Lesson Five:
Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 4th/5th grade
Lesson Unit: Refugees
Lesson Topic: Guiding question: What are the kinds of relationships between countries. What causes refugees to exist in the world?
Time period: 45 minutes
Objectives:
· Students will be able to identify what problems might arise between differing countries that cause people to become refugees.
· Students will be able to witness first-hand why there are different perspectives in the world that create possible tension between some countries.
· Students will be able to recognize that just because it may seem one way to some, does not always mean there is only that one way to live by.
· Students will be able to recognize that people have different points of view and that does not make one person right and the other wrong, simply that they have a different approach or even differing values and beliefs.
Standards:
· MMSD STANDARD: Behavioral Science
· MMSD STANDARD: Geography
· NCSS STANDARD: Individual Development and Identity
· NCSS STANDARD: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
Materials:
· Large map of world and information on relationships between various countries
· A piece of tag-board inside of a snow globe that has a different color on each side (but isn’t obvious)
· A picture of two different animals: A tiger and a lion, one on each side of a single piece of laminated paper (but isn’t obviously two different images)
· A picture of any scenery
Lesson Context:
Students are finishing up their new unit on refugees and are now answering what situations cause refugees to exist after studying what they are, some examples of different refugee books, and how they are settled and how it’s decided where they are allowed to go. During read aloud time, the students have listened to the teacher read Over A Thousand Hills I Walk With You by Hanna Jansen and are currently listening to the teacher read Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate to get a sense of what happens to the lucky individuals after they become refugees.
Procedure:
· Teacher will ask for two volunteers.
· Teacher will ask students to sit back down and ask for three volunteers. Each will step into the hallway.
· Teacher will ask for one more volunteer.
Closure:
· “What is the relationship between the activity we just did and the activity with the different colors and animals?” (perspectives-“Just like some of you had different responses to some of the questions on your previous worksheet in another lesson, just like many of you come from different places-or at least parents and grandparents do-so too does how one looks at something and understand something changes how they view it.” Give examples from activities.)
Assessment:
· Informal assessment: class discussion responses to verbal questions stated at end of activity and during closure.
· Formal assessment: participation during activities. Short essay explaining the relationship that is happening between countries that might cause someone to become a refugee and what were some comparisons/contrasts to the class activity and the facts learned in class.
Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 4th/5th grade
Lesson Unit: Refugees
Lesson Topic: Guiding question: What are the kinds of relationships between countries. What causes refugees to exist in the world?
Time period: 45 minutes
Objectives:
· Students will be able to identify what problems might arise between differing countries that cause people to become refugees.
· Students will be able to witness first-hand why there are different perspectives in the world that create possible tension between some countries.
· Students will be able to recognize that just because it may seem one way to some, does not always mean there is only that one way to live by.
· Students will be able to recognize that people have different points of view and that does not make one person right and the other wrong, simply that they have a different approach or even differing values and beliefs.
Standards:
· MMSD STANDARD: Behavioral Science
- o Perspectives- Compare and contrast individual perspectives and differences.
· MMSD STANDARD: Geography
- o Map and Globe Skills-use map and globe reading skills.
· NCSS STANDARD: Individual Development and Identity
- o Learners compare and evaluate the impact of stereotyping, conformity, acts of altruism, discrimination, and other behaviors on individuals and groups.
- o Learners understand how individual perceptions develop, vary, and can lead to conflict.
· NCSS STANDARD: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
- o Learners understand the concepts of role, status, and social class and use them in describing the connections and interactions of individuals, groups, and institutions in society.
Materials:
· Large map of world and information on relationships between various countries
· A piece of tag-board inside of a snow globe that has a different color on each side (but isn’t obvious)
· A picture of two different animals: A tiger and a lion, one on each side of a single piece of laminated paper (but isn’t obviously two different images)
· A picture of any scenery
Lesson Context:
Students are finishing up their new unit on refugees and are now answering what situations cause refugees to exist after studying what they are, some examples of different refugee books, and how they are settled and how it’s decided where they are allowed to go. During read aloud time, the students have listened to the teacher read Over A Thousand Hills I Walk With You by Hanna Jansen and are currently listening to the teacher read Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate to get a sense of what happens to the lucky individuals after they become refugees.
Procedure:
· Teacher will ask for two volunteers.
- o One student will stand on the right, one will stand on the left.
- o The teacher will hold up the tag-board with the two different colors and say, “Here is a piece of tag-board. As our two volunteers can see, it has a color.” Ask them to identify the color they see (NOTE: the answer will be different! Act confused. “Hmmm, we got two different answers. Let’s give them a moment to really check if their answer is correct. Now on the count of three, please identify the color of this tag-board. One…two…three!” Again, answer will be different.)
- o Continue to act confused. Tell volunteers to stay where they are and assign half the class to go to one side and half to the other. “What color is the tag-board?” (Again, answers will be different. Repeat with picture (of lion and tiger) to see if it will “help the class.”)
- o Have students switch sides. “Now what color is the tag-board? Now what animal is it?”
- o Students will see it has two colors or two different animals. Two colors. Two animals. Two sides. Two perspectives. Teacher should emphasize the importance of differing perspectives and differing answers just like in the answers they put up on the document camera beforehand.
· Teacher will ask students to sit back down and ask for three volunteers. Each will step into the hallway.
· Teacher will ask for one more volunteer.
- o Student will have 30 seconds to look at a picture provided by the teacher before it is taken out of sight. The student will call one of the students in from the hallway and describe to him or her details of or in the picture.
- o Student will then sit down and the student who just came in from the hallway will ask another student in the hallway to come in. He or she will describe the picture to that student.
- o Repeat for last student in the hallway.
- o Ask class (the audience) what they observed and why did they think that it happened as they saw it.
Closure:
· “What is the relationship between the activity we just did and the activity with the different colors and animals?” (perspectives-“Just like some of you had different responses to some of the questions on your previous worksheet in another lesson, just like many of you come from different places-or at least parents and grandparents do-so too does how one looks at something and understand something changes how they view it.” Give examples from activities.)
- o How refugees are created…differing perspectives…wars…people caught in the middle (Give an example similar to Syria).
- o Wars when refuse to “walk over and see what the other side sees: different color? Different animal? Etc…
- o Teach about a time when people were caught in the middle between two disagreeing countries.
- o Apply activity to new information
Assessment:
· Informal assessment: class discussion responses to verbal questions stated at end of activity and during closure.
· Formal assessment: participation during activities. Short essay explaining the relationship that is happening between countries that might cause someone to become a refugee and what were some comparisons/contrasts to the class activity and the facts learned in class.