|
Overview
This
unit
explores the theme of "working together" and is connected to my
second-grade social studies unit, which centers around families and
neighborhoods.
My second-graders will be learning about their community and its various components. They will be introduced to laws and ordinances, where they come from, and how citizens can work to get them changed if needed to make the neighborhood safer and better. For most of them, it will be their first time thinking outside the self-centered world of their own families and homes. In class, they have been doing progressively more group work and learning to share (for example, when supplies are limited or more than one person wants to play with a ball on the playground.) Therefore, cooperation and working together are appropriate themes for these students because they will be learning about how neighbors can come together to solve community-wide problems. They will learn about why it's important to help one another, and that working together can involve hundreds of people all working toward the same goal, or it can be as simple as helping your neighbor out when she is stuck with her work. Students will be exploring such questions as: What does it mean to work together? How does cooperation make it easier to solve problems/get things accomplished? What are the ways in which we can cooperate with others? Besides strengthening their literacy skills through the reading, writing and reflection assignments that comprise this unit, my goal is for students to develop a sense of altruism and their own willingness to help others. These are skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. |
| Learning
Targets |
EALRs
addressed |
Students will understand what it means to cooperate and how participants benefit from working together. (Concept/Generalization) People can work together to accomplish something that would be difficult or impossible for one person to do alone. Working together can involve many people, or as few as two people. Sometimes people decide to work together when they see someone in need of help. |
|
Student will be able to work cooperatively with others to complete in-class assignments. |
Communication 2.1 Uses language to interact effectively and responsibly in a multicultural context. Communication 2.2 Uses interpersonal skills and strategies in a multicultural context to work collaboratively, solve problems, and perform tasks |
Students will be able to identify instances of characters cooperating in books and understand how they benefited from doing so. |
Reading 1.1 Use word recognition skills and strategies to read and comprehend text. Reading 1.2 Use vocabulary (word meaning) strategies to comprehend text. Reading 2.1.3 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies before, during, and after reading: determine importance using theme, main ideas and supporting details. Reading 2.3 Expand comprehension by analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing information and ideas. |
Students will be able to identify ways to apply cooperation skills to their daily lives and express these ideas in writing. |
Writing
1.1 Prewrites to generate ideas and plan writing. Writing 1.3 Revises to improve text. Writing 3.1 Develops ideas and organizes writing. |
| Book
List |
| Adler, S. (1998). Samantha Learns a Lesson. Middleton,
WI: Pleasant Company Publications. Longer chapter book for advanced readers, about a girl attending private school who teaches a poor servant girl how to read so other children will stop making fun of her. |
| Cuyler, M. (1998). The
Biggest, Best Snowman. New York: Scholastic Press. A story about a little girl whose mother and sisters think she's too small to do anything. But working with her animal friends, the girl is able to build the biggest snowman anyone has ever seen. |
| Muth, J.J. (2003). Stone Soup. New York:
Scholastic Press. Folktale about three Buddhist monks and the leery villagers who unwittingly cooperate with them and learn the value of sharing and working together. |
| Prince, J. (2007). I
Saw an Ant in a Parking Lot. New York: Sterling Publishing Co. Witty picture book with Dr. Seuss-style prose, about a girl who intervenes to save an ant from being run over by a minivan. |
| Segal, J. (2006). Carrot Soup. New York:
Margaret K. McElderry Books. Picture book tells the story of Rabbit, who discovers that the carrots he worked so hard to plant are missing. He goes home dejected, only to find out that the other animals secretly took the carrots and made carrot soup to surprise Rabbit with. |
| Sturges, P. (1999). The Little Red Hen (Makes a
Pizza). New York: Dutton Children's Books. Clever book with appealing cut-paper illustrations tells the story of the little red hen making a pizza. At first her animal friends are reluctant to help out, but they have a change of heart in the end. |