Name: Julianne Lyons

Social Justice Lesson Plan

Unit Theme/Topic/Social Issue: Community Involvement Grade Level:

5th Grade

Driving Question(s): How can we build a community garden that promotes healthy food choices to help the
community eat better?

Project Summary: The 5th grade class will be working on a project to help the community they live in. We will
be space planning and designing a community garden by incorporating some of the 5th grade California
Standards that address Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, Science and Art will be included in this project.

Content Area:

CA 5th Grade Content Standard: CA 5 th

Earth Sciences
3. Water on Earth moves between the oceans and land through the processes of evaporation and condensation.
As a basis for understanding this concept: E). Students know the origin of the water used by their local
communities.

Learning Objective: Students will be able to illustrate where their communities water source comes from by
identifying water sources on maps and their passage to their community.

Materials: Garden Soil, Six shallow buckets or containers, watering cans, water, and a rain gauge

Into: Be descriptive and explicit about what the teacher is saying/doing and what the students are doing.
How will you capture students’ interest in this lesson? How will you model what you expect students to do in this
lesson?
What the teacher is doing: What the students are doing:
The teacher will begin the lesson with the classrooms The students will say, “Let’s Focus” as they shape their
catchy phrase, “Hocus Pocus”. Once all students are hands into circles to illustrate glasses over their eyes
focused on the teacher she will introduce the lesson for as if they are using lenses to focus on what they
the day with the question, “What is the one resource teacher is saying. The students participate in the
people need to stay alive?” The teacher will then take classroom discussion of what resources are needed to
answers and write them on the board and as a class stay alive. The students will offer any previous
discuss why some options people do not need and why knowledge they have learned about water and the
we need more than others. The teacher will then water cycle that plants go through to stay alive and
illustrate that today’s lesson is on water, and why it is produce edible fruits and vegetables. The students
so important that we need water to stay alive! This is then get into their assigned groups and each student
where the teacher will introduce that not only do will create their own map of California which contains
people need water but so do animals and especially all major water sources such as aqueducts, aquifers,
plants. The teacher will then illustrate how this lesson
is important for their project which is constructing a
community garden. The teacher will assign groups that
contain three students to share a map of the California
water ways.

Through: Be descriptive and explicit about what the teacher is saying/doing and what the students are
doing. How will you transition students into the activity? What will be happening during the activity? (Cover details
of the beginning, middle, and end of activity.) How will you bring the activity to a close?
What the teacher is doing: What the students are doing:
Before jumping into the soil the teacher will address Once the lesson on rain gauges is done the class will
the students with questions to keep in mind while they divide into six groups. Each group will make their way
perform the experiment they are about to do because it to a bucket full of soil which has either been watered
will help contribute to their community garden when or has not. They are going to first observe what they
they begin taking care of the seeds they have planted. see and then relay to the teacher what they have
The teacher will then go into the lesson on what a rain observed. When the students are instructed to touch
gauge is to further help with maintaining their garden. the soil, and write down what they observe they have
Once the lesson on rain gauges is done teacher will five minutes to complete their observation and head
divide the class into six groups. The teacher will assign back to their seat. Once at their seat the students have
each group to bucket full of soil which has either been five minutes to write a hypothesis.
watered or has not. The teacher instructs them to first
observe what they see, she asks questions such as what
color is the soil, does the soil look healthy, do you think
plants can grow in the soil you are currently
observing? Then the teacher will have each group state
what number bucket they observed and what their
answer to their questions were. The teacher will
gather each group’s answer and display them on the
board for all groups to see. Then the teacher will have
the group’s rotate so they can observe a different
bucket then they previously had. She will then again
ask each group for their answers based on their
observations.

Beyond: Be descriptive and explicit about what the teacher is saying/doing and what the students are
doing.
How will students reflect on their learning? How will students apply their learning to the larger world? How will
you know if your students met the learning objectives?
What the teacher is doing: What the students are doing:
Now once each group has observed the buckets the The students clap a corresponding rhythm to the
teacher will instruct each group to touch the soil and teacher to make her aware that they are listening.
write down their observations. The students have five Some of the students share their hypothesis and
minutes to write down their observations and then go observations on the two buckets of soil they observed.
back to their seats to create a hypothesis of why the The students are connecting this lesson with their
soils were different. The teacher will address the class community garden project and they are learning how
by stating to finish your thoughts in the next minute so to maintain a garden so that it won’t die. The students
we can come together to talk about what we observed. answer the teachers question about how they can use
The teacher claps a rhythm to get the students what they just learned while maintaining their garden.
attention, she then asks a couple of students to state The students relate
their observations and hypothesis. Once about 5 to 6
students have shared the teacher asks one last time
just in case a student has worked up the courage to
share. The teacher then tells the class that the
difference between the soil is that one was watered
and one was not. The teacher explains why it is
important to water soil because that is how seeds get
nourishment and the seeds need that nourishment to
grow. The teacher then addresses the class how they
can use this lesson to maintain their garden, what can
the students do to make sure their garden thrives and
doesn’t die.

Accommodations: Specifically describe what types of accommodations will be included in this lesson for
different students.

Emerging Bilingual Students:

Students Performing Below Grade Level:

Students Performing Above Grade Level:

Map Assignment 1:
A. Using the water project resource maps, create a California
Water Supply Map using the blank California outline map
provided.
Your map should include:
Shasta Dam All American Canal
Parker Dam Friant Kern Canal
Hoover Dam Tehama-Colusa Canal
Imperial Dam Colorado River
Oroville Dam Kern River
Folsom Dam Feather River
Feather River Dam American River
California Aqueduct Owens River
Colorado River Aqueduct Joaquin River
Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct Sacramento River
Los Angeles Aqueduct Salton Sea
B. The Conservation Connection: Water Supply and Demand
Read pages 3-5 of The Conservation Connection located with
this assignment and answer the following questions.

Define:
Aqueduct:
Aquifer:
Groundwater:
Overdraft:
Reservoir:
Surface water: