Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Grade Level/Subject:
Central Focus:
Fourth Grade/Social Studies
Students will demonstrate their knowledge about the
interactions of people, places, etc by learning the Five
Themes of Geography
Essential Standard/Common Core Objective:
4.G.1.3 Exemplify the interactions of various peoples, places
Date submitted:
Date
and cultures in terms of adaptation and modification of the
taught:
environment.
Daily Lesson Objective:
Students will be able to meet todays objective by demonstrating their knowledge of the
interactions of people, places, and the environment by reading an article on the Five Themes of
Geography and creating a booklet. Students are expected to give examples for each theme.
21st Century Skills:
Academic Language Demand (Language Function and
Critical Thinking & Problem
Vocabulary):
Solving; Students will be using
critical thinking when learning how Demonstrate; Students will be demonstrating their
the different themes of geography
knowledge about the interactions of people, etc. by
work together
learning the five themes of geography
Social & Cross Cultural Skills;
Vocabulary: Movement, Region, Human Environment
Students will be using cross
Interaction, Location, & Place
cultural skills as they learn about
how different places around the
world have different characteristics
and cultures
Prior Knowledge:
Students need to have a basic understanding of what geography means
Activity

1. Focus and Review

2. Statement of
Objective
for Student

Description of Activities and Setting

Think back to yesterday when Mrs. Williams introduced the
topic of Five Themes of Geography to you. Who can help me
name all five?
-Allow time for children to think and raise their hands
Great! Lets also say our learning target again so we can
keep it in mind as we explore the five themes of geography in
depth a little more!
By learning the five themes of geography we will be able to
demonstrate our knowledge of how people, places, and the
environment interact. Were going to read an article first and
then were going to make a little booklet to help us remember
all five themes.

Time

3. Teacher Input

4. Guided Practice

5. Independent
Practice

-Pass out the Five Themes of Geography article to the

students
When I read an information article I like to pay attention to
the title and to the headings so that I know what the different
sections are about. I also like to think of examples so that I
can connect what Im reading to things that I already know.
Im going to read the introduction out loud first. Read the
introduction to the students Now that Ive read the
introduction I can go back and read it again but this time Ill
stop and make connections. I think my favorite part of the
introduction is where it talks about thinking like a geographer!
Our learning target told us to think like geographers using the
five themes of geography! I also learned from the introduction
that geography deals with how the environment and people
interact with each other. This is important for us to know since
our objective today wants us to be able to demonstrate how
people, places, and the environment interact.
-Continue to read through each of the sections, either read
them out loud or have different students read the sections
aloud. Allow the students to come up with examples for each
of the five themes of geography.
Weve read the article and talked about some great
examples of the five themes. I want to teach you about my
friend Mr. Help now. Mr. Help reminds me of what the five
themes are now he can help you remember them too!

Pass out paper to the students & instruct the students on how
to fold the paper. Tell them to fold the paper in half
horizontally three times then unfold the paper to the first fold.
The students then make a cut halfway into the folded side.
They are to take the two short sides and push them towards
each other so that the cut opens up and allows the paper to
fold into a booklet shape.
Once you have your booklet folded I want you to write a title
on the front page. Mine is going to say Five Themes of
Geography. Each of the pages is going to have one of the
five themes written on it. Mr. Help stands for Movement,
Region, Human Environment Interaction, Location, and finally
Place. Go ahead and write each of those five themes on a
different page of your booklets. You can use crayons,
markers, pencils, whatever you would like.
I want you guys to think about all of the examples we talked
about earlier when we read through the article. On each of
the pages in your booklets I want you to write an example
and draw a small picture that will help remind you what that

6. Assessment
Methods of
all
objectives/skills:

7. Closure

specific theme of geography means. If you need help

remembering what the different themes are about you can
look back in the article I passed out.
For assessment students are expected to record one example and draw
one illustration that shows what that specific theme of geography
means. Students are allowed to use their articles for help.
After the students finish filling out their booklets, have them
turn their attention back to the front of the room.
Now that you have had a chance to finish your Mr. Help
booklets lets talk about what examples you guys included. If
someone would like to put their booklet underneath the
document camera so that we can all see your drawing that
would be great! Invite multiple students to come up and
share their drawing and example for one theme of geography.
Have them explain why they drew the picture they did and
how it relates.
Weve seen so many different examples and pictures. Does
that mean there is only one correct example or illustration for
each of our five themes? No it does not. Its important to
understand that people, places, and the environment can
interact in all kinds of ways.
N/A

8. Assessment
Results of
all
objectives/skills:
Targeted Students
Modifications/Accommodations:
For ELLs you can go over the meaning of
each of the five themes of geography before
you read the article that way they have a
better understanding

Materials/Technology:
25 copies of Five Themes of Geography article
25 colored pieces of paper
SMART Board/Document camera
References:
Mrs. Williams
Reflection on lesson: N/A

Student/Small Group
Modifications/Accommodations:
For students who have trouble reading and
recalling information from text, you can pull them
into a small group and work with them on going
back into the text to find answers and examples