The following is a sample of the work created in my ELED Block I courses.  The work is a five-lesson sequence I designed for a unit about the Pilgrims.
 

Subject: Social Studies
Major Content: Way of life of the Pilgrims         Unit Title: Pilgrims

Objectives
    After a class discussion on the way of life of the Pilgrims, second grade students will be able to contrast the lifestyle of the Pilgrims to our way of life today, listing at least three differences.

Connections
    The objective relates to Academic Expectation 2.20 because it will cause students to understand what life was like for the Pilgrims in the 1600’s and analyze this information in comparison to what life is like today.  Academic Expectation 1.11 is also addressed, because students will be required to convey the information contrasting the two lifestyles in written form, listing at least three differences.  Core Content Statement SS-E-5.2.2 is addressed, as the students will learn that the Pilgrims came to settle in America seeking freedoms.  Core Content Statement SS-E-5.2.3 is also addressed, because students will be looking at how the way we live has changed over time.  Core Content Statement WR-E-1.4 is addressed as the students take what they have learned and write to communicate their ideas to an audience.  Students will follow the Program of Studies because they will “distinguish among past, present, and future, and describe change over time.”  Throughout the unit, students will be challenged to “differentiate among fact, fiction, and opinion in relating historical events.”  We will look at the changes that have occurred in our lifestyles since the Pilgrims came to America, and we will look at the events prior to the first Thanksgiving from a factual rather than a fictional standpoint.

Context
    This lesson is the first in a unit about Pilgrims.  Students have some knowledge of Pilgrims from previous study, but this unit is designed so that students will understand that the Pilgrims were real people who lived and traveled to America many years ago.  Throughout the unit, students will be doing activities to teach them what life was like for the Pilgrims and what they faced when they came to America.  As students learn these details, they will be asked to compare life in the 1600's to life today.  Because our broad-based theme for the year is “Systems,” we will look at the roles different systems played in the life of the Pilgrims and in the story of the first Thanksgiving.
    To get students interested in the unit, I will have the room decorated with various pictures, drawings, or crafts of Pilgrims, Indians, and life in the 1600’s.  These pictures and items will be displayed throughout the room to focus the students’ thoughts on our unit topic.

Resources
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh
Sarah Morton’s Day by Kate Waters
Materials to make Pilgrim hats (pattern, paper, scissors, and tape)
Turkey Wheel writing prompt

Procedures
Initiation
     Bring in examples of the Pilgrim hats we will be making later in the lesson.  After students have looked at the hats, ask if they would want to wear them when they went places, such as the grocery or the mall.  Talk about how life must have been different back then if people wore such different clothes than we do today.  Tell students that we are going to talk about a group of people called the Pilgrims who lived back in the 1600’s.  Because they lived such a long time ago, their lives were very different from ours.  Remind students, however, that these were still people too, and that some of the people we will talk about were their age.

Strategy
     Ask students what they know about the Pilgrims.  As students give responses, point out the responses that mention specific things the Pilgrims did.  Read The Thanksgiving Story to the students, a book that talks about the Pilgrims’ way of life.  Be sure to point out things in the book that are different from life today, such as clothing, food, and the type of work they did.  After you have read the book, ask students what things about the lifestyle were different then than they are today.  As students give answers, provide additional information regarding those topics.  If students seem to have trouble thinking of differences, show them a few pages from Sarah Morton’s Day.  The book has information about what daily life was like in early America.  The way of life was very systematic, in that each person had his or her specific job to do.  If one person was to quit, the life of all the people would be affected.

Guided Practice
     Pass out the materials to make the Pilgrim hats.  Explain to students that boys and girls wore completely different clothing, including different hats, so students should make sure they are making the correct one.   As students make the hats, ask questions to ensure that students understand and know some differences between what life is like today and what it was like for the Pilgrims in the 1600’s.

Independent Practice
     While students are finishing the hats, walk around and let each student spin the Turkey Wheel.  When it lands on a number, give them a paper with that number’s question on it.  The three possible questions are as follows:
1. The Pilgrims wore different clothing than we do today.  Discuss what is different about our clothes, including at least three differences.
2. The Pilgrims ate different food than we do today.  Discuss some different kinds of food the Pilgrims ate, including at least three kinds.
3. The Pilgrims had to do different chores that we do.  Discuss some different kinds of chores the Pilgrims had to do, including at least three differences.

Closure
     Have students model their hats and ask a few how they feel.  Ask a student with each question to share his or her writing.  Tell students that tomorrow we will be talking about the Pilgrims’ trip to America on the Mayflower.

Student Assessment
Tools: Turkey Wheel writing prompts
Criteria: In order to receive credit for the assignment, students must have answered the question by discussing at least three differences.
 
 

Subject: Social Studies
Major Content: Traveling to America          Unit Title: Pilgrims

Objectives
     After a class discussion on the Pilgrims’ trip to America on the Mayflower, second grade students will be able to write a journal entry comparing travel today to what travel was like for the Pilgrims.

Connections
     The objective relates to Academic Expectation 2.20, because it will cause students to analyze the conditions on the Mayflower and to consider what it would have been like if they had actually been on the ship.  Academic Expectation 1.11 is also addressed, because students will be choosing a writing style and creating a piece that is written for a specific audience.  The lesson fits with Core Content Statement SS-E-5.2.2, because we will be looking at the reasons the Pilgrims left England.  The lesson also fits with Core Content Statement WR-E-1.4, because students will be writing either a letter, journal entry, or speech taking the point of view of someone who was actually on the ship.  Again, students will follow the Program of Studies by being able to describe changes over time.  Students will also “develop ideas in writing in response to peer and teacher feedback.”

Context
     This lesson is the second in a unit about the Pilgrims.  Students have been introduced to the Pilgrims and have looked at how their way of life in the 1600’s differed from our way of life today.  Today we will be looking at why the Pilgrims left England and what the journey on the Mayflower was like.

Resources
On the Mayflower by Kate Waters
Materials to make ships (milk cartons, straws, construction paper, pattern, glue, staples)
Journals

Procedures
Initiation
     Ask students to think about the last place they went.  They can think about a vacation they took, or they can even think about how they got to school that morning.  As students are thinking, remind them that the Pilgrims lived very different lives than we do.  Tell them we are going to talk about how the Pilgrims got to America, and what their big trip was like.

Strategy
     Read On the Mayflower to the students.  Stop periodically throughout the book and ask students if they would want to be on a trip like this.  Emphasize the hard aspects of the trip, but be sure to include why they were making the trip as well.  Explain to students that the Pilgrims were unhappy with their system of government in England.  After you have read the book, ask students if they would have wanted to have been on the Mayflower.  Ask students to tell you a few reasons why they would or would not have wanted to have made the trip from England to America on a ship.  Take a few minutes to explain to the students why the Pilgrims left England, and to give more details regarding life on the Mayflower.  Try to help students realize that the trip took over two months.

Guided Practice
     Have students make their own ships.  Tell students that, even though this is not exactly what the Mayflower looked like, it was a small ship that held over one hundred people for the entire trip.  Ask students to imagine they were on that little ship.  What would they have thought or felt?

Independent Practice
     Ask students to think about how travel is different today than it was for the Pilgrims.  Have students write at least one paragraph in their journals, comparing and contrasting travel today to travel for the Pilgrims in the 1600’s.  Tell students to list two differences and two similarities.

Closure
     Ask if anyone would like to share their writing with the class.  Let a few students share, depending on time.  After they have shared their pieces, ask the class to tell you a few things about life on the Mayflower.  Tell students that, even after they got to America, life was not completely easy.  Explain that tomorrow we will talk about some of the challenges that the Pilgrims faced in the New World.

Student Assessment
Tools: students’ writing
Criteria: In order to receive credit for the assignment, students must list at least two similarities and two differences between travel for the Pilgrims and travel today.
 
 

Subject: Social Studies
Major Content: Starting a New Life          Unit Title: Pilgrims

Objectives
      After reading and discussing The Story of the Pilgrims by Katherine Ross, students will be able to write a transactive piece explaining what life was like for the Pilgrims when they first came to America.

Connections
     The objective relates to Academic Expectation 2.20 because it will help students to develop historical perspective by examining what life was like for a group of people in early America.  After listening to the book and discussing it in class, students will have a clearer picture of how it would feel to come to a New World and start a new life.  Academic Expectation 1.11 is also addressed, because students will be writing to a specific audience to convey their feelings about the Pilgrims.  This lesson fits with Core Content statement SS-E-5.1.1, because students will be challenged to think about what life was like in America for the Pilgrims as if for the first time.  Even though the students are young, they have already been exposed to stories that create a false and perhaps idealized impression of what life was like for this group of people.  This lesson and unit will hopefully cause them to look at all aspects of this period in history from a factual standpoint.  Core Content statement WR-E-1.4, because students will be writing a transactive piece to communicate their ideas to a specific audience.  The lesson corresponds with the Program of Studies because students will be asked to “differentiate among fact, fiction, and opinion in relating historical events.”  The Program of Studies is also followed through the requirement that students “recognize and develop ideas to support needs of audiences.”

Context
     This is the third lesson in a unit about the Pilgrims.  Students have looked at what life was like during this period in history and what the trip to America on the Mayflower was like, and now students will examine the life that faced the Pilgrims when they arrived in America.  Students have been writing to convey their ideas about the topics in this unit, and today they will be able to creatively express their opinions and ideas through their choice of a transactive writing.

Resources
The Story of the Pilgrims by Katherine Ross
Paper

Procedures
Initiation
     Ask the class to imagine that they are on the Mayflower.  Tell students that the ship has just landed.  Naturally, the passengers are excited!  After all, the trip has been long and difficult, and now the Pilgrims are finally in the New World.  Ask students what they expect to find when they walk off the ship.  Take a few minutes to explore their answers.  Determine what their ideas are of America in the 1600’s, at the time of the Pilgrims’ arrival.  Before reading the book, have students discuss as much as they can about life in the New World.

Strategy
 Read The Story of the Pilgrims to the students.  While reading the story, stop periodically and ask students how they would react.  Ask if they had considered some of the obstacles the book mentions.  After reading the book, again ask students to list some of the difficulties the Pilgrims faced upon their arrival in America.  Stress the fact that there were no stores for the Pilgrims to visit to buy groceries or other supplies.  They had to depend on the land, the supplies they had brought with them, and their own resources to build a new life.  Again, having a system of specific jobs would be important for their survival.  Challenge students to think about whether or not they would be able to make it in such an environment.

Guided Practice
     Have students choose a partner.  Explain that they are going to pretend they are a Pilgrim who has just arrived in America.  They want to tell what life is like for them in this New World.  They can write a letter to a friend back in England, write an article to share with other families, or write a letter to people in the future expressing what life is like for them in 1620.  Give the students the opportunity to brainstorm with their partner to decide how they want to communicate their ideas.

Independent Practice
     Allow students to write their transactive piece using the ideas they have just formulated.  Tell students they must remember to think about who they are writing to as they write.  Their writing must tell what life is like for them, including at least three challenges, and the writing must be directed to a specific audience.

Closure
     Ask students if they can tell any of the difficulties that faced the Pilgrims in the New World, remember what the book mentioned and what was discussed in class.  Tell students that the Pilgrims did face a huge challenge in trying to build a new life in America, but they were able to get some help from the Native Americans who were already living in America.  Tell the class that tomorrow we will discuss some of the people who helped the Pilgrims, including Squanto, a Native American who spoke English.

Student Assessment
Tools: writing
Criteria: In order to receive full credit for the assignment, students must have written a transactive piece that was directed to an appropriate audience and mentioned at least three challenges the Pilgrims faced in the New World.
 

Subject: Social Studies
Major Content: Help from the Native Americans         Unit Title: Pilgrims

Objectives
     After listening to a story about Sqaunto and how the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims, students will write a song or chant expressing their thankfulness at the first Thanksgiving celebration.

Connections
     Academic Expectation 2.20 is addressed in this lesson because students will again be developing historical perspective as they learn about the Native Americans and how they helped the Pilgrims to survive the first winter.  Students will be asked to imagine how they would have felt if a group of strangers came in and needed their help in order to live through the winter.  Academic Expectation 1.14 is addressed as students create their songs to express their ideas about the Native Americans.  Social Studies Core Content statement SS-E-5.2.3 is addressed in the lesson because students will understand the way life has changed since the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims to survive.  Core Content statement WR-E-1.3 is also addressed, because students will be writing to communicate about the human condition.  This lesson follows the Program of Studies, because students will “develop ideas in writing in response to peer and teacher feedback,” as well as “describe and illustrate historical concepts or events through symbols, slogans, songs, poems, and passages.”

Context
     This is the fourth lesson in a unit about the Pilgrims.  Students studied yesterday about the challenges that faced the Pilgrims when they started a life in the New World, and today they will look at how the Native Americans helped them to face those challenges.  The story today will be told by Squanto as the teacher helps students to gain historical perspective regarding the Native Americans and the Pilgrims.

Resources
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George
Paper
Drums
 

Procedures
Initiation
     Bring in a drum for the students to look at.  If possible, bring one that has an actual animal skin as the drumhead.  As the lesson begins, tap quietly on the drum to set the stage.  Introduce yourself as Squanto, a Native American who helped the Pilgrims when they first arrived in America.  Tell them that you would like to share the story of what happened between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans during that first winter.

Strategy
 Tell the students the following story, based on the text of The First Thanksgiving, while playing the role of Squanto:
    “My name is Squanto.  A long time ago, I lived peacefully with my people, the Pawtuxets.  We are members of the Wampanoag tribe.  We plant corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins.  We hunt deer and turkey, and we get fish from the sea and the freshwater streams.  Mother Earth provides these gifts to use, and we thank her each year at the Green Corn Dance.  It is a wonderful celebration that lasts many days.
    “One morning in the early 1600’s a ship came into our cove, filled with men from a land far away called England.  They came to our land and traded beads and pots with us for furs and fish.  About seventeen of the men in my tribe, including me, went aboard their ship.  We didn’t know what they were planning, but they pulled their anchor and sailed away with us.  They took us to a place called Spain where they planned to sell us as slaves.  I was sold to an Englishman and taken to London.  There I lived with a merchant ship owner.  I sailed to Newfoundland and back to London before finally sailing back to my home.  I came back, excited to see my people, my friends, again.  When I got home, I was very sad to find that all of my people had died from a disease they caught from the Europeans.  I got back on the ship and sailed north along the coast.  There I joined Massasoit, one of the Wampanoag leaders.
    “During the winter of that year, when it had already gotten very cold, a ship landed carrying many passengers.  These people tried to build homes, but it was very hard for them because the weather was so bad.  The ship stayed in the harbor for a long time, and the families stayed aboard the ship while they were building their houses.  We watched these new people, but we did not approach them.  They worked hard and did not seek to find us either.  Finally we approached these people in friendship.  With Massasoit and another friend, Samoset, we talked with the leader of these people.  Since I speak English, I was able to translate for Massasoit and their leader, Governor Carver, so that we were able to come up with an agreement for peace.  Massasoit and Samoset left, but I stayed with the people at Plymouth.
    “The land here was different from the land the people had come from.  They were having a hard time surviving here.  I taught them to fish and showed them the best places to catch herring, cod, and salmon.  As the weather grew warmer, I taught them how to plant.  We drop several herrings into holes and cover them with the soil.  We press four or five corn kernels into the soil.  We plant beans beside the corn so the vines can grow up the corn stalks.  Pumpkin and squash are planted between the rows of corn.
    “I took the men to the forests where the turkey lived.  I showed them the nuts and seeds that the birds feed on, and where the squirrels nest.  I showed them the blueberry patches and told them when the deer move about freely.  I believe that the land does not belong to us, but that we belong to it.  I took the children to the meadows to pick strawberries.  When it started to get cooler we gathered chestnuts, hickory nuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts.  When it was time to harvest, the people, who called themselves Pilgrims, had more than they had even hoped for.  They decided it was time to celebrate, and asked me to invite Massasoit and my friends for a feast.  Massasoit came and brought ninety people with him, along with many deer and turkeys.  We feasted with the Pilgrims for three days in a great celebration.  The Pilgrims called this celebration a Harvest Feast.  We thought of it as a Green Corn Dance.  You probably call it the first Thanksgiving.”

Guided Practice
    After you have shared this story with the children, ask them to recall specific ways that Squanto helped the Pilgrims.  Discuss how the system of farming for the Native Americans was different from the system that the Pilgrims were used to.  Have someone list these ways on the board.

Independent Practice
     Have students write a song or chant that could have been recited at this first celebration.  The chant can be written either from the Pilgrims’ or the Native Americans’ point of view, but should include at least five reasons to be thankful.

Closure
     Ask students to share their chants with the class.  Review some of the ways that Squanto helped the Pilgrims.  Tell the students that tomorrow we will look again at the first Thanksgiving celebration and talk about how we celebrate Thanksgiving today.

Student Assessment
Tools: song or chant
Criteria: In order to receive credit for the assignment, students must create and share a song or chant from the point of view of the Pilgrims or the Native Americans, including at least five reasons they were thankful.
 

Subject: Social Studies
Major Content: Thanksgiving            Unit Title: Pilgrims

Objectives
     After a class discussion about the first Thanksgiving and our current Thanksgiving traditions, students will be able to design a Thanksgiving meal that they might cook using at least three foods brought to the first Thanksgiving feast and three foods they eat at their Thanksgiving meals.

Connections
     Academic Expectation 2.20 is again addressed in this lesson, because the students will continue to develop their historical perspective of Thanksgiving.  The lesson also addresses Academic Expectation 1.11, because the students will be writing their Thanksgiving menus as a writing targeted to a specific audience.  In addition, Academic Expectation 6.3 is addressed because students will be expanding their existing knowledge to make connections and gain new knowledge.  The lesson corresponds with Core Content Statement WR-E-1.4, because the students will be writing a piece that relates to real life and could be used in a real situation.  Core Content Statement SS-E-5.2.3 will also be addressed, because students will see the changes that have occurred in our foods throughout history.  The lesson follows the Program of Studies because students will “distinguish among past, present, and future, and describe change over time,” as well as being able to “recognize and develop ideas to support needs of audiences.”

Context
     This is the final lesson in a sequence of lessons about the Pilgrims.  The students have learned that the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims to plant crops and hunt so that they were able to survive.  They know that, when it was time to harvest, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans got together for a huge feast and celebrated the good harvest.  Today we will look at that feast, the first Thanksgiving, in more detail, and we will compare it to the way Thanksgiving is celebrated today.

Resources
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George
Materials to make butter (baby food jars, whipping cream, salt)
“Recipe for a thankful Thanksgiving” cards
Chart for KWL

Procedures
Initiation
     Make a KWL chart with the students.  To begin the lesson, ask them what they know about the first Thanksgiving celebration.  List as many things as you can, based on the previous lessons in this sequence or the students’ prior knowledge.  Ask students what they want to know about the first Thanksgiving.  Tell students that today we are going to be talking about the first Thanksgiving, and how our Thanksgiving traditions have changed over time.

Strategy
     Review the story the class heard yesterday about Squanto.  Read the last five pages of The First Thanksgiving to the class.  This part of the book really focuses on the celebration the Pilgrims and the Native Americans had after the harvest.  After reading to the students, ask them to list some of the foods that were served at this meal.  Discuss that the Pilgrims and Native Americans had to make everything they had.  They weren’t able to go to a grocery store to buy even the small items, such as sugar and butter.  Ask students to list some of the things they usually eat at Thanksgiving.  Challenge them to think about how hard it would be too cook a meal if you had to make everything by yourself!
     To help students further understand this concept, let them make homemade butter using the following recipe:
1. Fill baby food jars (or small prescription bottles) half full of whipping cream and screw the lids on tightly.
2. Show students how to shake the bottles in order to whip the cream.
3. After about five minutes the cream will be whipped, and after another couple of minutes, lumps of yellow   butter will form.  Continue shaking until most of the cream has formed into a ball.
4. Rinse off the liquid whey and add a little salt.  Then spread the butter on crackers for tasting.

    After students have made the butter, ask students again how they think it would have been to prepare the first Thanksgiving dinner, considering the foods that they ate.

Guided Practice
     Fill out the last portion of the KWL chart, asking students what they have learned about the first Thanksgiving.

Independent Practice
     Give each student a copy of the “Recipe for a thankful Thanksgiving” cards.  Have students design a Thanksgiving meal using at least three foods from the first Thanksgiving meal and at least three foods that they usually eat at Thanksgiving dinner today.

Closure
     Ask students to share some of their menus with the class.  Remind them that, if they had lived when the Pilgrims did, they would have to make each one of these foods without the help of a grocery store.  Review the reasons for the first Thanksgiving and remind students to be thankful for what they have as they celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday.

Student Assessment
Tools: recipe cards
Criteria:  Students will receive credit for the assignment if they designed a Thanksgiving meal incorporating at least three foods used in the first Thanksgiving celebration and three foods they traditionally eat for Thanksgiving today.
 

http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/Tlresources/longterm/LessonPlans/monsonUnits/amychr/index.html

Dalgliesh, A. (1954). The Thanksgiving Story. New York: Alladin Paperbacks.

George, J. C. (1993). The First Thanksgiving. New York: Philomel.

Ross, K. (1995). The Story of the Pilgrims. New York: Random House.

Waters, K. (1996). On the Mayflower. New York: Scholastic.

Waters, K. (1993). Sarah Morton’s Day. New York: Scholastic.