Name_Hanan Huneidi______________________ Grade Level for this Lesson _4th_____

I.

Academic Content Standards

State the academic common core standard(s) for this lesson (Common Core
and/or ELA-ELD SEtandards).

ELA Writing Standard - Research to Build and Present Knowledge

7. Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through
investigation of different aspects of a topic.

ELA Writing Standard Text Types and Purposes

3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear even sequences.
a.

Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a

narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that
unfolds naturally.

b.

Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events

or show the responses of characters to situations.

c.

Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the

sequence of events.

d.

Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey

experiences and events precisely.

e.
Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences
or events.

II.

Unit of Study
State the BIG idea that this lesson will address in 1-2 sentences.

Use computers and internet to research and solve problems.

Increase students understanding and expand their knowledge of major events and
historical people during the Gold Rush.
Engage in creative writing activity by writing an entry in their in character journals.

III.

Academic Learning Outcomes

What will the students know and be able to do as a result of this activity? List 2-3
outcomes.
These outcomes should relate closely with the Academic Content Standards and
Assessments you
select.

Students will be able to conduct short research activity and acquire

knowledge through engaging in internet research about the Gold Rush.
Students will write a fictitious narrative that is based on accurate historical
events which student researched during internet research activity.
Narrative will be writing in their Gold Rush journals.
IV.

Implementation
1. Introduction to Lesson (Hook)
How will students interest be captured? State exactly what you will say to introduce
the lesson.

Today you are going to become 49er miners! Ive assigned groups that you all will be in for the next
two weeks. Each of you will pick your own 49er name and within your group you will choose a 49er
group name. Each of your groups will be assigned a story of origin, this means where your group of
49ers originally came from. Many people traveled from far away and faced a lot of difficulties in
order to make their way to the Gold Rush. Your group will learn about the journey that you had to
take and then your group will read about and discuss the possible difficulties you faced on your
journey. There will be various activities over the next two weeks that you will engage in with your
group, you will be doing this research with a partner. You and your partner will be provided a
guided research paper. Its going to be something like a scavenger hunt for information. On the
paper there will be specific websites and questions for you to find with your partner. Today we will
be starting off by doing some guided internet research about the California Gold Rush. You will
then get into your groups and have a discussion about the facts that you found during your
research. At the end of the day you will be given a few minutes to start writing in your Gold Rush
journals that Ill be giving you. Throughout the next couple of weeks you will be writing quite a bit
in these journals. When youre writing in the journals you will be writing as if you are someone
who was alive during the Gold Rush. Today you will be picking out a name and a persona that you
will keep throughout the next two weeks. When you get your journals you will write that name on
the front of the journal, and then take about five minutes to write a journal entry from that
characters perspective based on the research you are going to do today.

2. Sequence of Activities
Sequentially list the steps of your lesson. Address both teacher actions and student
activities.
Make sure to include the following:

Grouping strategies (whole, small, peer work, independent)

Incorporate 2 of the CAF Strategies (Comprehension, Accuracy,
Fluency, Expand Vocabulary)
Differentiated instruction (describe the students learning needs;
describe the adaptations for these students)
Transitions
progress monitoring
collecting//distributing materials

1. Teacher orally present lesson and instructions to students.

2. Teacher helps students get into assigned 49er groups. These groups will be carefully
selected by teacher so that non-readers or low-readers will be partnered with readers.
Groups sizes will be four students per group.
3. Teacher monitors and assists the students in choosing group name, doing partnered internet
research and group discussion.
4. Teacher hands out a journal to each student, walks students through name and persona
selection process, and reviews and monitors journaling strategies.
5. Teacher will use CAF Strategies to best support class. The following CAF strategies will
be used:
a. Students practice with partners. Students know who their partners are before the
lessons begin. We spend a lot of time early in the year teaching children how to
efficiently identify and work with partners, as well as the appropriate behaviors and
what we expect during partner work. If procedures for working with partners are
put in place during the first weeks of school, turn and talk during whole-group
instruction becomes a powerful tool for practicing and reinforcing any skill, and
takes a minute or less. While children practice with a partner, we listen and observe
closely. We can get an immediate feel for whether or not children get it, if we need
another round of teaching the strategy, or if weve goofed and taught something the
students arent ready for (or taught in a way that confused them).
b. Incorporate expanded vocabulary Teacher will provide students with a guided
research page for students to utilize while working with partner doing internet
research. On the guided research page teacher will list expanded vocabulary words
that the students will need to work together to find the definitions of and then will
be asked to use them in their journal activity later that day.
6. Teacher will provide all students a guided research page that will also have a vocabulary
list, this sheet will serve as a graphic organizer when students are working on the journal
activity so that the lower level readers will have the vocabulary words to refer to as well as

their meanings.. Low level readers will be partnered with higher level readers during the
research project.
7. Teacher will monitor progress by interacting with research partners during the guided
research and also by checking in with discussion groups after research and asking leading
questions for the groups to discuss.
8. Teacher will monitor personal progress of each student by reading the journal entries
written by the students.
9. Teachers will hand out guided research pages and journals for students to work on. At the
end of the class teachers will collect the guided research papers and journals from students.

3. Closure
How will you close the lesson?

Teacher will close the lesson by asking students to sit in a circle and
share what they learned during their guided research and invite
students to discuss which names and personas they chose as their
journaling character.

V.

Assessment
How will you know what students have learned? Address each learning outcome
specifically.

Teacher will assess student learning for the research element of the lesson
by reading over guided research pages and looking for investigative
indicators, such as detailed answers to assigned questions and inferences
made by students when exact information is not found.
Teacher will assess student learning for the journaling/writing narrative
element, by reading each students journal entry, and looking for
descriptive details, character development, use of assigned vocabulary
words, detailed explanations of historically accurate events, and a well
developed conclusion.

VI.

Materials
List the materials and technology you will need to teach this lesson

Chrome books
Guided research page.
Journals for each student.
Example journal.