Drexel Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Plan Format

Teacher: Erin Zeiders
Grade: 2nd
Content Area: Language Arts / Social Studies

1. Content and Standards:

a. SL.2.1
i. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners
about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger
groups.
b. RI.2.2
i. Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of
specific paragraphs within the text.
c. L.2.5
i. Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word
meanings.
d. L.2.5a
i. Identify real-life connections between words and their use.
e. W.2.2
i. Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use
facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement
or sections.
2. Prerequisites:
a. In 1st grade, students learned about early American civilizations, a new nation,
and frontier explorers which will give them background information for this
domain,

3. Essential Questions:
a. What is the main topic of today’s read-aloud?

4. Materials and Equipment:

a. Class Westward Expansion Timeline  The timeline will show the Westward
Expansion.
b. Image Cards 1-8  These image cards will be added to the timeline.
c. U.S. Map  Students will use the map to visualize the 13 colonies, Lousiana
Purchase, and the wild-west frontier.
d. Calendar  The calendar will be displayed with the months April through
February so students can cisualize the passage of time in this read-aloud.
e. Writing utensils  Students will need to use complete their Activity Pages.
f. Crayons/Colored pencils  Students will use these to color their quilts.
g. Computer/SmartBoard  Computer will be used to display the story on the
SmartBoard.
h. Activity Page 1.1  On this page, students will make a quilt to explain the main
topic of today’s lesson which was the Oregon Trail and going westward.
 i. Activity Page 1.2  This is a letter sent home to parents to explain the new
domain which is the “Westward Expansion.”

5. Instructional Objective:
a. Students will review what they know about the history and geography of the
United States prior to the early nineteenth century.
b. Students will describe the sights people saw in the 1800s while traveling west on
the Oregon Trail.
c. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the Tier 2 word sights.
d. Students will write a short informational text in which they explain the main idea
of “Going West”.

6. Instructional Procedures:
a. Before
i. The teacher will display the Class Westward Expansion Timeline to
review important parts of history in the United States.
ii. The teacher will display each Image Card, review each term, and place on
the class timeline.
1. Thirteen Colonies
a. A colony is a region of land that is under the political
control of another country. These were British settlements
on the Atlantic coast of America in the 17th and 18th
centuriesMany were founded by religious leaders or groups
looking for religious freedom.
2. Declaration of Independence
a. This was a document declaring America’s independence
from Britian on July 4, 1776.
3. Louisiana Purchase
a. The U.S. acquired a large amount of land from the French
which doubled the size of the United States.
4. Lewis and Clark
a. Lewis and Clark were sent to Thomas Jefferson to explore
the wild west of North America.
5. Paul Bunyan
a. He is a fictional giant lumberjack in which they heard a
tall-tale about in another unit.
6. Pecos Bill
a. This is a “tall tale” about a larger than life hero of the
American West.
iii. Next, the teacher will do a domain introduction to the “Westward
Expansion by reviewing the meaning of fronter, pointing out the
Mississippie River on the U.S map, about explaning about the first settlers
which were called “pioneers.”

b. During
i. Read-Aloud
 ii. First, the teacher will read the story aloud to the students while stopping
and asking questions throughout.
iii. At the end, the students will turn and talk with a partner about the sights
the Morgans saw on their westward journey. As a class, you will make a
list on the board as they will refer back to the list when making their
quilts.
iv. At the end of the read-aloud, the teacher will ask the comprehension
questions using the “sticks” to call on students so everyone gets a chance
to answer.
c. Word-Work
i. The teacher will introduce the Tier-2 vocabulary word sights.
ii. The teacher will provide an example of a sentence and then have the
students provide several examples of their own with their classmates
aloud.
iii. Then, the teacher will have the students write their own sentence with the
word sights.
d. Application
i. The teacher will display Image Card 7 to the class which is a picture of
quilts.
ii. The teacher will explain and tell students they are going to make their own
quilt today using Activity Page 1.1.
iii. Students will draw a picture of a covered wagon or other item related to
the read-aloud in the center of the diamond.
iv. The students will write a word or short phrase in each corner of their quilt
on the Oregon Trail.
v. The students write a few sentences on the back of the quilt using words
from the front.
vi. If time permits, have students share their squares with the class or another
classmate.
vii. If time runs out, the lesson will be finished after specials.

e. After
i. At the end of the lesson, the teacher will review what the main topic for
the read-aloud was today.
ii. The teacher will collect Activity Page 1.1 from the students to check for
understanding which will be hung in the hallway on display.
iii. The teacher will send home Activity Page 1.2 for parents.
iv. The class will transition into math class by going to the math lab if time
permits.

7. Assessment:
a. Formative Assessment:
i. Westward Expansion Quilt: Activity Page 1.1: Students will write a
short informaitonal text in which they explain the main idea of “Going
West.”
b. Summative Assessment:
 i. Check for Understanding
1. At the end of the story, have students turn and talk to a partner
about the sights the Morgans saw on their travel westward. The
teacher will ask several comprehension questions during the read-
aloud as well at the end of the story.

8. Differentiated Instruction:
a. In order to meet the needs of the students, extended time was given for those
students who needed more time to write their text.
b. For those students who needed to be challenged, they were asked to write more
sentences and expand on those they already wrote.
c. A hard-copy of the read-aloud was provided to those students who needed to
review the story again.