Lesson Plan Title

“Who We Are”

Guiding Question

How are families alike and how are they different?

Grade Level

First Grade

Learning Target(s)

·        Comprehension (grasp meaning/compare & contrast)

Specific Objective(s)

·        Given a share circle, students will be able to share one important thing about their artifact, and will be able to identify and share one different trait between his/her artifact and another student’s artifact.

Special Considerations

This lesson is intended for the first part of first grade.  It is designed to have multiple purposes:

·        Connect with students’ families on the phone

·        Gather information about students’ cultural/familial backgrounds

·        Pre-assess how students understand sharing and comparing/contrasting

·        Pre-assess how well students listen and pay attention

Furthermore, the lesson’s guiding question will be addressed throughout the curriculum, and will not end with the closure of this one lesson.

*For children who are LEP, a discussion between the teacher and child(ren) prior to the share circle would be beneficial; the teacher could also help the child(ren) present in the circle

*It is important to be aware and concerned about children who live in foster homes, if these children did not have an artifact they wished to bring, they could draw a picture of something important to them

*If the teacher was unable to contact families/caregivers, than a conversation with the children about what’s important to them would be suggested (these children could also draw a picture)

Lesson Preparations

     Prior to this short lesson, the teacher must call the students’ caregivers to both connect on a personal level and to explain the lesson.  The teacher should explain the overview and purpose of the unit.  The unit’s purpose is to have the students experience and explore the differences and similarities between families.  The teacher will explain that the expectations for this lesson are for students to bring an artifact from home that holds importance to their families, and to share it with their peers.  It will be the caregivers’ job to help their children choose artifacts and learn a little about their importance (family treasure, historical, tells a story, etc.).  This lesson needs collaboration between the caregivers, students, and teacher.

     About a week before the lesson, the teacher should have brought in a wide array of children’s literature for the students that highlight differences and similarities between families.  The more the students can be saturated with the concept throughout the day, the better.

EALRs

Primary: (Geography) G3.3.1a: Know that people are born into societies that consist of different racial, ethnic, religious, and/or social groups

Secondary: (Communication) 1: The student uses listening and observation skills to gain understanding/2: The student communicates ideas clearly and effectively

GLEs

Primary: (Social Studies Framework) A. Families in Our Community

Secondary: (Communication Frameworks) 1: Listens for a variety of purposes (e.g. to gain information, to follow directions) and sustains attention/23: Contributes to group discussions making some connections with the ideas of others

Total Time Allotment

30-60 Minutes (Could easily span over two days, depending on classroom dynamics)

Materials Needed

·        One artifact per student

(Examples of what students might bring: picture albums, music, instrument, doll, ball, primary document, food, etc.)

·        One artifact for teacher to present (something outrageous to capture students’ attention)

Room/Student Arrangement(s)

·        Share Circle

Teaching Procedures

Pre-Assessment

·        This entire lesson is a pre-assessment; there is no pre-assessment for the share circle.

Opening

·        (Students will have been introduced to the word “artifact” prior to this lesson, however, reiterate its definition (a object that has importance, many times they are made by people

·        Without revealing artifact (large antlers in this case), teacher explains the historical/cultural/familial importance of the artifact to his/her family (be dramatic and “build it up”)

·        Teacher reveals artifact and carefully passes it around the circle for students to explore

·        Teacher takes questions from students about the artifact

·        Teacher explains rules/guidelines for share time and the structure for the lesson (each student shares at least one important aspect of their artifacts, then at the end each student will ask a classmate about his/her artifact

Learning Activity

·        Each student shares artifact, teacher asks questions to help students explain themselves or offer more detailed information

“Why is it important to your family?” [comprehension]

“Do you know how old it is?” [knowledge]

“Can you please explain how it works?” [analysis]

·        The following student begins by first sharing something different about his/her artifact and the student’s artifact who just presented, then proceeds to share his/her artifact

·        Closure: Teacher facilitates short discussion about the share circle time to help solidify the connection between the experience to the guiding question (provide adequate wait time and call on more than one student for each question)

“What do you think about all these interesting and wonderful things everyone brought to share?” [evaluation]….”Why?”

“Do you think share circle would have been as interesting if we all brought in the same artifact?” [synthesis]

“Do you think that these artifacts tell stories or information about our families?” [evaluation]

“Ummm...so if all of us brought in similar artifacts that would might mean that all of our families are similar, but since we brought in very different artifacts, does that mean that all our families are different in some ways?” [analysis]…”Why do you think so?”

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·        Teacher should take pictures of the artifacts and display them in the classroom, along with dictations from the students about the importance of the artifacts.

Post-Assessment

·        Teacher could keep a rubric or write narrative comments during the share time that would help evaluate the students’ understandings of compare/contrast and sharing (this information helps to guide future mini-lessons)

·        Teacher needs to keep running log of what students brought to share

Accommodations

(A sample of accommodations)

Learning Style/Learning Disability

Specific Accommodations

Visual learners

See the object and make visual representation of it in their minds

Auditory learners

Discuss, answer and ask questions

Kinesthetic learners

Touch and feel artifacts

ESL students

First partner up with peer/teacher who speaks the same language to practice and get more comfortable with speaking in front of the group, teacher can help translate for English-dominant students

Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

Share circle space is not cluttered, rules and guidelines are clearly stated and restated, each student has personal space, enact management plan when necessary during the share circle (preferably individual plans with discrete ways of letting students know they have to calm down or change behavior)

Students with self-regulation problems

Lead students through relaxation time before circle time..periodically allow them to stretch or get their wiggles out

Students with auditory memory problems

During questioning time, recap the artifacts and their importance for the students