Unit Narrative

Throughout the semester we have created a unit that investigates the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We
call our Big Idea, “Me and the Sleeping Bear: The Exploration of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park.”
This is a third grade unit and fits into the grade level theme of “Michigan Studies”, as it focuses mostly
on the G5 Social Studies Standard: Environment and Society. However, other GLCEs are addressed as
well and listed in each individual lesson. Our goal of the unit is to give students a chance to explore and
think critically about the historical elements of the area and the formation of the dunes themselves. We
want students to look at the material we are teaching from many different perspectives, such as that of
a historian, a tourist, and an economist. We are interested in this topic because we love exploring
environmental studies that affect our lives. It is relevant to us because it’s a crucial part of the state we
live in. We both have had the opportunity to visit the dunes and we believe that every student should
get the chance to explore the beauty of what our own state gives us. We believe students would
appreciate this lesson because it plays a big role in the state they live in and the Legend of Sleeping Bear
peaks their interest because it is creative and whimsical.
When researching this big idea, we came across the National Park Service website which
provides all sorts of information about the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It explores the historical and cultural
background of the area. It gives information about the nature such as animals, plants, environmental
factors, natural features, and ecosystems. The site provides instructional resources such as ready-made
lesson plans that we drew inspiration from. We are also using the book The Legend of Sleeping Bear by
Kathy-Jo Wargin.
The focus of the first lesson is to introduce students to the history of the Sleeping Bear Dunes.
The lesson starts by introducing students to the concept of a Legend, in literary terms. This make this
lesson one of our ELA crossovers. Students will then learn and understand the role of legends in history.
This then transitions into the Native American history of the area, and will form a foundation for the
culture lesson by teaching students about hunter-gatherer lifestyles that evolved in the time period.
The lesson is framed with a class-constructed KWL chart to assess students’ understanding. It is also
very discussion based in that the teacher is laying the foundation of knowledge and discovery that will
later be built on by more inquiry-based lessons. This lesson is an important foundation for lessons that
will follow it, particularly the culture lesson.
In the second lesson, we will be addressing the culture strand of our unit as introduced in the
history lesson. This time around, we will be digging deeper into the culture of Native Americans, the
Ojibwe tribe specifically, since they were prevalent in the region of Sleeping Bear Dunes. We will
primarily be focusing on their musical traditions and how they incorporate the tribe’s core religious and
cultural values. We will do this through the study of a musical sample as a class, and a lyrical sample in
partners (cooperative learning). The lyrical sample is called “Dandelion Song” and students will be
informally assessed on their effort to apply the Ojibwe core beliefs to this piece of literature, making this
another ELA crossover. This lesson is a continuation of the history lesson, so students already have a
foundation of knowledge of the types of people in the area of Sleeping Bear Dunes, and they have
studied the historical tradition of legends. We want this to be sort of a celebratory lesson in which
students use their creative abilities to replicate the rich culture of Native Americans of early time
periods in this area. This is done through a fun “rain stick” craft at the end of the lesson that will be
assessed on evidence of following instructions and showing creativity.
The focus of the third lesson is the basic geography of Sleeping Bear Dunes, and is the first of
three geography lessons in the unit. It starts with a pre-assessment to show the teacher where the
students are in terms of understanding the geographical location of Sleeping Bear Dunes in the context
of Michigan. Students go on to learn specifically where the park is located and the physical
characteristics of it. This is done through the exploration of the area on Google Earth (can be considered
a field trip simulation) followed by a replication project demonstrating knowledge of the physical
characteristics of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. This is one of the major projects of the unit and
therefore carries a grade calculated using a rubric we created. These activities cause the unit to move
away from traditional teaching methods and move toward a more constructivist framework that
promotes student inquiry and responsibility.
With the foundation of the third lesson, the fourth is also focused on the geography thread -
this time with a science crossover. Within this lesson, students will learn exactly how the dunes were
formed through a video and discussion. They will also perform their own sand experiment to validate
their new found information. This lesson is a continuation of the previous lesson in that it goes deeper
into the scientific and geographical makeup of the land. We want students to understand why Sleeping
Bear Dunes are what they are through how they were formed. This lesson revolves around exploration
which makes it extremely inquiry-based. Therefore, there is no formal assessment, just lots of
discussion and exploration.
In the fifth lesson, we will again be focusing on the thread of geography with a science
crossover. In this lesson we will be discussing and learning about the ecosystem of the Sleeping Bear
Dunes. The students will have the opportunity to discover the type of plants and animals that live and
also the greater context of the area (i.e. rivers, lakes, etc.). We decided to again, make this lesson follow
a very constructivist framework. Students are divided into three groups: Animals, plants, and abiotic
factors. In these groups, students explore, using various websites, the different organisms and elements
in the area of Sleeping Bear Dunes. They then create a visual representation of their findings and put
them together with the whole class to demonstrate the entire ecosystem. The assessment here is
informal, but it is important that the teacher monitors participation.
The focus of the sixth lesson is to introduce students to economics through the concept of
tourism and how it plays a role in our economy. The lesson begins by connecting to students’ lives
through their experience as tourists. They then analyze an article explaining the benefits of tourism at
Sleeping Bear Dunes. This is where our math crossover lies because students are analyzing numerical
data in order to see the benefits of tourism. Students demonstrate their growing knowledge about
tourism as well as what they’ve learned previously in the unit (from the history, culture, and geography
lessons) to create a tourist brochure for Sleeping Bear Dunes. We want students to make the
connection between Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and the larger context in which tourism is
important. Our big idea is an exploration of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and a huge part of the
study of the park is the role it plays in Michigan’s economy. We want our students to realize tourism
brought about by the dunes largely affects the cities surrounding them. Therefore, this is the second
major project of the unit and also has a rubric we created.
Our very last lesson, the civics thread, is meant to teach students about people’s role at Sleeping
Bear Dunes and in the context of National Parks in general. The lesson first connects to students’
experiences with national parks and park rangers. National Parks are a big deal in the study of civics
because they are put in place not only for people to enjoy, but to also take care of. In the previous
lesson, we discussed tourism, so they know about people’s roles as visitors at the dunes, but this lesson
focuses on employees of the National Park. Students then learn specifically about the position of a park
ranger, their responsibilities, and the importance of their job to benefit all people through partner
reading of an informational booklet (grade/reading-level appropriate) titled “Park Rangers.” Students
use the book to fill in a worksheet which prompts them to apply the information on rangers to Sleeping
Bear Dunes specifically. The act of reading and summarizing informational text in this lesson allowed us
to include it as another ELA crossover. Having the students apply the text to the Sleeping Bear area
allows them to refer back to their knowledge from the geography lessons. This worksheet is simply
graded on accuracy and effort, and is completed in partners or groups, making this a cooperative
learning activity. This lesson ends with an exit slip to assess the lesson’s effectiveness.