Social Studies Lesson Plan : Elementary

Teacher(s): Ms. Hoar / Subject: Social Studies/Science / Grade: 3rd
Lesson Title / STEM: Building Together
Featured Newsela Article /

Kids learn to solve problems as a team (480L)

Learning Objective
Example statement(s) about what students will learn from this particular activity. / -Students will practice citing supporting evidence in the text.
-Student will make inferences based on information in the text.
-Students will practice communicating and problem-solving with their peers.
Learning Standard / CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.3.4.A
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1
Lesson Content
How will you introduce the lesson to your students? How will you teach them the skills they need to be successful? How will you allow students to practice the skills they learned with Newsela’s Write + Quiz feature? How will you assess mastery? / Direct Instruction
●Students read the article on a personal device and complete the Quiz.
●Review question 2 of the Quiz together, and ask the students why the third-graders in the article may have been asked to complete the cup activity. What skills are they practicing that will be important for robotics club? (answer: teamwork).
●Teacher: Why is it important that the students in the robotics club work on their teamwork skills?
●Teacher: How do you think this game would test or challenge students’ ability to work as a team?
●Ask the students to provide positive examples of teamwork: what does it mean to be a good teammate? What are important actions that lead to solid teamwork? Teacher keeps a list on the board.
●Teacher: Why might it be important for us to practice working as a team in our classroom? What are some examples of times when we need to work together as a team rather than as individuals?
●Teacher: Now we are going to do the same activity as the students in the article!
Modeling
●Cup and String - Teamwork Activity
●Teacher explains that the goal of this game is for players to stack all of the cups into a pyramid. However, students may not use their hands; they may only use the rubber band tool the teacher provides.
○The tool is a rubber band that has for 4 ~2 ft long pieces of string attached to it.
■Prepare the rubber band tools by tying four pieces of string (each about two feet long) evenly spaced around one rubber band. Make one rubber band tool for each group.
●Ask for three volunteers from the class, and model the activity with them while the other students observe.
●Show the students that if each member of the group pulls on one of the strings, the rubber band will stretch wide enough to fit over the cup. The group must communicate effectively so that they can work together to move each cup into the correct position.
Student Practice
●Teacher separates the class into groups of four and provides each group with one rubber band tool.
●Before starting the activity, the teacher suggests that each group takes three minutes to discuss strategy/teamwork skills. Teams should figure out a system before starting (i.e., making sure only one student speaks at a time).
●Students complete the activity described in the article by creating a pyramid of cups without touching the cups.
●If one or more groups finish creating the pyramid with time to spare, challenge them to redo the activity without speaking.
Guided Questions
●Once the activity is complete, come back together as a group to decide what students learned about good team-working tactics. Ask what worked, what didn’t work.
●Discuss the students’ observations about how to work as a team without using voices (i.e., the importance of observing body language).
Accommodations
What scaffolds can be included to support learners? Can you anticipate different reading levels for students? / Students who may need additional support can be put in a group with high-level learners for the class activity. Additionally, the teacher may choose to spend more time discussing teamworking strategies specific to the activity as a full group.
Extensions
How can you support high level learners? Can you anticipate reading levels and Writing Prompt to challenge? / High-level learners can be given the 670L article for the initial independent read-through at the beginning of the lesson.