thematic unit

Your Name: Supa Fly
(Shawna Smith, Casey Pohl, Betsy Kohmetscher, Gina Geier) Course-Section: Teach 259-004 Your ID:

I. Unit Context
1.Summary of the description of the unit theme : We will begin by asking students if they have any prior knowledge on western expansion. Based on their responses, we will discuss and start a Powerpoint presentation about western expansion. After reviewing the Powerpoint with the students, we will move on to show them the demonstration part with a video about western expansion. After showing them how to use the Oregon Trail simulation, we will place students into cooperative learning groups where they will experience the lifestyle of those headed west and the trials and tribulations they encountered. Afterwards, we will discuss what we have learned and how this event has effected our country in the past and present.




2.Target subject area/class: The target area is 5th grade social studies.

3.Classroom and Equipments : We need a classroom with computers, smart board, and a television with a DVD players.


II. Audience
1.General characteristics
Size: Our classroom would be 20-25 students.
Age: The typical age would be 10-11 year olds.

Demographics: Mixture of minority and non-minority students. Experience: Because 4th grade talks about Nebraska history, they will have a background knowledge from the previous school year.

Attitudes to your class: They would be eager to learn about what people have gone through in our country and their trip through their own state.
Interests: They are interested in learning about their ancestors and why people came to Nebraska and expanded west!

2.Entry competencies
Because they are in 5th grade, they will have already had experience with computers in other elementary classes also, students will be familiar with videos that they have seen in other classes. This unit would take a few weeks to learn about because of all the different components of western expansion.







III. State Objectives
1. State Goal: For students to have an understanding of the cause of western expansion in American history and the role it plays on how it effects our lives today. They will be able to role play using the supplies and sacrifices for survival in western expansion.




2. State Objective 1
(A) my fifth grade class (B) will be able to understand the cause and effect of the western expansion (C) after the presentation (D) without having to look in their books.


3. State Objective 2
(A) My fifth grade class (B) will be able to relate to the experiences of (C) the demonstration video (western expansion video) (D) without looking back at clips from the video.


4. State Objective 3
(A) My fifth grade class (B) will be able to use the Oregon Trail stimulation (C) after working in cooperative learning groups (D) on no more than one computer per group.




IV. State Instructional Strategies and Methods
Objective The Names Of the Strategies How to use?
1

Presentation

Presentation will be used to introduce the students to the topic of western expansion. It will help them make connections to American history and where are lives are at today because of this subject.



2

Demonstration


Will give the students visual and audio experiences with families, events, trials, and tribulations of western expansion.
3
Cooperative Learning


Will provide students with a hands on group activity on how to use their knowledge from the lesson while interacting with peers on how to survive on the Oregon Trail.




V. List Resources

-Microsoft Powerpoint

-“The Oregon Trail”. Boettcher/Trinklein Television, Inc., c2002.

-http://woz.commtechlab.msu.edu/courses/447sp04/oregontrail/play.htm
(Oregon Trail stimulation website)













Section 004
Shawna Smith
Casey Pohl
Betsy Kohmetscher
Gina Geier
Westward Expansion
I. To understand the cause and effect of the western expansion.
A. Presentation
1. Will ask students if they have any prior knowledge of Westward Expansion, and write them on the Smart Board.
a. Present Powerpoint presentation on Westward Expansion.
(1) Students will fill out worksheets about the causes of Westward Expansion, relating to the presentation.
(a) Students will make cause and effect charts of Westward expansion from the 1800's to today.
II. To relate to the experiences of westward expansion pioneers.
A. Demonstration
1. Will ask the students what kinds of experiences they predict the pioneers will have in the movie.
a. Start the movie "The Oregon Trail."
(1) Students will create a journal and pretend to write like they were a person in the video.
(a) Students will share their journals to the class and then discuss a few things about how they related to their characters.
III. To correctly use the Oregon Trail stimulation in cooperative groups.
A. Cooperative Learning
1. Will place students in small cooperative learning groups with mixtures of their ability levels.
a. Open the Oregon Trail stimulation on Smart Board and show the students how to use the stimulation.
(1) Students will work together in cooperative learning groups to use the Oregon Trail stimulation.
(a) Students will evaluate their group members on how well they contributed to the group and what they would change/not change for their next cooperative learning groups.