SETON HILL UNIVERSITY

Lesson Plan Template

TOPIC
Name
Subject
Grade Level
Date/Duration
Big Ideas
Essential
Questions
PA/Common
Core/Standards

Objectives

DETAILS
CK
Maria Campbell
Social Studies- Pennsylvania Geography
Grade 4
1 hour (may take 2 days)
Important cities and landforms can be found throughout
Pennsylvania.
What are the important cities and landforms that are
found in Pennsylvania?
7.1.4.A: Describe how common geographic tools are
used to organize and interpret information about
people, places, and environment.

7.2.4.A. Identify the physical characteristics of places

and regions.

8.2.4.B Locate historical documents, artifacts, and

places critical to Pennsylvania history.
The student will be able to interpret and navigate a
map, as well as state at least one use of a map, in a
small group, with 100% accuracy (5/5 correct answers).

Bloom's
Taxonomy
Webb's Depth of
Knowledge
(DOK)

The student will be able to label the major cities and

landforms of Pennsylvania, with a small group, with
83% accuracy (10/12).

The student will be able to compare and contrast a city

in Pennsylvania history with the same city today, by
looking at an image, in a small group, with 100%
accuracy.
Students will be evaluated in each of the three stations
involved in Guiding the Practice:
Students will complete questions (5/5) after
exploring an interactive map of Pennsylvania online
(in a group)
Students will take a picture of a completed
Pennsylvania Bulletin Board Map and submit with
group members names (12/12 correct labels)
Students will complete a Venn Diagram, individually,
after locating a Primary Source. The Venn Diagram
will be evaluated to determine whether students
accurately compared and contrasted a city (from
past to today)
ISTE Standards
Research and Information Fluency
Critical Thinking
Digital Citizenship

Formative &
Summative
Assessment
Evidence

ISTE Standards
for Students

Framework for

21st Century
Learning

Technology Operations and Concepts

Framework for 21st Century Learning

Communication and Collaboration
Media Literacy
ICT (Information, Communications, and Technology)
Literacy
Social Skills

Technology:
21st Century App: PA Markers App
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pa-markers/id486977511?
mt=8
Using this app on an iPad, students will have the opportunity
to explore the various PA Markers, or historic landmarks
throughout Pennsylvania. Students may write a paragraph
summary of a PA Marker for extra credit, if they complete the
assignments within the lesson before other students.
Interactive Map of PA:
http://mrnussbaum.com/united-states/pennsylvania/ - facts2
(Used in stations)
Library of Congress- Primary Sources
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/finding.html
(Used in Modeling of Concept and stations)
Accommodation
s, Modifications

Student with Emotional/Behavioral Disorder

Student will be provided with a space in the
classroom that is the least distractive for him/her
Student will be placed in a group with a good
behavior model for the group activity
Both verbal and nonverbal cues will be used to
remind the student to stay on-task and of rule
violations (looking at student,
reminders/announcements for all students, tapping
desk)
Behaviors that are not seriously disruptive will be
ignored
Student will be supported by the teacher, in which
he or she will spend more time with the students
group throughout the lesson
Student will use a token economy system of
reinforcement
Student will be given both written and verbal
instructions of the lesson
Student will be provided with an accommodated
Venn Diagram Sheet in which he/she will be
provided with lines and the number of differences

and similarities that must be completed

SUPERVISING
TEACHERS
SIGNATURE

Seton Hill University Lesson Plan Template Step-by-Step

Procedures
RATIONALE for
the Learning
Plan
Introduction

Explicit
Instructions

CK
Activating Prior Knowledge
Students will be asked to state the topic that they have
been learning about over the course of this weekPennsylvania
Hook/Lead-In/Anticipatory Set
Big Idea Statement
The students will listen and follow along as the teacher
chooses a student to read the Big Idea that is listed on
the front board:
Important cities and landforms can be found
throughout Pennsylvania.
Essential Questions Statement
The students will listen and follow along as the teacher
chooses students to read the Essential Question that is
listed on the front board:
What are the important cities and landforms that are
found in Pennsylvania?
Objective Statement
Students will listen and follow along as the teacher
models the concept of locating primary sources. Then
students will engage in three stations that relate to
Pennsylvania Geography. Finally, students will complete
an activity comparing and contrasting a city in
Pennsylvania from two different time periods.
Transition
Key Vocabulary
Primary Source
Major Cities in PA (Erie, Pittsburgh, Gettysburg,
Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Scranton)
Landforms (rivers, mountain ranges)

Lesson
Procedure
Must include
adaptations &
accommodation
s for students
with special
needs

Major Rivers in PA (Ohio, Monongahela, Allegheny,

Delaware, Susquehanna)
Appalachian Mountains
PreAssessment of Students
Students will view the map of Pennsylvania in their
textbook and on the projector
The students will be asked to share what they see on
their map
What landforms do you see?
What cities do you see?
Where are we on this map?
Modeling of the Concept
Students will be presented with a primary source on the
board (and will be asked to state the definition of a
primary source-previously discussed) depicting
Philadelphia, a city found in Pennsylvania, in colonial
times
Students will also view an image of Philadelphia today
on the board
As a class, the students will complete a Venn Diagram
also on the board, listing differences and similarities
between the two images and time periods
Students will listen and watch as the teacher models
how to locate a Primary Source on the Carnegie Library
website
Students will be told that they will conduct the same
procedure during one of the stations in Guiding the
Practice
Students will be provided with examples of cities in
Pennsylvania in which the can search for images
(Pittsburgh, Gettysburg, Erie, etc.)
Guiding the Practice
Students will be split into groups of 5-7 and will spend
10 minutes in each of 3 stations
Station 1:
Students will explore interactive map that can be
reached using a laptop (3 laptops in group)
http://mrnussbaum.com/unitedstates/pennsylvania/ - facts2
The students will answer five questions in which
they will explore the interactive map to find the
answers (5/5)
Station 2: Bulletin Board
Students will complete the instructions that are
found on the Pennsylvania Geography Bulletin
Board.

As a group, students will work together to choose

a card, read the clue, and place the term in the
correct location on the map
Students will take a picture of the completed
bulletin board, using the iPad and will email it to
the teacher with all group members names
included
Station 3: Find primary source and image of same city
from today
Students will use the knowledge they gained
through the modeling to find their primary source
on the Carnegie Library website (use laptops)
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/
finding.html
Students will use the website to locate their own
image of a city in Pennsylvania from the past
They will also locate their own image of the same
city from today using Google
The student will print both of these images to use
during the Independent Practice

Providing the Independent Practice

Independently, and once all students have completed
each of the 3 stations, the students will create a Venn
Diagram, comparing and contrasting the two images
and the time periods that they chose
Venn Diagrams will be assessed to determine whether
students accurately compared and contrasted the two
images
Venn Diagrams can be completed for homework, if not
completed
Transition
Students will be provided with a 2 minute warning at
the end of each station
Adaptations/Accommodations for Students with Special
Needs
Preferential seating: Student with Emotional/Behavioral
Disorder will be seated in a space in the classroom that
most meets his/her needs (near front board, near door)
See previous Accommodations section for more
adaptations
Evaluation of
Formal Evaluation
the
Students Interactive Map Questions will be evaluated to
Learning/Master
determine whether they answered 5/5 of the questions
y of the
correctly (deal with navigating and reading a map,
Concept
importance of a map)
Students will be evaluated in the Bulletin Board Activity

Closure

Reading
Materials
Technology
Equipment
Supplies

Teacher
Self-reflection

to determine if they accurately placed at least 10/12

locations (as a group)
Students will be evaluated on their Venn Diagram to
determine whether they accurately compared and
contrasted the two pictures

Informal Evaluation
Students will be questioned throughout the
PreAssessment to determine their current knowledge
Students will be observed during group work and
evaluated on their ability to work with others (checklist
and teacher rotating around classroom)
Summary & Review of the Learning
Student will provide feedback to the teacher as to
whether they enjoyed the stations and this type of
learning
Which station was your favorite?
Does anyone have anything unique they would like to
share about their primary source and image from
today?
Homework/Assignments
Venn Diagrams can be completed for homework, if not
completed
Classroom set of Laptops
iPad
Websites written on board for students to reference
Preselected Primary source and image from today (used
in Modeling of the Concept as example)
Venn Diagram drawn on board
Timer
Pennsylvania Geography Bulletin Board
Printer
Venn Diagram Worksheets (and accommodated
Worksheet)