This unit is a comprehensive study of the
Objectives;
The students will be able to:
Ø
describe the climate, landforms, and waterways
of the
Ø
identify the groups of people who settled the
Ø
explain what types of industries are found in
the
Ø
describe what people do for fun in the
Ø
compare the
Ø describe tornados and create a model of one.
Ø identify animals and plants that live in the prairie
Ø describe behavioral and body adaptations these plants and animals have acquired because of their environment.
Ø collect, measure, and interpret weather data.
Ø
use research and note-taking skills to gather
information about the
Ø
brainstorm, write, revise a poem or play about
the
Ø estimate to the nearest 10 or 100 or 1000.
Ø use problem solving skills to determine area and perimeter.
Standard 6.4:
All Students Will Acquire Historical Understanding Of Societal Ideas And Forces
Throughout The History Of
Standard 6.5:
All Students Will Acquire Historical Understanding Of Varying Cultures
Throughout The History Of
Standard 6.6:
All Students Will Acquire Historical Understanding Of Economic Forces, Ideas,
And Institutions Throughout The History Of
Standard 6.8: All Students Will Acquire Geographical Understanding By Studying Human Systems In Geography.
Standard 6.9:
All Students Will Acquire Geographical Understanding By Studying The
Environment And Society.
Standard 5.1: (Scientific Processes) All students will develop problem-solving, decision making and inquiry skills, reflected by making usable questions and hypotheses, planning experiments, conduction systematic observations, interpreting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and communicating results.
Standard 5.3: (Mathematical applications) All students will integrate mathematics as a tool for problem solving in science, and as a means of expressing and/or modeling scientific theories.
Standard 5.4: (Nature and Process of Technology) All students will understand the interrelationships between science and develop a conceptual understanding of the nature and process of technology.
Standard 5.5: (Characteristics of life) All students will gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics, and basic needs of organisms and will investigate the diversity of life.
Standard 5.8: (Earth Science) All students will gain an understanding of the structure, dynamics, and geophysical systems of earth.
Standard 5.10: (Environmental Studies) All students will develop an understanding of the environment as a system of interdependent components affected by human activity and natural phenomena.
Standard 3.1: (Reading) All students will understand and apply knowledge of sound, letters and words in written English to become independent and fluent readers, and will read a variety of material and texts with fluency and comprehension.
Standard 3.2: (Writing) All students will write in clear, concise, organized language that varies is content and form for different audiences and purposes.
Standard 3.4 (Listening) All students will listen actively to information from a variety of sources in a variety of situations.
Standard 4.1:
(Number and numerical operations) All students will develop number sense and
will perform standard numeric operations and estimations on all types of
numbers in various ways.
Standard 4.2:
(Geometry and measurement) All students will develop spatial sense and the
ability to use geometric properties, relationships, and measurements to model,
describe and analyze phenomena.
Standard 4.3: (Patterns and Algebra) All students will represent and analyze relationships among variable quantities and solve problems interpreting data, functions, and algebra concepts and processes.
Standard 4.4: (Data Analysis, probability, and discrete mathematics) All the students will develop an understanding of the concepts and techniques of data analysis, probability, and discrete mathematics, and will use them to model situations, solve problems and analysis and draw appropriate inferences from data.
Standard 4.5 (Mathematical processes) All students will use mathematical processes of problem solving, communication, connections, reasoning, representations, and technology to solve problems and communicate mathematic ideas.
1. Midwest Scavenger hunt-students will explore
various sites to find information and study the
2. Database-identify industries, resources,
landforms, and bodies of water in the
3. Create a tornado-students will create tornado with two 2-liter bottles, water, food coloring, washers, and duct tape.
4. Area and perimeter study-Students will practice problem-solving by figuring out the length of fence needed to enclose the perimeter of various sections of a farm and determine the area needed to plant crops.
5. Read the book If You’ve Never Lived on the
Prairie. Use the ideas you’ve gained
from the reading, scavenger hunt, and database to write a poem or short play
about the
6. Study weather patterns and climate in various
cities throughout the
7. Students will create PowerPoint presentations
to convince classmate to visit this place in the
Materials: computer,
Midwest Scavenger Hunt, Questions Sheet to complete, pen or pencil.
1. Ask students what they already know about the
2. Tell students that we will study the
3. Explain that as an introductory activity they
will learn basic information about the
4. Review the way students will be expected to navigate through the web pages. (Data Projector)
5. Students will work in pairs to complete the task.
6. At the completion of the scavenger hunt the pairs will discuss their findings with a larger group.
7. Finally the class will share information and new discoveries in a whole class sharing circle.
Weather on the Prairie-Science
Materials: Weather
Data Sheet, Weather Report Sources (Newspaper or online), spreadsheet program,
pencil
1. Ask students what they learned about the
weather in the
2. Explain the collecting weather data is
helpful in learning what a place is like.
It is also best to study weather over an extended period of time. For our purposes we will collection
information throughout our month-long study of the
3. Tell the students that each of them will
collect weather data from different cities in the
4. Each student will be given a log sheet in which they will use to organize their findings. At the end of each week the students will input their information into a spreadsheet created by the teacher.
5. The teacher will collect and record the
weather data for our town,
6. After the first week students will look for
patterns and try to create a hypothesis for their data. They will also compare their information to
that of
7. Students will continue this process of collecting information and reviewing it for the next 3 weeks each time looking for specific patterns and creating new hypothesis or confirming old ones.
8. Assessment?
Resources, Industries, Landforms, and Bodies of Water
1. Review the terms resources, industries, landforms and bodies of water.
2. Ask the students why it is important to know these things about a place. (These items make a place special and unique.)
3. Tell student that they will collect
information about the various states in the
4. Students will find information about assigned states in print sources (textbook, encyclopedia, books) or online sources.
5. They will then input this information in to the fields already designated on the database.
6. When all the information has been collected students will