ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

1. Students engage in the research process.: 2. Students engage in the reading process.: 3. Students engage in the writing process.: 2. Important Historical Events:

Needs Assessment/Rational

In reviewing the North Dakota State Assessment Content Standard Summary Report for Cathedral School, I see that 47% of the students need to be more proficient and advanced in Content Standard 1: Gathering and Organizing Information. This is also our school goal. Students should begin to go from the abstract to the concrete when reading. I want students to begin the process of paraphrasing and summarizing information for increased understanding of a given subject. The use of note-taking strategies to organize information and developing and recording this information for better understanding is an important goal in my classroom. Further observation shows many of my students having a difficult time with reading and following directions. With respect to Content Standard 7: Understand/Use Principles, this unit will be written to address state standards in the area of sentence structure, mainly, constructing complete sentences and using correct forms of punctuation. My goal is to engage students in many different forms of writing to become familiar with the principles of the written language along with using reference materials to edit their work. In visiting with my students, I found that few knew anything about Lewis and Clark. I want students to know and to remember what the Corps of Discovery is all about, especially because much of it took place right here in North Dakota. This unit on Lewis and Clark will be implemented to help me reach these goals because it will help my students to understand and appreciate the rich history that is in their own back yard.  Studies show that when students engage in writing that pertains to something they enjoy and has real life association, they meet the challenge with greater enthusiasm and success.
The more students write the more proficient they become. Writing encompasses every educational discipline. Students will eventually be required to write an essay when taking their SAT tests for college entrance. To get kids to write is often the challenge. Since the Lewis and Clark Signature Event is such a big part of our community and the history is all around us, I want to use this subject to enhance the various forms of language arts, social studies, and technology activities my students will be engaged in and create.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: Students will understand and be able to explain to others who Lewis and Clark are, what their purpose was, and how The Corps of Discovery made an impact in North Dakota.
Goal(s): 1. Students will know who Lewis and Clark are in relation to North Dakota history. 2. Students will understand what the Corps of Discovery was all about. 3. Students will see how this historic event changed our state and nation. 4. Students will explore and compare the differences in communities now and in the past.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. Who are Lewis and Clark?  2. Are you related to Lewis and Clark?  3. What was the Corps of Discovery? 4. Why was North Dakota involved in the Lewis and Clark expedition? 5. How did The Corps of Discovery affect the Native Americans in North Dakota?
Objectives: 1. Using several web sites selected by the teacher, students will work with 7th graders to choose information, summarize it in their own words, develop notes to put in a journal, five facts each about Lewis and Clark. 2. Working with a fourth grader, using teacher and student directed web sites, and brochures, students will acurately design a 11x14 inch “Read-It Card” with information about the Corps of Discovery and their interactions with the Indians in North Dakota. 3. In order to explore differences in communities now and in the past, students will work with a partner to create a venn diagram and a cultural comparison matrix to compare the ways in which people live. 4. Students will be able to present to several different classes, with confidence and accuracy, the information they recorded on their “Read-It Cards”. 5. Analyzing their work with parents, teacher, and other classmates, students will review correct grammar, punctuation, etc. to ensure that the “Read-It Cards” are accurate.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?
1. Students will complete short essay questions to demonstrate understanding of information. 2. The students will do review worksheets after the material is covered. 3. Students will take a matching test at the end of the unit to assess if students acquired the knowledge needed to teach the information to another student. 4. Students will create their own test to give to each other.
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding? 1. Students will write in their social studies journal daily during this unit, to reflect on the lesson given, students will generate their own questions on varied topics related to the unit, teacher generated problem solving questions will be posed. 2. Web sites will be used to find information to create “Read-It Cards”, time lines, matrix cards, journal entries, compare and contrast cards and poems. 3. Daily discussion 4. Students will access, prepare, and present a project-based assingment to demonstrate knowledge of the unit.
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
1. Students will complete two 11x14 inch Read-It Cards using a class directed rubric (to make the cards) and teach from the cards to students in other classes. 2. Students will hand in a portfolio, using a teacher made checklist giving a point value to the finished products from the unit and including the following items: journal notes, “Read-It Cards”, acrostic poem, compare and contrast worksheets, time line, scavenger hunt fill-in the blank sheets. 3. Students will complete fill-in the blank worksheets to determine understanding of the research process. 4.  Students will do a self assessment rubric (student developed) pertaining to their quality of teaching to other students.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment)of understanding will you collect?
1. Group discussions 2. Observations of students teaching to audience 3. Trivia contests

Instructional Strategies

This Lewis and Clark unit is project-based. We incorporate many different projects to enhance the understanding of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery on the third grade level. In focusing on the note-taking/writing aspect (need for proficient-advanced) students will be challenged to cooperate with other students to rephrase and summarize what they read on internet sites. These notes have to make sense to them and have to be written so that they can relay the information to someone else (via the” Read-It Card”). This activity will help students to self-direct their searches to find what they think will be most interesting. This project should develop a better understanding of the use of the Internet. Students will be practicing finding information rather than having teacher directed memorization, thus students will experience more authentic learning. The project-based learning approach will result in more cooperative behaviors in the classroom as the students work together to share technology and the information they reconstruct. Students will need to utilize productive thinking, decision making, planning, and communication skills in completing and assessing and teaching/sharing their portfolio. All these require higher level thinking and real world skills.