Taryn Williams

EDUC523
Term III - Analysis of Teaching
Social Studies
Date: Monday, 11/24/2014
Grade/School: Kindergarten, Lea Elementary
Anticipated Time: 35 minutes

Core Decisions
What:
For this lesson, I will be teaching about how the pilgrims and Native Americans
acted like a community during the first Thanksgiving. The lesson will focus on
demonstrating specific ways in which the Native Americans and Pilgrims worked together,
and the students will then reflect on how they relate to modern-day communities that we
have been discussing.
I have chosen to use Squantos Journey as the text for the lesson, and this will be
used as the basis of the lesson. This book gives a strong overview of both the way the
Native Americans and Pilgrims worked together and some of the problems they worked
through, so it shares with the students two sides of the first Thanksgiving.
How:
The main strategy I will be using throughout this lesson is the Comprehension
Check Questions. The CCQs that I will focus on will lead students to consider Squantos
Journey in relation to the first Thanksgiving and to communities, and they will leave
opportunities for students to express their knowledge in their own way. The questions are
not meant to have a right answer, but rather the students will form their own answer based
on their prior knowledge and what they took away from the text; the students all have their
own unique prior knowledge from their different home lives, so this will allow for a variety
of answers. Students learn arguably as much from each other as they do from their teachers
and educators, so extra emphasis will be put on allowing multiple students to bring their
own perspectives to each response.
The students are still learning about the different activities that they do in school,
and discussions like this are relatively new for them. Because of this, one of my focal
strategies throughout this lesson will be in lengthened wait time. My goal is to give
students 10-20 seconds between each question to think about it before they respond, and I
will wait until about ten students (of fifteen) are raising their hands before asking students
to respond; though, if they need scaffolding for their answers, I will be prepared to provide
that as well. The discussion will take place during and after the read-aloud, so that students

can have some information to work from during the read-aloud, and so that we can
conclude their thoughts together afterward.
Why:
This lesson is critical to teaching the students the ways in which the Native
Americans and Pilgrims worked together. We will be working to build on the students
prior knowledge (Levstik & Barton) and to bridge their knowledge about two different
Social Studies concepts. By connecting their knowledge about Thanksgiving and
communities - the two main Social Studies concepts we have studied thus far - we will be
giving students a better understanding of how different concepts in the world can be
related.
An important aspect of this lesson is the choice of Squantos Journey. I chose this text
in particular because it succeeds at highlighting the positive relationship between the
Native Americans and the Pilgrims, as well as reminding students that they had some
differing opinions and negative experiences as well. By understanding both trials and
tribulations that the Pilgrims and Native Americans faced, students will have a more
developed idea of how communities can go through hardships as well.

Goals/Objectives:
Student Objectives:
1. SWBAT compare communities that they have learned about to how the Native
Americans and Pilgrims interacted during and around the first Thanksgiving.
2. SWBAT expand their knowledge of how members of a community work together, as
well as how they are similar and different.
Teaching Objectives:
1. IWBAT explain how the Native Americans and Pilgrims worked as a community,
while ensuring the students understand that the relationship was not entirely
positive.
2. IWBAT scaffold the lesson so that it is understandable for each child, and extend it
so that it is challenging for the students who need more of a challenge.
Common Core Standards:
Reading:
1. With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals,
events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.3).
2. Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding
(CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.10)
3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a
story (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3).
Writing:
1. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose
informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and
supply some information about the topic (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.2)
2. With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or
gather information from provided sources to answer a question
(CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.8).
Materials and Preparation:

Squantos Journey
CCQs to ask throughout
These will not be displayed, but, rather, I will have them with me to
refer to during the read-aloud.
Paper
Pencils

 First Thanksgiving letters

Classroom Arrangement and Management Issues:
This will be a whole group, thirty minute lesson that takes place during the students
normal Social Studies period; I am working with kindergarten, and we will be in the regular
classroom for this lesson. The students will be on the rug in their assigned squares during
the read-aloud and the discussion, so that they are all able to hear the story and see the
pictures well. We will move into a circle for the discussion, so that each student can see
each other, and so that they can hear and respond to each others observations and
insights; following that, we will move to the students assigned tables, where they will
complete the writing piece. Students will go to their tables as soon as they are handed the
writing paper, and I will pass out the papers to the students who need more time first. The
wrap-up will also take place on the rug; I will call students one table at a time back to their
squares, where we will discuss why this is important to us and connect back to the two
previous units again.
Plan:
Introduction (5 minutes):

Elicit from students what they already know about communities, and about the first
Thanksgiving:
What is a community?
What makes people a community?
Are all people in a community the same, or can they be different? Can you
explain why you think this is?
Who took part in the first Thanksgiving?
Where did the Pilgrims come from, why did they come here?
Thinking back to what we know, do we think the Pilgrims and Native
Americans were a community? Why or why not?

Write down the students answers in a graphic organizer chart paper, in order to
reflect back on them after the story; the graphic organizer will remain on the
whiteboard throughout the lesson.
Quickly remind students of a graphic organizer:
Remember when we decided if we saw things at night, during the day, or
both? This is similar, but we will be talking about communities, the first
Thanksgiving, or both.

Story /Discussion (15 minutes):

Read Squantos Journey; ask CCQs throughout and after the story (pages are marked
in the book with the questions):

 How is Squanto being a good member of his community? (Ask throughout the
story)
Would the Pilgrims have had an easier or harder time in America without
Squanto and the other Native Americans? Why?
Were they a community when people became sick? How?
Does Squanto remind us of any of our community helpers we learned about?
Who?
The Pilgrims and Native Americans had some hardships (define) too, like the
sickness, did this bring them together as a community? How?
Writing activity (10 minutes):
Elicit from students and think aloud about how I could use information from the
text.
I am going to use evidence from the text in my writing, let me think about how I
can do that
Hmmm, I remember Squanto helped the Pilgrims get food, thats being a
good member of his community; does anyone else remember anything
he did to help his community that I could write?
Oh! I remember that Squanto helped the Pilgrims find food, maybe I can
write that. I also remembered that he helped them find somewhere to
live, maybe I can write that does anyone remember anything else that
I could write?
Model the writing
Write my name and date first; remind them to do so as well
Draw the picture briefly before the writing piece, remind students they
should have more details when they draw theirs
Write 3-4 sentences about why or how the Pilgrims and the Native
Americans worked as a community, setting the expectation for the highest
students
Stress that I am using evidence from the text:
I wrote that the Native Americans shared their houses with the
Pilgrims, since that was what I remember from the book. Am I writing
about things I didnt learn from the book?
If they do not say no, push them to think about why that it was
what we are doing.
Wrap-Up (5 minutes)
Connect back to why this is important for students
How are communities the same or different?
How is K-101 a community?
How do people in communities help each other?
How was Squanto a part of his community? How were the Pilgrims?

How are our communities similar to the Pilgrim/Native American community?

Assessment of goals and objectives:

Students will be mainly assessed based on their written piece. We will be looking for
knowledge of communities and the first Thanksgiving in their writing.
The students will also be expected to have evidence from the reading in their piece.
Expecting that they will use their prior knowledge of other stories we have read, it
will only be expected for them to have mentioned 1-3 pieces of evidence specifically
from this story, depending on their ability.
Anticipating student responses:
I expect that students will have some trouble citing evidence from the text. I will
think aloud for only about a minute during the modelling, but I will be prepared to
do more, if it seems like students are struggling with this.
The students will be instructed to use the evidence in their writing. I will
prompt them to write They were/were not a community, because and
remind them that the evidence comes after the because.
Some of the students might struggle responding to some of my CCQs and
open-ended discussion questions. If students seem to be struggling, I will support
them by drawing connections back to their prior knowledge on the First
Thanksgiving and communities.
Accommodations:
The main part of this lesson that will need extensions and scaffolds is the writing.
These accommodations will mainly manifest in how many sentences the students will
write; some students will be expected to write 1-2, whereas others will be expected to
write 3-4. In order for students to achieve their best, the lesson will be taught to the
expectation for the highest students (four sentences while modelling). This is how
modelling is usually done in the classrooms, so students will understand that they should
aim for that many sentences, but that it is alright if they do not quite write that many.
Otherwise, scaffolding will be done during the reading and discussion through the
questions that I ask. I have pre-planned many questions for the discussion and read-aloud,
so that I can support students with these questions during long pauses. In order to give
students sufficient time to answer each question, I will wait for 10-20 seconds after each
question so that each student has time to think of his or her responses.
I also have first-person account letters from Wampanoags and Pilgrims during the
first Thanksgiving, and I have these as either an extension for the whole class, or individual
students who need an extension. They are very short and relatively easy to read, so I was
planning on reading them with the whole class if everyone finishes earlier than I expect
them to and we need something to do; on the other hand, some of the strong readers and
writers in the class could use information from the letters to add to their writing piece,
depending on where the rest of us are when they finish.