in that lesson. The “My Book of Landforms” is an ongoing booklet throughout each lesson. It is used as the practice in this lesson because the students will be making them in this lesson, and then it is used in the teaching portion of the other two lessons. The booklet allows students to put a definition and a picture with each landform. The learning objective requires the students to know what each landform looks like, and to define each landform, so this booklet is great practice. The final learning activity allows students to use a hands on activity that displays the effects of moving glaciers. The students must be knowledgeable of specific vocabulary words surrounding glaciers, and this activity exposes students to the vocabulary words that they will have to use in their assessment. Not only does it expose them to the words explicitly, it also implicitly shows the students the effect of the words being learned. All three of these learning activities directly relate to the correlating objectives and assessments.  

D. Design an assessment for each objective. Provide a summary of why you chose the

assessments and how they align with the learning objectives.

1. Grace: Students will write a narrative about being stranded on an island. They will be given a word bank at the top of the page that has the words “island”. “peninsula”, and “isthmus.” The students must write one full page encompassing these three words. The students must describe why they are stuck on the island, and how they plan on surviving. They should describe why it is possible to be stranded on an island, but not an isthmus or a peninsula.

2. Abby: This assessment is a worksheet with pictures of the 6 major landforms students have been learning about. The students must write the correct word from a word bank in the space by the picture. They will be expected to get all 6 correct. *See attachment

3. Ashley: Each students will have a bag of their highlighted words and 12 popsicle sticks to set up their tic-tac-toe board at their table. Teacher will model this first for the student. They will put their highlighted cards into their game board and choose 3 words from diagonally, horizontally, or vertically lines. They will write 3 sentence about each word in the line they choose. Their sentence should display their knowledge and application of the word. *See attachment

SUMMARY: Each of these assessments when completed will show that students have understood and grasped the objectives. For the first assessment students will be writing a narrative about being stuck on an island and why that is not possible on a peninsula. When students complete this assessment correctly it will be evident that they understand the difference between an island and peninsula. For the second assessment they will be completing a worksheet with their 6 important landforms on it. If students complete this with 100% accuracy this will show students understanding and grasp on their six major landforms. For the third assessment students will be writing sentences based on their highlighted words used through out the lesson on glaciers. After reading, discussing, and writing about glaciers students will be familiar with these terms. They will be assessed on their sentences and their ability to write sentences that easily show the words meaning and its application. All of these assessments clearly line back with the objectives and will accurately assess the learning.

E.Locate and cite 3 online resources for the project. Provide a summary of how theses resources support the learning objective

1. Grace: http://www.diffen.com/difference/Isthmus_vs_Peninsula2. Abby: http://worldlandforms.com/.3. Ashley: https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/information.html.

SUMMARY: Each of these three websites are used for the content portion of each lesson. The websites contain information about various landforms, and they aid the teacher in conveying information. The first website displays information about the differences between a peninsula and an isthmus. The second website displays information about glaciers. The third website contains definitions and pictures of each of the different landforms. These websites allow students to explore and discover information on their own, as well as provides clear and universal definitions for all of the different landforms.

F.Locate 3 children’s books to support these social studies lessons. Provide a summary of how they will support the learning objective.

1. Grace: The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown and Leonard Weisgard2. Abby: Introducing Landforms (Looking at Earth) by Bobbie Kalman3. Ashley:  “The Glaciers are Melting” by Donna Love

SUMMARY: These three books all cover the general topic for each of the different lessons. All three of these books are also used in the content, or teaching, portion of each lesson. The first book gives an informational and engaging look at islands. It describes that islands are completely surrounded by water, and it allows students to reach the learning objective through giving a clear picture of an island. The second book introduces the entire concept of landforms. It helps to meet the learning objective through reviewing the six major landforms and the different requirements of each. The book aids the students in defining land forms. The third book gives a realistic look at glaciers as well as a wide variety of glacier facts. The students can use the information from this book in order to write sentences in the objective that correctly relate to glaciers.