Your children will be discovering and exploring all disciplines of education. It is important that you know, as parents, what your child will be learning during the school year. Here is an example lesson plan that your children might be doing during the school year. Also, if you're a teacher, here is a great lesson plan if you teach in MA. Even better if you're close to Boston.

History

Grade Level: 3

DURATION OF THE LESSON: 50-55 minutes

LESSON PLAN AND TITLE SUMMARY:

This lesson is called “Boston Historical Landmarks”. Students will engage in inquiry-based learning to explore and identify the major significances of certain landmarks in Boston, Massachusetts. With prior knowledge about some of the history of Boston, the students will choose one of the landmarks that they have learned about and research the importance of its history to Boston. Students will show their knowledge by making a newspaper article about the landmark they researched.

LINKS TO THE MA CURRICULUM FRAMEWORKS:

1. This lesson is aligned with the MA Grade 3 History and Social Science Curriculum Framework under standard 2 of Massachusetts and Its Cities and Towns: Geography and History.

2. Observe and describe local or regional historic artifacts and sites and generate questions about their function, construction, and significance.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE LESSON:

1. After choosing an important Boston landmark, students will be able to show their knowledge of that landmark by researching about it and answering the 3 questions listed on the research activity sheet.

2. Students will present their knowledge in a newspaper article following the 3 research questions correctly and following the newspaper article criteria checklist.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• List of Boston landmarks

• 3 Research questions

• Newspaper article criteria checklist

• Newspaper outline

• Computers with internet access

• Colored pencils/markers

VOCABULARY:

• Landmark- A structure (such as a building) of unusual historical interest
  

• Important- Marked by significant worth

CONNECTIONS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM:

This lesson can connect to writing standard W.3.7. Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE:

Introduction (10 minutes):

• Students will sit at their desks.

• Teacher will go over the definition of landmark and important.

• Teacher will ask students to take out a piece of paper and a pencil.

• Teacher will ask student to try to remember some of the important landmarks in Boston they have learned about in class. Have the students write that list down.

• Give students a minute to jot some things down on their own personal sheet. Explain to students that if they are stuck, we are also going to make a list together in a few minutes.

• After a few minutes, ask the students to share what they have written down on their sheet. Make a list on the whiteboard in front of the class.

• Once there is a strong list, add any other landmarks that you want to include.

• Ask the students “Why might some of these landmarks be important to our city Boston?”

• Call on a few students to share their answers

Development (40 minutes):

• Students remain at their desk.

• Ask the the students to pick a landmark from the list on the board that they would be interested in knowing more about and have them raise their hand when they have picked one.

• Once all students’ hands are raised and ready, explain to the students that the landmark they picked is going to be the topic that they research and write a newspaper article about.

• Hand out the list of research questions to the students.

• Go over each question as a class while answering any questions they might have.

• Ask each student to go get a computer from the cart and log onto the internet.

• Give students a few suggestions of websites that may be helpful to them for their research. http://www.thefreedomtrail.org . http://www.celebrateboston.com/sites.htm . https://www.nps.gov

• Tell students to ask if they have any questions about which websites are reliable and safe to use.

• When some students are close to finding all of their research, stop the class to discuss the newspaper article.

• Hand out the newspaper article outline and criteria checklist.

• Go over the newspaper outline and checklist answering any questions that students might have.

• Explain that before starting the outline, students must check in with the teacher before they start to make sure that they have answered all 3 questions.

• While reading over the student’s research, teacher will ask the students follow up questions like “Could you explain that further?” and “Why do you say that?” to further engage the student in their thinking

• Explain to students that in order for the newspaper outline to be done, all of the sections in the criteria must be in the newspaper.
  

Conclusion (5 minutes):

At the end of the lesson, ask students to turn to the person next to them and share something they learned about their landmark.

In case you are interested in seeing another lesson plan, I have included another example of a lesson plan for reading and writing that your child might be completing during the school year. If you would like to explore more lesson plans, you can visit

ASSESSMENTS:

Formal Assessment: Students will demonstrate their comprehension of their landmark by turning in their newspaper article which will include all 3 research questions and all of the items on the newspaper criteria checklist.

PLANNING FOR LEARNER VARIABILITY:

Multiple Means of Representation:

• 1.3 Students who may have trouble reading through the online articles will be assisted by someone to guide them with their research.

Multiple Means of Action and Expression:

• 5.1 Students will be using multiple tools for construction and composition. They will be using the computer for research as well as writing their response and drawing.

Multiple Means of Engagement:

• 9.3 Students will be able to self-assess their work to see if they have included all of the necessary items required for their newspaper article by following the checklist.

SOURCES UTILIZED IN THE DESIGN PROCESS:

• http://www.thefreedomtrail.org

• http://www.celebrateboston.com/sites.htm

• https://www.nps.gov

APPLICATION OF COURSE CONTENT:

This lesson is aligned with Inquiry Based Learning. Inquiry based learning is always in motion. It is when you think, imagine, and create to find out something new. It is the idea that we want our students to be always asking themselves questions on their own.

For this lesson, I used inquiry based questions for the research questions. The research questions I asked the students are questions that have more than one answer. The questions are level 3 questions. The students need to use multiple resources to figure out why the landmark is important and why people might want to visit it. They need to use critical thinking. When the students show the teacher their research, the teacher will ask initiating questions to see if the students can take their research any further. The teacher will ask questions to respond and follow up on like “Can you explain that further?” More knowledge is needed for the students to answer the research questions. They will need to use articles, documents, and pictures to discover more about their landmark.

I think the students will really enjoy this inquiry based learning lesson. Boston is a city that has a lot of history and it is important that the students learn about this history because Boston is in our home state.

If you'd like some more examples of lesson plans or some other plans for your classroom here's some useful websites:

Education.com

Reading and Writing Lesson Plan Example