Ashley Hladun - Adapted Teaching Activity

Name: Ashley Hladun

Subject: Social Studies

Grade(s): 4

Rationale: Students will be able to include various concepts learnt throughout the year in social studies into a final unit project.

Adaptations: This lesson is adapted for two students with mild forms of autism, as well as a few students with ADHD.

Prescribed Learning Outcome(s):

1.      Students will demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of specific provinces and territories.

2.      Students will identify and describe the physical regions of Canada (e.g. interior plains, Cordilleras).

3.      Students will demonstrate an understanding of the exchanges that occur between provinces and territories (e.g. grain from Saskatchewan)

Instructional Objective(s):

4.      Students will use appropriate vocabulary to describe their inquiries and observations.

5.      Students will communicate information about a province or territory using oral presentations, written notes and descriptions, drawings, tables, charts, maps, and graphs.

Prerequisite Concepts and Skills:

Students will need to have learned about how to use maps, what a coat of arms is, what the physical regions of Canada are, and what industries are. For these reasons, it is probably necessary to conduct this activity after having already covered much of the necessary material. It would be the perfect way to showcase and utilize the various concepts they have learned throughout the year/unit.

Materials and Resources:

Teacher Materials:

1.      Thirty (30) small pieces of paper with the name of a province or territory written on each piece (each province and territory should be represented on at least two pieces of paper, however some will be written on three pieces).

2.      A bowl or a hat in which the pieces of paper can be placed.

3.      A variety of travel brochures.

4.      Prepare worksheet.

Student Materials:

1.      A blank white piece of letter sized paper

2.      A worksheet

3.      Pencil crayons

4.      An atlas, encyclopedia, and classroom books and maps relating to student’s assigned province or territory (all of which are provided by the teacher)

Lesson Activities:

This activity will be broken up so that research is done on the first day and the actual brochure is completed on the second day. Two 30 min. periods should be sufficient.

Teacher Activities:

1.      In preparation, the teacher should design a worksheet that is general enough for every student, regardless of the province or territory which the student is studying. The worksheet should ask questions such as:

a.       What is your province/territory?

b.      What is the capital city?

c.       What is the population?

d.      Name some major rivers/lakes contained within your province/territory.

e.       What physical regions are contained within your province/territory? What are the characteristics of this region?

f.       What are the major industries/economies? (e.g. forestry, fishing, etc.)

g.      What are some hobbies and/or major events within your province/territory? (e.g. Manitoba’s Folklorama)

h.      Illustrate the coat of arms for your province/territory.

Day 1:

2.      Place 30 pieces of paper (each containing the name of a province or territory) in a hat.

3.      Explain to the students that they are going to pretend that the Ministry of Travel and Tourism is in trouble and needs their help. The problem that the Ministry is having is that nobody wants to travel to (or within) Canada anymore. The Ministry believes that this is because people do not know anything about the provinces and territories within Canada. Tell the class that they have been given the very important task of developing travel brochures for the province or territory that they selected from the hat, in hopes of increasing awareness about Canada.

4.      Hand out the worksheet and a piece of blank paper to the students.

5.      Explain to the students that they should begin by filling in the worksheet that they have been given.

6.      Review the questions on the worksheet to make sure there are no problems or questions.

7.      Allowing students to begin their research.

Day 2:

8.      Inform students that their travel brochure must answer all of the questions on the worksheet. They are free to set up their brochure in any way they choose, providing all information is included. Explain to the students that they may also add additional information if they choose to do so.

9.      Show the students some examples of what travel brochures look like. Discuss the ways in which the brochures are folded (some are booklets, some are folded into three pages, etc.). Discuss the use of headings and other ways of organizing information. Encourage students to use graphics and illustration to improve the appearance of their brochure. Finally, encourage the students to be creative.

Student Activities:

Day 1:

1.      Each student will pick a piece of paper from the hat. This will be the province or territory that the student will be studying.

2.      Students will begin by filling in the worksheet. Students can use atlases, encyclopedias, maps, books, or any other resources they can find within the classroom to help them with their task.

Day 2:

3.      After students have completed the worksheet they will begin working on putting their brochure together.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI):

-          Extra time can be given.

-          Students with ADHD can place mats on their chair that allow them to bounce and stay stimulated and active.

-          Some students may be able to choose which province or territory they want to learn about rather than choosing from a hat.

-          Classes are no longer than 30 min. in length so that students do not become bored and anxious.

Organizational Strategies:

-          - Teacher will have all materials ready before the start of class to ensure that the teacher can begin with the      lesson quickly and will not be disorganized while trying to teach which can cause students to become  distracted.

-          - Before the start of class, debrief the EA on the lesson and what may be needed from them during the  activity.

-          - Students will be allowed to work until around 5 minutes before the end of the allotted time. This time will be  used for cleaning up the resources used during the period.

-          - A timer can be set at the front of the class so that students know how much time is left until clean up.

Behavioral Management Strategies:

These students will be within close proximity to the EA and classroom teacher. Both the EA and teacher can frequently check in to ensure that students are on task and that the activity is flowing smoothly. EA’s may be able to take a few students into a separate quiet room where they are more likely to concentrate and receive one-on-one help.

Assessment and Evaluation:

Students will be evaluated based on:

-          Use of class time

Brochure:

-          Creativity (any drawings, visual appeal)

-          Whether all questions on the worksheet have been included in the brochure

-          Clarity and accuracy of information

-          Use of vocabulary

Extensions:

This activity would be most effective if it led into other activities. For example, the next class can be devoted to allowing students to give a sales pitch, as to why you should visit their province or territory. By doing so, students will learn about all of the provinces and territories, not just the one they studied. As well, students could later be paired up with a partner who studied another province and teach each other about it. For example, they could discuss the similarities and differences between the two provinces or territories and what exchanges may occur between them.

Reflections:

If the majority of students have completed or almost completed the brochure, explain to any students who have not yet finished that it will be assigned as homework. In addition to this, the teacher can send home a letter with each student letting parents know of the assignment their son or daughter has been assigned. This letter will give parents a “heads up” in case the brochure is sent home for homework. If you find that students are not close to finishing their brochure at the end of the second day, you can extend the due date based on where the majority of the class is at in regard to completion. These brochures can be hung up around the classroom to showcase your student’s hard work! They can also be included in portfolios, which students will show parents during parent-teacher conferences.

Original Lesson Plan:

http://www.pearsoned.ca/highered/divisions/text/wright/data/Activity_Ideas.pdf       Page 346, Contributor: A. Furner