Lesson Plan Four: Civil War Letter

Michigan Social Studies Standards and Benchmarks:

    1.Inquiry Perspective

        Standard 2: All students will conduct investigations by formulating a clear statement of a question, gathering and organizing information from a variety of sources, analyzing and interpreting information, formulating and testing hypotheses, reporting results both orally and in writing, and making use of appropriate technology.

            Later Elementary Benchmark 3: Construct an answer to the question posed and support their answer with evidence.

Michigan English Language Arts Standards and Benchmarks:

    1. Meaning and Communication

        Standard 2: All students will demonstrate the ability to write clear and grammatically correct sentences, paragraphs, and compositions.

            Later Elementary Benchmark 1: Write fluently for multiple purposes to produce compositions, such as stories, reports, letters, plays, and explanations of processes.     

National Educational Technology Standards:

    1. Basic operations and concepts

            1. Use keyboards and other common input and output devices (including adaptive devices when necessary) efficiently and effectively.

Objectives:

    -Students will be able to generate a Civil War letter to their partner using information that they researched on the Civil War Webquest.

Materials:

    -Apple Works

    -Computer Lab (30 computers)

    -Kidspiration web

    -Handwritten rough draft of letter to partner (done in class without computers)

Purpose:

    -Students will learn to use their organized information to write a letter.  In the past, students have researched information in order to write a paper, but have never used researched information to recreate a fictional letter.  This lesson will show students that researched information can be used in several different ways.

Anticipatory Set:

   -Teacher will ask a few students to read their rough draft letter out loud before we go into the computer lab.

Check for Understanding:

   -As a review of the Apple Works, the teacher will ask students questions about how to use the program (during "Modeling").

Modeling:

   -Teacher will show students how to open Apple Works.  Since students have used Apple Works in the past, there will be little modeling.  The teacher will review a few things, such as how to spell check and how to save, just in case some student have forgotten how to do this.

Guided Practice

   -Teacher will circulate around the computer lab and answer any questions that students have about their letter or how to use Apple Works at this time.

Independent Practice:

   -Students begin typing their letters.  When they are finished with their letters, they will reread them and check their spelling before they print.

Closure:

   -Students meet with their partner and take turns reading their letters to each other.