Design Document for Lesson Plan

Name: Macayla Tyndall and Caitlin Martinez

Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Concept/Topic: Writing and Addressing Letters to Others

Length of Lesson (in minutes): 60 minutes (Two 30 minute sessions)

Learning Objectives: What are your learning objectives? (What new understandings will the
students have as a result of this lesson? Make sure learning objectives are measurable.)

● Students will be able to identify changes they want to see in their school community.
● Students will be able to properly address letters to send in the mail, as well as structure
their letters in the correct format.
● Students will be able to send letters and know the process for putting them in the
mailbox.
● Students will be able to show how responsible citizens are active in the community and
participate in community decisions.
● Students will be able to model ways in which responsible citizens take part in public
debate and discussion by deliberating over a school issue.

Under which standards from North Carolina Standard Course of Study (NC-SCOS) do these
learning objectives fall?

3.C&G.2.1- Exemplify how citizens contribute politically, socially and economically to their
community.

3.C&G.2.2 - Exemplify how citizens contribute to the well-being of the community’s natural
environment.

Key Tasks/Activities: What are the key activities or tasks that you plan to use?
 ● We will use a pen and paper pre-assessment to see if students know the different parts of
a letter. This would just require them to label the parts of the letter such as the greeting,
the heading, the body, the closing, and the signature.
● We will be directly incorporating literacy integration by having the students follow the
structure of a letter to write their class consensus in the correct format. We will be
teaching students how to address letters and model how the envelope should be
structured.
● We will break students up into pairs so they can practice writing letters. They will write
letters to one another and structure them as compliments and practice the correct format.
● The class will have a class debate/deliberation on school issues or policies they want to
see changed. The class will come to a general consensus and write a letter to the
principal.
● Once students have their letter written, we will create stamps for the students to put on
their envelopes addressed to the principal. On each stamp, students will get to put their
own artistic expression on them.
● Students will each be given an envelope to address to the principal. We will provide the
address for students to use and ensure they use the right format for addressing the
principal on the envelope. Then students will attach their handmade stamps.
● We will take a class field trip to the schools mailbox and teach students how to properly
send off a letter to someone. We will ensure that the students put up the flag to let the
mail carrier know that there is mail to pick up.
● Once students put their letters in the mailbox and the flag is up, we will take them out and
we will deliver them to the principal.

What is your rationale for why you have selected these particular tasks/activities to meet
your learning objectives?

We have chosen these particular tasks and activities because when we did our Social
Studies in the Eyes of a Young Learner questionnaire, we found that most students do not know
how to address an envelope to send to someone. We thought up this activity to get the students
to incorporate social studies, reading, writing, art, and brain breaks into one. Letting students
express themselves and be able to practice integration of subjects is very beneficial to everyone.

Anticipating Students’ Responses: How do you anticipate that students will respond to your
planned activities/tasks? This does NOT mean their response affectively, but instead their
response academically (e.g., What prior knowledge or conceptions might they bring? How do
you think they will approach or solve the task(s)?). When necessary, please insert images of
your handwritten anticipated approaches/strategies. Be specific! Use your anticipated responses
to help you plan your questions in the lesson plan.

I think students will respond positively to this activity. They are getting the chance to
debate and talk about issues they see in the school or community. They get to be change makers
by addressing the issues to their principal in a professional manner. They will bring their reading
and writing skills to the table and take them a step further. I think students may have a little
trouble with the formatting of a letter, but if we provide an example and leave it up for them to
see and reference, then they will do great. I think the best way for the debate part to go smoothly
is to help facilitate talk between the students. I know some students may not want to talk, but if
we give everyone a chance to talk and they know their voice is being heard, then they will
continue to actively participate. I think that addressing the envelopes and adding the stamps may
take a few repetitions of directions to students and some modeling, since it is a new task for
them and we want them to master it and be successful while having fun.

Responding to Students’ Responses: Describe how you will provide scaffolding for students
who are stuck, and describe how you will extend the thinking of students who have a firm grasp
on the target content/objectives.

For the students who need help with the deliberation, we will begin the facilitation by
suggesting some issues to debate, and then turn it over to the students to talk. We want all
students to be involved and to voice their opinions. When it comes time to write our letters, we
will provide a template on the board for students to follow. We will have sentence structures
available for those who may be having some difficulties with forming their letter and their voice
on paper. When it comes time to put our letters in our envelopes, we will model how to do so
and if students need help putting them in there or folding, we will provide that. When it comes
time to address the envelopes, we will model it and leave an example on the board for students to
follow and walk around ready to help them when needed. We will advise on when to put on
their stamps and where to put it, making sure all students are paying attention.

Development of Practices among Students: Which disciplinary practices does your lesson aim
to develop? (e.g., “construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others”, “develop
and use models”) How do the task(s) develop the target practice(s)?

Our lesson aims to develops the fourth dimension of the social studies practices:
Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action

● The activities of addressing a school issued and writing a letter to the principal makes the
learning more authentic because it takes the students’ work outside of the classroom. By
 sending these letters about the class topic students are passionate about, students are
taking informed action to see change in their school.
● Students will be discussing and deliberating school community issues to vote on which
directly correlates to this practice of students communicating their conclusions.
● The discussions students have will allow them to collaborate with their peers and
communicate their thoughts and questions with one another before finalizing their letters.

Assessment: Describe your assessment plan for the targeted learning objective(s). What
specific data/information will you use, and how will that data/information tell you that the
students have/have not met the objective?

Our assessment plan is to observe students while they are working, and take note of any
changes or modifications we need to make to the requirements. We will be roaming around to
observe the letter writing of the students, and we will analyze them before we put them into the
envelopes for the principal. We will assess the debate by ensuring students can reach an
agreement or agree to disagree on their issues. We will assess the envelopes by ensuring that
students have addressed them properly, and the stamp has been placed in the right area.
Ensuring that students have written about an issue that affects their school or community, and
that they have participated in the debate will be the big assessments for them. Active
participation and completion of the task is essential to be able to assess their understanding and
progress made with the new content learned.

Vocabulary/Language Function: Define vocabulary that students will need to know in

order to access the content and goals of your lesson. Be precise and careful with your language.
Please attend to three types of vocabulary:
➔ Content vocabulary (e.g., obtuse, molecule, civil rights)
➔ Academic language (e.g., represent, model, compare)
➔ Key non-content vocabulary that is necessary to understand the task/activity

● Citizen - a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its
government and is entitled to its protection
● Community- a group of people living together
● Citizenship- membership in a political community with certain rights and privileges.
● Deliberation- a process of thoughtfully weighing options, usually prior to voting
● Responsibility- doing the things you are expected to do and accepting the consequences
(results) of your actions
Classroom Management Plan: Describe your classroom management plan. Explain how you
will motivate students to engage in the lesson, how you will set and enforce expectations, and
how you will ensure that transitions are smooth and efficient.

● We will give students independent working time as well as time to collaborate in pairs
and the whole group to help keep them engaged.
● We will give students the time to be creative and express themselves by creating their
stamp for their envelope.
● Our classroom helpers will ensure that the classroom is not a mess and the table captains
will help us teachers keep students on task and provide help when we are occupied with
others if they can.
● In the beginning we will go over the rules and expectations for students so they know
what is expected of them beforehand.
● Our transitions will be smooth and efficient since one activity leads right into the other,
from teaching a lesson to putting it into practice. We will explain what will be happening
before each transition so they move smoother.