What a Wonderful World, Author(s): Schreene M. Babcock, Grade Level: 5/6, Subject Area: Social Studies, ELA, - Teacher will play the role of Bill Clinton and give a brochure to each student including a map of the country (USA). The presentation will be in the form of a newscast which overviews the content of the newspaper. Students will then choose a country which they will begin researching to present to the class.

Planning Guide

Creating Learner-Focused
Schools

* Madison-Oneida BOCES- This document may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the District Superintendent or his designee.

LU Title: What A Wonderful World	Author(s): Schreene M. Babcock
Grade Level: 5/6	School Address: PO Box 457 Adams Center, NY
Subject Area: Social Studies, ELA	School Phone/Fax: (315)583-5418/ (315)583-5381

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Declarative	Procedural
Landforms: volcanoes, mountains, lakes, plateaus, rivers, delta	Discover, design maps of topographical areas
International money	Play from the point of view of leaders from various regions of the world
Continents & Countries	Draw conclusions
Chart landforms, bodies of water, countries, continents	Environmental and personal health are interrelated Research a country and create their own industry

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What influence does geography have on a country's economy and the well-being of its people?
How have the interactions of social/cultural, political and religious systems in different regions of the world affected our lifestyles?
How do international affairs (current events) affect various people?
What influence have international authors, poets, and artists had on our view of foreign lands?
How does daily life in various countries compare to our daily life?

INITIATING ACTIVITY

Teacher will play the role of Bill Clinton and give a brochure to each student including a map of the country (USA). The presentation will be in the form of a newscast which overviews the content of the newspaper. Students will then choose a country which they will begin researching to present to the class.

Connection to State Learning Standards

Content Area: Social Studies

Level: 4th, 5th, 6th

Benchmarks: * Understand the history of the earth-Glaciers to present

* Investigate current foreign affairs and their influence on world affairs

* Identify the influence of world leaders on international affairs

*Associate landforms with natural resources

*Interpret relationships between governments and politics

*Predict consequences of current events on international affairs

Benchmarks: * Understand how to design and use maps

* Analyze geographic information to better understand the relationship between a countries economy and their natural resources

* Compare and contrast various political beliefs

* Create your own industry based on acquired information ABOUT YOU COUNTRY

Standard: 2: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard: 3: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live-local, national, and global - including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth's surface.

Unit Theme: Geography

Standard: English Language Arts 1, 2, 4

Standard: Social Studies 2, 3, 4, 5

Benchmarks: Students will write to persuade and then present their written report in an oral presentation

Benchmarks: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the co-dependent relationship between climate, natural resources, economies and world leaders

Learning Experiences

Declarative Knowledge

What declarative knowledge should e in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of the unit, the student will know or understand…

What experiences or activities will be used to help students acquire & integrate this knowledge?

What strategies will be used to help students construct meaning, organize and/or store the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

1. Concept

TERMS: geography

ocean

capitol

State

country

continent

climate

Plateau

mountain

plain

lake, river

delta

2. Concept: Natural Resources/Climate/ the Economy

Vocabulary:

Climate

Weather

Natural

Latitude

Longitude

3. Concept: Current Events and Global Affairs

4. Concept: International Authors, poets, artists

5. Concept: Mapping and Reading Various types of maps

*Teacher created newspaper

*Journal of indexed terms

*Maps, visual aides

*Newspaper

*Journal/blank books

*Text books

Zlata's Diary

Time For Kids Newspapers

List Samples

Maps Textbooks Atlases Overheads

Label existing maps

Small group presentations

*Venn Diagram

*Note Taking

*Class Discussion

*Chart

*Climate-Natural Resources-Economy

Cause-Effect

List and share the works of international authors, poets, artists and their works

Small group discussion Graphic organizer

Vocabulary terms will all be included in newspaper. Students will create their own index which includes all terms with both word and picture descriptions.

*Begin novel Zlata's Diary

*Begin creating slide show of terms on the computer

Discussion of now and then and implicationsonthe sed on geconomy following the oral Reading of a section of Zlata's Diary.

*Listen to talking book of life in various places

*Journal chart while listening to book talks

*List characteristics of various countries economies based on geographical locations. In groups explore each article and fill in chart according to information students share.

Analyze what influence there authors, poets, and artists have had. Discuss how they have influenced society. Read poetry about war. Research information about people. Write poems about famous persons. Share & Guess

Students will label existing maps and create map keys and posters.

Learning Experiences

Procedural Knowledge

What procedural knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of this unit, students will be able to:

What will be done to help students construct models, shape & internalize the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

Create maps, description rap, and mime to correlate with terminology.

Describe climate, natural resources and economy of assigned country.

Explore famous people from various locations.

Present each student with a country newspaper and present the information orally.

Students will communicate with e-pals and get information about daily life.

Create a fictious industry which would thrive in your countries economy.

Student created journals. Visual examples of map types based on Zlata's Diary.

Journals

Teacher Created Newspaper

Visual Aides

Models

Samples

Journal

Chart

Country newspaper

e-pal connections

Samples

Country information

Students will research in groups to find examples of actual places that represent each term. They will then create maps that accurately represent each location. Students write a rap song and mime which correlates with their slide show to act out with their slide show.

Analyze how the location of each country/continent influences its economy. Design an industry based on a specific country's location, landforms and natural resources.

Write a poem about a famous person.

Share and guess "Who is it?".

Illustrate a classmates poem.

Students will apply all of the acquired knowledge by creating a written report/News Broadcast/Speech and maps.

Each report will be presented.

Set up e-pals

Based on knowledge acquired in research

Learning Experiences

Extending and Refining

What knowledge will students be extending and refining? Specifically, they will be extending and refining their understanding of…

What reasoning process will they be using?

Describe what will be done.

Relationships between a countries geographical features and their economy.

This will follow the study of each individual country.

*Assessment: Students will describe their industry that they created using the available resources in their country.

Comparing
Classifying

Inductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning
Error Analysis
Analyzing Perspectives
Constructing Support
Abstracting
Other:

After researching the assigned country each student will create an industry which could exist in their country. They must support their thinking using information which they have obtained throughout the unit.

Planning Guide

Unit:

Step 1	Step 2	Step 3
*What knowledge* will students be using meaningfully? Specifically, they will be demonstrating their understanding of and ability to...........**	What reasoning process will they be using?	Describe student's products and performances and the criteria for evaluation.
	[ ] Decision Making (selecting from seemingly equal alternatives or examining the decisions of others) [ ] Problem Solving (seeking to achieve a goal by overcoming constraints or limiting conditions) [ ] Invention (creating something to meet a need or improve on a situation) [ ] Experimental Inquiry (generating an explanation for a phenomenon and testing the explanation) [ ] Investigation (resolving confusions or contradictions related to a historical event, a hypothetical past or future event, or to the defining characteristics of something) [ ] Systems Analysis (analyzing the parts of a system and how they interact) [ ] Other:	Products/Performances
		Criteria for evaluation

Rubric:

Key Questions:

What are the key elements, traits, or dimensions that will be evaluated?

Are the identified elements of equal importance or will they be weighed differently?

	Element #1	Element #2	Element #3	Element #4
Elements Scale	Product contains accurate information	Oral Presentation	Maps and Terms
Weights	X's 4	X's 2	X's 2
4	You developed concepts fully. You accurately depicted a country showing the interdependence between economy, climate, landforms and natural resources.	You spoke clearly: Understood material and articulated your information well. Speed, Visual aids & Volume.	Maps accurately depict landforms. Each contains a map key, and is appropriately labeled.
3	You accurately depicted your country and most of the interdependent relationship.	Spoke clearly and understood material and articulated well but needed to improve speed or volume.	4 of 5 maps are accurate and precise.
2	You accurately created a country but lack specific information.	Needs more visuals and needs to be presented more clearly.	3 of 5 maps are done. Some lack details.
1	Your country and it's leader/industry do not correlate.	Unclear, poor speed.	Missing key, title, and inaccurately labeled.

NOTE: Rubric or other performance assessment instruments may be used.

Constructing a Holistic
Scoring Tool
(Rubric or Activity Specific Key)

Key Questions:

* How many score points are needed to discriminate among the full range of different degrees of understanding, proficiency, or quality?

This response, product, or performance provides evidence of understanding of concept/principle/generalization or proficiency in skill/process/strategy.

Score Point 4	Score Point 3
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Score Point 2	Score Point 1
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Have You Considered These Yet?

Learn to Learn Skills:

Assessment Modifications:

Students will be graded on both their written work and their oral presentations. They will also be graded on the content of their reports and the accuracy of the information. **Each of these areas will be considered and weighted according to the student's abilities. **Student's will be involved in the assessment process through self-evaluations and peer evaluations.

Unit Schedule/Time Plan:

Two to three weeks - 40 minutes per day

Written Overview:

A thematic unit on geography which integrates all curriculum areas. Students will apply knowledge that they acquire and create their own industries which could exist in their country considering the geographic, economic, social, religious and cultural diversities of each country.