How does geography effect people?
- How does geography effect how people make their homes?
- How does geography effect what types of food people eat?
- How does geography effect the types of clothes people wear?
- How does geography effect the types of jobs people do?
Assessment
- The sub-units formative assessment is the observation of students longhouses whether they align with how the Powhatan tribe made theirs
- Students keep an American Indian journal with activities to do inside which will be informally assessed when entire unit is finished!
- The unit's final summative assessments is a blank graphic organizer where the students will need to fill in the important parts. Students will receive the graphic organizer labeled with the tribe "Powhatans." Students will then be asked to fill in what region the tribe was located in, the homes that this tribe created, the food the tribe ate, what the tribe made their clothes out of, the occupation of the men and women and what the climate and environment of the region was like. After filling out this graphic organizer students were asked why this tribe lived the way they did. Showing their understanding of geography or environment effecting peoples decisions.
What were they thinking?
Before teaching this unit I had a small interview conference with 5 students. In this interview I asked students questions like "Why do you think the eastern woodland Indians made their homes from tree bark, while the plain Indians made theirs from animal skin?" The answer from these questions showed me that the student's have very little background knowledge of American Indians. Many of them assumed all American Indians live in Teepee's and others answered by simply saying "because they thought it looked nicer." After these interviews I was hit by the realization that I would need to move slowly through these lessons and explain most aspects of the American Indian Unit.
Integrated Standards
Reading:2.9 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction texts.
a) Preview the selection using text features.
b) Make and confirm predictions about the main idea.
c) Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning.
d) Set purpose for reading.
e) Ask and answer questions about what is read.
f) Locate information to answer questions.
g) Identify the main idea.
h) Read and reread familiar passages with fluency, accuracy, and meaningful
expression.
Writing:
2.12 The student will write stories, letters, and simple explanations.
a) Generate ideas before writing.
b) Organize writing to include a beginning, middle, and end for narrative and
expository writing.
c) Expand writing to include descriptive detail.
d) Revise writing for clarity.
2.13 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling.
a) Recognize and use complete sentences.
b) Use and punctuate declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences.
c) Capitalize all proper nouns and the word I.
d) Use singular and plural nouns and pronouns.
e) Use apostrophes in contractions and possessives.
f) Use contractions and singular possessives.
g) Use knowledge of simple abbreviations.
h) Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words, including compound words
and regular plurals.
i) Use commas in the salutation and closing of a letter
a) Preview the selection using text features.
b) Make and confirm predictions about the main idea.
c) Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning.
d) Set purpose for reading.
e) Ask and answer questions about what is read.
f) Locate information to answer questions.
g) Identify the main idea.
h) Read and reread familiar passages with fluency, accuracy, and meaningful
expression.
Writing:
2.12 The student will write stories, letters, and simple explanations.
a) Generate ideas before writing.
b) Organize writing to include a beginning, middle, and end for narrative and
expository writing.
c) Expand writing to include descriptive detail.
d) Revise writing for clarity.
2.13 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling.
a) Recognize and use complete sentences.
b) Use and punctuate declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences.
c) Capitalize all proper nouns and the word I.
d) Use singular and plural nouns and pronouns.
e) Use apostrophes in contractions and possessives.
f) Use contractions and singular possessives.
g) Use knowledge of simple abbreviations.
h) Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words, including compound words
and regular plurals.
i) Use commas in the salutation and closing of a letter