INQUIRY/ Dynamic Social Studies LESSON PLAN

Student: Kathryn Carlsen

School: Riverview Elementary

READINESS
I. Goal(s)/Objective(s)/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s) Students will understand how they impact their community.
B. Objective(s) Through various activities, students will describe the character traits of a good citizen and how
different people contribute to their community.
C. Standard(s)
NCSS: 5- Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
IAS:
o
2.2.4 Describe how people of different ages, cultural backgrounds and traditions contribute to the
community and how all citizens can respect these differences.
o
2.2.5 Identify people who are good citizens and describe the character traits that make them admirable.
* citizen: someone with rights and responsibilities in a particular community, city, state or country.
D. Materials: Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth, bags labeled good citizen and bad citizen, cards with
examples of good and bad citizens, large pieces of paper, example of a business, posters labeled grandparents/elderly,
parents/adults, siblings/children, and neighbors, WANTED posters for each child, cut out of a man, sticky notes,
markers, crayons.

Management:
Time: 45-50 minutes
Space: Various areas all over the classroom, stations will be set up on the front and back carpets, the
round table, and at their desks.
Behavior: The students will be expected to participate fully at each station. I will explain the directions
of each station and tell them that I expect them to work together and respect each other. I will use the
classrooms clip system for behavior
II. Anticipatory Set (5 mins)
All children will sit on the carpet.
Read Something Beautiful to them.
Ask them different things that were beautiful in the book.
Ask things that the characters did to improve their community.
III. Purpose: Today we are going to learn about how to be a good citizen and how we impact our community.
INSTRUCTION
IV. Lesson Presentation: Presentation of Concept (10 minutes to explain stations, 26 minutes at stations)
A. INPUT: Class Discussion
a. Who has heard the word citizen before? (write citizen on the board) Can anyone tell me what it means?
(call on a few of the students) Citizen means someone who is a member of a community who supports
or helps their community. Today, we are going to talk about how to be good citizens in our stations.
b. Go to each station and describe all of the directions. Be sure to have the students repeat the directions
back to you because they will be taking in a lot of information at once. Have them do a thumbs up if
they understand what they are supposed to be doing at each station. Next, send the groups to their first

stations and have them pause when they get there. Explain the rotation, having students point to the
station they go to next.
B. OUTPUT: Active Learning
a. Students will be divided into four groups and will be at each station for 6 minutes. Each station will help
them to define how to be a good citizen and the various ways we impact our community.
i. The first station will be at the front carpet. At this station, there will be two bags, one labeled
good citizen and another labeled bad citizen. There will also be a stack of cards with a picture
and a phrase on it. The children will sort the cards into the bags to determine if the action on
the card is one of a good or bad citizen.
ii. The second station will be at their desks. On large pieces of paper, the students will write a
sentence about a new business they want to create to improve their community following this
structure: I would own a _______ because _______. Then, they will draw a picture of the
business with their crayons. I will provide an example and tell them that they cannot begin
drawing until they have first written the sentence. If they do not finish their drawing, they can
at another time.
iii. At the third station at the back carpet, each group will have a different poster labeled either
grandparents/elderly, parents/adults, siblings/children, or neighbor with a picture of a person
from that age group. Each group will write ways that these different people contribute to the
community. Something Beautiful will be at this station and they will be able to look at the book
for examples.
iv. The fourth station will be at the back table and will have a piece of paper labeled WANTED:
for being a good citizen. There will be a place where they can write their names, draw a
picture of themselves, and write three ways they can be a good citizen: one at home, one at
school, and one in their neighborhood. Again, the students will be required to write the
sentences before drawing the picture of themselves. Show examples of anything that must be
produced under the document camera.
VI. Closure/Conclusion (8 minutes)
C. Debriefing
a. One representative from each group will come up with the poster they made at the third station. They
will share with the class a few of the ways they said each of these different groups contribute to the
community.
b. Then, I will have a big cut out of a man taped on the board. He will be our good citizen. Each student
will receive a sticky note where they can write their name and one way they can be a good citizen and
come and stick it somewhere on the man. Ask students to share what they wrote.
c. So, how are ways we can be a good citizen? Share with a partner. Then as the students for a few
examples.
VII. Practice
This will take place through the various stations as they play the game, add to the poster, draw their business, and fill
out their WANTED poster. At the end during the closure, I will have previously selected one person from each group who I
know will not have a problem sharing their poster with the class. Also, by allowing them to write on a sticky note and bring it
up when they are finished, they can contribute to the discussion in a non-threatening way.
VIII. Assessment
A. Formative: I will be circulating among all the groups, making sure the students stay on task and understand the
directions. I will be sure that they are working on their assignments at each station. As I look at the work they have
done, I will see if they understand the concept of being a good citizen. This will derive mostly from the WANTED
posters that they fill out. I will read what they have written to see if they understood what being a good citizen looks
like. I will look at the posters they made as a group to see if they were able to come up with ways each person makes
an impact on a community. I will also look at the citizen man to see what the children wrote on their sticky notes.
B. Summative: End of unit test/project
IX. Adaptation:
Remediation Make sure to check in with these students at every station to ensure that they understand exactly what to do.
Give them a slight nudge in the right direction at the beginning.
Enrichment Encourage them to go a step further at each station (think of another way to be a good citizen, draw a second
business, write on the back of your paper on how you can impact your community)

ESL- There are no ESL students in my classroom however, each station has pictures along with the writing so they would not
have a hard time following along
Exceptional Needs- These students will be placed in a group where other children will be able to help and support them. I will
be sure to come around and explain the directions to them again and help them whenever necessary.
X. Technology Inclusion
Examples of what will be completed at each station will be shown to students under the document camera.
EVALUATION
Self-Answer Questions
1. How many students achieved the objective? For those that did not, why not?
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
3. How should I alter this lesson?
4. How would I pace it differently?
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
a. Blooms Taxonomy
b. Gardners Multiple Intelligences
7. Do my students understand what it means to be a good citizen?
8. Do they understand how different people impact the community?

Recycling

Sharpening Pencils

Obeying your parents

Cleaning up a park

Punching

Stealing

Yelling at someone

Giving food to a food

Crossing the street

Littering

Picking up garbage

Teasing someone

Calling 911 in an
emergency

Cheating
Gossiping

Sharing

Not doing your

Pushing friends in
line
Following directions

Lying

Cleaning your room