Mdknapp2

Social Action Lesson Plan

Title:

Helping Hands

Overview:

During this lesson students will investigate a local community outreach project to assist. Through this experience they will learn how about leadership and stewardship.

Objectives:

Students will learn about local community outreach programs
Students will organize a project to assist an with an outreach program in spreading the word about their program
Students will write a reflection on the experience explaining how community service helps build leadership, citizenship, or stewardship

Lesson Description:

The teacher will begin the lesson by introducing the topic of social action, providing examples of social action projects that other classrooms have complete. Some examples of these websites can be found below:

Duke School

Sope Creek

Athena

After motivating the students with some of the above examples the teacher will explain the students theirs assignment. First the students will use the internet to research local outreach programs, and select one that they are interested in, this could be a whole class decision or the students could be divided into groups.

Once the organization has been decided upon, the students will conduct research on that program and investigate the different type of projects they conduct.

Finally the students will formulate ideas for how to assist their chosen organization, at this step of social action the students will focus mainly on how they can help get the word out about this community outreach, whether that be to create a flyer, a website, a video, or whatever other ideas the students can brainstorm. After this they can contact the organization with an outline of their idea.

Once the students have completed their project, the teacher will help them share it with the organization and the rest of the school. In conclusion the students will write a reflection to post on a classroom blog site dedicated to social action stating what they learned from this experience and how they believe community outreach programs can help build leadership, citizenship, or stewardship in students.

Assessment Tools:

The teacher will create a classroom blog for social action, which the students can post on. Listed below are several options of free blog sites the teacher could utilize:

Blogger

Word Press

Weebly

Using the blog format will enable the students will be able to comment and post on one another's reflections. The teacher will be able to monitor this feedback and see how beneficial this project was for her students, and how in-depth their discussion of the topic becomes.

Resources:

http://www.dukeschool.org/podium/default.aspx?t=151968

http://sopecreeklibrary.typepad.com/blogs/2011/09/first-grade-social-action-project-school-supply-drive.html

http://athenacenter.barnard.edu/node/12046

http://www.weebly.com/

http://wordpress.com/

https://www.blogger.com/

Virtual Field Trip Lesson Plan

Title:

Beyond the Weather

Overview:

During this lesson the students will go on an electronic field trip to the National Weather Service in Louisville, KY. Based on the information they learn during this field trip the students will create a mock weather forecast.

Objectives:

Students will learn important terminology associated with weather forecasts
Students will learn the basic of weather forecasting, including information that is needed to know to make predictions
Students will preform a mock weather forecast based on the weather information found for their area

Lesson Description:

Students will view the video on the National Weather Service found at:

Ket.org

During this video students will be instructed to write down the important terminology used when making weather predictions, as well as the process followed.

After the video the students will conduct more research on weather predictions, and weather itself. Listed below are some good sites formatted for kids:

Weather Maps & Prediction

Weather and Climate

Forecasting

After visiting these websites students, and reviewing the information they learned during the virtual field trip students can begin to start conducting their own weather experiments. They will begin by recording the weather daily and developing weather patterns and creating a weather map. Once they have established both of these things they can experiment with making weather predictions.

Assessment Tools:

The teacher will create a website, or spread sheet, of some kind for the students to record their weather finding each day. The teacher will review these recordings to ensure that the students are including all of the necessary information. To make this an easy process the teacher can use an online assessment tool like Rubistar to create a rubric for this daily activity. Each day the teacher will mark on the rubric that the students have completed the process correctly.

The teacher can then repeat this for the weather map and the weather predictions that will be made after a period of time.

Resources:

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-forecasting.htm

http://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/weather-and-climate-from-home-to-the-poles/hands-on-science-and-literacy-lessons-about-weather-and-climate

http://schools.bcsd.com/fremont/5th_sci_weather_prediction_and_maps.htm

http://rubistar.4teachers.org

http://www.ket.org/cgi-bin/cheetah/watch_video.pl?nola=kftws+000000&altdir=&template=

Internet Resources Lesson Plan

Title:

Internet Research

Overview:

In this lesson students will learn how to use the internet as a research tool, including safe sites to use, how to use keywords when searching, the importance of note-taking, copyright and plagiarism laws that need to be followed, and a brief look at citations.

Objectives:

Students will learn to use kid-safe databases
Students will learn search terms to use when conducting research using the internet
Students will learn the importance of taking notes while conducting research
Students will learn the basics about copyright laws and plagiarism
Students will learn the basics of citing sources

Lesson Description:

First the teacher will explain the importance of using a kid-friendly database and will have the students bookmark the following sites to their computer:

Kids Click

Fact Monster

Kid Rex

Then using one or all of these databases the teacher will explain how to use keywords as search terms in order to get a wider selection of results. For example if a students is researching Bats and wants to find out about their diet, they do not need to type in the entire question "What type of diet do bats have?" but instead can type in "bats diet" or "bat food" and articles that include those terms will be displayed.

Next the teacher will explain that conducting research on the internet can get very confusing, and if something interesting is found, it should be written down because it might be difficult to find again.

However, the website where the information was found should also be recorded to avoid committing plagiarism. The teacher can the explain about copyright laws and how to avoid plagiarism. The following websites provide a great overview of plagiarism for kids:

Plagiarism Scavenger Hunt

What is Plagiarism

When the location of the information is given this is called siting your source and it is the key to not committing plagiarism.

Finally, after the teacher has finished her demonstration the students will select a basic topic to practice their new research skills. They will fill out the following form to ensure the they are follow all of the steps described.

Internet Research Worksheet

Assessment Tools:

Teacher can review the internet research worksheets to ensure that the students followed all of the required steps and accurately recorded their citations.