Lesson Plan Title

Continent Fun!

Guiding Question

What’s the big picture?  What are continents?

Learning Target(s)

Knowledge

Grade Level

Second Grade

Specific Objective(s)

SWBAT label continent cut-outs and position the cutouts correctly on a blank world map.

Rationale

Students need to know that there are different continents and the continents’ locations to have background knowledge that can transfer into understanding how people’s culture is affected by their region, environment, etc.

Special Considerations

This lesson requires students to have previous understanding of centers.  The lesson will not take time to socialize students for centers, although a review of the rules/etiquette for centers should be given.  The goal of the lesson’s pedagogy is to teach the continents through learning experiences that honor each of Gardner’s multiple modes of learning.  Every student will be exposed to each of the activities, regardless of their strongest mode of learning.

Students need to have the ability to make bar graphs.

Lesson Preparation

Please refer to the Materials section below; there are many materials needed for this lesson that must be prepared in advance.

EALR

(Social Studies G1.2.1a) Locate places, major physical features, and human spatial patterns using maps, globes, and other sources

Total Time Allotment

Three Days

Materials Needed

• Amelia’s Fantastic Flight (Rose Bursik)
• Song, We’re Off to See the Continents! (Preferably on tape and definitely on a large piece of butcher paper.)
• Blank world map with continents
• Pencils
• Bar graph w/ each continent represented (enough spaces for the students to graph the number of countries in each continent)
• Discovery kits with natural artifacts/pictures from each continent (teacher’s discretion to choose the artifacts)

·        Examples: North America Kit = pictures of                mountain ranges, eagle feathers, shark teeth, ferns leaves, etc.

·      Modeling clay for children to make models of the continents

·      Blank plastic world map (to place the clay models on)

·      Blank world map w/ continent cutouts

·      Whiteboard and pens

Room/Student Arrangement(s)

• Whole group interaction/teaching space
• Centers
• Individual work space

Teaching Procedures

Pre-Assessment

• In one minute verbal interviews, (a) ask children if they know what continents are, if they do, (b) show them a blank world map and ask them to point and tell you the names of the continents.  Keep a chart to log how many students can define/list continent(s).

Opening

• [DAY 1] Shared reading and discussion with whole group using Amelia’s Fantastic Flight

“From the cover of this book, what do you think it will be about?” (Analysis)

“Amelia is traveling all over the world.  I’m going to re-read this sentence to help you think about what the word continent may mean…” (Application)

• Lead children in movement exercise to demonstrate the relationship between country, continent, and the world

·                    Three children stand in a tight circle holding hands (represents country)

·                    Seven children make a tight, handheld circle around the first three children (represents continent)

·                    Ten children make a bigger handheld circle around the first two circles (represents world)

·                    Sample questions to ask with activity:

“How does this activity help you understand countries, continents, and the world?” (Analysis)

“What is the smaller land mass, a country or a continent?” (Knowledge)

• Officially define continents and list them on the board
• Teach the song, We’re Off to See the Continents!

“Let’s sing the song again and each time you hear us say the name of a continent, raise your hand!  The list of the names on the board will help you.”

“Hmmm…how many continents did the song say there are?” (Knowledge)

• Children fill in a blank map with the names of the continents (they copy the names from the board)

[clearly communicate with students what the final assessment will be, let them know it will be similar to this activity and will have North America as a reference)

• Debrief about the day’s learning

“Think about something you learned today that you did not know before. Raise your hand if you’d like to share.” (Evaluation)

“How did our activities today help you understand what continents are?” (Reflection, Evaluation)

Learning Activity

• [DAY 2] Revisit appropriate center behavior/attitudes
• Students are to take their center log with them and record two things they learned from each center
•  Center Time

·                  Graphing Center

Students fill out a bar graph (using stickers to represent countries) to represent the number of countries in each continent.  The numbers will be provided.  They will practice writing the continent names using the list on the board to copy them onto the graph. 

“As you look at your graphs, which continent has the most countries?” (Comprehension)

“Please write down the continents in order according to how many countries they have.  List the continent with the least amount of countries first.” (Analysis)

·                  Discovery Center

Students will simply explore the different artifacts for a hands-on view of the continents.  Teacher needs to tell the students that the discovery kits are only a dipstick of information about the continents.

“As you look at these objects from South America, what information might it give you about the continent’s environment and/or people?” (Analysis)

·                  Art Center

Students build clay models of the continents and position of the blank map.

“Which is the largest continent in the world?” (Knowledge)

·      Whole group debrief to check their learning and emphasize the continent names and locations relative to each other

      “Let’s review the names of all the continents again…who                    would like to share one thing they learned today?” (Evaluation/Knowledge)

• Give homework for children to use a list of the continents to fill in a blank map

Post-Assessment

• [DAY 3] Each child is given blank continent cut-outs and is to label them accordingly (list of the continents will be available) and place them correctly on a blank world map (for a reference point, North America will already be labeled and placed on the map)

Accommodations

Learning Style/Disability

Specific Accommodations

Interpersonal/Verbal

Shared reading, discussion, Q&A, interaction w/ peers during centers

Musical/Bodily

Song, movement exercise day one, movement during center times

Mathematical/Logical

Creating bar graph, counting

Visual/Spatial

Building clay models and positioning of models and continent cut-outs

Naturalistic

Discovery kits w/ natural artifacts and/or pictures

Communication Disorder

Center time allows students to communicate in a natural setting

ADHD

Prepare students for center time and clearly communicate the center schedule, provide positive feedback, use optimal stimulation if necessary (music playing in the background during center time), lesson plan allows for plenty of movement

Learning Disability (reading, writing, math)

Provide advance organizer for the lesson, self-monitoring/self-regulation can occur during the lesson