What Makes a Good City?

Unit Title The New Haven Community
Grade Level 5
Subject Area(s) Social Studies, Reading, Writing, Technology
Essential Question(s) What makes a “good” city?

Curriculum Standards/Frameworks

State Standards:
Social Studies
• 1.4 – Demonstrate an understanding of geographical space and place.
• 1.2 – Describe the importance of significant events in local and Connecticut history and their connections to United States history.
• 1.13 - Understand the characteristics of and interactions among culture, social systems and institutions
• 2.1 – Access and gather information from a variety of primary and secondary sources (maps, charts, graphs, images and print materials).
Literacy
• 1.1 - Students use appropriate strategies before, during and after reading in order to construct meaning
• 1.2 - Students interpret, analyze and evaluate text in order to extend understanding and appreciation
• 1.4 - Students communicate with others to create interpretations of written, oral and visual texts.
• 2.2 - Students explore multiple responses to literature.
• 3.0 - Students produce written, oral and visual texts to express, develop and substantiate ideas and experiences.
• 4.3 - Students use Standard English for composing and revising written text.

New Haven Standards
Social Studies
• Power Strand 1 - Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens
• Power Strand 2 – Historical Thinking
• Power Strand 3 – Places and Regions
• Power Strand 5 – Applying History
Technology
• Locate and validate information on the internet
• Scan materials, such as photos, to incorporate into reports
• Use knowledge of print and non-print media to create persuasive presentation
Literacy
• Students will use rubrics to reflect on writing.
• Students will use a variety of graphic organizers to plan their ideas.
• Students will communicate in complete and clear sentences on a specific topic.
• Students will include elaboration using FEED strategies (facts, experiences, examples and details).

Assessment
Collaboration Rubrics
Inquiry Project Rubric
Inquiry Presentation Rubric
Evaluation of Research Notebooks
Digital Story Evaluation Interview Summaries
Final Inquiry Projects
New Haven Fact Files
Map Skills Booklet
Digital Story

Performance Tasks:
Present “The City of New Haven – A Living Museum”

Approximate Time Needed
10 weeks :
• March 16-27 - Weeks 1 and 2 – Immersion Phase
• March 30 – April 1 - Week 3 – Survey Results and Inquiry Groupings
• April 5- 9 - Week 4 – Group Building and Project Planning
• April 12 – 16 - Week 5 – Planning and Investigating
• April 26 – May 7 - Weeks 6 and 7 – Investigating and Collecting
• May 10 – 14 - Week 8 – Implementation Phase - Critical Inquiry Projects
• May 17 – 21 - Week 9 – Implementation Phase - Critical Inquiry Projects
• Week 10 – Presentation of Inquiry Learning
Prerequisite Skills:
-The Immersion Phase will include building schema/background knowledge and interest about the city of New Haven. The New Haven Register will be read each day in a “Morning/Afternoon Café”. Students will identify and discuss major news events pertaining to the city of New Haven.

-Visit and identify important features of the City of New Haven Website http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/


What makes a “good” city?
Immersion Phase:
Expose students to as much information as possible regarding the city of New Haven paying particular attention to:
-government
-history
- business
- community service
- arts and events
- kids in New Haven



What are your opinions about city life?
Complete opinionairre and discuss. Notice trends and debate responses.
If possible, use Quizdom to chart responses

What are you curious about?
Create Wonder Lists:
In small groups, list questions they have about the city of New Haven.
Are the questions literal or deep?

Where is New Haven located?
Use Google Earth to locate New Haven
http://earth.google.com

What does my inner voice tell me?
Monitor Comprehension –
Stop, Think, and React
-Comprehension Toolkit-Comprehension and Collaboration p 123

What makes a team/group work?
Create group rules and procedures
Identify skills needed for small group discussion
Comprehension and Collaboration p 128,130

What’s the plan?
Identify a final project idea
Comprehension and Collaboration p 129

How can we stay organized?
Create Research Notebooks
Comprehension and Collaboration p135

What’s the point of note taking?
Read with a question in mind
Comprehension and Collaboration p123

How can we organize our findings?
Create Question Webs
Comprehension and Collaboration p139

Is all information reliable?
Evaluate internet resources
Comprehension and Collaboration p138

Do you get the “gist” of it?
Synthesize Information
Comprehension and Collaboration p125

What makes a great interviewer?
Practice and demonstrate an interview
Comprehension and Collaboration p140-141

Why is it important to create meaningful question?
Compose meaningful interview questions
Questions developed

What is the importance of writing “Thank You” letters?
Write letters of thanks to interviewee

What are different ways to tell a story? I
ntroduction to Digital Storytelling
Microsoft Photostory 3

How do we organize our story?
Storyboarding: How we organize our thoughts
Meet with small group to plan and develop

Photostory 3 – Digital Story
Monitor story development, provide feedback, assign roles if necessary conferencing
Presentation of Learning – “New Haven - A Great City”