FORMAL LESSON ONE
Purpose: The students will be introduced to early colonial leaders who played important roles in the colonial period.
Vocabulary and Key Terms:
Representative- a person who serves as a speaker for others
Militia- military force made up or ordinary citizens
Skills and Objectives: As a result of this lesson, students will be able to…
- Find important details from a short story or article
- Find important facts out from a short story or article
- Name at least two important figures from Colonial America and their contributions
- Take notes and listen for important details and facts during a read aloud
NYS Learning Standards:
Social Studies
-Key Idea 1.1: The study of New York State and United States historyrequires an analysis of the development of American culture, its diversity and multicultural context, and the ways people are united by many values, practices, and traditions.
-1.1a: Know the roots of American culture, its development from many different traditions, and the ways many people from a variety of groups and backgrounds played a role in creating it.
English Language Arts
Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.
Speaking
- Ask questions
-Describe a problem and suggest one or more solutions
-Speak loudly enough to be heard by the audience
Listening
-Acquire information and/or understand procedures
-Collect information
Reading
Technology
Standard 5: Computer Technology
-Key idea: Computers, as tools for design, modeling, information processing, communication, and system control, have greatly increased human productivity and knowledge.
Pre-Assessment:
Ask students if they can name any Colonial leaders and if they know what contributions they made or any facts about them. This will get the students thinking about what they may already know about leaders.
Set Induction:
Explain to the students that they will be discussing early colonial leaders. Ask the students if they know what a trading card is and describe its purpose. A trading card is a small card with a picture on one side and information, facts, or statistics on the other.
Procedure:
1.) Begin by getting the classes attention and calling them, by table, to the meeting area.
2.) The teacher will read aloud the short biography of Sybil Ludington. See attached paper. The teacher will also read the short biography on page 21 of Early Leaders in Colonial New York to model that we can take information from different sources and combine it. At this point, the students will be listening and taking notes.
3.) When finished, students will volunteer to share facts they thought were important from the read aloud and Sybil Ludington’s life.
4.) The teacher will chart the information given by the students.
5.) The teacher will discuss with students that some details in a story or article are more important than others, especially for trading cards. The teacher will aid the children in categorizing all of the information written into the five most important facts about Sybil Ludington.
6.) The teacher will model the process of creating a Colonial Trading Card for the class and will pass around an example. This card will have an illustration of Sybil Ludington on one side and five important facts on the other side.
7.) The teacher and students will work together to make a class example of a Sybil Ludington Trading Card.
8.) Review directions for independent work then send children back to their desks.
9.) Hand out all of the books listed under the materials section as well as printed sheets attached to each group. Make sure each group has plenty of books to look up leaders and information.
10.) The students will go through the books their group has been given and find a leader that they would like to research and write about.
11.) The teacher will hand out one plain index card to every student. This will be used to make their trading cards.
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14.) Once they are finished, volunteers will come up to the front and share what they have learned in making their trading card.
Closure:
After the students are done sharing, they can quietly trade their cards with one another while we clean up materials and supplies.
Materials:
- Abigail Adams: First Lady of the Revolution by Patricia Lakin
- Daughters of Libertyby Joan Kane Nichols
- George Washington: Soldier, Hero, President by Justine and Ron Fontes
- Who Was Betsy Ross?by Colleen Adams
- Colonial Life and the Revolutionary War in New York by Kerri O’Donnell
- African Americans in the Thirteen Colonies by Deborah Kent
- Colonial Women by Niki Walker
- Early Leaders in Colonial New York by Colleen Adams
- Benjamin Franklin: American Inventor by Colleen Adams
- A is for Abigail by Lynne Cheney
- Printed out biographies that are attached
- Index cards
- Colored pencils or crayons
- Read aloud on Sybil Ludington
- Pencils
Follow Up Activity:
To follow up this lesson, students will be given a homework assignment in which they must make their own trading card at home. Each student will have a copy of one of the printed biographies to bring home with them and will make a card for the leader they did not write about in class.
Assessment:
During the lesson, the teacher will rotate around the room assessing the students’ understanding of the material and the assignment. The teacher will do this to see if any students need additional support and how well the students are managing the task at hand.
Differentiation:
This lesson is a positive experience for all learners because the assignment is modeled and the students are free to choose their own books to use. The teacher will be available for one-on-one help for students having difficulties. For students who excel during this lesson, the teacher can have these students write their facts in paragraph form.
Resources:
- http://www.pocanticohills.org/womenenc/ludington.htm
- http://russell.gresham.k12.or.us/Colonial_America/Molly_Pitcher.html
- http://www.mce.k12tn.net/colonial_america/paul_revere.htm
- http://www.mce.k12tn.net/colonial_america/thomas_jefferson.htm
- http://www.biography.com/articles/Patrick-Henry-204632
- http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/notable/wheatleyp/
- Smartboard