Thursday, December 1, 2016

Lesson 1

LESSON 1

UNIT TOPIC: South America Tropical Rainforest
LESSON TOPIC: South America
AGE/GRADE: 10-11 / Fifth Grade
TIME: This lesson with be done in two days, with each session held for 40 minutes.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION: 
What is the South America Tropical Rainforest?
LESSON ESSENTIAL QUESTION: 
What is South America?
RATIONALE AND CONTEXT:
I believe that this topic is very important for children to learn about.  My unit is South America Tropical Rainforests, so this lesson, “What is South America,” fits in with the unit plan by just giving the students some general background knowledge about the specific continent I chose to focus in on.  It is important for all children to know about the different parts of the world and all that they entail.  For my unit plan and lesson one, I would like my students to start by learning about South America in general to help them ease their way into narrowing down to the tropical rainforests it holds. 
TEACHER CONTENT KNOWLEDGE:
South America is one of the seven continents in the world and experiences a different kind of culture than others.  There are about twelve countries and a few islands that make up South America, and they each use different languages due to their history of European migrants.  From its geography, language, clothing, and climate to its food, art, dance, and music. 
DESIRED RESULTS: 
Common Core/Vermont Standard GE(s)/National Arts Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.1
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.2
Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1

 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Learning Objective(s): Indicate additional (to above) learning objectives what you want your students to know, be able to do, and experience.  These should complement the GE(s) and be assessable. 
  • I would like my students to learn how to work in groups and collaborate with their peers over certain topics being discussed.  
  • I would like my students to listen and respond respectfully to others who are talking and sharing ideas or thoughts.
  • I would like my students to participate and cooperate in each activity. 
Focusing Question(s):
  1. What and where is South America?
  2. What language do they speak in South America?
  3. What type of clothes do people in South America wear?
  4. What types of food do they eat in South America?
  5. What kind of art, music, and dance is important in their culture? 
Language Objectives:
  • South America
  • Geography
    • Continent / Country
  • Culture
    • Clothing, Language, Food, Art, Music, Dance
ASSESSMENT:   (How will you know what students have learned?) Include:                 
Strategies: 
In order to assess if my students have learned everything I taught them about South America, I will have each of them create a collage map of South America.  The students will cut out a piece of paper in the shape of South America during the first day of this lesson.  Then during the second day of Lesson One, they will cut and paste pictures from magazines of everything that relates to this continent and its culture on the paper. However, they will not fill the whole collage yet.  After lesson 2 when the students get to learn a little more about the South American culture, they will finish their collages and write a few sentences on the back of their collage map about their favorite things in the South America culture. 
Process: 
The form I will use to evaluate the students’ learning would be a checklist of the terms or concepts they included in their collage and few sentences.  The more terms or concepts used, the more they have learned or remembered from the lesson.  

Criteria: 
  • Did the students listen?
  • Were the students cooperating and collaborating nicely with their peers?
  • Were the students respecting each others’ thoughts, opinions, and answers?
  • Did the students participate?
Reflection to Students:
In order to reflect on the work the students have done, I will keep a checklist of all of the terms, concepts, and learning objectives I would like each students to take away from this lesson and will keep track of how well each student does at learning them and incorporating them into their collage map.  Next, I would also like to meet with each student individually and go over the things they know and have taken away from the lesson; then I will let them know the terms and concepts that they should work on remembering a little more. 
LEARNING PLAN: 
Hook: 
Does anyone like to travel?  Has anyone ever wondered what different parts of the world are like? Well, South America is one of the many different continents around the world and is filled with many different countries that have each grown their own unique culture.  
Connect: 
A few days before starting this unit and this first lesson, I will do a KWL chart and ask the students what they already know, what they want to know, and what they want to learn about South America.  By doing this, it will ease the students into the overall unit and give them a general idea about the future lessons as well. 
Instruction:     
DAY 1 (40 minutes total)
  1. Lesson Overview Part 1 (1 min)
  2. Morning Greeting (2 min)
Students will go around the room and say good morning in a different language. 
  1. Geography!
A. Activity #1: Continents Song (5 min)
The students will view a song about the seven continents around the world. 
Then I will have 2 volunteers come up to the map on the board and name the seven continents to the class.
B. Activity #2: South America Countries Song (8 min)
Next the students will view one more song, this time about the particular countries in South America. 
Finally, the students will work in pairs to fill out a blank map of South America with a given word bank 
C. Activity #3: Create Your Own South America (8 min)
Each student will be given a piece of paper and they will have to draw what they remember South America looking like.  Then they will cut it out and save this map of South America for an activity at the end of the lesson. 
  1. Language
A. Activity #4: Hello!  (5 min)
As a class we will learn how to say Hello in each of the five different languages used in South America. 
Portuguese - Olá
Spanish - Hola
Dutch - Hallo
French - Bonjour
English - Hello
  1. Reading about South America
A. Activity #5: Moon Was Tired of Walking on Air by Natalia Maree Belting and Will Hillenbrand (10 min)
I will read this short story to the class about myths and tales of South American Indians and their culture they live in.  After the story is over, I will call on certain students to re-cap main events that happened in each myth or tale and try to relate  it to what we have learned so far in the lesson.  When calling on the students, I will make sure they understand the key concepts and main ideas about the text.  
DAY 2 (40 minutes total)
  1. Lesson Overview Part 2 (1 min)
  2. Morning Meeting (2 min)
The students will go around the classroom saying good morning and naming their favorite food to eat.
  1. Clothing 
A. Activity #1: Clothing (5 min)
I will put up a few pictures of the traditional outfits that North Americans in the United States wear on one side of the board.  Then on the other side, I will put up pictures of traditional outfits that South Americans wear.  The students will be able to talk in small groups to compare and contrast the different styles between the two different cultures.  Then each group will tell the class the similarities and differences they have spotted between the two cultures. 
  1. Food
A. Activity #2: Food (5 min)
I will start this section by asking the students what foods they think people in South America eat.  Once the students give their answers, I will present to them the traditional foods that they really eat in South America.  We will see which answers were right or wrong and give the students the correct knowledge about South American cuisine. 
  1. Art, Music, Dance
A. Art (5 min)
I will show pictures of a few traditional art pieces of South America. Then I will ask the students: What do you see? When do you think it was made? Does it tell a story? etc.
B. Activity #3: Music (7 min)
I will play a few traditional pieces of music from the United States then compare this to a few traditional pieces of music from South America.  After the songs are over, I will ask the students to say a few things they noticed about the songs in general.  Were there any differences between the songs from each country?  What kind of feelings were involved in each song?  Were the beats from each country generally happy and engaging or gloomy and boring?
C. Activity #4: Class Dance (5 min)
As a class, we will learn how to do the Salsa Dance. 
  1.  Activity #5: Create Your Own South America Continued (10 min)
The students will continue to create their own version of South America.  They will pull out the blank map they made from Day One of the lesson, and this time they will have the chance to cut out pictures from magazines of anything they can remember that relates to South America.  With those pictures, they will create a collage in their map of South America they have created.  However, they will not finish the whole collage during this lesson.  It will be completed at the end of Lesson Two when they finish learning about the landforms in South America.
Closure and Connections: 
The cumulating experience that will help the students develop and demonstrate their knowledge learned will be the collage map of South America that they make during the lesson.  The essential question for this lesson is “What is South America?”  This cumulative experience relates to this essential question because the students will have a clear understanding of South America’s geography and shape, along with the cultural aspects that they will glue onto the map.  This cumulating experience will be a sum of everything they learned about South America during this lesson.  It will connect to the future lessons about South America because they now have background knowledge about one of the main subjects in the lesson and will have a better understanding of the country in general when we go further into talking about its landforms and rainforests. 
Extensions:
This lesson about South America’s geography and culture leads into the next lesson of South America’s landforms.  Before learning about South America’s landforms, the students need to gain a general background about what South America is, where it is, and the culture behind it before they go into more detail about what type of land this continent has.  This way, the students will know the exact part of the world we are talking about in lesson two and have general background knowledge about the subject matter instead of going in blind to the topic. 
ACCOMMODATIONS:  
If my students do not understand the instructions I give, I will repeat them in a different way to help them better grasp the concept.  If they still do not understand, I might ask a student to try to explain the instructions.  Sometimes having a peer explain or someone who thinks alike to the person confused explain the instructions, the confused student will understand it better.  However, if it is an art project, such as the collage map, I will create one on my own so that the students have an example to go by instead of having to go in blind for a project.  I know it always helped me in school if I had an example to help guide my learning. 
RESOURCES/MATERIALS: 


  • Blank computer paper/Loose-leaf lined paper
  • Printed blank/fill in maps of South America
  • Scissors, Pencils, Glue sticks
  • Magazines
  • Computer/Youtube
  • Projector
  • Large World Map
  • Moon Was Tired of Walking on Air by Natalia Maree Belting and Will Hillenbrand
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