Woodlawn Community School
As part of my internship experience, I had the opportunity to create and plan units in all four core subjects. In my fourth grade classroom, we did not have any science or social studies textbooks so I created my own units that were aligned with the Illinois State Standards that helped incorporate hands-on activities and real-world experiences. For math and writing, I was able to base my units off of curriculum already set-in place while adding my own supplemental materials and cross-curricular lessons. Therefore, all of the units below were created, planned, and taught by me. Below you will find both unit plans and individual lessons.
- Literacy Unit: This unit focused on my students writing personal narratives, focusing specifically on learning how to edit and "explode moments" in their revisions. These moments were exploded with the help of a "happy man" graphic organizer. This graphic oragnizer allowed students to see all five senses and write details about their moment for each one. These personal narratives were then published using the publishing company, Student Treasures, and the students were able to add illustrations to their stories.
- Social Studies Unit: My students had the opportunity to learn about communities in 17th century North America. The three communities we researched were Quebec, Jamestown, and Plymouth. We focused on classes of people, the reasons why people decide to move, neighboring communities, leaders, economies, and natural resources. Students were split into groups of 3 or 4 and assigned a community to research. They then compiled the research and made their own board games. Each game had its own board, pieces, rules, and 20 questions.
- Science Unit: This unit was based on mammals, birds, and biomes. With the help of a local nature center in Chicago, IL, my students were able to have hands-on experiences with the skulls, pelts, and footprints of mammals and birds of Illinois. They were able to observe these in our classroom and make observations of certain animals characteristics. Students were also able to grow their own biomes in our classroom to learn about what is needed for plants to survive.
- Math Unit: This unit focused on decimals. Students learned how to read, write, add, subtract, and compare decimals. I used base-10 blocks as manipulatives to help students to visualize decimals. I also related decimals to real world experiences by incorporating money
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