Title – Freedom!

By – Samantha Colmenero

Primary Subject – Social Studies

Secondary Subjects – Language Arts

Grade Level – 3

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Standards:

Social Studies (b)(2)(A) The student is expected to identify reasons people have formed communities, including a need for security, law, and material well being.

Learning Objective(s):

The student will be able to:
• express his/her thoughts of what freedom looks like in their writing journal in five minutes
  
• write a paragraph stating what freedom means to them after viewing provided PowerPoint
  
• discuss with their peers the reasons for laws and police after teacher discussion of the need for laws

List of Materials Needed:

• PowerPoint of Mayflower Compact/Freedom
  
• Writing journal
  
• Pencil
  
• Model, Model, Model!

Pre-Activity Preparation:

• PowerPoint of Mayflower Compact/Freedom must be created.
• The Elmo must be set up and the PowerPoint has to be set up on the screen.
• Writing journals must be on students’ desks.

Transition:

Students work in groups with minimal conversation unless asked to discuss.

Establishing Set/Motivation/Introduction:

• Say “What do you think of when I say the word ‘freedom’?
• Would you please draw me a picture of what you think?”

Learning Experiences/Presentation/Procedure:

1. Warm up Elmo and set up PowerPoint of
   
   Mayflower Compact and Freedom
   
   .
   
2. Students take out writing journals and pencils. At this time, they are not allowed to sharpen pencils, since it will disturb class.
   
3. Remind class that their voices must be turned off.
   
4. Ask “What do you think of when I say the word ‘freedom’? Would you please draw me a picture of what you think?”
   
5. Talk about freedom and its history (focus on the Mayflower Compact)
   
6. Ask why they think we are NOT allowed to do everything we want (focus on law breaking)
   
7. Have students them discuss with their tables what they think the Statue of Liberty is a SYMBOL of.
   
8. Talk about laws and police.
   
9. Explain why it’s NOT okay to do bad things. Discuss consequences.
   
10. Students write down one thing they cannot do.
    
11. Encourage them to share their ideas of what they wrote.
    
12. They will work with their tables and write why we have police and what freedom means to them.
    
13. Everyone will share their ideas.
    
14. End with a “making good choices” talk. Discuss benefits of good behavior and consequences for bad behavior.

Closure:

• They will share their ideas of why we have laws and police.
• They will discuss what freedom means to them.
• At the end of the “good choices” talk, end with a positive note so that students will be more likely to remember what kind of positive behavior to exert.

E-Mail

Samantha Colmenero

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