Title of Unit: Civics Title of Lesson: Interest Groups Submitted By: Brittini Mrozek

A. Summary of the Lesson Plan: This social studies lesson plan is designed for fifth graders to learn about national interest groups. This lesson uses the battle of school lunch ingredients to illustrate how interest groups affect public policy. B. Target Population: Grade Level: 5th grade Skill Level: students of all levels Grouping: Whole group reading, independent for activity C. Materials: pencil Reading packet about interest groups and the cafeteria issue. D. Objectives: o NV State Social Studies Standards o C15.5.3 Give examples of national interest groups.

Student-Friendly Standards C15.5.3 I can tell you examples of national interest groups.

E. Procedure: 1. Begin the lesson by asking the questions: o o o Who decides what is offered in the school cafeteria? Are there any rules about what is served in the cafeteria? Who might care about what students eat every day?

2. Handout the packet about interest groups and the potato problem to the students. As a class, read pages 1-3. Discuss the transparency that is included in the packet. 3. The packet talks about the different types of interest groups. It also discusses an issue with the school cafeteria. One side of the issue wants to reduce the use of potatoes served because of health issues and the other side wants to keep serving potatoes. Have students pick a side and list reasons why they chose this side, create a name for their interest group, and reasons to support their side of the issue. 4. Draw a poster to share with the public that would persuade them towards your side of the issue. 5. CLOSURE: Have students recall different types of interest groups, list them on the board.

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2013

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 1

Title of Unit: Civics Title of Lesson: Interest Groups Submitted By: Brittini Mrozek

F. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding? I will collect the students packets at the end of the lesson to check for understanding. I will also use formative assessment while having a discussion about different kinds of interest groups. Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson. Students are able to give examples of national interest groups. I will know that students can give examples of national interest groups if they are actively participating in discussions about interest groups as well as completing their worksheet on creating their own interest group. G. Reflection: 1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach? I think it will be easy to think about examples of interest groups that the students have seen in the media. It will be easy to introduce the interest groups with this background knowledge. 2. Which part will be most challenging for you to teach? It will be challenging to teach about all the different types of interest groups. A lot of them include vocabulary that might be difficult for fifth graders (ideological, economic). 3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson? I can extend this lesson by having each student pick an interest group to research. They can research what issue they represent and their opinion of the issue. 4. What will you do for students who dont grasp the concepts? For students who dont grasp the issue we can look on the internet for interest groups they may be familiar with. We can look through magazines for interest group ads. 5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change? I wouldnt change anything about the lesson; I think it is pretty straight forward. The packet that will be handed out also gives directions as well so it is pretty simple to follow. 6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part? The most difficult part was the time. This lesson was really great for introducing students to interest groups. It provided worksheets and activities. I wanted to do all them, but did not have enough time.
Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2013 Karen Powell- Instructor page 2

Title of Unit: Civics Title of Lesson: Interest Groups Submitted By: Brittini Mrozek

These are pages from the packet. One is a paper about the interest groups and the others is the actually worksheet the students will do. This can be found on: http://cdn.icivics.org/sites/default/fi les/uploads/Interest%20Groups.pdf

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2013

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 3

Title of Unit: Civics Title of Lesson: Interest Groups Submitted By: Brittini Mrozek

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2013

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 4