| LU Title: Discovering the History of Our Community | Author(s): Sharon Tavern and Bruce S. Watson |
| Grade Level: Gr. 4 | School Address: Richfield Springs C. S. |
| Topic/Subject Area: Language Arts/Social Studies | School Phone/Fax: 315-858-0630 |
| Email: Sharon Tavern:tavern@richfield.moric.org Bruce Watson: bwatson@richfield.moric.org |
OVERVIEW
This is a research-based unit focusing on the history of the Richfield Springs area. Through the use of guest speakers, historical pictures and postcards, and narratives from various histories of Richfield Springs and Otsego County, students will work in small groups to enhance their knowledge of their community. As the unit progresses, students will use the writing process to construct a factual paragraph about one aspect of their community’s heritage. This paragraph, as well a pictures and postcards, will be posted on a website showing the Richfield Springs area today and yesterday.
CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
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Declarative - At the end of the unit, students will: |
Procedural - At the end of the unit, students will: |
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Name the early settlers and the important residents who had an impact on the settlement and growth of our community |
Use a graphic organizer to take notes from historical documents. |
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Know that early medicine believed in the curative powers of sulphur water |
Use the writing process to express information. |
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Understand that this belief was responsible for the influx of visitors and economic boom in the late 1800s and early 1900s. |
Access information from artifacts. |
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Post and scan pictures and postcards. |
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Use a digital camera. |
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ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
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What is special and unique about Richfield Springs’ history? |
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How can we use technology to show other people our community’s uniqueness? |
CONNECTIONS TO NYS LEARNING STANDARDS
ELA Standard #1 Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.
Key Idea: Students gather and interpret information from children’s reference books, magazines, textbooks, electronic bulletin boards, audio and media presentations, oral interviews, and from such forms as charts, graphs, maps, and diagrams.
Benchmark/Performance Indicator: Students will use a graphic organizer to organize information they have collected by reading unfamiliar texts and studying historical photographs and postcards.
Key Idea: Speaking and writing to acquire and transmit information requires asking probing and clarifying questions, interpreting information in one’s own words, applying information from one text to another, and presenting the information from one context to another, and presenting the information and interpretation clearly, concisely and comprehensibly.
Benchmark/Performance Indicator: Students will write a brief report on a selected topic, and use the writing process to produce a well-constructed report.
MST Standard #5 Students will apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs.
Key Idea: Computers, as tools for design, modeling, information processing, communication, and system control, have greatly increased human productivity and knowledge.
Benchmark/Performance Indicator: Students will construct a website to communicate the history of the Richfield Springs area by scanning photographs and postcards, and by posting their reports.
SS Standard #1 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.
Key Idea: The skills of historical analysis include the ability to explain the significance of historical evidence; weigh the importance, reliability, and validity of evidence; understand the concept of multiple causation; understand the importance of changing and competing interpretations of different historical developments.
Benchmark/Performance Indicator: The students will read historical narratives and study pictures and postcards to explore events/issues in the history of our community and summarize what they have learned.
LAUNCH
Before and after listening to a long time area resident discuss his/her reminiscences of Richfield Springs, the students will, in pairs, discuss their knowledge of our community. Then the class will complete Five Words-Three Words relating to Richfield Springs history.
LEARNING EXPERIENCES
STRATEGIES USED:
1. FIVE WORDS-THREE WORDS: This is a variation of brainstorming. Students working on their own list five words that come to mind when they think of a particular topic. Then students get into small groups to share and discuss their words. Each group selects three words to share and explain to the entire class.
2. ADVANCE ORGANIZER QUESTIONS: Present questions prior to exposing students to new knowledge to provide strong guidance in organizing information
Lesson 1: Students, working in pairs, will brainstorm what they think they already know about the history of Richfield Springs.
Lesson 2: The teacher will invite a long-time resident of the community to speak to the students about Richfield’s history, and share with them him/her reminisces. Postcards and old photographs will be used to help students visualize what the Richfield Springs area looked like 100 years ago.
Lesson 3: After listening to the speaker, the students will work in pairs to complete the Five Word-Three Word strategy.
Lesson 4: The teacher will divide the class into small groups with two or three students per group. He/She will provide each group with a folder containing information on a particular topic dealing with the history of Richfield Springs (from historical narratives and histories of Richfield Springs and Otsego County). Students will be encouraged to seek information from grandparents, senior citizens, and other sources within the community who may have information on the topics being researched.
Lesson 5: The teacher will use advance organizer questions to guide students’ reading.
Cooperatively, students will read the information in their folder and use a graphic organizer (see attachment #1) to take notes on their topic.
Lesson 6: Students will use the writing process to construct a paragraph from the notes they have taken.
Lesson 7: Students groups will share with the entire class the information they have learned through their research by reading their paragraphs aloud. After each group reads its paragraph and shares its visual, the class will pause for three to five minutes to discuss what they’ve heard and seen. The teacher will record their responses on the board. The students will then enter this information in their notebooks.
Lesson 8: Working independently, students will complete a graphic organizer comparing and contrasting Richfield Springs then and now. (see attachment #2) Then they will use the writing process to construct a written essay based on their notes
CULMINATING PERFORMANCE
Using a digital camera, scanners, and computers, the students will post their paragraphs on a web site showing the history of the Richfield Springs area.
PRE-REQUISITE SKILLS
This unit is based on the assumption that the students have the following:
Knowledge and practice in the writing process
Basic computer skills
Experience with rubrics
A familiarity with the community as it is today
Experience working with partners and in groups
Prior instruction in using a digital camera and scanner
MODIFICATIONS/ADAPTIONS
The special area teachers (art, music, library/media, and physical education) should be informed when the students participate in this unit in the event that they have activities that can supplement the unit. Students with disabilities will receive modifications as per their IEPs. The reading teacher and special education teachers/assistants can be used to help students having difficulty in the areas of language arts. Modifications for those students who are language impaired can include drawing instead of writing or giving an oral report rather than a written one.
UNIT SCHEDULE/TIME PLAN
This unit will take three weeks to complete.
ASSESSMENT
Rubrics for the paragraphs and the compare/contrast essay are attached.
TECHNOLOGY USE
Students will/may use a digital camera to take pictures throughout the community, a scanner to scan pictures and documents for the web site, and computers to complete this unit.