Title
Foundations of America
Description of the Students
This unit will be taught to a class of fifth grade students at Woodfill Elementary School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. The unit will be taught during their social studies class.
Plan Highlights
The fifth grade students at Woodfill
Elementary School will be working on a government and civics unit, which will
aim to teach the students about the foundation of America. This unit will be
taught during their social studies class, and it will cover the election
process, The Bill of Rights, and our three branches of government.
- Students will create virtual candidates for the presidential election.
- Students will learn about important qualities to look for in presidential candidates.
- Students will examine the electoral college and how it works.
- Students will analyze national voting trends among the electoral college from the past 5 elections.
- Students will create a class Bill of Rights.
- Students will use the Cincinnati Enquirer to find examples of the amendments being upheld or denied in their community.
- Students will create posters depicting different phrases from the preamble.
- Students will research the three branches of government and will create a Prezi presentation that will be view by their peers.
- Students will hear guest from guest speakers from different branches of the government.
- Students will be taking a field trip to Frankfort to see our government come to life.
Key Learner Outcomes
- Students will be able to analyze important qualities of a leader.
- Students will be able to work in cooperative groups to come up with a list of important qualities of a potential President of the United States.
- Students will write a journal entry reflecting on their opinion of important qualities in a leader.
- Students will analyze The Bill of Rights and be able to explain how The Bill of Rights protects the rights of Americans.
- Students will be able to work in cooperative groups to identify which actions would fall under the specific rights of citizens.
- Students will be able to write their own Classroom Bill of Rights.
- Students will be able to identify and understand the responsibilities of each of the three branches of government.
- Students will work in groups to research one of the three branches of government
- Students will draw different excerpts from the Preamble.
- Students will be able to present their finding of the branches of the government by using the PRESI presentation program.
How I will Measure if the Plan is Successful
Assessments
- Journal Entries- Each student will be responsible for writing journal entries throughout this unit. In their journal they will be responsible for responding to certain questions that pertain to the different lessons.
- Informal Observations- Students will be observed during all aspects of this unit to ensure that they understand the material that is being presented to them.
- Creating Posters- Students will demonstrate what they know about the preamble to the constitution to illustrate different phrases from the preamble.
- Students will be using mapping skills to map out the number of electoral votes given to each state.
- Students will take a quiz on the different amendments to the Bill of Rights.
- The students presentations will be assed by suing a rubric that I have attached below.
|
Organization
|
Worked Well in a Group
|
Knowledge of their Branch of
Government
|
Presentation Skill
|
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5- Excelled in organizing
their presentation.
|
5-Excelled at working
together as a group. Worked hard from start to finish.
|
5- Excelled at demonstrating
their knowledge of their branch of government.
|
5-Excelled at giving their
presentation properly with everyone having a chance to present. You could
tell students had practiced their presentation.
|
|
4- Demonstrated acceptable
organization in their presentation
|
4- Demonstrated the ability
to stay on task and work together.
|
4-Demonstrated the proper
knowledge of their branch of government.
|
4- Demonstrated the ability
to present their presentation properly.
|
|
3-Demonstrated some ability
to be organized but could had some errors.
|
3- Demonstrated some ability
to work together but had some lapses in concentration.
|
3- Demonstrated some
knowledge of their branch of government with minimal lapses of understanding.
|
3- Demonstrated some ability
to present their presentation to the class. There were some lapses in the
presentation. Maybe one person doesn’t get the chance to speak.
|
|
2-Demonstrated minimal
ability to be organized.
|
2- Demonstrated a minimal
ability to stay on task and work together.
|
2- Demonstrated minimal
knowledge of their branch government.
|
2- Demonstrated minimal
ability to present to the class. One person does all the speaking and there
are many lapses in how the presentation was suppose to be given.
|
|
1- Demonstrated no
organization in their project
|
1- Demonstrated no ability to
work together as a group and were constantly arguing.
|
1- Demonstrated no knowledge
of their branch of government.
|
1- Demonstrated no ability to
present simply let their presentation run without any speaking or
clarification during their presentation.
|
Web References and Resources
John,
ReplyDeleteYou have selected a topic pertinent to your students, the 2012 presidential election. I really like the way you have incorporated technology (using prezi presentations) , used real-world/authentic texts (such as the Cincinnati Enquirer), and that your students work will work in collaborative groups. All of these strategies go above and beyond to engage your students in learning. Your instructional unit is well planned and well organized! Marzano & Pickering state in the Highly Engaged Classroom, "On a daily basis, teachers should consider specific engagement strategies to use prior to every unit of instruction." Your unit certainly does this! Great work & Best of luck!
Creating virtual candidates is a wonderful idea. When discussing important qualities of candidates, are you doing this by asking students first what they think to be important? I can imagine that in fifth grade, this could be a great discussion. They are at an age where they really start to voice their opinions.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest son just finished fifth grade and he really enjoyed the civics portion of American History. It would have been great if he had civics during this election year. However, we are moving to Virginia very soon and I am very excited that the 6th grade curriculum picks up where he left off in 5th grade, unlike Kentucky.
John..
ReplyDeleteYou have displayed a lot of detail.
Brookfield(2006) stated in "The Skillful Teacher" of the importance of exploring a diversity of perspectives.
You will be allowing the young people to live the election and to be a vital part of this important time in American history. They will be moving in to the role of active participants who are sharing various ideas even at their young ages.