Megan Breitschwerdt

Mikala Channel
Economic Class and Fairness Lesson Plan
Topic: Give children the opportunity to define what a home is and share different types of
homes.
Anti-Bias Education Goal: Promote self awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social
identities.
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to articulate characteristics of home structures with accurate language.
Students will be able to express differences unbiased language/vocabulary.
Students will use the phrase home rather than house.
Childrens Book: A Shelter In Our Car by Monica Gunning and Illustrated by Elaine Pedlar
Materials: Construction paper, scissors, scrap materials (cardboard, tissue paper, newspaper),
glue/glue sticks, markers, and crayons
Setting Description:
Type: 1st Grade classroom with 2 ELs and 1 student with Learning Disabilities
City: Carson, CA
Number of students: 20 students
Subject: Language Arts
Lesson Type: Single
Social identities: Diverse socio economic class (middle class, working class, below poverty
level). Diverse races (African American, Caucasian, Latino, Asian, etc.)
Context: A student made fun of another student by saying, You dont have a home, because
you live in an apartment. Only houses are homes. This lesson was brought up by childrens
discussion of what defines a home.
Daily Routine: This lesson would take place during whole group time and transition into small
groups to have more discussion. The entire class would participate during the activity.
ENGAGEMENT/INTRODUCTION: (3 MINUTES)
Good morning boys and girls! Today we are going to be reviewing, discussing, and creating
different types of homes. Remember when we looked at different pictures and books of homes?
We talked about the different places people live and what makes their house a home. So today,
Id like you to recall those memories, take some think time, and raise your hand when you are
ready to share your ideas about what a home is. We will give the class 20-30 seconds to think
and then ask them to share their ideas on what makes a home. When children tells us what they
remember about different homes and characteristics of a home, we will write their ideas on the
board. If the class gets off topic, one strategy we will use will be to quietly ask the class, To put
their finger on their nose if they can hear us. Put your fingers on your ears if you can hear us.
We will do this until we have everyones attention. When we have their attention, we will project
different pictures of homes that people live in. (These pictures will have Spanish captions to
help accommodate English Learners to model language in students L1 and L2.) There will be a
picture of a houseboat, a two story house, an apartment, a single story house, a tent, and a car.
This is where we show them A Shelter In Our Car, which we already read to them a few days
prior. We will show the class pages 20-23 and page 30 of the book so they are reminded of

what we read. By doing this, children will have a deep understanding that homes come in all
different shapes, colors, and sizes. This will be beneficial when they create an art piece of their
own home.
Accommodation for Emerging Bilingual Students: We will accommodate children who are
English Learners by assigning them a teacher who is fluent in their L1.
ACTIVITY: (6-7 MINUTES)
After the discussions on the meaning of home, as a whole group one teacher will be
explaining what the activity for the day is. They will say, Today we are going to make our own
homes. The materials that we will be using are construction paper, tissue paper, glue, crayons,
markers, and scissors. We would like to use these materials and build or draw your home.
After, the teacher will point and count them off, this means that one child would say one, while
another would say two, continuing till a child says five. After that the next child starts to count a
one repeating the process till we have five groups.This can be change depending on the
teacher to student ratio. Once that task is complete we would tell the children what number
goes to which teacher. All five children who counted themselves as one would go to a the center
with the a teacher. Once the groups have been set, the materials are given to the children to
begin constructing their homes, which is what home means to them. Through the process a
teacher will be in each of the five centers. The teachers are encouraged to talk to the students
as they are building their homes and discuss the homes that the children are creating. This part
should last ten to twenty minutes, (For the process of this activity with college students it will be
only six to seven minutes).
Once they have constructed their own homes, the teacher will try to get the childrens
attention based on their preferred methods. For example one method that is used is waving
your hand and saying hi, the children will wave and say Hi as well. Within each small group
each child get as minute to describe their home. After everyone has shared, the teacher will
then ask Can anyone tell me what type of homes you guys have or saw? After the children
will all get back together to the rug as a whole class and discuss more about the types of homes
we have.
For children who do not speak English we would translate for them, to the best of our
abilities. We would also use visual aids to illustrate different homes. These images will have
bilingual captions. Children who need extra support will be provided with it. We, teacher
assistants would engage children with emerging language in their native language.

ASSESSMENT: (5-6 MINUTES)

While students are in groups working on their pictures of their homes, teachers will encourage
students to engage in dialogue about what they are creating. Teachers will accommodate ELs
by translating any questions and answers (asked by teacher or student) in their home language.
During the activity, teachers will ask questions such as: What are you creating today?, Why is
your creation considered a home?, and Who do you live with in your home?. After five
minutes, students will be asked to share their creations. The teacher will ask students in the
group, How is your home different from his/her home? Finally, teacher will ask the students to
sing the Clean-up song as they put away their materials. Once they are done, the teacher will
dismiss each student to their desks one at a time to prepare for the closure activity/discussion.
CLOSURE: (5 MINUTES)
Teacher will bring the entire class back to attention by saying, If you can hear me, clap once
(students clap), clap twice (students clap twice). The teacher will then ask if the students
enjoyed the activity and after answering that, the teacher will ask for one student from each
group to share the picture of what their home is and what they believe the word home is. The

teacher will say, Did my class enjoy the activity?, What was your favorite part?, Can
someone from each group share what their drawing of their home is and what they believe is a
home?. During this time the teacher will wait till students voluntarily decide to share their
pictures. Some students will answer by saying, My home is a boat, and I believe a home is a
place to go to to be safe. Another student might say, This is a picture of my home, and I live in
a mobile home. I think a home is a place where you can be comfortable. They will stand up,
demonstrate their picture to their peers and then share what they believe a home is. If a student
answers differently than expected then the teacher will ask the student to explain why they
believe that and to share their picture of their home. An EL student will also demonstrate their
drawing to their peers and share their belief on what a home means to them. Once a student
from every group has shared their drawings, the teacher will then talk about how every person is
unique in their own way by how they define home and what they call home. The teacher will
reiterate the definitions of what a home is and stress the importance of knowing that no matter
the physical condition of their living environments, they can still consider it a home. After
finishing, the teacher and class will wrap up the activity by posting up their drawings up on the
wall of their classroom.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT: (6 MINUTES)
Parental involvement will take place prior to this lesson being implemented. The week before
this lesson, parents will have attended open house. At this time, I will inform the parents that
the students will be exploring the different places that families call home. This lesson is meant
to showcase that many students may live in places other than houses and the unique
characteristics these places have and the distinct living experiences they provide. I will also
request that parents send in pictures of their home with their child to share with the class.
These pictures can show what the family feels is special about the place they call home. If they
feel uncomfortable sharing photographs, sending their student with a short description of their
home is sufficient.