Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format

Name: Brianna Van Bibber Grade Level: 5th Grade

Topic/Central Focus Subject: Social Studies

European Exploration: Marco Polo Time Frame: 30 Minutes

Standard(s) to be met in the lesson:

 SS 5.3.1.b Apply map skills to analyze physical/political maps of the United States.
 SS 5.3.5 Use geographic skills to interpret issues and events.

Learning Objective: Assessment Tool(s) and Procedures:

 Students will understand the
importance of Marco Polo’s travels from
Italy to China.
 Students will be able to look at Marco
Polo’s route to China and come up with
inferences on why he chose the route
he did. This will help create map skills.
 Students will use a fill in the blank
notes packet to find the highlights
of the lesson.
 Students will have a time at the end
of class where they can share their
findings with the class.

Research-Based Best Practice used in lesson and why it is appropriate/useful

- Cooperative Interactions, Elizabeth Cohen’s research shows that cooperative learning
can help students gain a higher understanding of the content they are learning.
Student Engagement used throughout the lesson
 The students will be reading pages 124-125 of the text book together as a class.
 The students will be filling out a notes packet based on the current textbook reading.

Academic Language:
 The use of foreign city names.
 Vocabulary from the text book.
 Vocabulary that explains how to use a map.

Materials: Technology:
 Textbook  Chrome books
 Notes  Screen Projector
Packet  Google Earth
o https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1f0mJClwSrPGkwanH4MvlDunSxAWTrcCu?usp=sharing
 Piece of
notebook
paper

Assets (Knowledge of Students: personal, cultural, community)

 Students will have knowledge that many of the items that they own come from places
far away.

Updated 8/15/19
Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format

Differentiating Instruction
Identify the elements of the lesson that are differentiated (content, process, product).
Identify the student characteristic you will use to differentiate (readiness, interest, learning profile).
Explain how you differentiate (whole class, groups of students, individuals, or students with IEPs or 504 plans)

- Students will have classmates that will read with them and teacher guidance as well.
- The students will have the teacher help aid them in filling out their note taking sheet
after they have given it a try on their own.
- Students will have classmates that can help aid them in their exploration of

Procedure with time allotments:

 Hook/Engage/Pre-Assess Students
- Students will be asked about the items that they have; we will talk about how they
come from places far away from their homes. This will help introduce the section
about Marco Polo venturing to Asia.

 Communicate the purpose of the lesson to students (objective/assessment)

- I will talk about the reading and the importance of Marco Polo’s trip to Asia.
- I will also talk about our Google Earth Experience and talk about some of the tools
they can use on there.

 Instructional Sequence:
- The students will start with reading the textbook. (10 min)
- The students will fill out their notes packet. (5 min)
- The students will explore the Google Earth project I created on that pictures Marco
Polo’s route to Asia from Italy. (10 min or until they seem ready to move on or get a
little restless if 10 min is to long.)
o The students will be in groups of 3 to 4. This should leave 6 groups. Each
group will be assigned 1 of the 3 sections of the route.
 Each student will be assigned a job for their group
 1 student will run the chrome book.
 1 student will be in charge of asking the questions provided for
their route.
 1 student will be in charge of speaking for their group at the
end of the lesson.
o They will explore the section and come up with conclusions on why Marco Polo
traveled the route he did based on their exploration of terrain, cities, and the
water features along the trail (or other items they find).
o The students will also have questions to help guide their exploration. The
students will be encouraged to write down their findings on a piece of paper to
come back to at the end of class.
- The students will discuss with a group that also has the same section and decide who
will speak for their group about their findings. (2 min)

 Closure:
- One student from each route will be asked to explain their findings to the class. They
may come up to the board and point to a projected visual of their route or they may

Updated 8/15/19
Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format

stay in their seat and just share verbally. Each student will be given 1 minute to share
their findings. (3 min)

Analyzing Teaching (Reflection):

Completed after the lesson is taught.

Give evidence that the lesson was successful for students meeting the learning
objective(s).
The students knew the vocab and were able to help fill out their notes packet at the end of
the reading lesson.
If you could teach this lesson to the same group of students again, what are two or three things you would do
differently to improve the learning of these students based on their varied developmental and academic needs and
characteristics? Consider missed opportunities and other aspects of planning, instruction, and/or assessment.
Explain in the table below.
Clearly state each change you would Explain why and how you would change
make. it.
I would have made sure my Google Earth The link was on restricted, and they could not
experience was better accessible to my access it from their own chrome books.
students.

I would have spent long on the vocab
definitions and the reading.
I would have had students be more
interactive in the note taking progress.
I think being able to go more into depth
about trade routes in the reading would have
been helpful because that was learning I
wanted to happen during their exploration.
Since that exploration did not happen, I did
not go into topics I wanted to talk about.
Though, they did watch a video instead that
covered some of the topics I wanted to talk
about, so they did not entirely miss out.
I think having them come up to the board
and write their answers would be helpful.
This would allow them to move and
participate a little more.

Updated 8/15/19