Student Prepared Integrated Unit

Thanksgiving

A second grade unit on Thanksgiving, including a language arts,

mathematics, and science lesson united by a social studies
standard relating to people long ago.

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 Table of Contents
Rationale……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. pg. 3
Concept Map………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. pg. 4
Content Outline………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… pg. 5
Language Arts Lesson…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. pg. 6
Mathematical Lesson………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. pg. 9
Science Lesson……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….... pg. 11
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. pg. 14
Glossary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….… pg. 22
Resources……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….… pg. 23

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 Rationale

This integrated social studies unit consists of a language arts, mathematics, and science
lesson designed for second grade that is centered on the social studies topic of people from
long ago. Students will explore the subjects within the context of the California social studies
standard: 2.5 Students understand the importance of individual action and character and
explain how heroes from long ago and the recent past have made a difference in others’ lives.
This standard helps students to discover the lives of people in the past and to attribute those
people to be part of their personal history and the history of the American Nation. Students will
be able to learn language art, mathematic, and science skills in a new and engaging way. I also
believe that through this discovery students will take pride in the history of their nation and in
their personal history. This will be beneficial to my students because effective social studies
education includes the understanding of one’s history. This unit will ultimately guide my
students to become better citizens.

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 Outline
I. Language Arts Lesson

A. This lesson will introduce the pilgrims and their voyage to America. The goal is kick off the
unit with a story to help the students visualize the voyage. Students will read their reading
comprehension skills to compare and contrast pilgrim children’s live to their own lives.

B. The teacher will read The Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern.

a. Students will create Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast their lives to the lives of
pilgrim children.

C. Students will learn about the components of a letter.

a. Students will then write a letter following the prompt: Pretend you are a pilgrim child
who has made the voyage to America, settled in a town, and just celebrated the first
Thanksgiving. Now write a letter to a friend of yours who lives in England. Explain your
adventure to the “new land” and whether or not you like your new home.

II. Mathematics Lesson

A. This lesson will introduce an opportunity to practice two digit math facts.

a. The teacher will provide turkey math fact cutouts for the children to solve.

b. The students will collaborate to solve the math facts.

c. Students will complete a double digit math fact worksheet.

III. Science Lesson

A. This lesson will connect the story of the pilgrims in the Language Arts lesson with weather
and seasons.

B. The class will discuss the four seasons and how each seasons effected the pilgrims differently.

a. Students will be split into four groups to create four posters describing each season.

C. The class will discuss the correlation between seasons and weather.

a. Students will learn ways to measure different types of weather using a thermometer
and a wind vane.

b. Students will complete the thermometer worksheet.

c. Students will create a wind vane.

d. Students will use their wind vane to measure the amount of wind produced by the
gizmo.

IV. Conclusion

A. This concluding activity will bring the unit full circle by a celebration of Thanksgiving.

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 Letters to Pilgrims

Language Arts Lesson Plan

1. Objective:
Students will be able to compare and contrast pilgrim children’s lives and their lives.
Students will be able to write a letter complete with the date, salutation, body, closing, and
signature.
Students will use their imagination to create a creative writing assignment.
2. Content Standards: California Second Grade Language Arts Standards
2.0 Writing Applications (Genre and Their Characteristics): Students write compositions that
describe and explain familiar object, events, and experiences. Student writing demonstrates a
command of standard American English and the drafting, research, and organizational strategies
outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.
2.2 Using the writing strategies of grade two outlined in Writing Standard 1.0, students write a
friendly letter complete with the date, salutation, body, closing, and signature.
3. Motivation: (Engagement)
 Students will have prior knowledge of the pilgrim’s journey to America.
 Class discussion reviewing the information of the journey.
 Read The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving By Ann McGovern. (Exploration)
4. Instructional materials:
 Venn Diagram poster paper
 Markers
 Rough draft letter handout
 Final draft vintage paper
 “Pilgrim Pens”: feathered pens
5. Procedures:

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  After reading The Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving, students will separate into groups of 3-4
that are pre-selected randomly by the teacher. (Exploration)
 Students will collaborate with group members to create a Venn Diagram comparing and
contrasting their lives to pilgrim children’s lives. (Explanation)
 The teacher will walk around and observe the students in action.
 Once the teacher notices that the students have completed their diagrams he/she will
focus the attention back to the front of the room.
 Each group will take turns sharing their diagrams to the class. (Elaboration)
 Once all the groups have shared, the teacher will transition into the letter assignment by
saying, “Now that we all understand lives of pilgrim children, we are all going to imagine
we are Pilgrims”.
 The teacher will explain the following prompt to the class: Pretend you are a pilgrim
child who has made the voyage to America, settled in a town, and just celebrated the
first Thanksgiving. Now write a letter to a friend of yours who lives in England. Explain
your adventure to the “new land” and whether or not you like your new home.
 The teacher will write the letter formatting on the board and explain the placement of
the date, greeting/salutation, body, closing, and signature. (Explanation)
 The teacher will pass out the rough draft hand out and students will begin writing their
letters.
 If the letter is not finished during class time it can be taken home to be completed for
homework.
 During the following class the teacher will review the letter prompt and format.
(Elaboration)
 Students will then peer edit one another’s letters using a rubric from the teacher.
(Evaluation)
 After peer editing, the students will turn in their letters for teacher editing. (Evaluation)
 Once the letters are passed back the students will write a final draft of their letter on
special vintage paper with a feathered “pilgrim pen.”
6. Classroom Discussion:
The class will discuss the lives of pilgrims and compare them to their own lives. The class will
also later discuss the formatting of a letter.
7. Academic vocabulary: greeting/salutation, signature

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8. Assessment and Evaluation:
 Monitoring of small group discussions and peer editing of the letters composed by the
students
 Assess student understanding based on content contained in final drafts of the letter
9. Value Added:
1. Provide preferential seating for students with vision impairments.
2. Pair English Language Learners (ELL) with proficient and advanced students in groups to
provide opportunity for interaction.
3. Require a shorter prompt and/or a prompt with a picture to provide scaffolding or allow
students with intellectual disabilities to express the content.
Reflection:

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 Turkey Math

Mathematics Lesson Plan

10. Objective: (Desired Results)

The student will be able to add and subtract two and three digit numbers.
The student will be able to collaborate with his/her classmates to solve math equations.
11. Content Standard (s) Common Core if applicable:
California Second Grade Math Standards, Number Sense:
2.0 Students estimate, calculate, and solve problems involving addition and subtraction of two-
and three-digit numbers:
2.2 Find the sum or difference of two whole numbers up to three digits long.
2.3 Use mental arithmetic to find the sum or difference of two two-digit numbers.
12. Motivation: Students will have prior knowledge of how to add and subtract double digit
numbers.
13. Instructional materials:
 One cut out turkey with a math fact on the back for each student
 Double digit math worksheet
14. Procedures: (Learning Plan)
 While the students are out of the classroom for recess the teacher will hide all the
turkey cutouts around the room.
 When the students return the teacher will explain to the class that the room has
become a turkey roost.
 The teacher will then instruct the students to find the turkey cutouts. Once a student
has found a cutout the student will return and sit in his/her desk.
 Once all students have found a turkey cutout and are sitting at their desks, the teacher
then instructs them to flip over the cutout and solve the math equation on the back on a
separate sheet of paper.

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  After each student has completed the problem the teacher will tell the students to trade
cutouts with another student each time the teacher gobbles.
 Once the students trade they solve the problem on the new cutout.
 The teacher gobbles five more times instructing the students to trade cutouts.
o Each cutout will have a double digit addition or subtraction problem written on
the back side of the cutout.
o Examples: 24+14=? 71+23=?, 33+54=?, 48+12=?, 45+81=?
o The students will rewrite and solve the problem on a spare sheet of paper.
 After the students are done solving the last cutout problem the teacher passes out the
turkey worksheet for the students to continue practicing their double digit math facts.
15. Classroom Discussion: Teacher explains how to solve two digit math facts and then discusses
examples with the class.
16. Academic vocabulary: ones space, tens space
17. Assessment and Evaluation: (Assessment Evidence)
 Assess through observation of collaboration between students during the turkey
exchange.
 Assess understanding of solving equations through the turkey math fact worksheet.
18. Value Added:
1. Clear walkways and easily accessible hidden turkey cutouts for students with orthopedic
disabilities.
2. Frequently review addition concepts and directions for students with intellectual disabilities.
3. Visual aids and step-by-step process for students with learning disabilities.
19. Reflection:

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 Seasons and Weather

Science Lesson Plan

20. Objective:
The student will be able to describe weather patterns from the four seasons.
The student will be able to record weather using a thermometer and a wind vane.
21. Content Standards:
California Second Grade Science Standards
Earth Sciences
3. Weather can be observed, measured, and described. As a basis for understanding this
concept:
a. Students know how to use simple tools to measure weather conditions and record changes
from day to day and across the seasons.
b. Students know that the weather changes from day to day trends in temperature or of rain
tend to be predictable during a season.
22. Motivation:
 The teacher will start off the lesson by asking the class what they already know about
the four seasons.
 Example questions: Can anyone tell me the names of the four seasons? What season is
the hottest? What season is the coldest? What season do the leaves change color?
What season do the flowers all begin to bloom? What is your favorite season?
 The teacher will reread a section about winter in The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving by Ann
McGovern. (This story is from the LA lesson plan)
 The class will then discuss the hardships weather caused for the Pilgrims.
23. Instructional materials:
 Posters: markers, glitter, glue, other craft supplies
 Thermometer (extra-large)

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  Wind vane
 Thermometer worksheet
 Wind vane project: strong paper plates, clay, pencil with eraser, marker, construction
paper, scissors, straw, pin, glue/tape
24. Procedures:
 After further discussing the four seasons the class will be split into four groups,
randomly selected by the teacher.
 Each group will be assigned a season and will be responsible for creating a poster that
represents their season.
 During the next class period the groups will have an opportunity to share and explain
their posters to the rest of the class.
 After the presentation of the posters the teacher will narrow down seasons to specific
weather occurrences.
 Together the class will discuss the relationship between weather and temperature.
 Explain to the students the correlation of coldness and heat to degrees Fahrenheit. Give
examples of thermometer degrees during different seasons.
 Instruct students on how to read a thermometer using an extra-large thermometer.
 Take the class outside and measure the current degrees Fahrenheit.
 Have the students compete the thermometer worksheet.
 During the next class review how to use a thermometer and measure the temperature
outside of the school building.
 Then transition to another type of weather measurement: wind vanes.
 Discuss the relationship between weather and wind directions.
 Explain to the students what kind of weather can be expected when the wind is blowing
from the East, West, North or South. (This information will differ based on your
geographic location.)
 Explain that meteorologists use various instruments to measure wind direction.
 Introduce the wind vane. Discuss what students know about wind vanes, how they
work, and whether they have ever seen one.
 Then explain that you will be making a wind vane. (Follow the instructions on the wind
vane PDF.)

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  Gizmo: a salt-water battery system that powers the fan. Students will use their wind
vanes to measure the wind produced from the gizmo.
25. Academic vocabulary:
 seasons: fall, winter, spring, summer
 thermometer, degrees Fahrenheit, wind vane
26. Assessment and Evaluation:
 Observe group work in creation of season posters
 Assess understanding in thermometer worksheet
 Assess wind vane and observe when students interact with the gizmo
27. Value Added:
1. Place students with hearing impairments in preferential seating or seating that is three to six
feet away from the predominant teaching area to ensure student can hear material.
2. Students with Autism: Use full inclusion but tailor academic goals and assessment to the
child’s functioning level as appropriate.
3. Students who are gifted: Use open ended questions that stimulate creative thinking.
28. Reflection:

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 Appendix
Friendly Letter Rubric
Levels
Score

Date Greeting Body Closing

The correct date is present No spelling, grammatical, No spelling, grammatical, or Proper closing is included and is in
and in the correct place or punctuation errors punctuation errors proper place
A proper greeting is used The letter is in a logical Comma is included after the closing
4 and in the correct order, uses transitions
Signature after the closing
place and makes sense
Names are capitalized
Comma after the name

The date is present and in No spelling, grammatical, No spelling, grammatical, or Proper closing is included and is in
the correct place or punctuation errors punctuation errors proper place
A proper greeting is used The letter is in a logical Comma is included after the closing
in the correct place order, uses transitions
Signature after the closing
3 and makes sense
Names are capitalized
MISSING ONE COMPONENT
MISSING ONE COMPONENT
Comma after the name
MISSING ONE
COMPONENT

The date is present but 1-2 spelling, grammatical, 1-3 spelling, grammatical, or Proper closing is included and is in
not in the correct place or punctuation errors punctuation errors proper place
A proper greeting is used The letter is in a logical Comma is included after the closing
in the correct place order, uses transitions
Signature after the closing
2 and makes sense
Names are capitalized
MISSING TWO COMPONENTS
MISSING TWO
Comma after the name
COMPONENTS
MISSING TWO
COMPONENTS

The date is present but is 3 or more spelling, 4 or more spelling, Proper closing is included and is in
incorrect and in the grammatical, grammatical, or proper place
wrong place punctuation errors punctuation errors
Comma is included after the closing
A proper greeting is used The letter is in a logical
Signature after the closing
in the correct place order, uses transitions
1 MISSING THREE OR MORE
and makes sense
Names are capitalized
COMPONENTS
MISSING THREE
Comma after the name
COMPONENTS
MISSING THREE OR MORE
COMPONENTS

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 Glossary

Language Arts Lesson:

 Greeting/salutation: to address with some form of salutation; welcome.

Ex- Dear, Hello
 Signature: a person’s name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in
subscribing a letter or document

Math Lesson:

 Ones’ space: column furthest to the right when adding whole real numbers, represents single
digit numbers
 Tens’ space: column second to the right when adding whole real numbers, represents the
number of 10s

Science Lesson:

 Seasons: one of the four periods of the year (fall, winter, spring, summer)
 Thermometer: an instrument for measuring temperature, often a sealed glass tube that
contains a column of liquid, as mercury, that expands and contracts, or rises and falls, with
temperature changes, the temperature being where the top of the column coincides with a
calibrated scale marked on the tube or its frame
 Degrees Fahrenheit: a temperature scale
 Wind vane: a devise, as a rod to which a freely rotating pointer is attached, for indicating the
direction of the wind

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 Resources
Materials for all lessons:
 The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving By Ann McGovern
 Venn Diagram poster paper
 Markers
 Rough draft letter handout
 Final draft vintage paper
 “Pilgrim Pens”: feathered pens
 One cut out turkey with a math fact on the back for each student
 Double digit math worksheet
 Posters: markers, glitter, glue, other craft supplies
 Thermometer (extra-large)
 Wind vane
 Thermometer worksheet
 Wind vane project: strong paper plates, clay, pencil with eraser, marker, construction
paper, scissors, straw, pin, glue/tape

Online Resources:

 https://s3.amazonaws.com/trcabcwww/pdf/FriendlyLetterTemplate.pdf
 file:///C:/Users/Sarah/Downloads/Peer%20Editing%20Checklist%20For%20Friendly%20Letters.p
df
 https://www.google.com/search?q=turkey+cutout+printable
 http://www.mathworksheets4kids.com/addition/two-digit/2and2-noregroup-wp1.pdf
 http://www.education.com/worksheet/article/reading-thermometer/
 http://www.schoolofdragons.com/resources/make-your-own-wind-vane-view

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