How Families differ in our school,
community, and world
(These
pictures were taken from http://www.teacherlink.usu.edu/)
Contents
Teacher background information
Lesson plans
Our unit theme is; how families differ in our school,
community, and world. We chose this
theme because it is applicable to the lives of children in kindergarten through
first grade. Children at this age are in
the egocentric stage. They are focused
on themselves and they make sense of their world by relating it to themselves
and things they are familiar with.
Families are very familiar to children.
Whatever a child’s background is, he or she comes from some sort of
family. In the
Our theme of how families differ in our school,
community, and world is meaningful to the children. A child can relate with the school,
community, and world through talking about families and how they are similar
and different from a child’s own family.
Our philosophy of socials studies helped us to choose
our theme. We believe that multiple
perspectives are important when dealing with social studies. That is why we are placing the family within
our school, community, and world to help students investigate the many types of
families. Social studies should also be
applicable to student’s lives, meaningful, and student centered. This unit is very applicable to students because
it deals with their everyday lives within families. It is centered around the individual
classroom and students within that classroom.
Teacher
background information
- Teachers will need to be familiar with their student’s families. Know your parents and who would be willing to come and share in the classroom. Also, know the different backgrounds and cultures within the classroom.
- Teachers will need to be familiar with knowing the parts of a map, so they can teach the students how to draw a map. Maps have keys, directions like north south east west, point of reference, and a scale.
- Teachers will need to be familiar with community events and accommodations.
- Teachers will need to be familiar with their community and the diversity within the community. How are the families in the community different and the same from the families in the classroom?
- Families in the world do not all live in brick and wood houses. There are grass huts, Chinese houses, adobe huts, teepees, igloos, and many more but these are all that we will talk about in this unit. For further reading on these homes and other cultures in the world go to these websites
http://Hewit.unco.edu/dohist/indians/family/submenu.htm
http://www.chinavista.com/experience/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/Eskimo_EskimoCulture.asp
http://www.bcsd.k12.ca.us/fremont/h5mayo.htm
Our overall question is “how do families differ in our school, community, and world?” This unit will address 3 NCSS standards and be our goals for the five week unit.
1) 1 A: explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns.
2) 3 G: describe how people create places that reflect ideas, personality, culture, and wants and needs as they design homes, playgrounds, classrooms, and the like.
3) 4 E: identify and describe ways family groups and community influence the individual’s daily life and personal choices.
These standards will be supported by our weekly objectives that come from the Utah State Core.
1) Students
will develop a sense of self. (
2) Students
will develop a sense of self in relation to families and community (
3) Students will come to understand that there are differences and similarities in families in our classroom, community, and world.
The organization of our unit reflects our overall question, goals, and objectives. We start with the child the first week and broaden out to an individual’s family, classroom family, community, and finally the families of the world. Through the unit, children will be learning about their self in relation with different types of families. The child will be collecting, researching, communicating, interacting, and presenting their knowledge. This Unit is integrative. One hour a day will be devoted to this unit, but there are many more activities that could be implemented throughout the day to make it more meaningful for students. Below are eight sample lesson plans.
Goals: NCSS Standards
1
A: explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies,
and cultures address similar human needs and concerns. 3
G: describe how people create places that reflect ideas, personality,
culture, and wants and needs as they design homes, playgrounds, classrooms,
and the like. 4
E: identify and describe ways family groups and community influence the
individual’s daily life and personal choices. |
|||||||
Weekly Theme |
Objectives |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
|
|
Me (week 1) |
Students
will develop a sense of self. ( |
Draw
self on butcher paper. Write on paper
what they like about self. |
Classmates
write or draw what they like about their classmates |
Start creating book about self. Role-play
feelings between friends. |
Work
on book about self. |
||
|
Family (week 2) |
Students
will develop a sense of self in relation to families and community ( |
Pictures
of families and discuss similarities and differences. |
Discussion
of family traditions |
Parents
come in talk about… -Traditions -Favorite
family foods -Culture etc.. |
|||
|
Classroom family (week 3) |
Students
will come to understand that there are differences and similarities in
families in our classroom, community, and world. |
Manners
and respect |
Rules
of the classroom |
Jobs
in the classroom |
Mapping
the classroom |
||
|
Families in the community (week 4) |
Students
will develop a sense of self in relation to families and community ( |
Community
workers come into the classroom |
Different
jobs in the community |
Dramatic
play with different occupations |
Write
letters to community workers |
Field
trip, mail letters at the post office |
|
|
Families in the world (week 5) |
Students
will come to understand that there are differences and similarities in
families in our classroom, community , and world |
Discussion
of similarities and differences of families in the world. |
Centers:
creating different homes that are found in the world |
Putting
together gallery walk |
Culminating
event of gallery walk and have parents as guests |
||
Classroom
Layout
Storage cupboards
door to bathroom
Entrance from hall
Entrance from outside
Art Area
Book shelves
Student’s reading
area
Cubbies Centers
Bulletin boards
Dramatic
Play
Science computers
Rug Area
Title of Lesson: ME
Teachers: Heather Hayes and Mica Hepworth
Date: week 1 day 1
Time allotted: 30 minutes
Grade Level: k-1
Number of Learners: 25
Unit Theme: How Families differ in the school, community, and world
Standard met: see below
Goal:
Students will be able to identify and describe ways family groups and community influence the individual’s daily life and personal choices. (NCSS 4E)
Objectives:
Students will develop a sense of self. (
Materials needed: long pieces of butcher paper, markers, crayons, and pencils.
Motivation: Tell the students about yourself as a teacher; what you like about yourself and some things you are good at. Tell them things you enjoy doing in your family. Show a picture of you that was drawn on butcher paper and how you wrote things you like about yourself inside of your body drawing.
Procedures:
1. Before the students even come, have butcher paper already cut out. Also make room around the classroom for all the students to be able to hang their pictures. You may need students to go out in the hall while working. This will take up a lot of ground space.
2. Have the class come to the rug and brainstorm things that students like about themselves on a piece of paper. They can write and/or draw pictures, depending on developmental level, of what they like about themselves. Discuss how their family has influenced what they like.
3. Talk about what things are appropriate to put on their paper. Examples:
I like myself because…
Things I like to do…
I like to do…in my family
My family likes to do …. And so do I
4. Write their answers on the board so they can refer to it when working on their pictures.
5. Send students back to their desk and have them come up with what ideas, on a small piece of paper, they want to put on their butcher paper.
6. As students finish, have them to go to the back of the room where they will be drawn. Then they can take their paper to a place in the room and start decorating and writing in the things they like about themselves.
7. Have a designated place for students to turn in their poster. Later on or during a break time, hang the posters for everyone to see.
Accommodations:
-larger media to draw with.
-more time
-have assistants from teacher or another adult to brainstorm ideas individually.
Closure: each student share one thing that they like about themselves that they drew or wrote on their paper.
Assessment/Evaluation: look at the pictures. Did they write things they like about them self? Do they understand the concept of self from what they wrote? Did they write how their family influenced some of the things they liked?
Extension:
Art: extend art lesson
Math: choose things they are interested in, from their paper, to make up math problems.
Writing: write more about self and hobbies
Title of Lesson: Families in our classroom
Teachers: Heather Hayes and Mica Hepworth
Date: week 2 day 1
Time allotted: 30 minutes
Grade Level: k-1
Number of Learners: 25
Unit Theme: How Families differ in the school, community, and world
Standard met: see below
Goals:
-The students will be able to identify and describe ways family groups and community influence the individual’s daily life and personal choices. (NCSS 4E)
-Students will be able to explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns. (NCSS 1A)
Objectives:
Students will develop a sense of self in relation to families and community
(
Materials needed: pictures of each student’s family, paper, pencils, white board to write down student’s thoughts
Motivation: have the teacher show a picture of his/her family. The children would love it if it was a picture when the teacher was the age of the students
Procedures:
1. The teacher will send home a note to parents asking them to have their children bring in a picture of their family without the student in the picture or to cover up the child so their classmates won’t know whose family they belong to.
2. As a class, look at the family pictures and discuss similarities and differences they see in the pictures.
3. Guess who belongs to which family
4. Many students will guess wrong. Ask the students why the guesses were wrong? What were you looking for?
5. It is good that we are all different. Help the children understand that yes, differences are good and we should not make fun of them but appreciate them. Families and individuals are different.
6. Have students discuss how their families are different and similar from others. Does that influence how children in the classroom are different and similar? Here are some questions to ask to stimulate good responses and conversation from children.
-How does your family get ready for the day?
-What are some things that you do as a family that are traditions?
-What are your routines for dinner time? (Does your whole family eat together or do you all eat at different time…?)
-Are there things that you do at home that you also do at school?
Then talk about how these things are different or similar from each other. As you are talking write these things down so that students can refer to the discussion during the next part of the lesson.
-Have students draw a picture and then write what it is that makes their family different from others and also how is their family similar to others in the classroom.
Accommodations:
-go to families home and take a Polaroid picture if family has no picture.
-allow for more time.
-scaffold the lesson so that those who can do it will be able to take off and start while those who need help can continue to stay with the teacher and he/she will help them.
-teacher writes sentence as student dictates it.
Closure: share pictures and tell what is unique about their family
Assessment/Evaluation: Listen to students and look at their paper to see if they have similarities and differences between families and individuals.
Extension:
Art: draw a favorite memory of family traditions using a different media
Math: make graphs using number of people in families
Lesson Plan 3
Title of Lesson: Geography in the classroom
Teachers: Heather Hayes and Mica Hepworth
Date: week 3 day 4
Time allotted: 1 hour
Number of learners: 25
Unit theme: How families differ in our school, community, and world
Standards met: (see below)
Goal:
1. Students will be able to describe how people create places that reflect ideas, personality, culture, and wants and needs as they design homes, playgrounds, classrooms, and the like. (NCSS 3G)
Objectives:
1- Students will come to understand that there are differences and similarities in families in our classroom, community, and world.
Materials Needed: Popsicle sticks, shoe boxes, larger fruit boxes, glue, clay, markers, crayons, construction paper, egg cartons, and tape
Motivation: Ask the question, “What do you like about our classroom?”
“Does our classroom fulfill all your needs as a students and person?”
“Do you see anything in the classroom that reflects how you think or what you want?”
Procedures:
1. Describe to the students that they will be creating their own 3-D map of their classroom. They will need to first brainstorm ideas of what they like and what is important to have in the classroom. Explain to them that they will be constructing this map to show that the classroom fulfills their needs, wants, and it reflects their ideas by having their work all over.
2. As class make a list or brainstorm things that the class feels important to put in their map.
-What do we need that is in this classroom? (Bathroom, sink, desks, books…)
-What are some things that you like and want in the classroom? (Couch, rug, pictures, piano…)
-What do you see is a resource for allowing students to express their ideas? (Bulletin boards, clipboard to write down problems/discussions)
3. A prerequisite for this lesson is teaching children how to construct maps. In your discussion remind them what the important parts of a map are: keys, directions like north south east west, point of reference, and a scale.
4. After your discussion show students the materials available.
5. Send students back to their desk with only a paper and pencil. Give time for children to sketch their map of the classroom on a piece of blank paper.
6. Before they can start construction of their maps they need to approve their map on paper through the teacher.
7. The smaller shoe boxes are for the students to keep all their stuff in and start creating. Tthe larger box is for the actual map to be finished in.
8. Storage is an issue and ask a janitor if you can use a closet or just stack the boxes in one corner of the room.
Accommodations:
More time
Larger materials to work with if small motor skills is a problem
Closure:
Share what they’ve accomplished for the first day.
Assessment/Evaluation: observation and listening to what children talk about maps and what is important in the classroom. Look at their progress.
Extension: Language arts; write about their map
Lesson Plan 4
Title of Lesson: Geography in the classroom
Teachers: Heather Hayes and Mica Hepworth
Date: week 3 day 5
Time allotted: 1 hour
Number of learners: 25
Unit theme: How families differ in our school, community, and world
Standards met: (see below)
Goal:
1. Students will be able to describe how people create places that reflect ideas, personality, culture, and wants and needs as they design homes, playgrounds, classrooms, and the like. (NCSS 3G)
Objectives:
1- Students will come to understand that there are differences and similarities in families in our classroom, community, and world.
Materials Needed: Popsicles sticks, 25 shoe boxes, 25 larger fruit boxes, glue, clay, markers, crayons, construction paper, tape, and egg cartons
Motivation: Ask students how their maps are coming!
Procedures:
1. Come together as a class and talk about the progress of the maps so you as a teacher will know how much time to give them.
2. As a teacher explain that the class is going to be working in centers. Two of the centers will be to finish their maps. Each center will be approximately 15 minutes long depending on how finished students are with their maps already.
3. As a teacher explain each center
Center 1: finish construction of map
Center 2: finish construction of map
Center 3: Have the students in this center look around the classroom and decide what is fair in the classroom and what’s unfair. This center will be one that the teacher will be directing to help with the discussion. As a group the students will need one paper that outlines their discussion. If students are unable to write at this point the teacher can do the writing while students draw. (Things that may be talked about are, Is it fair that John gets to sit right by the drinking fountain. Or Do you think it’s fair that not everyone gets a chance to go to reading group at the same time.
Center 4: The students at this center will walk around the classroom and have a discussion about the children’s needs and wants and how the classroom satisfies their needs and wants. They have already talked about this but it will be beneficial for them to go over it again. This time they get to write/draw what they’ve been talking about. If this center finishes early have them either work on their maps or go to the reading corner and read some books.
Accommodations:
More time
Larger materials to work with if small motor is a problem
Closure: children all get to look at each other’s maps. Class discussion or get together and talk about needs and wants for the classroom.
Assessment/Evaluation: finished product and observation of centers 3 and 4. Observe if everyone understands what fairness is or if they understand what are needs and wants.
Extension: Language arts; write about their map
Lesson Plan 5
Title of Lesson: Community Family
Teacher (s): Mica Hepworth and Heather Hayes
Date: Week 4 Day 1
Time Allotted:
Grade Level (s):
K-1
Numbers of Learners: 25
Unit Theme: How families differ in the school, community and world?
Standard (s) Met: See below
Goal: The learners will identify and describe ways family groups and community influence daily life and personal choices. (NCSS 4: E)
Objectives: Students will develop a sense of self in
relation to families and community. (
Materials Needed: Pictures of community workers such as fireman, firewoman, policemen, women, nurses, mailman, etc., chart paper, markers, pencils, paper, stamps, envelopes,
Motivation: Pictures of the community workers, starting a KWL chart. Tell the students they get to go on a field trip at the end of the week to see the places the community helpers work.
Procedures:
1. Tell the students that we are going to talk about different things that are in the community that influence our daily lives.
2. Ask the students what they KNOW about the different community workers.
3. Ask the students what they WANT to know about the community workers.
4. Ask the students what their parents do? How they make the community like a family?
5. Have the community workers come in and talk about their occupations.
6. Have the students begin to write their favorite community worker.
Accommodations: Give student more time to work to think about the K and the W in the KWL chart, Have more community workers come in from one job site, letting those that can’t write draw and dictate the picture to the teacher.
Closure: Have students thank the community worker, finish up the KWL in what they have LEARNED from the community workers
Assessment/Evaluation: Listening to the students, asking them to describe how community workers are helpful to them in keeping their environment safe.
Extension: Language Arts, Science,
Lesson Plan 6
Title of Lesson: Families in the Community Field Trip
Teacher (s): Mica Hepworth and Heather Hayes
Date: Week 4 Day 5
Time Allotted: All morning
Grade Level: k-1
Number of Learners: 25
Unit Theme: How Families differ in our school and community and world?
Standard (s) Met: See Below
Goal: The learners will identify and describe ways family groups and community influence daily life and personal choices. (NCSS 4: E)
Objectives: The learner will be able to recognize their surroundings and they will gain a sense of self in the community family.
Materials Needed: School bus, parent volunteers, snacks, letter to go home at the beginning of the week, letters that children wrote, (possibly a sack lunch),
Motivation: We have been talking all week long on how the community makes us feel safe and that it is our family. Today we are going to go and visit some of the places that we have talked about and heard about this week. Our last stop will be the post office where we will mail the letters that we wrote to thank them for letting us do this.
Procedures:
1. Have a bus all ready to go. Give instructions to the children about the safety on the bus and how we are to be courteous to the people on the bus and the community places. Remind them that they are guest at this work place.
2. Talk about the places that they will be going. For example; the fire station, police station, library, grocery store, bank, Movie Theater, hospital, dental office, city hall, and historical place, and then the post office. Talk to the students and ask them what they remember about each place or one place and what the people do there. Once they answer they may go and line up.
3. Have the children line up in two straight lines. Have parent volunteers also line up with the children.
4. As soon as the children are lined up then remind them that other students are in class and that we need to be quiet so that we don’t disturb them.
5. Once on the bus remind the students to be on their best behavior. At the first stop remind the children to say thank you to the community people that are showing them around their store.
6. Have a discussion about each place they have been and why that would make they feel important and safe to know where things were in their town, and community.
7. Arrive at the post office and after the tour of the post office have the students put their envelope into the mail box to be mailed.
8. Stop at a park and allow the students and parent volunteers to eat their lunches. Allow time for the students to play a little at the park.
Accommodations: time
handicapped bus
more parent volunteers
back up lunches
Closure: After you have gotten back into the classroom, talk to your students about how they feel, what they learn, and why today was an important day.
Assessment/Evaluation: Observation of the students, their letters, and have the students write up about what they learned on the field trip about the community.
Extension: Language Arts, Math, Science,
Lesson Plan 7
Title of Lesson: Families in the World
Teacher (s): Mica Hepworth and Heather Hayes
Date: Week 5, Day 1
Time Allotted:
Grade Level: K-1
Number of Learners: 25
Unit Theme: How families differ in our school, community, and world?
Standard (s) Met: See below
Goal: The Learners will explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns (NCSS 1:A), identify and describe ways family groups and community influence the individuals daily life and personal choices (NCSS 4:E)
Objective: Students will come to understand that
there are differences and similarities in families in our classroom, community
and world.
Materials needed: pencils, markers, paper, and books about different families around the world.
Motivation: Picture of your own family doing something together. Ask the students if their family does something like this in their family.
Procedures:
1. Read a couple of book about
different families around the world. A Family in
2. Talk about what the families are doing
3. Ask them what the families are doing.
4. Ask them if their family does anything like that
5. Compare using a Venn diagram between their family and the families that are in the pictures or stories.
My family Chinese family
Indian family
6. Talk about where china and
7. Have the students draw a picture of how their families are similar
8. Have the students draw a picture of how their families are different
9. Have them write or dictate to the teacher of what the picture is about.
Accommodations: dictate story to teacher or to a student that is done with his/her pictures, shorter discussions, more interaction, have them draw another picture if they get done first or help a neighbor
Closure: Have the student share their finished work by drawing their name from a jar so that everyone gets a turn. Put it in to a class book that will be in the class library.
Assessment/Evaluation: Look at the pictures and writing
to determine whether they understand the differences and similarities between
their families and other families.
Extension: Make a class book, Math
Lesson Plan 8
Title of Lesson: Families around the World
Teacher (s): Mica Hepworth and Heather Hayes
Date: Week 5, Days 2 & 3
Time Allotted: 1-hour and15 minutes
Grade Level: K-1
Number of Learners: 25
Unit Theme: How families differ in our school, community and world?
Standard (s) Met: See below
Goal: The Learners will explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns (NCSS 1:A)
identify and describe ways family groups and community insulin the individuals daily life and personal choices (NCSS 4:E)
.
Objective: Students will be able to tell about the differences and similarities between families in the world.
Materials Needed: The books: If you Lived With the Indians of the Northwest Coast by Anne Kamma, An Eskimo Family by Bryan Alexander, and A Family in Norway by St. John Jetty, paper, copies of a tepee, colored pencils, crayons, glue, grass, Popsicle sticks, twigs, sugar cubes and toothpicks,
Motivation: Teacher will talk about what each Center consist of
Procedures:
1. Teacher explains what each center is going to consist of
2. Children will read the book, If you Lived With the Indians of the Northwest Coast by Anne Kamma, and then they will build a tepee and write a story about it.
3. Students will read the book, An Eskimo Family by Bryan Alexander, about the Eskimos and they will build an igloo out of sugar cubes.
4. Students will read the book A Family in Norway by St. John Jetty. They will draw a picture about the Norwegian people and write about how they lived.
Accommodations: Working together as partners
more time
more resources
whole class building,
Assessment/Evaluation: Write about what they have learned about each of the different people in the centers, observations
Extension: Science, Math, Art, Music,
Assessment
Students will have many opportunities to demonstrate their learning. They will make projects, do writing, have hands on experiences, reflect through talking, and do art in the various lesson plans. They will reflect their learning by making a community in there classroom. As part of the community they will write letters and mail them. There will be family members come in and talk to them about the various cultures, and as a culminating project they will put together a gallery walk for their families to come see what they have learned. The teacher will be observing through the whole process and checking for understanding of the main concept of similarities and differences. The teacher can do this by listening for students to use those terms, asking students to explain why they wrote that or how they feel about other families or cultures.
Appendices
Resources
National
Council for Social Studies www.socialstudies.org
Utah
State Core www.usoe.org
Refer
to teacher background information for more websites.
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnesF2000/wenols/olsen.htm
This
website is a great resource for children’s literature that deal with families