Social Studies - Branches of Government

For our social studies unit on Branches of Government, I started by placing a blank tree with three branches on the dry erase board we used for displaying current classroom content. We added content to the branches as we learned it. It followed the same graphic organizer that would be on their post-assessment that had come from their textbook. I will upload the headers and leaf pictures to be borrowed later. Each day after school I would remove what we had placed on the tree. We reinforced this graphic organizer by adding the elements we knew so far at the start of each lesson. This was especially helpful to the visual learners. 

Once we discussed the community government and Federal Government, I asked the students to write one characteristic or responsibility of a good leader on a puzzle piece. They had some very creative ideas.

To reinforce true and false statements about the President of the United States, I gave the students the paper below. 

I then had the students participate in a Think - Pair - Share. As we read aloud the statements, I gave the students time to think about whether the statement was true or false. Next, they cut apart the strips and sorted with a partner into true and false piles. (We also had an interesting discussion about how to fairly cut these apart since there is an odd number!) Finally, we shared as a class which statements were true and false. 

At the end of the unit, we had a mock Supreme Court day in which the students had a chance to be Supreme Court Justices and law makers. The issues we voted on were whether the school should have a new school mascot and whether the school needed a new playground.

The groups of students each got a chance to write down their ideas and present  their side of the issue. This developed their critical thinking skills as they sometimes had to defend an issue they did not agree with. 

The students each had a chance to be a Supreme Court Justice and decide which group made the best arguments for or against an issue. I even wore an old graduation gown and brought a gavel to make the classroom court more realistic. 

Science- Moon and Stars

For my science unit on the moon and stars, we did a lot of independent hands-on work at centers. The standards we met are below:

a      Standard: Earth and Space Sciences K-2. Benchmark: A. Observe constant and changing patterns of objects in the day and night sky. Second Grade Indicator: The Universe – 1. Recognize that there are more stars in the sky than anyone can easily count.

b      Standard: Earth and Space Sciences K-2. Benchmark: A. Observe constant and changing patterns of objects in the day and night sky. Second Grade Indicator: The Universe – 3. Observe and describe how the moon appears a little different every day but looks nearly the same again about every four weeks

Accompanying the centers was a graphic organizer to ensure each student was recording their learning at each center. 

The first center was a large cardboard box with a small styrofoam model moon. The students were to look in each different viewing hole to see the different shadows cast on the moon from the flashlight "sunlight." 

 The different view point phases can be seen in the following pictures. 

The second center was a pie tin filled with flour and cocoa powder to signify the dust on the moon's surface. Students could drop marble "meteors" onto the surface to create craters.

The third center involved the change in mass and gravity on the moon. I took a pair of snow boots from Good Will and spray painted them silver (for an extra-cool space look). Then I attached athletic ankle weights. Then I placed two circles on the ground. One circle signified Earth and the other signified the moon. Students put on their heavy moon boots with weights while they stood on the Earth circle. Then I had them hop over to the moon and pretend to travel in their space shuttle. When they got to the surface of the moon, I helped them to take off the weights and try to jump. The change of taking off the weights makes students feel much lighter and as if they can jump higher.

Another day during the unit, we gave the students a circular piece of construction paper with one of the phases of the moon written on the back. They then shaded the moon to the correct area of darkness and could decorate it however they chose. (One of my favorites is the pizza half moon!)

They were in groups of 5 and then had to put themselves in order without talking to practice the sequencing of the phases of the moon.

Landforms- Social Studies

One of my favorite units from Student Teaching was in Social Studies on Landforms.

Here is a graphic organizer to go with the BrainPopJr. video on Landforms. Students draw a picture of the landform and write a brief description in their own words. It could also be used to write definitions.

Here is the overall layout of my 5 Day Unit on Landforms.

Below are some of the finished landform maps. I asked a local pizza restaurant for 24 boxes and they gave them to me for free. They worked to stack while drying, to keep each students' work safe, and to preserve their projects for years to come. We finished the project right before Parent- Teacher Conferences so we sent them home with parents.

The map key and map checklist can be found below. If you borrow them, please leave a comment!