Lesson Plan 3

I.               Rationale

The reason for teaching this lesson is to make sure students understand the vocabulary and difference between human and physical features on earth and where they can be located in real life examples. This lesson matches requirements for fourth grade geography under the subject area of social studies under Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards.

II.             Overview

a.     Grade level: Fourth Grade

b.     Subject: Social Studies – Geography  

c.     Topic of Study: Human vs. Physical Features   

d.     Time Allotment: One hour  

e.     Standards: Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards

·      PO 5. Describe chara cteristics of human and physical features: a. physical – (i.e., river, lake, mountain, range, coa st, sea, desert, gulf, bay, strait, plain, valley, volcanoes, isthmus, canyon, plateau, mesa, oasis, dunes) b. human – (i.e., equator, four hemispheres, city, state, c ountry, harbor, dams, territory, c ounty)

·      PO 6. Locate physical and human features u sing m a p s, illustratio ns, images, or globes: a. physical (i.e., river, lake, mountain range, coa st, sea, desert, gulf, bay, strait) b. human (i. e., equator four hemispheres, city, state, c ountry, roads, railroads)

·       PO 7. Locate physical and human features in Ari zona using maps, illustrations, or images: a. physical (e.g., Grand Canyon, Mogollon Rim, Colorado River, Gila River, Salt River) b. human (e. g., Phoenix, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tucson, Prescott, Hoover Dam, Roosevelt Dam)

f.      Objectives: TSWBAT identify the vocabulary and difference between physical and human features. They will productively create a portfolio of real life examples using their own images from Google Earth.

III.           Implementation

a.     Procedure:

·      The teacher will introduce the objective of the lesson.

·      The students will be emailed a premade document on Inspiration, which they will use on their individual iPads.

·      The teacher will guide discussion in what the students think human and physical features are, where the students will record their definition in their own words on their Inspiration document.

·      The students will then discuss examples for each human and physical features and the teacher will step in with examples when necessary.

·      The students will then go onto Google Earth on their iPads and locate 4 human features and 4 physical features. (The teacher will explain to the students that they can enter in a specific example or explore freely to find their examples).

·      The students will take screen shots of each of the examples they find.

·      The students will then go on to Pixie on the iPad to create a portfolio of the examples they found.

1.     The students will create a title page which includes the title of Human vs. Physical Features, their name, and the definition of each feature

2.     The students will create one page for each of their examples they found. Each page will include the title of what type of feature it is, their picture taken from Google Earth, and a description of where it is located and why it is that feature.

·      The teacher will ask students to share their examples to the class.

·      The teacher will ask the students if anyone found any physical or human features in Arizona (part of the standard) and explain that we have these features right here in AZ too.

b.     Technology Integration

·      The teacher will use their email to send the document on Inspiration to the students.  

·      The teacher will also use Google Earth and Pixie to show examples to students and direct instructions on what the students need to be doing.  

·      Students will use their own individual iPad.

·      The students will use their email to receive the document on inspiration.

·      The students will use Inspiration to record the definitions of human and physical features and examples of each.

·      The students will use Google Earth to search for real life examples of human and physical features.

·      The students will use Pixie to create their portfolio.

c.     Differentiated Integration

·      Cognitive Delay: Students with cognitive delays will be provided with a peer buddy to help them navigate the various technology components. They may also be provided with a list of examples they could search for so they don’t have to come up with their own examples and spend too much time searching for them.

·      Gifted: Students who are gifted will be challenged by being asked to provide one extra examples of each human and physical feature that is located in AZ.

·      ELL: Students who are English Language Learners will be given support by being given a list of real life examples of human and physical features to accommodate their possibly not knowing what these types of things are due to vocabulary.

IV.           Assessment

a.     Procedure

·      The assessment portion of this lesson will be the student’s ability to successfully create their portfolio including the correct titles and the correct reason why that specific picture is a physical or human feature.

·      They will also be assessed on organization of their document on Inspiration and how well organized their pages in their portfolio are.

b.     Instruments

·      iPad

·      Inspiration

·      Google Earth

·      Pixie

V.             Materials and Resources