Social Science Unit Plan Part II

Kendall Cox
Unit Plan Overview

Traverse City, MI
What is a community? What kinds of things are needed to form a
community?
Students focus on the guiding question of "what is a
community?" throughout the entirety of the unit. They will
gather information of a sample community, Traverse City,
Michigan as a beginning to the unit. Throughout their inquiry,
they will be gathering the knowledge that is necessary for them
to build their own community. Students will keep a log of
definitions and also of observations. These observations can be
both positive and negative things that they see. The observation
journals will help them to create the best community that they
can. Their project will consist of tying in the three strands of
social science: geography, economics, and civics/government.
The students will be instructed to construct their community,
using whatever means they choose whether it be computer
generated, made out of food, or a drawing on paper. They must
then present their community to the class, fully explaining how it
would function and giving rationales for their decisions.

Assessment of Learning Objectives

Student Learning

Content
Evidence of
Learning - Summative
(s) or Formative (f)

Common landforms
and longitude/latitude

Worksheet with
geography
information (f)

Important community
building locations

Classroom discussion
about information
gathered, every
student must
contribute (f)
Classroom auction (f)

Important economic
concepts (goods,
services, scarcity,
opportunity cost)

Instructional
activity to support
learning
Examples and maps
of Traverse City;
discussion about how
Traverse City is
impacted by the
geography
Photographs shown;
key building
identification
Explanation of major
economic concepts
and how they are
interrelated

The role of voting and

the election

Class vote about rules

and issues (f)

Public speaking

Presentation using a
new strategy (f)

Student Learning

Processes/Skills
Evidence of
Learning - Summative
(s) or Formative (f)

Using a map to gather

information
Determining
important locations in
a community

Journal entry
reflecting Venn
diagram (s)
Journal entry
reflecting photo
observations(s)

Making and
maintaining a budget

Journal entry
reflecting auction (s)

Making decisions on
classroom issues and
rules
Creative presentation
skills

Journal entry
reflecting class vote
(s)
Journal entry including
presentation
strategies (s)

Student Learning

Attitudes
Evidence of
Learning - Summative
(s) or Formative (f)

Informed decision
making

Outline and rough

draft of student's
community (f)

Using observations
made to decide
importance

Journal entries
outlining the lessons
and ideas collected (f)

Voting information;
ballot definition; iPad
instruction
Research on topic;
presentation of public
speaking information
and components

Instructional
activity to support
learning
Lesson on importance
of geography and
maps
Lesson on the
importance of the
architecture and
location of community
buildings
Classroom auction
and explanation of
economic vocabulary
Classroom vote and
explanation of voting
process
Student research and
lesson on
presentation
strategies
Instructional
Activity to support
learning
Emphasize the need
for evidence and
observations when
making decisions
Emphasize the need
for facts and
examples to make
decisions on
importance

Lesson Sequence

First lesson
o Students will be given a photograph of Traverse City and
will need to tell a story about the photograph. Using only
the information that they can interpret from the picture,
they must determine what is important to the community.
o How do you form a community? What needs to be taken
into consideration?
o Students will end the unit by building their own community
through the observations made throughout. Students will
be required to keep a journal to keep their notes and
resources in to use for the project.
Geography
o Students will be able to describe the location (relative and
absolute) of Traverse City and tell why the geography is
significant.
o Students will compare the country and the city in terms of
geography. They will use photos and information from
Traverse City and surrounding areas to make these
comparisons and find the differences.
o The class will make a Venn diagram with both similarities
and differences.
o The discussion will be primarily based on the location of
the communities as well as the landforms that are
significant.
Location
o Students will be able to identify the importance of building
locations in Traverse City
o Students will use photos to identify the key buildings in
Traverse City and other cities. They will use the
information gathered from the photographs to make
generalizations about communities.
o Students will record their observations in their journals for
use on the culminating project.
Economics
o Students will be able to identify the resources and
opportunities of communities and tell why the economics is
significant.
o Students will participate in a classroom auction. There will
be a limited amount of goods and each student will have a
limited amount of funds to spend at the auction.

o Students will learn about important concepts and

vocabulary in the study of economics while conducting the
auction.
o This economics lesson can be related back to Traverse City
and students can compare the auction that they had and
the emotions that they felt with the economy of the
community.
Civics
o Students will be able to identify the influence of civics and
government in Traverse City.
o Students will research the voting procedures in Traverse
City and will become knowledgeable of the terminology.
There will be a class vote to determine the laws (rules) of
the classroom.
o The vote will be done using an application on the iPads and
will be done in the secrecy that formal voting is done in.
The students will vote in secrecy on the individual iPads to
immediately tally the votes.
Speaking/Listening
o Students will gain knowledge of speaking in front of their
peers and also of listening, in preparation for their
culminating project.
o Students will be placed in groups and will choose a simple
topic to research. They will then be required to present
their findings to the class in a way that is exciting and
different than the traditional presentations. Students will
be given a short list of topics to jumpstart their thinking,
but can pick any topic that they feel passionately about.
This will help to give them ideas of presentation strategies
to use on their culminating projects.
Culminating lesson
o Students will look back at their journals and use those
resources and notes to make decisions about what is
important in a community. They will use the important
aspects that they choose to build their own community.
The materials that they use are up to them and they can
use anything that they see necessary. The students will be
given a due date for the project. On this date, each
student will present their community and explain to the
class why they chose what they did.

Resources
Instructional
o http://larremoreteachertips.blogspot.com/2012/01/countryvs-city.html

This site lays out the instructions and gives pictures

of the Venn diagram for students to recreate as well
as other instructional strategies.
o http://kidworldcitizen.org/2014/08/23/using-web-take-kidsvirtual-field-trips/#more-6235
Virtual field trips are a great way to show students
other cultures without having to go there. Students
can explore other communities for further
enrichment with the aid of this website.
o http://bestteacherblog.com/101-social-studies-websitesteachers/
This site has a plethora of websites for teachers to go
to for different social studies needs. Some of the
sites are interactive and could be used for students
while others are informational.
o http://socrative.com/
This is the website that I would use for the voting in
the civics lesson. It is very user friendly and quick.
o http://artteacher.yolasite.com/autobiography-maps.php
This website is a great resource for teaching map
making and also for increasing the creativity of
students. The students are able to use their
creativity to create their version of an
autobiographical map.
Inquiry
o http://votesmart.org/voteeasy/
Vote smart is a really great resource for those that
can vote. This resource can help to match voters
personality traits and values with that of the current
political candidates.
o We the Kids by David Catrow
This book is a resource to further the understanding
of the Preamble to the Constitution. This book puts
the process in plan language and allows for students
to understand.
o M is for Mitten by Annie Appleford
This book goes through the important aspects of
Michigan in the form of the alphabet. Students could
use this book as a resource to find out exactly what
is important to Michigan, especially each region.
o The Legend of the Sleeping Bear by Kathy-jo Wargin
The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is in the
Traverse City area and this book could be used as a
geography resource to identify landmarks.
o Mayor

The mayor of the community could Skype or come to

the classroom to speak about the community and
how every small aspect influences the community as
a whole.