Teacher: Cristen Simone

Day: 1 of 1

Grade: 4
Subject: Social Studies

Date: December 4, 2015

Time: 25-35 minutes

Cognitive Level(s) of Lesson: Analysis

Objective:
Students will be able to:
Learning: understand how Christmas is celebrated in the United States
Behavior: by answering response questions about Christmas
Condition: after a class discussion about what Christmas is and reviewing symbols and traditions
through a slideshow

NJCCS Addressed:
6.1.4.D.1
Describe characteristics of oneself, ones family, and others.
6.1.4.D.2
Demonstrate an understanding of family roles and traditions.

Instructional Strategies:
Opening:
1. The teacher explains to her students that in todays lesson they will be discussing
Christmas in the United States, and the symbols and traditions that are recognized.
(Anticipatory Set)
2. The teacher will begin by opening up a slideshow presentation on the projector screen
that will be showing the material along with pictures.

3. She will start by asking students what Christmas is to them. Anticipated Responses: a
holiday when Santa comes (Assessment of Background Knowledge)
4. The teacher will explain to the students that they will be going over how Christmas is
celebrated in the Unites States since they are starting their research papers about
Christmas in various countries. (Purpose Setting)
Presentation:
5. The teacher will begin by opening up a slideshow presentation through the website Prezi.
(Learning Style)
6. The slideshow will be displaying all of the material that the teacher is going over so the
students can read what she is reviewing as she is teaching. (Learning Styles)
7. The teacher will go over what Christmas is and why it is celebrated in the Unites States.
(Input)
8. The teacher will explain that Christmas started as a celebration of Jesuss birthday but it
quickly became a holiday that is celebrated for everyone. (Input)
9. The teacher will explain the significance of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th
and where that date came from. (Input)
10. The teacher will explain that there are many traditions or customs that are celebrated or
seen during the Christmas season that appeared throughout history. The slideshow will
show many of them and why they are celebrated. (Input)
11. The teacher will tell students her own traditions and will ask students to start thinking of
their own because they will share their traditions or customs after. (Input) (Modeling)
12. She will pause in between the slides to stop and discuss the various customs or traditions.
(Input)(Checking for Understanding)
13. After students show understanding of all customs/traditions, the teacher will move on to
holiday symbols that are found such as Santa Claus, Christmas tree, holly, ect.
14. The slideshow will display symbols one by one with a picture and a description. The
teacher will ask for volunteers to read the description out loud. (Leaning Style)
15. The teacher will ask students if they have ever seen any of these symbols. Anticipated
Responses: yes no (Checking for Understanding)
16. The teacher will ask if any of the students can think of other symbols that represent
Christmas. Anticipated Responses: yes no Christmas bells lights (Checking for
Understanding)
17. After the teacher has checked students understanding and feels like they grasped all of the
topics that she had covered, she will move on. She will end their discussion by telling the
students that since they have covered Christmas in the United States, they can work on
their research papers to see how other countries celebrate Christmas.
18. The teacher will tell the students that they will be answering some response questions in
their notebooks.
Guided Practice:
19. The teacher will show response questions on the projector screen so it will be visible to
everyone. (Interests)(Varying Product)

20. The first response question will ask what the students like to do every year for Christmas.
They will have to think about places they go around the holidays, where they celebrate
their holiday, and the traditions they share with their family. (Individual Measurability)
21. The second question will be for students who do not celebrate Christmas. It will be
asking them to do think of a holiday that they do celebrate and what traditions they do
during that holiday. They can also keep in mind how their holiday might differ from
Christmas. (Individual Measurability)
22. The teacher will go around the room,according to their groups, to hear students
responses after they are finished writing it down.(Instructional Grouping) (Formative
Assessment)
Closure:
23. The teacher will close the lesson by asking students if they know what Christmas is and
learned new traditions or symbols that are seen during this holiday. (Summary of Major
Points)
24. She will ask a few questions about the slides that test their understanding. (Checking for
Understanding)
25. The teacher tells students it is important to understand how holidays are celebrated and
seen all over the world, even if you do not celebrate a particular holiday it is still part of
history. (Tying Coherent Parts to a Whole)
26. The teacher will tell students that they did a good job with todays lesson and that they
will be continuing their research paper about Christmas around the world. Once they
submit their papers, they will be sharing what they have learned about other cultures and
their celebration of Christmas. (Preview of Future Lesson)
Assessment:
Formative: Steps 12, 15, 16, 24
Individual Measurability:Steps 20 and 21
Summative: Step 26

Differentiation:
Varying Content:
Interests: Step 19
Learning Styles: Steps 5, 6, 14
Varying Process:Step 22
Varying Product:Step 19

Technology:The projector screen was used to show slideshow presentation and the response
questions.