Mimi+Curtis

Mimi Curtis Second Grade Reading/ Social Studies Unit: Living in America Theme 5: Where People Live Theme 6: Many States, One Country

Project Idea: We Belong - Where? How? Why?

Real World Connections: Students will make connections regarding their place in various social groups in their community and then extend these connections to state, country, continent, world and the universe.

Students will summarize changes that have occurred in their local community over time.

Students will analyze the effects of change in communities and predict future changes.

Students will extend these applications to state, country, continent, world and the universe.

Students will choose a place to live when they are grown up and will support their choice by providing answers to: Where would you live? How did you choose this as the best place for you? Why is this the best place for you?

1. What ideas do you have for using Visual Ranking?

**//Students will rank social groups in the order of most important to least important according to their own personal experience.//**
2. How will the use of Visual Ranking fit into your Unit Plan and help your students meet the learning objectives and target higher-order thinking skills? If you have already decided that Visual Ranking will not be a good fit for your unit, what ideas do you have for using Visual Ranking with your students in other units?

//**One of the lesson objectives is for students to define social groups and tell which social groups to which they belong. This tool will enable the students to rank which social groups play the most important roles in their personal lives. Targeted higher order thinking skills included are evaluating, analyzing and applying.**//

3. What concerns do you have in using this tool or incorporating ranking?

//**Is this activity appropriate for second graders? Am I using the tool correctly and for a positive instructional purpose?**//

4. What feedback would you like from others?

//**At this point, anything would be helpful!**//


 * __Seeing Reason__**

1. What ideas do you have for using Seeing Reason?

//**I think this tool might work for having the students show relationships between themselves and different social groups.**//

2. How will the use of Seeing Reason fit into your Unit Plan and help your students meet the learning objectives and target higher-order thinking skills?

//**Students could show their place in belonging to social groups and how different social groups affect them.**//

3. If you have already decided that Seeing Reason will not be a good fit for your unit, what ideas do you have for using Seeing Reason with your students in other units?

4. Does your unit involve a complex system or issue that warrants delving into identifying and analyzing cause-effect relationships?

//**The complex issue is belonging. The cause-effect relationship to be identified and analyzed is what social groups do students belong to and how each group affects the student.**//

5. What concerns do you have about using this tool in your unit?

//**Helping second graders understand the qualitative issue in using the lines and arrows for demonstrating the degree of the effect.**//

6. What feedback would you like from others?

//**Once again, I'm new at this and am treading in new waters. And as Janet says, is there a better way to word the question to scaffold the students into higher level thinking????**//

1. Did you try out an idea for your main unit or for a different project idea?

//**I did both.**//

2. Considering your test results, do you think you will keep this tool in your Unit Plan?

//**Yes,** **but I am changing the complex issue to deal with the advantages/ disadvantages to living in a small town. The causal relationship will be "Do the advantages to living in a small town outweigh the disadvantages?"**//

3. How do you see the use of the Seeing Reason Tool fitting in with the objectives and standards you are trying to target as well as your overall plan for your unit? How will the use of this tool help students meet the requirements?

//**This will target the objectives outlined in this Rigby Lesson and will also target SS and CA standards**//. //**Students will meet the requirements by finding and explaining cause-effect relationships between a self made list of descriptors following research and class brainstorming.**//

4. How do you see the Seeing Reason Tool enhancing your students' higher-order thinking skills as well as collaboration and communication in your classroom?

//**Pairs will collaborate and communicate regarding the factors and their relationships.**//

5. What questions do you still have about this project's design, implementation, or assessment?