Unit Plan: President Barack Obama

Lesson Plan for: Wednesday

Grade: 1
st
grade
Social Studies Strand: Civics
Submitted By: Katheryn Brown

EDEL 453: Teaching Elementary School Social Science
Nevada State College spring 2014
Instructor: Karen Powell



B. Summary of the Lesson Plan:
This social studies lesson is designed for 1
st
grade students; to identify the president of the United
States and describe the work he does.
This lesson uses the Houghton Mifflin Social Studies textbook School and Family (p. 236 - 237).
This lesson will use the first three minutes of the Barack Obama Youtube video:
Lesson Plan #4 - Civics submitted by: Katheryn Brown

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-IgxSn21jU

Basic Information:
Grade Level: first grade
Time to Complete this Lesson: 50 minutes
Groupings:
Whole group discussions, questions and answers
Whole group reading, pages 236 - 237
I ndependent, coloring picture of President Barack Obama
I ndependent for assessment, graphic organizer worksheet

C. Materials:
Houghton Mifflin Social Studies: School and Family, Grade 1,
Teacher's Edition; Core Lesson 2; pages 236, 237

Integrating Language Arts and Social Studies 25 Strategies for K-8
Inquiry-based Learning
Author: Leah M./ Hunter Melber Editor: Leah M. Melber
Strategy #24; page 173

Classroom poster: Presidents of the United States

1 coloring page per student
(http://www.raisingourkids.com/coloring-pages/patriotic/presidents/44-
Barack-Obama/002-barack-obama-facts.html)

1 sheet each student: red, white, or blue construction paper


Lesson Plan #4 - Civics submitted by: Katheryn Brown

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 3
Materials cont.:

President Obama: graphic organizer worksheet
1 per student



D. Objectives:
o NV State Social Studies Standards
C14.1.1 Name the current President of the United States
o Student-Friendly Standards
C13.1.4 I will learn the name of the United States President: Barack Obama
Key Theme:
Identifying people

E. Vocabulary
President: the leader of the United States government
First Lady: the wife of the United States President
F. Procedure:
1. Refer to notes on Core Lesson 2, Teachers Edition, pages 236, 237

Explain:
a) What the presidents job is?
b) What is a First Lady?

Ask:
a) Who is the president of the United States?
b) Why do we have a president?

Introduce the key vocabulary words:
1) President 2) First Lady

Lesson Plan #4 - Civics submitted by: Katheryn Brown

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 4

Ask students to stand in a circle in front of the bulletin board while you refer to the
United States Presidents classroom poster.

Ask students to repeat the name of the president.

Explain:
Why there are so many presidents on the poster and who is the president today.

View:
Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-IgxSn21jU
View the first 3 minutes, stopping and explaining each picture and/or fact about President
Obama, the First Lady, his children, where he was born, where he grew up, etc.

Group discussion asking the students to share what they know about President Barack Obama.

Give I nstructions:
Color your president worksheet, pick a colored piece of construction paper that represents a
color from the United States flag, paste your colored worksheet on the construction paper.

G. Assessment:
What will you use to measure student understanding?
Independent assessment:
Each student will complete the graphic organizer worksheet to write or draw 9 facts they learned
about President Barack Obama.

Write President Barack Obamas name on the bottom line.

Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson.
Using the worksheet will show if the students are able to identify the president, facts about the
president and what is the job of the president.
H. Closure:
Students will share their colored worksheets with the class, give 1 fact about the president, say
the presidents name, and pin the worksheet on the bulletin board.
I. Reflection:
1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach?
The easiest part of this lesson will be using the pictures and information from the video to
give the students a visual lesson about the president.
Lesson Plan #4 - Civics submitted by: Katheryn Brown

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 5
2. Which part will be most challenging for you to teach?
The most challenging part of this lesson will be explaining why there are so many different
presidents.
3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson?
I will continue this lesson when we visit the school library on Thursday. The students will be
asked to find and check out a book about the president, the Fourth of July, the United States
flag, or John Fremont.
4. What can you do for students who dont grasp the concepts?
I will extend the study to include more videos about the presidency.
5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change?
Ive included First Lady as the second vocabulary word in the lesson.
6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part?
The most difficult part of writing this lesson is making sure my young students will
understand that we have a president and who he is.
7. Explain the strategy from Integrating Language Arts & Social Studies that you
included in this lesson plan.
Strategy helped me write this lesson in a way that students can relate and understand what
the president and first lady do for the country. Symbols are a great reminder of what brave
things and memorable things have happened in the United States.







Lesson Plan #4 - Civics submitted by: Katheryn Brown

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 6





Lesson Plan #4 - Civics submitted by: Katheryn Brown

Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 7