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Kathy Bracken

5^th Grade Teacher

SOFTWARE LESSON PLAN

THIRTEEN COLONIES with SMART NOTEBOOK

Introduction

As a requirement for the Colonial Life in America unit in social studies, students need to know the names and locations of the thirteen original colonies. Before this lesson, students will have already completed a study guide with that information and practiced spelling the names of the colonies.

Students find working on the SMARTBOARD very motivating, especially with interactive pieces. This is a way to make repetitive practice fun.

Objectives:

Students will be able to recognize the shapes of colonies/states and locate the position of each of the thirteen original colonies on a map.

Materials:

SMARTBoard
Notebook Software for “Thirteen Colonies”

13 Colonies.notebook – original - select Social Studies – Thirteen Colonies-5th *

13 colonies.notebook - modified *

*This software can only be read by SMART Notebook software

Blank practice assessment – colonies-map.pdf
Method for randomly selecting students

Procedure:

Initiation:

A blank map will be displayed on the SMARTBOARD. Without introduction, a student will be randomly selected to come to the board, locate the piece for Connecticut, and move it into place.

Development of Lesson:

This whole group lesson will follow a pre-written SMARTBOARD presentation which was downloaded from the site

http://technology.usd259.org/resources/whiteboards/smartlessons.htm

and modified for use in our classroom. The design of the lesson is to allow students to practice placing colonies(states) in the correct geographical place on a blank United States map.

Activity 1 (10 – 15 minutes): Randomly selected students will take turns moving colonies into place

on the whiteboard. In order to give all students a chance to participate, this activity will be done twice

in all. During this first round, students at their seats will watch and offer helpful tips.

For fun, variety, and further review, students will then complete activities 2 and 3 from the Notebook software.

Activity 2 (10 minutes): Randomly selected students will match the shape of a colony with its name.

Activity 3 (5 minutes): Randomly selected students will answer clues about the colonies. After answering the question, student will slide “cover” away to reveal answer.

Activity 4 (10 minutes): Students will complete a practice assessment to check their understanding

of the location of the thirteen colonies. This assessment is for location, so spelling of colonies will be provided.

Activity 5 (10 minutes): Students will check their answers to the practice assessment while the

second round of students place the colonies on the map.

Closure:

Students will identify at least one area requiring further study prior to the final assessment.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed for understanding during lesson by observation, by SMARTBOARD participation, and by the practice assessment. Final assessment will reveal whether understanding is firmly in place.

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