Railroad Lesson Plan

Bridgewater College
Education Department Lesson Plan

Date and Title of Lesson: Subject Area(s): VA: SOL(s)
Name___Katie Yankey______
Date: 2/21/13 Title: All Aboard the Social Studies Railroad Grade Level(s)/Course: 4th grade, Social Studies VS.8 c) The student will demonstrate knowledge of the reconstruction of Virginia following the Civil War by describing the importance of railroads, new industries, and the growth of cities to Virginias economic development.
Content Objective(s) The students will be able to accurately explain that railroads allowed the North and the South to transport goods, even though they live long distances from one another, and state that railroads helped to increase the size of cities. IEP Goal/Objective:
Accommodations/Differentiation
Lesson Assessment (based on objectives) Formative Assessment: The student at the end of the lesson will be able in a class setting to answer and fill out the Railroad Note Worksheet, which will be answered in a class discussion format.
Materials: All Aboard Power point Part 1 (created by Katie Yankey) All Aboard Power point (created by Katie Yankey) Classroom set of Helpful Railroad Note Worksheet (created by Katie Yankey) Bags of Cotton Balls Shirts Wagon Train (created by Katie Yankey) Integration of Technology: Use of All Aboard Part 1 Power point and All Aboard Power point. Use of Elmo during Railroad Note Worksheet.
Accommodations/ Differentiation Time Planned
Anticipatory Set (Focus) The teacher will start the Social Studies lesson by saying Okay class lets all aboard the social studies railroad! Whoo Whoo (train noise). Today in Social Studies we are going to figure out how goods were transported across states during the Reconstruction period. We are going to start with a power point, then go into a game, then do another power point that may have a few challenging math problems, and close with a test review worksheet we can put into our social studies journals.
Access/Review Prior Knowledge Start by pulling up the All Aboard Part 1 Power point, and read the title page, then go to next slide Next, show students the slide, and remind them of how the United States was separated before Reconstruction during the Civil War period. Point out how far a distance it would be for a farmer in the south to get his crops to the north, and for a manufacturer in the north to get his goods to the south. Go to the next slide, and read the question to the class. Have the students raise their hands to answer. Good answers: tobacco, cotton, cash crops, corn, wheat, flour and other crop/farm related answers. Switch to the next slide, and read the question to the class. Have the students raise their hands to answer. Good answers: textiles, iron, clothing, and other factory produced items.
3-5 minutes
Topic presentation
(What will the students be told?)
Time
Go to the final slide and ask the question to the class. Tell them just to think about this question individually instead of answering as a class at this point. Have the students divide into two groups (as evenly as possible). One group (the north) will stand on one side of the class room and the other group (the south) will stand on the other side of the classroom. Teacher will then hand the northern group a shirt (textile) and the southern group the bag of cotton balls (cotton). The teacher will then ask the whole class, How will the south get their cotton to the north to make the clothing? How will the north get their clothing to the south? Let the students think and come up with possible answers such as: walk, ride horse, or even horse and carriage. Tell them that during the Reconstruction time a new form of transportation was formed. Then show the students the wagon train. Now see how easy it is for the south (have the group put their cotton bags in the wagon) to get their crops to the north, and then give the northern side the bag. Once the north gets the cotton they can produce clothing and send it back to the south (have the northern group put their shirt in the wagon, and push it over to the southern side). Ask students if they understand this concept or have any questions. Now ask them if they can think of anything else that trains would be good for? Have one student sit in the wagon and move that child to another part of the classroom where no other students are. Then tell the students how trains allowed people to travel to other parts of the country or travel to larger cities where there are more jobs. Have students go back their seats. Pull up All Aboard Power Point. Show the students the pictures of the early steam engine style trains. The 4th slide shows a picture of the United States during 1870s and the train routes. The students can see where larger cities did develop (the north), because of more job opportunities due to factory jobs, but there are still routes to the south, since the north needs their crops. Then show the students how the routes are now beginning to travel west, because before trains it was very difficult for people to travel west, and railroads made it easier.
10 min utes
Guided Practice: Then on All Aboard Power point slides 5 through7 teacher and class will collaborate together to try and figure out the math problems on each slide. The teacher will then point out how much easier it now was for people to travel due to trains, because of how much faster of a transportation that it provided. Independent Practice: Pass out the Help Railroad Notes Worksheet, and have the students try and complete as much of it as they can on their own. Let them know to complete the worksheet in pencil, because we will be going over it together as a class. Checking for Understanding (Formative Evaluation) Then turn off the power point and turn on the Elmo. The Helpful Railroad Notes Worksheet should be blank on the board. Go over each problem and write down the answers. Make sure to ask students at the end of going over the worksheet if they have any questions.
3 minutes
3 minutes
3-5 minutes
Closure: Ask students, Now in todays lesson what did we learn about railroads? We learned that Railroads were a great asset to the transportation industry. We learned that it helped get goods from the north to the south faster, but that it also helped to move to new locations. During next class we are going to learn about how the trains helped with the Great Migration, and about the Great Migration.
1-2 minutes

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Bridgewater College

Education Department Lesson Plan

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