This unit will consist of Social Studies lessons that will teach students in a self-contained Autistic Support classroom.  It will educate the students about Old City Philadelphia, but it will incorporate some of the domains in the Life Skills curriculum. I want the students to become informed about the city and also learn about different life skills.  I will incorporate mapping skills, computer navigation skills, how to be an appropriate citizen, social skills and more.

During this seminar the professors used a lot of real-world experiences, I want to incorporate my experiences into the unit.  Using my own pictures and experiences and stories, I want to explain to the students about Old City Philadelphia then and now.  We will be taking a trip to Old City at the end of the unit to visit the different places we learned about.  There will be 8 specific places that we will talk about, and dive into.  We will complete a worksheet on each place and talk about the significance of these specific places then and now.

While discussing the mapping skills we will go over what Philadelphia looked like then and now.  I want the students to see what it looked like starting in the 1720s to now.  How people would travel to get to different places in the city then and what houses looked like, schools, and stores.  The students that I teach are majority African-American, I will touch on the differences of jobs, schools, houses, and stores, I will discuss the significance of black men, women and children in that time and how they helped to shape Philadelphia today.

The students will be learning about things their peers of the same age will be learning, it will just focus on more specific places and people and will spotlight 8 landmarks in Old City Philadelphia and discuss them and learn how those specific landmarks made our city what it is today. The specific landmarks are as follows:  Carpenters’ Hall, Congress Hall, Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross House, Christ Church, First Bank, Independence Hall, and Elfreth’s Alley. We will end at The National Constitution Center, this will show the students a more collective and overall understanding of the city.

I picked these places because some are very familiar by name and some the students may not have ever heard of before, and that is ok.  A reason for this unit is to introduce more places in the city where the students live, as well as to learn about history, comprehension, transportation, travel training and more.

My students are all diagnosed as Autistic, some have an ID diagnosis and some have OHI.   They are on different levels, my approach to teaching these lessons is to have different tiers.  This will help the students to learn and understand on their appropriate level.  To begin, I like to provide a whole group lesson approach, have all of the students together, and listen to the subject of what the lesson is about.  For example, when I introduce this unit, I will address the whole class, we will look at an overview of what we are going to do and then what our ultimate goal is.  In this unit, there are some goals for the entire class; I want the students to become more comfortable learning in a large group, and feel comfortable with what they are learning.  There are a couple objectives for this unit- for students to know more about the city they live in, for the students to know different landmarks in their city, for the students to appreciate their city and become more aware of how historical their city is, and for the students to find enjoyment in learning and not only learn in the classroom, but being able to go out in the world and see what they researched.

Since I have already structured my class in  3 tiers, I will have 3 tiers for small groups and/or independent work.  Tier 1 (higher level tier- 2nd-3rd grade comprehension), will have question and answer worksheets, paragraph writing, story excerpt reading, creating maps, reading maps, looking at floor plans, higher level discussions- every student in this group has an IEP and the accommodations/modifications will be followed to ensure student success.

Tier 2 (middle tier- 1st-2nd grade comprehension), will also have question and answer worksheets, paragraph writing, story excerpt reading, creating maps, reading maps, looking at floor plans, and appropriate level discussions- again, every student in this group has an IEP and the accommodations/modifications will be followed to ensure student success.

Tier 3 (low level tier – PreK- Kindergarten comprehension), with also have question and answer worksheets- adapted to have more pictures and one word answers, paragraph writing, that will incorporate more picture to word or word to picture,,\ story excerpt reading, with the teacher/staff member reading to the student, creating maps, reading maps, looking at floor plans, and appropriate level discussions- finally, every student in this group has an IEP and the accommodations/modifications will be followed to ensure student success.

Social Studies curriculum for a self-contained AS classroom

Old City in Philadelphia

Day 1: Introduction Lesson (30 to 45 mins)

Essential Questions:  What are landmarks?  What are monuments?  What are museums?  Why are they important?

Objective:

LWBAT define different vocabulary IOT have a better understanding of the lesson.

LWBAT examine city landmarks IOT have a better knowledge of their city’s history.

LWBAT match words to pictures IOT show understanding.

Steps:

1. Power point presentation- (Appendix 1)
2. -go over power point presentation, introduce the monuments, landmarks, and museums.  Encourage the students to tell you what the images are prior to you telling them.

-During the presentation in this lesson, you will go over the entire presentation, introducing all of the places.

-Explain to the students that we will work on one to two landmarks during a lesson, answering the questions in the worksheet that will be displayed in the slides.  Using their computers to find the information.  Also, some of the landmarks we will look at a map and talk about how we will navigate to the different areas when we go on our trip.

1. Students will then complete the exit ticket.
2. Exit ticket is, Name a place we mentioned today.  (If a student needs support in identifying a place, first show a picture of one of them, if they are unable to say it, start writing the word on the board, letter by letter and then see if they can guess it like that.  If not, have them read/repeat the place when it is written out.  For a student who is unable to say a place on their own, have that student come up to the white board and pick a place (picture) and repeat after you.

Lesson: Betsy Ross House

LWBAT identify BRH by picture IOT find it on a map.

LWBAT state at least one fact about BR IOT show understanding.

LWBAT identify the flag BR sewed from other flags IOT show understanding.

Steps

1. Show students the power point presentation slide of BRH- (power point presentation will be used for every lesson)
2. Ask them if they have heard of Betsy Ross and if so, what have they heard or learned about her.
3. Why was she important?
4. Hand out “Who was Betsy Ross?” (Appendix 3)
5. We will read as a whole group (popcorn read)
6. Through the reading, ask the students questions.
7. When finished reading, complete the question together in a whole group.  Ask students why they think she did or did not create the first flag.
8. When finished the question, have the students go to the next question and have them create their own flags.  Ask them to design a flag that would best represent them. (about 15 minutes)
9. When they are done, have the students come to the front of the class and have them tell you why they designed the flag to look like that.  Why they used those colors, drew the pictures, used those words.  Display the students’ flags.
10. Exit ticket- give one fact about Betsy Ross or name a landmark we discussed in class.

Lesson: Map (general) Appendix 4

Students will be using the map for every landmark lesson.

LWBAT locate landmarks on a map IOT provide location.

LWBAT distinguish between N, S, E, W, IOT get to location.

LWBAT answer basic questions about locations IOT provide comprehension.

1. Hand out the specific day map worksheet.
2. Ask students to write the name and date at the top of the paper.
3. Have students circle the landmark that we will be answering questions about. (landmark will be circled already for students who need it)
4. Using the projector in your room ask a student to come to the front and circle it on your paper.
5. Together as a class complete worksheet.
6. Have the students read the question/statement and write the answer on your sheet.
7. When completed, ask if there are any questions, if you need to go back and answer again.
8. Exit ticket- having the students tell you a location that is NOT one of the 8 landmarks that we are learning about.

Twinkl.com, 2022, Who Was Betsy Ross?, 12.12, {https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1D20th_jfJCvS4-Y2gIMRRwY-1AgKoJhpFivyWw29L-U/edit#slide=id.g83cb59011f_0_210}

Cairney, L. (2021, February 27). TpT resource- Philadelphia Landmarks. TPT: Teaching Resources & Lesson Plans. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from http://teacherspayteachers.com

Clymer, G. (n.d.). Tour Map. The Constitutional Walking Tour. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.theconsitutional.com/guided-tours/tour-map

(n.d.). Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America’s most-trusted online dictionary. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from http://merriam-webster.com

famous landmarks. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from http://google.com/images

famous monuments. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from http://google.com/images

famous museums. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 21, 2022, from http://google.com/images

Liberty Bell. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from http://google.com/images

Independence Hall. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December, 2022, from http://google.com/images

Congress Hall. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from http://google.com/images

Carpenters Hall. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from http://google.com/images

First Bank. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from http://google.com/images

Christ Church. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from http://google.com/images

Elfreth’s Alley. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from http://google.com/images

Betsy Ross House. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from http://google.com/images

National Constitution Center. (n.d.). Google Images. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from http://google.com/images

1. Power point- will be used for every lesson-

OLD CITY PHILADELPHIA

1. Worksheets- *Philly Landmarks-(Lavin)
2. Who was Betsy Ross? Twinkl.com, 2022, Who Was Betsy Ross?, 12.12, {https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1D20th_jfJCvS4-Y2gIMRRwY-1AgKoJhpFivyWw29L-U/edit#slide=id.g83cb59011f_0_210}
3. Let’s talk about the Liberty Bell- map