Lesson 1: School + You                                     Time Needed: ½ day 1 and 1 hour day 2


Grade: 4th                                                           Unit: Schooling

 

A typical day in the life of _______________

                                                                                        (Student Name)

Materials:

Chalkboard
Disposable camera for everyone in the classroom
Paper
Writing Utensils
 
NCSS Standards:
Standard B: History: Time, Continuity, and Change
Time, Continuity, and Change: Help learners apply key concepts such as time, chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to explain, analyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity.

Standard E: The Behavioral Sciences: Individuals, Institutions, and society
Individual Development and Identity: Assist learners as they work independently and cooperatively within groups and institutions to accomplish goals.

Wisconsin State Standards:
Standard E: Behavioral Science: E.4.5 Identify and describe institutions such as school, church, police, and family and describe their contributions to the well being of the community, state, nation, and global society.

MMSD Standards:
Social Studies Standards:
Compare and contrast individual perspectives and differences.
Demonstrate an ability to interact within a group while performing various group roles.

Language Arts Standards:
Language/ Communication:
Contribute to group discussions.
Seek and respond to the ideas and opinions of others.
 
Elementary Education Standards:
Standard 10: Employs Varied Instructional Strategies- In this lesson I implemented a variety of methods to teach the students about a day in their lives such as using photos to record what they do during the day.
Standard 8: Employs Varied Assessment Processes- In this lesson I use multiple forms of assessment to grasp if students comprehend the material being taught. 
    
Objectives:
SWBAT construct a list of what they do during a school day. 
SWBAT compare and contrast between a typical day in their life versus their peers’ typical day.
SWBAT organize their pictures in chronological order.

Context:
This unit will allow students to learn about what school was like in the past as well as comparing what school is like in other countries.  But before they can begin to explore those ideas, they need to first explore what a typical school day is like for themselves and their peers.

Opening:
This is the first lesson on the unit about schooling.  Gather the students on the carpet and tell the students that we will be learning about how schooling has changed over time and learning about schools in different parts of the world throughout this unit.

Procedure:
1. Ask the students what a typical day at school looks like for them?  Write their responses on the board. The students may only be able to think about the core subjects, which is fine because this lesson will help them notice other things that happen during a typical day.
2. Explain to the students that they actually do a lot more during school as well as before and after school.  So in order to help us remember what we do everyday, we will be taking pictures. 
3. Pass out disposable camera so that each student has a camera.  Explain to them that this camera can only take 25 pictures so they need to take pictures wisely.  They need to make sure to take pictures for a whole day.  Tell them that they can take pictures of anything that demonstrates what a typical day looks like for them. 
4. After everyone turns in their camera the teacher will go and develop the pictures.  Once the students have their pictures ask them to put their pictures in chronological order starting with how they started their day to the last picture they took that day.
5. Have the students walk around carefully and look at their peer’s pictures.  Then at each table have them look for similarities and differences and write them down.
6. After everyone has had the opportunity to discuss the pictures at their table, come back together as a class and add the new ideas to the previous list on the board. 
7. Have them group similar ideas together. This will help them later on when comparing and contrasting what school is like in a different country.
 
Closing:
Tell the students that we will be using what we learned about our day throughout the unit.  We will be comparing and contrasting not only between past and present but also what school is like in different parts of the world.

Assessment:
SWBAT construct a list of what they do during a school day.
The teacher will informally assess the students by observing and listening to the students during discussions and work time.
SWBAT compare and contrast between a typical day in their life versus their peers’ typical day.
The teacher will formally assess the students by having the students turn in the sheet where they have written down similarities and differences of a typical day.
SWBAT organize their pictures in chronological order.
The teacher will informally assess the students by observing and taking notes when the students are putting their pictures in order.