NAME:

Lauren Vachna CTT

GRADE/SUBJECT AREA: TIME FRAME:

Grade 4 Social Studies

TYPE OF SETTING:

Full period, 45 60 minutes

PURPOSE: To explain why citizens of the United States need laws and what the purpose of the Constitution is in regards to the running of the country. The importance of laws in a small scale and in the large scale of our country. VOCABULARY: Constitution The act of setting up or establishing; the composition or structure of something. The United States Constitution The Supreme Law of The United States, still in use today. The Preamble Introduces the Constitution and its purpose. Tranquility quality or state of calmness; peacefulness and quiet. Posterity succeeding or future generations Representative - A person or thing that represents another or others. Inhabitant - A person or animal that lives in a specific place, a permanent home. Executive - a person or group of persons having administrative in an organization or group. Impeachment A formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity. SKILLS: - Students will identify Constitutional laws. - Students will recognize rules on a small scale and large scale. - Students will understand Constitutional laws. OBJECTIVES: - Students will be able to interpret important Constitutional laws. - Students will be able to recognize the importance of rules on a small scale (i.e. classroom) and laws for the country and explain why we implement them - Students will be able to listen, speak, read and write about example of Constitutional laws. COMMONCORE LEARNING STANDARDS: Social Studies: Key Idea 4.9 The foundations for the new United States government and the principles guiding the American democratic system are expressed in the Declaration of

Independence and in the constitutions of the State of New York and the United States of America 4.9b The United States and New York constitutions describe the basic rights of people and the essential function and structure of their respective governments. 4.9c The American constitutional government is based on principles of representative government, shared authority, fairness, and equality. English Language Arts Reading for Informational text 4.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area 4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which is appears Writing for Informational Text 4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly 4.2d Use precise language and domain specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration 4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly. 4.1c Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others 4.6 Differentiate between context that calls for formal English and situations where informal discourse is appropriate; use formal English when appropriate to task and situation PRE-ASSESSMENT: Students received an introductory lesson to rules and laws. The lesson touched briefly on classroom rules and state laws. As a result of the students performance during the lesson this lesson will focus on increasing students understanding of the nations laws specifically the Constitution.

LESSON PRESENTATION: A. SET INDUCTION- The teacher will ask the students if they know what document governs the United States. The teacher will write the students responses on the board. She will then define the word constitution (the act of setting up or establishing; the composition or structure of something). The teacher will then show a 4 minute video

on the Constitution; Scholastic News Kid Reporters Interview the President (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBrFuArJK1U). She will then hand out the preamble to the United States Constitution. See attached handout. B. PROCEDURE a. Allow the students to go through the preamble and underline, look up unfamiliar words, and/or discuss with partners. b. Come together and have the teacher read it out loud while its posted on the SmartBoard. Allow the students to give their feedback that they discovered independently. c. Ensure the students understand what the Constitution is (set of laws that govern the country) and discuss the importance of rules (why we have them, what would happen if we dont). d. Have them think of parts of their school which include the classrooms, hallways, cafeteria, playground e. Make a chart on the SmartBoard as a class of the rules they follow in each of these areas. Include a why section of this chart and be sure they answer that section . See attached handout. f. Show them 3 major constitutional laws on the SmartBoard, one from legislative, one from executive, one from judicial. See attached handout. g. Break into 3 groups, each having their own law. Allow them to discuss it and have definitions of difficult words already defined for them to allow for a smoother discussion. Be sure they explain why we need these laws for the United States to run. C. CLOSURE- After students have received several minutes to work on their worksheets, the teacher will call for their attention. Come together and discuss what they defined each law as. Have other groups take notes on the presentations. Each group is required to explain the law in their own words and identify why they thought it was necessary to become a law. The students will be instructed to return to their seats.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES: Dry erase boards Dry erase markers/erasers SmartBoard Chart of Rules handouts 3 Constitutional Laws Handout # 2 Pencils with erasers Rubric Social Studies Notebooks

FOLLOW- UP ACTIVITY: For homework, have students write a paragraph in their social studies journals about the Constitution, the importance of laws for all citizens, and what life would be like without laws. This will be graded based upon relevancy to the lesson, grammar, spelling, and overall syntax. See rubric.

EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT: The teacher will review the work students completed during class. Students social studies homework will be collected and checked the following morning.

DIFFERENTIATED: -For Advanced Students: Give the students more laws from the Constitutions and allow them to work through them either for homework or if they have free time during the day. -For Struggling Students: Keep lower performing students together in one group and higher performing students in another. If they are still struggling, give them a more paraphrased version of the law and spend more time with them working out the meaning. -For Visually Impaired Students: Have a copy of the worksheet with large words and pictures and allow them to use larger papers for their assignment. - For Disabled Students: If they are not able to speak, allow them to have typing utilities to communicate within their group. If they are not able to read difficult parts, allow group members to read to them. If they are not able to write, allow for a scribe; either a paraprofessional or another group member. Give students the reading material a

night before to review and become familiar with the text. -For Interpersonal Students: Students will be working together in either groups or pairs throughout the lesson. -For Intrapersonal Students: Students will individually complete parts of the worksheet RESOURCES: Common core standards. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/

Preamble to the United States Constitution We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Place Classroom

Rule

Why?

Hallway

Cafeteria

Playground

Group 1 No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Group 2 The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected.

Group 3 The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Rubric for Assessment

CATEGORY Penmanship 4
Paper is neatly written with no distracting corrections.

3
Paper is neatly written with one or two distracting corrections.

2
Writing is generally readable, but the reader has to exert quite a bit of effort to figure out some of the words. Writer makes a few errors in capitalization and/or punctuation that catch the reader's attention and interrupt the flow. There are often many spelling and grammatical errors.

1
Many words are unreadable OR there are several distracting corrections.

Capitalization & Writer makes no errors in Punctuation

Writer makes one or two errors in capitalization or capitalization or punctuation, so punctuation, but paper is papers are still easy exceptionally easy to to read. read. Spelling and There are often a grammar are perfect. few spelling and/or grammatical errors.

Writer makes several errors in capitalization and/or punctuation that catch the reader's attention and greatly interrupt the flow. There are often ten or more spelling and grammatical errors.

Grammar & Spelling

Word Choice

Writer uses vivid words and phrases that linger or draw pictures in the reader's mind, and the choice and placement of the words seem accurate, natural, and not forced.

Writer uses vivid words and phrases that linger or draw pictures in the reader's mind, but occasionally the words are used inaccurately or seem overdone.

Writer uses words that communicate clearly, but the writing lacks variety, punch or flair.

Writer uses a limited vocabulary that does not communicate strongly or capture the reader's interest. Jargon or cliches may be present and detract from the meaning. Sentences lack structure and appear incomplete or rambling.

Sentence Structure

All sentences are Most sentences are Most sentences are well-constructed with well-constructed with well-constructed but varied structure. varied structure. have a similar structure.

Conclusion

The conclusion is strong and leaves the reader with a feeling that they understand what the writer is "getting at".

The conclusion is recognizable and ties up almost all the loose ends.

The conclusion is recognizable, but does not tie up several loose ends.

There is no clear conclusion, the paper just ends.