ED 3501 Faculty of Education DB 2018

Lesson Plan
Grade/Subject: Grade 2 Social Studies Unit: Canada’s Dynamic Communities
Duration: 30 Minutes

DESIRED RESULTS

General Outcome(s) Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of how geography,
culture, language, heritage, economics and resources shape and change Canada's
communities.

Specific Outcome(s) 2.1.1:

● Value oral history and stories as ways to learn about the land
2.1.2:
● How does the physical geography of each community shape its identity?
● What is daily life like for children in Inuit communities?

Learning Objective 1 Students will reflect on how the legend of Kunikdjuaq (in “The Polar Bear’s Son”)
is connected to the physical land.

Learning Objective 2 Students will compare the Iqaluit way of life to life in the prairies.

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

Resource: Dabcovich, L. (1997). The polar bear son: An inuit tale. New York: Clarion Books.
MATERIALS/ EQUIPMENT/ GYM SET UP
* Utilize the story time/reading carpet
* Book: The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale
* Markers, crayons, pencil crayons, scissors and glue
* Worksheet (copies for every student in class)
* Paper for Snowball fight
* Books on Inuit Life
*Magazines or picture of Nunavut printed out for students to use for the comparison activity.
PROCEDURE
Introduction ( 4 min.):

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Assessment
● Hand Clap Pattern (TA, TA, TI, TI, TI) to get attention: Greet class

● Review the written agenda on the board:

○ Move over to reading carpet
○ Story Time: ‘The Polar Bear Son’
○ Desk Work: Complete worksheet
○ Snowball fight

● TRANSITION: Ask students to come and sit at the reading carpet

(Organize it in order of birthday months so it doesn’t become a Formative Assessment:
stampede). Instigate and observe classroom
discussion on the review
● Review questions from yesterday’s lessons & tie into story: questions from yesterday’s
○ “Who can tell me what the climate is like in Iqaluit or other lesson. Use popsicle sticks (no
hands-up rule) to choose
northern based communities?” (2 Seasons, cold and snowy, dark
students to respond.
in winter, lots of daylight in summer)
○ “What do you think it would be like to live somewhere with
this climate?”
○ Ask students if anyone knows the meaning of the word “Inuit”,
and have 4 students answer what they think it means.
○ Explain the meaning of the word to them and tie it into our
story: The word ‘Inuit’ means ‘the people’, and ‘The Polar
Bear’s Son’ is a story that talks about legends, spiritual beliefs
and shows how inuit communities lived day to day.
○ Ask what they think the story, The Polar Bear’s Son, may be
about.

Body ( 20 min.):
Formative & Summative Assessments, Key Content Areas, Game/Activity Rules & Expectations, Specific Learner
Considerations: Transitions
● Begin reading the story by introducing the author and illustrator. Assessment
● Make sure to showcase proper enunciation, punctuation and reading
habits. Formative Assessment:
● Ask questions at certain points of the story to formatively assess reading Observe students’ ability to
comprehension and develop deeper connections to the content. answer the following questions
(in the body of the lesson). Use
○ “Why do you think the old woman decided to care for the baby
the “no hands up rule” and
polar bear?” popsicle sticks to select
The old women wanted to keep the baby bear because she was students at random. Assess
lonely and did not have any sons. She wanted a son to keep her their reasoning behind their
company and to help her make a living in the community. She answers to identify their ability
struggled to make her own living because she was older and not to draw connections between
able to hunt well for herself. the book and the Iqaluit
○ “In what ways did Kunikdjuaq help the old woman?” landscape. (Learning objective
He hunted for her, provided fish, warmth, safety and comfort. 1)
○ “Why did the men in the village want to get rid of Kunikdjuaq?”
They were jealous that the bear was a better hunter and they
feared that because of his size and strength that he could hurt
members of the community.
○ “What specific things do you notice in the pictures?”
In the illustrations it shows what the landscape looks like, it is
full of snow and ice. The village is located close to a water
source and all the characters are wearing jackets and pants
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made out of animal hides. They used drying racks to hang the
meat, the houses are made of wood and have few windows.
There are people walking, riding dog sleds and paddling canoes
for transportation. The men are depicted with spears and guns
and the women are carrying children.

● TRANSITIONS: Ask students to return to their desks and take out their
writing/coloring utensils, scissors and glue.
● Hand out Comparison Chart
● Introduce assignment task:
○ Yesterday we learned all about geography and climate when we
did our 4 seasons posters. Today we read a book that told a story
about how Inuit communities live, and the pictures showed us
what a community looks like.
○ As a class, discuss the observable features of an Inuit
community(approx. 2 mins.) and write ideas on whiteboard. Formative Assessment:
○ Recap of what visuals they encountered from the video in lesson Submit worksheet for teacher
1 and from ‘The Polar Bear Son’. review (not for marks).
○ READ and EXPLAIN instructions to students. Have them Completed worksheet will be
repeat back the instructions as a class: used to formatively assess
■ Working with partners whether the students understand
■ use drawings to show what your community the difference between the
(Lethbridge) looks like and what Iqaluit looks like Iqaluit way of life and their life
in Lethbridge. (Learning
■ Here are some ideas (they don’t need to repeat this)
Objective 2)
: What do houses look like?
: What does it look like outside?
: Where does each community get their food from?
: What kinds of animals live there?
○ PROVIDE EXAMPLE ON OVERHEAD/SMART BOARD
● Allow for Approx. 12 minutes for drawing and answering the questions
● TRANSITION: Hand Clap Pattern to get attention - Begin cleaning up
materials.
○ Tell students to place worksheet into designated submissions
box
○ Put away crayons,markers,pencil crayons

Closure ( 6 min.): * Connect your closure with learning objectives*

Consolidation/Assessment of Learning, Feedback From Students, Feedback To Students, Transition To Next Lesson
● Thank you class for another great lesson, I hope that you all enjoyed our Assessment
story time and learning all about the Inuit legend of Kunikdjuaq. As we
all know northern Canada receives a lot of snow, what we are going to Formative Assessment:
do next is have a knowledge snowfall.
● TRANSITION: Hand clap to get attention Listening and observing student
ideas and informal exit slip
● Hand out cut up square paper
(snowball papers). This will be
● Instruct students to write down or draw one thing they learned on the a double check on the learning
piece of paper, crumple up the paper, and then when I give the signal objective to ensure they learned
they can throw the snowball up in the air and let it fall down. something about the geography
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● TRANSITION: Hand clap to get attention. and/or the history of Iqaluit.

● Each learner picks up a nearby response, return to their desks and reads
it to their elbow partner. After reading their slip, students will sit down
and actively listen to others.
● Students will hand in snowball papers in a basket for review later.

SPONGE ACTIVITY: If students get done early, or we have too much time,
a variety of books on Inuit life will be in the classroom for students to
look at, read or have read to them in class.

Formative Assessment 2:
Cut and Paste a Picture from a Magazine or Draw a Picture:

Picture of: IQALUIT LETHBRIDGE

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Home

Outdoors

Food
Source
(Farming,
Animals,
Plants)

Animals