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Social Studies Lesson Plan

Teacher:
Mr. Tapia
Subject/ Topic:
Social Studies

Date:
November 4, 2013
Single/Multi-day lesson:
Single

Grade Level:
6th
Period: 6th
Time: 1:15-2:00

Objective:
Students will be able to analyze physical settings that enable civilizations to arise and maintain
themselves.
California State Standards:
6.5 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early
civilizations of India.
1.

Locate and describe the major river system and discuss the physical setting that sup-ported
the rise of this civilization.

SLEs:
2a. Speaking and listening effectively
2b. Reading and writing effectively
2c. Thinking and reasoning logically
Materials:
Smart Board, Internet (youtube.com), Photos, Whiteboards/Markers, Notebooks, White Butcher Paper,
Pens, Art supplies
Procedure:
Intro:

Students will begin by taking out their notebooks and pens.

Students will then begin with a writing prompt on the board. If you were moving to a new
house, what would you take with you from your old house? What would you leave behind? If
you were forced to evacuate your house in 30 minutes what would you take with you?
We will then discuss answers and reasons.

Instructional Activity:

We will then briefly discuss how archeologists (or any people) would be able to tell what kind of
people inhabited the places and what they were like.
I will then show the students photos of different abandoned towns and cities and ask them to tell
me what type of people they think lived there (characteristics, culture, etc.). I will then ask them
what different factors could have affected the fall of these cities.
Students will then show a clip of the Harrapan Civilization on youtube.com explaining the
physical settings that led to the rise and fall of their city. Students will then be shown different
photos of the Harrapan city.
We will then discuss the important physical features that the students saw that could have
affected the rise and fall of the Harrapan Civilization. I will highlight key terms and factors and
we are discussing them.
After this, students will be asked to describe their ideal city and explain it what physical settings
will allow it to grow and flourish. They will be given the option of working alone, in pairs, or in
groups of three. Students will be given an option of how they will show their city. The students
can both describe and explain their city orally, they can draw their cities on white butcher paper,
or they can write the description of their city in paragraph form. High achieving students will be
asked to present theirs in multiple ways.

By presenting the information in different formats, this should enable students that learn differently or
take information in differently to have equal access to the information in a way that they prefer.
By highlighting key terms, students who struggle with comprehension to quickly see what things are
important in the lesson to make sure they are getting the information needed.
By providing the students with the option of working alone or with others, it will allow for the students
to work in the learning context they prefer and are most comfortable in.
By giving the students the options for their work, they can show understanding and knowledge in a
method that they excel in or feel most comfortable.
Some students will be challenged more by increasing the amount of work to be done to ensure that all
students are being challenged and working to their potential.
Closure:

Once all students have finished, we will compare their cities to that of the Harrapan city to see
what similarities and differences we find. They will be asked to point out at least 3 similarities
and 3 differences between their city and the Harrapan City.