TITLE OF THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE: What A Wonderful World
by SchreeneM. Babcock

Learning Experience Overview: This lesson is the initiating activity for the Unit: What A Wonderful World. I will capture the students attention and get them interested in the unit to be taught. Students will observe the teacher make a presentation which is very similar to a presentation that they will make at the end of the unit. At the same time they will have a journal to take notes on key aspects and have an outline of the exact expectations of their products. We will then move into our Country Alphabet books where they take their notes and create a page which symbolizes the country presented. This will be done together on the first day so that students have an idea of how to go about this when they need to do their own. Students will also be introduced to their e-pals on the computer in the initiating activity. They will each get an opportunity to make their initiated contact with their e-pal from the country they will be researching. From here students will be working on all of the activities outlines in the learning experience and unit.

1. LEARNING CONTEXT
Learning Standards: MST: Standard 6: ELA: Standards 1, 2 & 4: H, PE & HE: Standards 2 & 3: The Arts: Standard 4: C. Development & OS: Standards 1 & 2: SS: Standards 2, 3, 4 & 5

**Although several Standards are listed the emphasis of this unit and lesson are on SS and ELA. These are the areas which will be accessed.

Connection to other Curricular Areas: This lesson will connect several areas and their inter-relatedness. Students will begin to understand the relationship between a countries geographic location, natural resources, climate and economy. Students will incorporate knowledge from various curricular areas to understand these relationships.

Student Expectations: Students will be presented with a "Newspaper" created using Publisher, including information about the USA as role played by the teacher. Students will need to carefully observe the teacher as they will later be presenting their own information using the same format. Students will also need to begin creating a country alphabet book of country information beginning with the information illustrated in the teachers informational newspaper. Students will also need to gather materials using various web sites, and visit the library. Students will communicate with e-pals from their assigned country to ask about daily life, school life, and careers.

2. PROCEDURE
Students: *Begin creating Country Alphabet books recording information as presented by the teacher. *Visit e-pals on-line. *Select country and begin gathering information. *Active listeners. *First entry in alphabet book.

Teacher: The teacher will role-play Bill Clinton to "Address the Nation (Students) about the state of our country. Information about the following topics will be included in the Newspaper that each student is presented with: Natural Resources, landforms, currency, map, economy, daily life including school, food, famous people, current events. Together the class will have a question and answer session to discuss the expectations of each student. The class will also create a rubric together to access the culminating performance by critiquing the teacher's performance.

3. INSTRUCTIONAL/ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATIONS
Instructional Modifications: Some students will be given Country books which have all of the headings in it. *Highlight important information on the Newspaper *Books on tape for select countries *Partner work

Physical Modifications: *Learning centers featuring: Maps, Graphs, Careers, Geographic Terms, Languages. *Use computer centers *Library use *Group students by continents to help each other.

4. TIME REQUIRED
Planning: Approximately 2 weeks

Implementation - lesson - 1-2 hours, unit - 2-3 weeks

Assessment: Throughout including checklist, alphabet book, oral report, brochure, and written test.

**Students will be involved in the assessment via peer reviews and self reviews.

5. RESOURCES
Student Materials: *Blank books *Art bins including markers, colored pencils, rulers, glue, colored pencils *E-pal information *Microsoft Publisher - Newspaper *Outline of unit expectations including and deadlines and exact content expectations.

Teacher Materials: Pre-created country newspaper using Publisher *Books on tape *E-pals *Blank books with USA country report *Outline of important information *Timeline *Project overview *Travel brochures

6. ASSESSMENT PLAN
*Timeline of due dates *Some pcs. graded individually **Written report *Alphabet books-correct and all information *Newspaper *Oral presentation-peer review, teacher assessment *Written exam *Rubric - created by the class. (Sample rubric is available in the unit)

7. STUDENT WORK
*Sample report *Video tape oral report *E-pals info and correspondence *Sample newspapers

8. REFLECTION
As stated in the overview this is an introductory lesson to the unit. The teachers objective was to make it kid oriented and go beyond the text. Interest needed to be sparked to get the students motivated to work on the country information. The skills emphasized are things which the students can take with them and apply to other areas. Public speaking is so important for our students and this will give the students an opportunity to present the information they have found from different sources in a variety of ways. The e-pals will also peak interest in students so that the focus is on daily life from a kids perspective instead of the typically information found in a textbook or encyclopedia.