Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students are “tuning in” to their new unit on Communities.  Homes are an important part of any community, and they are the focus of this vocabulary-rich, masterful, creative classic by Mary Ann Hoberman and Betty Fraser.  I like to include this lesson for the sheer… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students will listen to a classic Virginia Lee Burton story, Katy and the Big Snow.  Then, using their own knowledge and some new understandings gained from the text, they will draw a small city and populate it with important community resources and buildings. Lesson Plan:… Read more

Lesson Overview: The last lesson looked at places in the community (Katy and the Big Snow).  In contrast, this lesson focuses on people in the community.  By now the children should have some understanding of the kinds of jobs people do in communities.  Using this understanding and some of the… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students use the mixed media masterpiece by Jeannie Baker to take a detailed look at how people can transform their communities.  From urban blight to urban paradise, the gradual unfolding of home and community takes place under Baker’s masterful designs.  The text is wordless, so… Read more

Lesson Overview: Students have already looked at places and people in a community.  They have considered how communities are cared for by residents.  Now, at the end of the unit, it’s time to celebrate!  This lesson asks students to consider how communities celebrate, what they celebrate, and to record their… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this Unit of Inquiry, students learn about markets, business, and simple economics.  This is a “tuning-in” lesson that allows the students to observe several buyers, sellers, and products.  Take a virtual field trip and visit markets around the world!  Your students will identify basic economic players in… Read more

Lesson Overview: This is a simple and easy lesson that uses a picture book to make sure that the students understand the concepts of product variety, sales, competition, and advertising.  There is also a multicultural Korean theme that may help some of your EAL kids feel at home as they… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students use what they have learned in their unit on economics to analyze the school library.  Working together, the class considers what a school library consumes and what it produces.  Do the services provided justify the consumption?  This is a no-prep, easy-to-deliver lesson that is… Read more

Lesson Overview: This lesson invites students to reflect on the value of money and its role in our lives.  In the markets and economics unit, students typically get very excited about making and selling goods and services.  They learn about running simple businesses and usually have a chance to sell… Read more

Lesson Overview: This lesson assumes that your students will be holding a market or souk as part of their UoI or as their summative assessment.  After studying basic economics and markets, many teachers plan a celebration of learning that is also a shopping extravaganza for the school community.  In Germany,… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students “tune in” to their new unit on signs and symbols.  Since libraries have so many signs, there is a great real-world connection.  To start the unit, I like to have kids look for signs and symbols they can find.  However, it is also important… Read more

The second lesson in the Signs and Symbols unit is a lesson on using the five finger rule .  The lesson on this rule is in the Back to School and Library Games area.  It’s Lesson #4, Five Finger Rule for Choosing Just Right Books.  Please click here to see the lesson. Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students learn to identify and name symbols of their host country.  I have written this lesson for the six official symbols of the United Arab Emirates, but you can adjust the symbols to match your home/host country.  The information literacy skill is listening, something kids… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students are introduced to infographics.  Some infographics use symbols, and the lesson focuses on the use of symbols to help convey information and represent facts in infographics.  We want the children to find more and different uses for symbols, and infographics are a great way… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students learn that flags are symbols of countries.  Flags have colors, shapes, and pictures or symbols.  When these elements come together, a universally recognized symbol of the country is the result.  Let your children explore state flags or flags of the world in this hands-on,… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students end their Unit of Inquiry on Signs and Symbols by having fun with Mélanie Watt’s Scaredy Squirrel.  Scaredy Squirrel stories are told through a combination of words and graphic organizer-type illustrations.  However, many of the illustrations also use symbols with which Scaredy Squirrel communicates… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students “tune in” to their new unit by sampling the content of some of the collection’s picture books.  Using at least three picture books, the children will see how many elements of cities and neighborhoods they can spot in their favorite stories.  They will then… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students use the mixed media masterpiece by Jeannie Baker to take a detailed look at how common people can transform their communities.  From urban blight to urban paradise, the gradual unfolding of home and community takes place under Baker’s masterful designs.  The text is wordless,… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students get a chance to try their hand at mapping one of the school’s spaces.   I’ve seen teachers give several periods to a project like this, but I find that one period works just as well to give children a feel for how difficult it… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students learn what can be done with parts of the city when they are no longer useful or safe.   How can an older or rundown part of the city be transformed?  Can we change what we have or must we build something new?  Using the… Read more

Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students are challenged to think about cities of the future.   What might they look like?  How would they be different from today’s cities?  Using a current events article, kids will complete a short reading, then think about what an underwater city might look like and… Read more