Landmarks- Day 2

Background Information:
The states in the Southeastern region of the United States
Research skills
One hour lesson
Integration of Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to research important landmarks of the Southeastern United States
Students will be able to create a poster that emphasizes the location, importance, and people of
their landmark
Students will understand how their specific landmark has impacted our country
Standards:
Standard - 8.3.4.B
Locate historical documents, artifacts, and places critical to United States history.
Standard - CC.1.4.4.V
Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects
of a topic.
NCSS Themes:
Culture
People, Places, and Environments
Power, Authority, and Governance
Anticipatory Set:
To introduce this lesson, I will tell students that they are going to be investigators and need to
find important information about the landmarks of the Southeastern region of the United States.
We will discuss what a landmark is and why we have them. I will give them each a detectives
badge and based on the color of their badge, they will find their other group members and that is
who they will be working with on this investigation. I will then assign each group a landmark and
tell them to find out why it is important to the history of our country, where it is located, if it is
open to the public for visitors, and find one important person that is associated with that
landmark.
Procedures:
1. The class will be split up into groups
2. Each group will be assigned an important landmark from the Southeastern region of the
United States
3. Students will use resources to find the importance of the landmark, the location, how it is set
up for tourists, and one person who was important to their landmark

4. The groups will use computers, textbooks, magazines, non-fiction books, and atlases to
research their landmark
5. Students will receive poster paper and markers to create an informational poster on their
landmark
6. Teacher will walk around to make sure the students understand what they are doing
7. Students will present their poster to the class
Differentiation:
- To differentiate this lesson for students who need more support, I would only have them use
one resource to research their lesson to eliminate any confusion or overstimulation. For
students who need to be challenged more, I would have them create an extra question or
important topic to research that relates to their landmark, for example, they could research other
historic events that took place around the time their landmark was created.
Closure:
- To close out this lesson, I will have students do an exit ticket. On their exit ticket they will write
one thing that they learned after watching each of the other students presentations about their
landmarks. They will stick their exit ticket on the door on their way out of the classroom.
Assessment:
- Formative: The students will be formatively assessed by doing the closure activity. By having
the students do an exit ticket, they will be assessed based on the information they took away
from the presentations. If they did not learn anything, they will not have anything written down or
what they have written down may not be related to the presentations and this will show the
teacher that they may need to revisit the importance of the landmarks in the Southeastern
region of the United States.
- Summative: The students will be assessed summatively throughout the time they are working
on their posters. The teacher will walk around and ask questions to make sure students
understand what they are looking for and to make sure they are finding useful information.
Materials/Equipment:
-

Computers
Atlas
History textbooks
Non-fiction reading materials about the Southeastern United States
Magazines
White poster paper

Markers
Crayons
Colored Pencils
Glue
Magazine pages for cutting out pictures
Scissors
Investigator badges
Notebooks for writing information
Sticky notes for exit tickets
Softschools.com (Child resource for Landmarks)
http://fsjna.org/happy-birthday-grand-route/a-kids-guide-to-famous-u-s-landmarks/ (Child
resource for Landmarks)
Technology:
- The only technology that students will need for this lesson plan are computers to research
information about their landmark
Reflection on Planning:
- Will the students be able to find all of the information that they need?
- How long will the students need to research their landmark?
- How long will they need to create their poster?
- Make sure students stay on track during their research
- Ask questions throughout research time to make sure no one is confused
Content Outline:
- Students will learn about important landmarks in the Southeastern region of the United States
by researching them using various materials. They will learn through research why these
landmarks are important to the history of our country and how they affect our country today.
Students will learn about important historical figures associated with their landmarks and why
they are important to our country and they will learn about other historical figures by listening to
presentations from their classmates.
- I will be assigning each group a specific Landmark that is important to the Southeast. They
will be assigned one of the following; Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Birthplace of
Abraham Lincoln, Fort Sumter National Monument, or Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. All
of these Landmarks are important because they all relate back to the civil war or have
something to do with civil rights which is a huge part of the history of our country.