Lesson 5: Watching and Video Chatting                        Time Needed: Dependent on day

Grade: 4                                                                      Unit: Schooling

 

Meeting students from a different country!

Materials:
Sheet with Venn Diagram
Writing Utensils
Clipboards
TV
VCR
Computer with chat capabilities
Projector with wires
Snacks! (Optional)

NCSS Standards:
Standard A: Geography: People, Places, and Environments
Provide opportunities for learners to examine, interpret, and analyze interactions of human beings and their physical environments, and to observe and analyze social and economic effects of environmental changes, both positive and negative.
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.

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.
Describe places in Wisconsin and others parts of the world in terms of their absolute (exact) and relative location (location in relationship to other places).
Language Arts Standards:
Language/ Communication
Listen to and record information.
Organize information for clarity.
 
Elementary Education Standards:
Standard 11: Uses Technology- The students will have the ability to talk with students from other countries using a computer.
Standard: 14: Relates well with families and communities- The students will have the opportunity to learn about different cultures and gain an appreciation of the lives of other students around the world.
        
Objectives:
SWBAT classify differences and similarities between their own lives and students from different countries lives. 
SWBAT discuss with students from different countries to learn about them.  
SWBAT reflect on the experiences they have had with this assignment.

Context:
This is the fifth lesson in the unit. The students will have the chance to watch the documentaries of students from different countries to see what a typical day at school looks like for them. The students will also be comparing and contrasting using a Venn diagram to help distinguish between their lives and the lives of students from different countries. 

Opening:
Explain to the students that you have received videos from the different countries. The first day we will be watching the documentaries and the second day we will have the chance to talk to the students on video chat using the computer!

Procedure:
Day 1
1. Gather the students on the carpet and pass out clipboards and the Venn Diagram sheets. Tell them that one circle is going to be their own experiences and the other circle is going to be the students they sent their documentaries too. Also remind them that the middle part is for similarities between the their own lives and the other students lives. 
2. Remind the students to only fill out the Venn Diagram for the students they sent their documentary too.  Tell them that there is a spot on the back of the sheet for questions or comments about the other documentaries we will be watching today.
3. Start the documentaries.  Before each one the teacher will announce which country we will be watching.  Ask the students to raise their hand if they are going to be filling out the Venn Diagram for that particular documentary before showing it. 
Watch the documentaries J Pass out snack for students to enjoy during this time.

Day 2
1. The teacher will have the computer and projector set up with the chat ready to go before the students walk in.
Make sure the students are close enough to see the other students.  The students will then have a chance to talk and discuss with the students from the documentaries.
2. Have the students who sent their documentary to that country point it out on a world map for the class and help facilitate the discussion between their peers and the other students. 
3. Have the students start off by going around the room and saying their names.  Tell the students who are facilitating the discussion with the teacher to thank them for sending us a video of a typical day at their school.  Then open up the discussion for questions or comments from the students and give the other students a chance to do the same.
4. Once there are no more questions, thank the students again! Tell both classes that we are going to become pen pals so we will do this periodically throughout the year. 
5. Do this for every country that the documentaries were sent too. 
6. After the students had a chance to video chat with the students, have the students take time to write a reflection about what they learned.  This is a free write, so the students can include anything they want in this reflection.
 
Closure:
Also have them write down what they liked and disliked about everything they have done these past couple of weeks.  This will help the teacher revamp these lessons for the next time they are taught.  The following days lesson will have the students put together a book about what they learned about schooling over the past couple of weeks and have them answer the essential questions the unit was going to cover. 

Assessment:
SWBAT classify differences and similarities between their own lives and students from different countries lives. 
The teacher will formally assess the students by having them turn in the Venn Diagram sheets.  The teacher will informally assess the students by listening to their questions and comments during the discussion part of the lesson.
SWBAT discuss with students from different countries to learn about them.  
The teacher will informally assess the students by observing and listening to who participates in the discussions with the other classroom. 
SWBAT reflect on the experiences they have had with this assignment.
The teacher will formally assess the students by having the students turn in their free write.  The teacher will informally assess the students by observing them as they write their reflections.