Unit Name: Georgia Regions Teacher: Douberly (Media Specialist) and Love (Teacher) Grade: 2nd Subject: Social

Studies/Georgia Studies

Stage 1- Desired Results

Georgia Performance Standards: SS2G1 The student will locate major topographical features of Georgia and will describe how these features define Georgias surface. a. Locate all the geographic regions of Georgia: Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plain, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau. b. Locate the major rivers: Ocmulgee, Oconee, Altamaha, Savannah, St. Marys, Chattahoochee, and Flint. AASL Standards for 21st Century Learners: 1.1.4 Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. 1.1.8 Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for accessing information and pursuing inquiry. 1.2.2 Demonstrate confidence and self-direction by making independent choices in the selection of resources and information. 1.2.3 Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats. 1.2.6 Display emotional resilience by persisting in information searching despite challenges. 1.3.1 Respect copyright/ intellectual property rights of creators and producers. 1.3.3 Follow ethical and legal guidelines in gathering and using information. 1.3.5 Use information technology responsibly. 1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process. 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful. 2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information. 3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners. Understandings: Students will understand that.. The State of Georgia is divided into five regions based on its physical geography. Each region has its own unique features, including the plants and animals that live there. Essential Questions: What makes the different regions of Georgia unique and different from one another? How do the characteristics of each region affect what lives and grows there? How can the internet help you find

Web browsers help people see what is on the internet. Search engines such as Google help people find information online. People use web addresses to locate websites online just like the mailman uses an address to deliver a letter to a particular house. Copying someones words exactly without giving them credit is called plagiarism. Student will know. where each region is located within the state. what the major characteristics of each region are. what plants and animals live in that region. how to use the internet to find information about a topic.

information about a topic? How do you use the information you found through research responsibly?

Student will be able to Find each region on a map. Effectively use a web browser and search engine to access information online. Research and find information about each region. Use a graphic organizer to take notes during the research process.

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks: Use a pathfinder to find information about their assigned region. Complete a graphic organizer based on information learned from internet research about their assigned region. Create a flip-book about their region using the information they gathered during their research. Other Evidence: Informally provide peer-review when sharing flip-books with classmates who researched the same region. Identify each region based on a photo of a landmark or other distinguishing feature. Label each region on a map of Georgia.

Stage 3 Learning Plan

Learning Activities: Students view Georgia on My Mind video that combines our state song with photos from the five regions of the state as a hook for the unit. Teacher introduces the concept of regions and landforms through a Power Point presentation, again utilizing the Smart board in the classroom. Media specialist introduces the idea of research and its steps using a Power Point and videos from Smart Exchange in the media center. Teacher assigns groups of students to study a particular region of Georgia. Students are provided with a graphic organizer (see below) to help them take notes as they research their region. Media specialist guides students through the use of an internet browser and search engine then directs students to a pathfinder about Georgia regions and landforms (https://sites.google.com/a/georgiasouthern.edu/georgia-landforms/). Students use the pathfinder to take notes about characteristics, animals and plants of that region plus color in the region on a map of Georgia. Students use their notes to create a flip-book about their region, writing an original sentence on each page and illustrating the front cover. Students will share their books with other members of the class. Teacher and media specialist will use rubric to assess student work (see below). Georgia Landforms Note-Taking Rubric
Keywords vs. Copying 4 Notes are recorded in the students own words as keywords and phrases. Notes relate to the topic. More than enough notes are taken to 2 1 Notes are Notes are primarily copied directly copied from from the the source. source. Some evidence of keywords and phrases. Some notes Notes are not relate to the related to the topic, but topic. many dont. A sufficient Nearly enough Not enough number of notes are taken notes are taken notes are taken to create the to create the 3 Notes are primarily recorded in the students own words as keywords and phrases. Notes primarily relate to the topic.

Relevance

Quantity

create the flipbook.

to create the flipbook.

flipbook.

flipbook.

Name: Topic:
Locate your landform on the map of Georgia: List 3 features that describe your landform: 1.

2.

3.

List 3 types of wildlife that can be found around your landform: 1.

List 2 types of plants that can be found around your landform: 1.

2. 2.

3.

Reflection For this lesson I collaborated with Ms. Love, a 2nd grade teacher. Ms. Aycock, the media specialist, recommended that I work with Ms. Love because she had been particularly open to collaboration in the past. My experience proved this to be true. We began by looking at the CRCT test scores for the previous years 3rd graders. Second graders do not take the CRCT. While the majority of students passed both the reading (98%) and language arts (89%) sections, most students only met the standard instead of exceeding it. We then identified a particular area to focus on, research skills. Students begin research in the 3rd grade and go into it with very little previous knowledge to build upon. By introducing basic research skills in the 2nd grade, we hoped to raise scores when these students took the CRCT in their 3rd grade year. I decided to focus primarily on internet-based research since many of the students at MCES are from low-income families and do not have access to technology such as computers at home. We then found a unit that would correspond with the dates I would be at MCES and settled upon Georgia Landforms. We brainstormed ideas for integrating the research instruction into the general content. Although Ms. Love was happy to work with me, it was hard to find time to meet since I was only on campus 3 days a week and she only had planning once a day. Although I collaborated with Ms. Love alone, I actually delivered my research lesson to all of the 2nd grade classes over a period of two weeks. I created materials to accompany the lesson: a power point, graphic organizer, pathfinder, and rubric. We covered more traditional forms of research and the idea of plagiarism in the introductory power point. I think the graphic organizer was very successful in encouraging students to take notes in their own words instead of trying to copy whole sentences from the websites. I am also glad that I put together a pathfinder with resources about each region beforehand instead of asking the students to locate information from the whole of possible Google search results. Since many of the students were not all that familiar with internet research or using the internet in general, I included an overview of terms such as web browsers, search engines, links, and bookmarks. It was necessary to split the classes in two for each session since the media center only has 11 computers and most classes have over 20 students. Ms. Aycock worked with the other half of each class, showing them a new set of books about Georgia regions.

Not all classes went as smoothly as others. On one occasion a teacher had failed to assign regions to the students or to introduce the social studies content to them at all so a great deal of time was spent sorting that out which could have been used on the internet lesson. Most students were able to complete the note-taking assignment with little help from me once I had explained how to navigate to the pathfinder. Some needed reminders to stay focused and, of course, there were those students who kept asking to play games on the computer. I wish the media center had been set up in such a way that students could see the SMART board while on the computers but the current layout has them on the opposite side of the library, facing away from the board. Had the layout allowed, I would have demonstrated each step of the navigation instead of trying to verbally explain it. I also need to work on keeping my vocabulary simple and consistent when speaking to the younger students. I am used to working with college students but have been told that with practice I should get used to communicating with the elementary students. I do think I made great strides in this over the course of the semester, however. Based on the books that the students created using their note-taking graphic organizers, I would say that the assignment was successful because they were all able to write original sentences detailing the wildlife and plants that lived in the areas they were studying.