Entry #7 Maps Then and Now

The history of Pennsylvania canals and how the people of the 1800's used transportation. 
PA history used horses and buggies, canals with a boat pulled by a mule or horse along a dirt path. The canal used these means of transportation to distribute and receive goods and supplies.  Discuss the way of living in the 1800's by talking about what they transported and how the process occurred.  Compare this to what replaced these canals and waterways and how the use of them grew and changed to the current day.  (Content) 

Students begin in their Social Studies textbooks reviewing the map skills, comparing maps, then and now.  Ask students to view the top map on the page of the 1800's to look at the content of the map.  (look at map key and details)  Ask students how they think people traveled in the 1800's to get supplies and moved from one area to another. (DOK1)  Make a list of student answers on the board. (DOK2)  Show students the You Tube video of the Erie Canal.  Review their lifestyle with the class of how these people lived in the 1800's.  Show students a large map of the 1800's on the smart board. Discuss the different ways people traveled, along the canal and waterways and horse and buggy.  Discuss the length of time it took to get to a different town or location. (DOK2) Show students a large map of Pennsylvania only.  Discuss the ways of living in PA.  Ask students what they notice about the map.  Make a list of student observations.  Show students a map of Pennsylvania now.  Ask them to help generate a list of the changes they notice (list on the board).  Ask students how transportation has changed since the 1800's.  (Standard 8.1.3.A)(DOK3)  Give students a copy of both maps, PA in the 1800's and PA now.  Have students complete a Venn diagram  discussing the differences in 1800's and current maps of Pennsylvania. Show students a map of United States in the 1800's and discuss what students observe.  Then show a current United States map and discuss what students observe. (Standard 8.1.3.A)(DOK2)  Compare transportation between the two maps and how it has changed.  Ask students to list 10 changes they observe by comparing both maps of the United States.  ( Standard 8.2.3C, 8.2.3.D)(DOK3)  Have students use the two Pennsylvania maps again.  They are to choose one canal or waterway in Pennsylvania and describe the changes they see in the current  map.  How has the canal/waterways and land around it changed?  Students will write a descriptive paragraph (or 2) to discuss the changes in the canal/waterway and land around it.  (CC-W.3.4)(DOK4)  They may then color the two maps using proper color schemes for the difference in the maps. (Example:  earth tones for the 1800's and colors for current map)  (Creative Idea)  (DOK4)

Domains:  1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c
Resources:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXTZu97h760O
other you tube videos to show the transportation, canals of Erie and PA, and way of living
maps of the United States in the 1800's and current
maps of Pennsylvania in the 1800's and current

Entry #6 Pledge of Allegience

In third grade we learn U.S. history elements such as events and symbols.  The American flag and it's the Pledge of Allegiance are symbols of the United States. Students must recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning when they come to school. They are taught this in preschool/daycare/kindergarten. The words become an automatic response.  The question is, do students really know what the words mean?  Do they know the importance of this tradition?  Francis Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance in the early 1890's for the National Public Schools Celebration as part of a Columbus Day commemoration.  Francis Bellamy was an author and minister.  (Content)

Have students stand and face the flag.  Say the Pledge together very slowly with the students having their eyes closed.  Place the words (typed) on the smart board for the students to read and reference.  Read each line and ask students to interpret the meaning of the words.  Review all vocabulary words and definitions.(DOK1)  Guide students to realize the Pledge is about loyalty and being true to the united states. (Standard 5.1.3C)(DOK2) Show Red Skelton's Pledge of Allegiance video on You Tube about his meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance he learned from a teacher.  Ask students to name other things in their lives that are worthy of a pledge of loyalty and truth. (DOK3)  Ask the class how many years ago the Pledge was written.  Assist them in calculating the number of years.  Show students a picture of Bellamy.  Ask them to draw a picture of him writing the Pledge.  Under the picture students write a couple of sentences about the author and reason the Pledge was written.  (CC-W.3.2a) (DOK3)  Ask students to create a class list of the ideas students came up with to show a worth of loyalty.  Students will write a personal Pledge to the things in life (example: family, friends, teachers, ect...) that they feel are worthy of a promise of loyalty.  Place the words to the Pledge of Allegiance back onto the board to model the writing sample.  (CC-W.3.4) (DOK4) (Creative Idea) Explain to the students that the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag honors the United States and its flag. Each color and symbol has a meaning.  Explain that red stands for valor and zeal and so on.  Go over all the meanings with the class.  (Standard 5.1.3F)(DOK2) Ask students to read their personal pledge again and generate symbols and colors that are meaningful to them that might be appropriate on a flag.  Students create their own flag and write a descriptive paragraph about the meaning of the symbols, colors and design they used on their flags.  (CC-W.3.4)(DOK4)(Creative Idea)

Domains: 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c
Resources:  
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBTyTWOZCM
 

Entry #5 Voyage on The Mayflower

In the story, Across the Wide Dark Sea, a little boy tells his story about being on a boat and going to a new place with his family and other strangers. Then read aloud  Molly's Pilgrim and discuss the story.  Discuss both stories and how they relate to each other with a journey.  Students will discuss and highlight the similarities and differences between the stories with characters, settings, and events that occurred.  This will help students get a background of what it was like to travel to a new place and encounter new people.   (Content)

Begin by reading aloud the story Across the Wide Dark Sea in the students reading textbooks. I use this to introduce the journey on the Mayflower. (DOK1) We will discuss all vocabulary aloud, using the words in sentences to show comprehension.(DOK1)  Then students may play the eword vocabulary game on the computers to demonstrate their knowledge of the vocabulary words. (DOK3)  Students will be able to go back in the text and identify the sentences with vocabulary words and explain their meaning.(DOK2) Then read aloud the story Molly's Pilgrim to the whole class. (DOK1)  This story will help expand the relationship between Pilgrims and the Native Americans.  Students will complete a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the differences between the Pilgrims and Indians. ( Ask students to identify the way of life and the relationship between the Pilgrims and Indians.)  Also highlight the difference in the two types of Pilgrims in the story.  (DOK3)(R1.3.8) Students will write their story webs to start the process of writing a narrative.  They should write as if they are the child on the boat in the story and what it would have been like for them. Students should have a beginning , middle and conclusion along with details of the experience on the boat.  Add characters, details, and feelings to allow the reader to feel as though they are in the story.   (DOK4)(W3.3a, W3.3b, W3.5)  Students will read this story as a reader's theatre.  Place students into groups so each one has a part to read.  They will practice together and then perform for the entire class once they practice their lines.  Then they may switch roles in the story so they have a feeling of each characters part in the story.  (Creative Idea)

Domains:  1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b, 3c

Resources: 
http://americanhistory.pppst.com/puritans.html
www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/gr3

Entry #3 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are best known for their expedition from the Mississippi River to the West Coast and back. The expedition, called the Corps of Discovery, was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States.  This expedition was brought about by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the territory shortly after the Louisiana Purchase.  It began in May of 1804 and ended in September 1806.  It consisted of a select group of roughly 30-40 U.S. Army volunteers and explorers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark.  Before the expedition, Meriwether Lewis was Jefferson's private presidential secretary. He also served in the military, where he met his friend William Clark. After the expedition, Lewis served a short term as Governor of the Territory of Upper Louisiana before he died. Clark lived for many years and held various government positions, including Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Governor of the Missouri Territory.  The primary objective was to explore and map the newly acquired territory, find a practical route across the Western half of the continent, and establish an American presence in this territory before Britain and other European powers tried to claim it.  They also were to study the area’s plants, animal life, and geography, and establish trade with local Indian tribes. The men kept detailed journals and map sketches of their expedition.  (Content)

Read the one page excerpt from the story of Lewis and Clark, highlighting the reason for the expedition and the journey together as a class.  Discuss the location of territory they would be traveling using the classroom map.  (DOK1) Ask students how long they think this would take in that time period using horses and wagons to travel. (CC-R1.3.1, R1.3.3) (DOK2) Create a list of supplies the travelers will need to survive.  Again, reminding students of the time period. (no roads, fast food, clothes, tools, etc..) (DOK2)  Generate this list as small groups and then share as a class.  Show students excerpts of journal writings from Lewis and Clark (on smart board, from the Internet).  Discuss the way these pages look (handwriting) and the information the men wrote.  Discuss the challenges they faced with weather.  Ask the students what they would do when it got really hot or cold. Ask them what they would do when they came across people who did not speak English on their journey.  (DOK2)  Students will write a journal entry as if they were with Lewis and Clark on this journey. (DOK3) The journal entry is to be written to President Thomas Jefferson (cursive handwriting) about the exploration of this territory. Students are to report their findings of animals, food sources, ways they survived and traveled, what they found in each new place, etc. Students will also draw/sketch pictures to go with their journal entry. (CC-W.3.3a, W.3.3b)(DOK4) Students will share (read aloud) their journal entries. (Creative Idea)

Domain 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b, 3c

Entry #2 The Louisiana Purchase

This is a third grade lesson introducing the Louisiana Purchase and focusing on map skills of the territory of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase was the largest land purchased in American history. At the start of the 19th century, Americans were moving to the west. More land was needed for them to live and farm. The Louisiana Territory at that time was owned by France. New Orleans was a huge French settlement. Many Americans were already living in and around New Orleans. Due to the Mississippi River, many American ships sailed back and forth on the river. The U.S. Government wanted to protect American shipping and settlements. So the third US President Thomas Jefferson sent someone to France to buy New Orleans and the surrounding area. Napoleon, who was the Emperor of France said no at first. Later however, Napoleon French leader did sell all of the Louisiana Territory. The area was more than 828,000 square miles. The United States paid a little more than twenty three million dollars for the purchase. Both sides agreed, and in 1803, the Louisiana Territory became American and the size of the country doubled. (Content)

Students will generate a map of the territory that the Louisiana Purchase included. They will develop a map key to label the land forms, states, rivers, etc. (Creative Idea)
As a class we will use the large classroom map of the United States, and discuss all the key components of a map, the state borders, directional coordinates, water and landforms located in the map key and how they are found on the map. (DOK1) I will then place a map of the Louisiana Purchase territory on the smart board. I will show students the area of the land that was purchased. (present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. It also included parts of Minnesota, most of North Dakota, nearly all of South Dakota, northeastern New Mexico, northern Texas, the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide, and Louisiana on both sides of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans.)
We will discuss the key components the Americans faced before the purchase of the land and after the territory was United States. (Standard 8.1.3.A.) (DOK2) We will discuss the government and the cost of the land, how this differs from the cost of owning land today (renting an apartment, owning a house…) as well as the changes in living the way we do today and how they did back then. (Standard 8.3.3.A., 8.3.3.B.) We will compare the large map of the United states, to the old map of the land before and directly after the purchase of the land. (Standard 8.3.3.C., 8.3.3.D.) (DOK3) Students will complete a map of the Louisiana Purchase territory (given to them with the outline of the states), and will generate a map key, label the states, territories, rivers and bodies of water, and landforms. (DOK4) Then they may use the computers to use National Geographic Education website/ Adventure Island and go on a journey across a map (interactive). This reinforces map skills. (DOK4)

Domain 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

Resources: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/multimedia/interactive/maps-tools-adventure-island

Entry #1 Timeline from 1776-1865

This lesson is for a third grade classroom.  We are studying a chapter on our country’s early history.  The chapter discusses how slaves were used, how colonies were settled and developed their own laws and also had to follow the laws of England, which led many colonists to want a change in government.  The colonies wanted independence so leaders such as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and others wrote a statement which came to be known as the Declaration of Independence. This led to freedom and independence for the colonists. The colonists chose George Washington to be the leader and President of the new country.   The leaders then wrote the Constitution. (Content)

 Read aloud the chapter on our country’s earl history. Discuss how events occur in an order and could be organized by dates and times. (Standard 8.1.2.A) Discuss how the country has changed over time and how it has stayed the same. (DOK1) We would discuss the events and important people from reading our chapter and make a list of what the students generate on the board.  (Standard 8.3.3.A., 8.3.3.B.)  Then ask students to help place them in an order of what happened first, second, next, last.  (Standard 8.1.3.A.)   Rearrange the events on the board so they are in first to last order in which they occurred in history and determine how to place them on a timeline on the smart board.  (DOK2)  After the timeline is finished discuss the importance of order of events and what changes had to occur before the next event could happen on the timeline.  (DOK2) Ask students to relate this to how their life has changed from second grade to third grade.  Students should list events or important things and people they recall in their lives and make a timeline of this information.  Students will then compare how their life has changed or stayed the same on their timeline to how the nation has changed or stayed the same. (DOK3) Students will then create a timeline from their birth date to the present (or even future) time. Ideas to include on the timeline would be current president, historical events in the community, inventions, and life changing events in their own lives (DOK4) (Creative idea)

Domain 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c

Entry #4 Autobiography of George Washington

This is a third grade lesson on the autobiography of George Washington.  He was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia.  George Washington served as a general and commander-in-chief of the colonial armies during the American Revolution, and later became the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797.  He died on December 14, 1799, in Mount Vernon, Virginia. (Content)

Read aloud the autobiography of George Washington.  Discuss the important facts told about George Washington. (DOK1) Highlight his birth date, things he is well known for or accomplished, his family life, jobs, etc.  Students will then listen to the autobiography of George Washington, showing this on the smart board.  Discuss key points that were the same and any new information gained by watching the video clip and listening to the story.   (CC-R.1.3.3, R.1.3.7-9)  (DOK1, DOK2) We will discuss the important facts of his life and key components of an autobiography.  (DOK2) This will lead us into our activity of interviewing a grandparent to establish information needed to write an autobiography.  (Creative Idea)  Students will begin generating a list of questions to ask the grandparents and obtain the key information.  (birth date, where they live, jobs they had, family life, etc.) The teacher will provide sample questions (or a questionnaire) for students to formulate the important facts needed to use during their interview.  (DOK3) After the interview process students will formulate their questions and answers into a writing piece.  This will be written to produce an autobiography with an illustration for the person (grandparent). (CC-W.3.4, W.3.5, W.3.6) (DOK4) Students will go through the writing process from start to finish so this lesson takes several writing and language art class periods.
**(I have done this in my classroom when I taught second grade.  We did this as a grade level event and invited several grandparents to come into the classroom to be interviewed.  It was a huge hit and the kids were really involved, although it also took a lot of help from the teacher.  It was well worth the process of teaching them about autobiographies!)

 Domains: 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4c, 4d

Resources:

Book, George Washington by Justin McCory Martin

http://www.biography.com/people/george-Washington