1.

0 Lesson Plan Details

Title Super U.S. Presidents from the Southeast
Day Five
Kimberlin Lynch
Grade level: 4
Expected Duration One class period, 45 minutes

Concepts:
-Power
-Authority
-Governance
-Presidential influence

Vocabulary:

Emancipation Proclamation, Civil War, slavery, War of 1812, American Revolution.
British Army, American Troops, United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, ratify,
Federalist Papers, Gettysburg Address

Skills:
- Use a PowerPoint to find critical information
- Read and research different websites to learn more about the Presidents
- Compare and contrast the Presidents
- Support opinions

1.1 Integration of Learning Outcomes/Objectives

1) Students will be able to describe and discuss four of the past United States
Presidents, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, James Madison, and Abraham
Lincoln, each of who were from a Southeastern state.
2) Students will be able to explain why we still discuss the influences of these four
Presidents today by participating in group scavenger hunts, participating in class
discussions, as well as writing short biographies about each President and will
identify the most important aspects of their time in office.

1.2 Standards PA Civics, History, Economics, Geography &
NCSS Themes I - X with subthemes

Subject Area - 5: Civics and Government
Standard Area 5.3: How Government Works

5.3.4.B:
Describe how the elected representative bodies function in making local and state laws.

5.3.4.G: Identify individual interests and explain ways to influence others.


NCSS Theme Power, Authority, and Governance

NCSS. 1.6.c provide opportunities for learners to examine issues involving the rights,
roles, and status of individuals in relation to the general welfare

NCSS. 1.6.f help learners identify and describe the basic features of the American
political system and identify representative leaders from various levels and branches of
government
NCSS. 1.6.g... challenge learners to apply concepts such as power, role, status, justice,
and influence to the examination of persistent issues and social problems


1.3 Anticipatory Set

To activate prior knowledge, the lesson will begin with a general question: Who
is our current President of the United States? as well as, Where does the
President live? The President of the United States lives in the White House, in
Washington, D.C., which is considered to be a state in the Southeast. Once the
correct answer is given, I will ask the students if they know where President
Obama is from. Following our theme of the Southeast states, I will ask the
students if any of them know which former Presidents were born in the Southeast.
Students should be able to recall yesterdays lesson on Virginia. I will ask the
students, Who remembers which early U.S. President was from Virginia? There
are two possible answers, either George Washington or James Madison. Once a
few guesses/answers are given, I will give the students a short scavenger hunt
PowerPoint to complete so that they can identify four of the United States
Presidents born in the Southeastern states that we will be discussing in class
today. The scavenger hunt will be a fun activity, as students will get to work
together with their groups (desks are grouped together in fours) and use laptops to
research the information asked on the PowerPoint. As a way to connect to
students lives, I will inform them that the four Presidents we will be discussing
are men who all made significant changes in our history and have impacted the
United States in exceptional ways. We will discuss how different American lives
would be today if it were not for the courageous actions of these past Presidents.


1.4 Procedures

1. After the activation of background knowledge and the discussion of how the
lesson will follow along with the theme of the Southeastern states, students will
begin work on the PowerPoint scavenger hunt. Students will be given 10
minutes to complete the scavenger hunt.
2. While the students are working on identifying and making connections with the
Whos Who? PowerPoint, the teacher will walk around and formatively
assess the learning. By listening to the students interact with one another; the
teacher will be able to get a feel of the pace that students are piecing together
this complex information. (Objective 1 and 2)
o ELL students will be given pictures to help them follow along
with the PowerPoint in hopes that they will participate as much
as possible

3. The students will have a worksheet that corresponds with the PowerPoint and
will be able to record their information onto the worksheet for later reference.
After the 10 minutes is up, students will be asked to close their laptops and
focus their attention to the Smartboard, where another brief PowerPoint will be
on display for a short lecture and classroom discussion.
4. Students will listen as the teacher explains, while referring to the above-
mentioned vocabulary, who each of the four Presidents are, and what their
impact on American history was. (Objective 1 and 2)
5. Since students will have completed the scavenger hunt, they will be able to
raise their hands and share answers. When students share their answers, it may
help others in the class to get a better feel for what details they should be
paying attention to. Sometimes teacher talk can be too quick or too
complicated, especially when the lesson is very specific.
6. Once the four Presidents and their impacts are reviewed and the class seems to
have a solid grasp of the differences of each man, the teacher will ask questions
such as: (Objective 1 and 2)

o Who do you feel is the most influential of the Presidents
discussed, why?
o Why do you think it is important for us to continue to learn
about these Presidents in the year 2014?
o How would our American lives be different without the
influences and major decisions made by these men?
o Do you think these former Presidents used their power to the
best of their abilities?
o If you were one of these Presidents, what would you have done
differently? What would you have done the same?
7. The students will again be formatively assessed while the class discussion is
taking place. The teacher will make a note of which students seem to be
actively participating and which students may need extra assistance before the
independent work is completed.
o ELL students will be able to refer to their pictures while trying to
actively participate in the conversation with the rest of the class

8. The teacher will explain that the students will be completing four written
biographies about each of the former Presidents. The students will be given a
direction sheet, as well as four separate pieces of lined paper to complete these
biographies. The teacher will explain that the students do not need to make
each biography long, but it needs to have enough detailed information so that
anyone reading their biographies would be able to comprehend the piece
provided.
9. The students will then have the opportunity to ask the teacher if they need any
more clarifications or explanations of the lesson. They will be able to refer
back to the laptops, as well as the completed scavenger hunt worksheets that
they used to complete the scavenger hunt if they have questions while
completing the biographies.
o ELL students will be given lined paper with the key details of
each President on the top, as well as a list of vocabulary words, so
that they can focus on each individual while they work to create
the biographies

10. The students will be given independent work time to complete these
biographies. They will have 15 minutes to complete the biographies in class,
and the work that is not completed will be assigned as homework due the
following day. The students will turn in the biographies completed in class
before leaving and then turn in the remaining biographies the following day.
As a form of summative assessment, the biographies will all be graded using a
rubric and the students will be given a grade.
o Enriched learners will be given the opportunity to complete a
snapshot biography and explain with few, but pertinent details,
why one President stood out the most




1.5 Differentiation

ELL for ELL students, the lesson will be modified so that they can get a better feel for
who these four Presidents are and what their significance to American history is. These
students will be given pictures that will show them who these Presidents are, pictures of
the states that they are from (in relation to the Southeast, as well as the United States),
and pictures of events that represent their influence in American history. They will be
asked to work on the scavenger hunt as well, but will have the above-mentioned pictures
to provide extra support. During the independent work on biographies, these students will
have key words written on each of the four papers so that they can recall where each
President was from and what their significance was.

Enriched learners Students who are excelling with the activities based on these four
Presidents from the Southeastern states will be asked to complete a more challenging
activity. After they have participated in the group scavenger hunt, participated in class
discussions, and completed the four written biographies of the Presidents, they will be
asked to create a snapshot biography of the President they feel was the most influential.
Since snapshot biographies provide concise and condensed information, these students
will include the details they feel necessary to convey the selected Presidents influences
on the United States of America. These students will have to be able to convince
someone who may not know much about the selected President, why he was an
influential leader. Enriched learners will then have to write a paragraph or two explaining
why they believe their selected President was the most impactful, and how our country
would be different today without their actions. (Students will be asked to fold a blank
piece of white paper into a trifold and create their snapshot biography. The teacher will
provide the blank paper.

1.6 Closure

As a conclusion to this lesson, a few students will be asked to volunteer to share one of
their four biographies. A handful of students will share their pieces by reading to the
class. Afterwards, we will go around and each student will get about 15 seconds to share
his or her favorite part of the lesson, or the part they felt was most impactful. If any of the
more important details from the lesson are not mentioned, I will review them quickly.
Finally, I will ask the students, Who remembers which President was from Kentucky?
All of the students should be able to provide a quick answer. I will then tell the class that
tomorrows lesson will be on Kentucky and Tennessee, following along with our
Southeastern states theme.


1.7 Formative/Summative Assessment of Students (P-12)


Formative Assessment Students will be assessed formally throughout the lesson and
activities. I will walk around and listen to each of the groups and see how they are
working through the scavenger hunt together. Doing so will allow me to see if the
students are meeting the outcome of explaining and discussing the four Presidents
selected from the Southeast. I will try to engage as many learners as possible while the
teaching demonstration is taking place and see if the students seem to be grasping these
new concepts and ideas as they share their opinions and ideas.

Summative Assessment As a summative assessment for the lesson, I will read over the
students written biographies of the Presidents and grade them using a rubric. The
students will need to have the most relevant information written in the biographies to
receive full credit. These biographies do not need to be lengthy, but they will need to
provide sufficient and detailed information. The students will be given a grade for each of
the four written biographies. This will give me an idea of how well the lesson was taught
and if the students really seemed to meet the outcomes of grasping the importance of the
four Presidents selected from Southeastern states.



1.8 Materials/Equipment
A. STUDENT MATERIALS/ READING RESOURCES:

Students will have access to classroom laptops
Students will be given a worksheet that corresponds with a PowerPoint scavenger
hunt that will have been preloaded onto their individual laptops
Students will be encouraged to take notes in a notebook during the classroom
discussion / short lecture
Students will be given lined paper to complete their four biographies for each
President discussed during the lesson
Pencils


B. TEACHER MATERIALS/RESOURCES FOR LESSON DESIGN:

Teacher will have access to a laptop
Teacher will have access to several sites that were used to create the scavenger
hunt and corresponding PowerPoint
Teacher will hand out the accompanying worksheets for the scavenger hunt
Teacher will have access to several sites that were used to create the PowerPoint
used during class discussion (all sources used are cited on the last page of the
lesson plan)
Teacher will have copies of the biography sheet to handout
Teacher will have access to several copies of the rubric used for summative
assessment of the completed biographies



1.9 Technology

Each student will have a classroom laptop and will be given the laptops to work
on the group scavenger hunt in the beginning of class
During the lesson to follow, students will be shown short YouTube clips on the
Smartboard, as well as a brief PowerPoint on our topic
-After the lesson, students can go back and refer to the scavenger hunt on their
classroom laptops to help them individually create their biographies










2.1 Reflection on Planning

This lesson feels like it could be content heavy at times. Since the students are
learning about four former Presidents, they have a lot of information to retain. Learning
about each of these different Presidents hometowns and impacts on our country can get a
bit confusing. I tried to organize this lesson in a way that would follow along with the
Southeastern theme, as well as encourage the students to think on their own as much as
possible. I will be sure to show the students where exactly these states are on the map in
relation to the southeast, as well as to the country. This will help develop their map skills
for the continuation of the Southeastern unit.
The scavenger hunt PowerPoint in the beginning of the lesson will engage
learners and give them a chance to work with their peers through something that they
may not find to be the most interesting. I feel that if the students are able to engage
themselves in the beginning of the lesson, it will be easier for them to follow along
during short lecture and the class discussion. At the end of the lesson, students will
complete four short biographies on each of the Presidents weve discussed. I will be able
to tell if the lesson was successful when I read over and grade these four biographies. If
majority of the students seem to have good overall explanation of these four Presidents
from the Southeast, I will know my lesson was successful. My overall goal with this
lesson is to teach students content heavy information in a way that they can appreciate
and be excited about.




















Sources Cited
National Archives and Records Administration, (2014). Featured Document: The
Emancipation Proclamation. Retrieved 23 September 2014, from
http://www.archives.gov/

Ducksters, (2014). "Biography of President George Washington for Kids," Retrieved 24
September 2014, from http://www.ducksters.com/

Ducksters, (2014). "Biography of President Abraham Lincoln for Kids," Retrieved 24
September 2014, from http://www.ducksters.com/

Ducksters, (2014). "Biography of President Andrew Jackson for Kids," Retrieved 23
September 2014, from http://www.ducksters.com/

Ducksters, (2014). "Biography of President James Madison for Kids," Retrieved 25
September 2014, from http://www.ducksters.com/

Firsts, A. (2014). Andrew Jackson - U.S. Presidents. HISTORY.com. Retrieved 24
September 2014, from http://www.history.com/

U.S. Department of Education (2014). Liberty's Kids Archive. George Washington.
Retrieved 25 September 2014, from http://www.libertyskids.com/

Merriam-webster.com,. (2014). Definitions and More. Retrieved 27 September 2014,
from http://www.merriam-webster.com/

National Geographic, (2014). Where Were the U.S. Presidents Born?. Retrieved 26
September 2014, from http://education.nationalgeographic.com/