Lesson Plans

Standards-Based Outcomes (MDE):

Social Studies:

III. Civic Perspective

Content Standard III, 1: All students will identify the purposes of national, state, and local governments in the United States, describe how citizens organize government to accomplish their purposes, and assess their effectiveness. (Purposes of Government)

2. Describe consequences of not having rules.

Content Standard III, 3: All students will describe the political and legal processes created to make decisions, seek consensus, and resolve conflicts in a free society. (Democracy in Action)

1. Explain how conflicts at school or in the local community might be resolved in ways that are consistent with core democratic values.

Content Standard III, 4: All students will explain how American governmental institutions, at the local, state, and federal levels, provide for the limitation and sharing of power and how the nation's political system provides for the exercise of power. (American Government and Politics)

1. Identify rules at school and in the local community and consider consequences for breaking rules.

Prior Knowledge:

The students are familiar with the concept of rules.
The students have basic keyboard skills.

Cue Set:

The teacher begins discussion with two questions for the children.
What are rules and why do we need to follow them?
What are laws and who should follow them?
Students brainstorm and list rules that they follow at home and at school.

Best Shot Instruction:

The teacher leads a discussion which helps the students recognize that rules help people get along with one another, and identify the need for rules in school. They also discuss the importance of safety rules at school, home, and in the community.
The children then brainstorm laws with which they are familiar and discuss why everyone must obey them.
The children then illustrate a rule which they have learned in class, and write sentences about why the rule is important.
Next the children interview ten people whom they know outside of the classroom. They ask them to list laws in their community which they obey as well as the reasons they do.
When the children return with their data, they discuss their results, including all the laws stated by the interviewees and their reasons for obeying them.
The teacher models the use of the software program Graph Club, and then each student graphs his/her interview results.
After the children have successfully completed the chapter in their social studies books, they write friendly letters to the President of the United States. In them they discuss laws which they follow. They may include discussion of laws which they would like to see enacted. The children use the word processing programs ClarisWorks for Kids and Kid Works 2.

Reteaching and Enrichment:

The children write friendly letters to the principal discussing the importance of rules and laws in school and promising that they will follow their school's rules.

Review and Closure:

In preparation for the unit test on rules and laws, the children play a game of “Jeopardy” to review the terms and concepts. (The teacher prepares answers for the children's questions prior to the game playing.)

Assessment:

The teacher observes the students during the discussions to assess their understanding of rules and laws, and the need for all people to obey them.
The teacher reads the letters for content to assess the student's understanding of rules and the need for them, as well as checks that they are written in the proper format.
The students must pass the unit test on rules and laws with 80% accuracy.

East Detroit Public Schools Lesson Design

East Detroit Public Schools
Lesson Design