Jessica Conti

EGP 335-81

1.0 Lesson Plan Details: Lesson Title, Day: 11, Authors, Grade: 4
45-60 minutes
vocab: Urban, suburban, rural, skyscraper, urban sprawl, pollution,
invention.
Skills: mapping, researching, navigating websites
Concepts: understanding how Thomas Edison played a big role in the state of
New Jersey as well as in the inventor world.

1.1 Integration of Learning Outcomes/Objective
Students will be able to accurately pinpoint the state capital, large cities,
mountain ranges, and rivers on a blank outlined map of the state of New
Jersey.
Students will be able to compose research on a self-selected invention by
Thomas Edison and create a brochure, complete with accurate information
about the invention, a connection as to how it has affected us today, and
pictures for visualizations.

1.2 Standards PA Civics, History, Economics, Geography & NCSS Themes with
subthemes

PA standards:
o S4.A.1.1.2: Identify and describe examples of common technological
changes past to present in the community (e.g., energy production,
transportation, communications, agriculture, packaging materials)
that have either positive or negative impacts on society or the
environment.
o S4.B.3.3.4: Identify major land uses in the urban, suburban, and rural
communities (e.g. housing, commercial, recreation).
o S4.B.3.3.5: Describe the effects of pollution (e.g., litter) in the
community.
Science, Technology, and Society
o NCSS. 1.8.b: provide opportunities for learners to make judgments
about how science and technology have transformed the physical
world and human society and our understanding of time, space, place,
and human-environment interactions.
1.3 Anticipatory Set
Brief review from yesterday: Pennsylvania (location, capital, geography,
history, etc.)
Introduce New Jersey: location (east of the state we studied yesterday,
Pennsylvania)
Blank state outline with a bank at the bottom of rivers, mountain ranges, the
state capital and other big cities, etc. to place on the state in the appropriate
places. (fill in throughout discussion)

1.4 Procedures
1. Teach the basic information about the state, including location on a map, the
states capital and its location, other large cities and their locations (Newark,
Camden, Edison, etc.), and significant rivers and mountain ranges and their
locations.
2. Students will be adding these important landforms and cities on their state
map as they are discussed.
3. Go over vocabulary terms for todays lesson (urban, suburban, rural,
skyscraper, urban sprawl, pollution) and provide examples for each.
a. Discuss how some of these terms connect with each otherpollution
can be found in more urban areas because of all the transportation
and people; skyscrapers are very tall buildings that look like they
reach up towards the sky. They are most commonly found in cities, or
urban areas.
4. Discuss New Jerseys many different environments, depending on location
within the state (urban, rural, shoreline, etc.)
5. Talk about the town of Edison, New Jersey, and why it was named after
Thomas Edison.
a. Have students provide any information they already know about
Thomas Edison during this discussion.
b. Talk about the Edison Tower/Museum located in Edison, New Jersey,
which is filled with a lot of his inventions.
6. Have students pick an invention to research using the websites provided for
information.
7. Explain that students will create a brochure on their choice of invention,
which must also include pictures and their own connection of how this
invention has affected us today. They will be provided with websites to use to
guide their research. A checklist will be provided to students to make sure
they included everything they need for the brochure project.

1.5 Differentiation
Students with disabilities: The students who may have difficulty using
writing utensils, cutting, or gluing can create their brochures on the
computer and print out when completed.
Advanced students: Have them make an additional connection to another
invention by Thomas Edison.

1.6 Closure
After the presentations, each student will be asked to name one thing they
learned from todays lesson on the state of New Jersey.
Introduce briefly tomorrows state (New York).

1.7 Formative/Summative Assessment of Students
Formative: Observe students mapping to make sure students are labeling the
correct areas. Observe students progress during their research and putting
together the brochure.
Summative: Students will create a brochure in class (individually) on an
invention of their choice. They will be required to make a connection with
this invention and how it has affected us today. Afterwards, they will present
their invention to their table. The brochures will be collected for grading and
then given back to students to add to their unit portfolio.

1.8 Materials/Equipment
Computers
Small oak tag or construction paper to create the trifold brochure
Markers, pencils, pens
Scissors
Glue
Website M.I-Minor
Influence or
S.I-Significant
Influence
If S.I. include
why credible
How easy is it for
teachers to
access?
How easy is it for
students to
access?
http://www.new
jerseyscenic.com
/index.html
M.I. very easy and
free

http://www.edis
onmuckers.org/t
homas-edison-
biography/
S.I. Made by Edison
Innovation
Foundation
very easy and
free

http://www.nps.
gov/edis/forkids/
index.htm
S.I. Made by
National Park
Service: U.S.
Department of
the Interior
very easy and
free
very easy and
free

http://www.hist
ory.com/topics/i
nventions/thoma
s-edison
S.I.
Made by History
Channel
very easy and
free
very easy and
free
https://www.you
tube.com/watch
?v=g9WdEZZ28R
o
S.I.
Brief overview of
bio and
inventions on
youtube
very easy and
free
very easy and
free

1.9 Technology
Computers to research their invention topic, as well as gather pictures to put
on the brochures.

2.1 Reflection on Planning

At first, I had trouble coming up with a way to connect a lesson about New
Jersey with Thomas Edison. It fit the NCSS standard of Science, Technology, and
Society perfectly; it was just trying to find a good and interesting way for students to
learn about Thomas Edison and his inventions that was the hard part to start. Once I
got the idea of the brochure, (which I was debating on doing a Newspaper article
instead, but due to time limitations, I figured a brochure would fit better), it was
easier to write up the rest of the lesson.
There are some things that I wasnt entirely sure about, especially when it
came to the PA standards sectionit was difficult to find anything under social
studies or related to social studies, so instead, I used the science section for fourth
grade, where I was able to connect a few standards to my lesson.











Content Notes

State: NJ
Location: Northeast region, Middle Atlantic state
Capitol: Trenton
Basic info:
Environment: urban: skyscrapers; Trenton, Newark, suburban, rural; Pines
Barrens
o Urban sprawl: face challenges including crowding, traffic jams, and
pollution.
Pollution is anything that makes a natural resource dirty or
unsafe to use. To help reduce traffic pollution, most cities have
public transportation that includes busses and trains.
o Benefits of living in cities=access to work, cultural, and educational
opportunities.
o The Jersey Shore is a 127-mile-long area of beaches. It has
amusement parks and other attractions along the New Jersey coast. In
the summer, millions of people from nearby cities go to the Jersey
Shore to have fun.vacation/leisure time
o population density is the number of people who live in an area of a
certain size. For example, the area around Newark is purple, meaning
that more than 500 people live in each square mile of that area.
Other:
o Newark=largest city: central location including highways, a port, and
an international airport. (transportation center for NE region).
o Other large cities include Camden, Jersey City, and Edison.

http://www.newjerseyscenic.com/index.html


Thomas EdisonScience, Technology, and Society
In 1882, Thomas Edison opened the worlds first electric power plant in
New York City. In time, power plants provided electricity across the country.
They led to the spread of other inventions, including Edisons light bulb and
Alexander Graham Bells telephone. By the early 1900s, the United States was
a leading industrial nation. (Chapter 4)


Additional Information on Thomas Edison:
Born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio
His mother withdrew him from school at the age of 12she began to school
him herself
At age 11, he had his own chemical lab
He risked his life to save a boy from death under a moving freight car. The
boys father taught him telegraphy as a reward, which fueled his interest for
electricity.
Lost most of his hearing around age 12
He was a telegrapher at the age of 17traveled west, but was soon fired for
sleeping on the job after staying up all night studying
First invention: a machine that electrically recorded and counted votes cast
by members of legislative body. It failed because it was not appealing to the
public.
He next invented the Universal Stock Printer.
o Received $40,000
Used this money to open a factory in Newark, NJ (1870)
o Manufactured stock tickers and devoted energies to inventions, all by
the age of 23
By 1876, Newark plant demanded more time for production than creation
o Turned management of factories to trusted assistants and established
laboratories at Menlo Park, NJ
etheric force- discovery that electrically generated waves would traverse
an open circuit
o principle on which wireless telegraphy and radio were founded
discovered messages could be sent through space by induction
his earlier experiments and discoveries laid groundwork for his successors
died October 18, 1931

http://www.edisonmuckers.org/thomas-edison-biography/


examples of some websites for students to do invention research:
(may also use books and articles from school and classroom libraries)

inventions:
Phonograph - 1877
Telegraph 1874
Electrical Vote Recorder (first patent)
Universal Stock Ticker 1869
Electric Light Bulb 1879 (incandescent light bulb)
Electric Lighting System
Mimeograph
Storage Battery 1909
Dictating Machine
Telephone Transmitter - 1876
Kinetoscope 1889
Electric Pen - 1879
Talking Doll - 1890

http://www.nps.gov/edis/forkids/index.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/thomas-edison (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9WdEZZ28Ro (video)











Bank

Trenton Jersey City Appalachian Mountains

Newark Hudson River Watchung Mountains

Edison Delaware River New Jersey Highlands

Camden Atlantic Ocean