A Great Lesson Plan for 4th Grade Social Studies

Grade: 4th
Subject: Social Studies
Topic: The Amazon River

Standards:

A.4.2 Locate on a map or globe physical features such as continents, oceans, mountain ranges, and land forms, natural features such as resources, flora, and fauna; and human features such as cities, states, and national borders

A.4.4 Describe and give examples of ways in which people interact with the physical environment, including use of land, location of communities, methods of construction, and design of shelters

A.4.9 Give examples to show how scientific and technological knowledge has led to environmental changes, such as pollution prevention measures, air-conditioning, and solar heating

Objectives:

• Students will understand the geographic location of the Amazon River.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of one of the various systems of the Amazon
• Students will write about environmental changes and predict the future of the Amazon.

Materials:

• Construction paper
• Boarding passes w/highlighted areas
• Power point presentation of Amazon photos
• Crayons
• Tape
• Scissors
• Jungle/rainforest sounds
• CD player
• Canoe paddles
• Laptop computer
• 26 chairs (enough for the class)

Motivation/Introduction

• Students will come into the classroom and will be handed a boarding pass to get onto the Amazon Queen Riverboat.
• The tour guide will hand out canoe paddles and ask the students on the end to start paddling.
• Rainforest sounds will be playing in the background of the classroom.

Outline of Steps:
• After the students have boarded the riverboat, the tour guide (teacher) will have everyone take a seat. The tour guide will welcome the students to the riverboat.
• The tour guide will explain that they are all there to go on an Amazon adventure
• The tour guide will pull up a power point presentation which will have a world map as well as a map of South America with the Amazon clearly labeled. The tour guide will show the students where we will be traveling on the river.
• The tour guide will go into a small presentation about what we might expect to see on the tour. (What the climate will be like, the food, the wildlife etc…)
• At this point the tour guide will tell the students that the Amazon is so complex, that the group will need to help the tour guide explore the region.
• The tour guide will tell the students that they will be breaking into groups of 3 or 4.
• Students will be instructed to look in their boarding pass. In their boarding pass they will notice a fact book about the Amazon. The section that is highlighted in their pass will indicate which group the student is in.
• The students should get into groups, read over their section of the facts. They will be given a piece of paper and crayons. When they are finished reading their facts, they will need to draw a small poster that represents their group. (For example, for climate they can draw a rain cloud with a gauge showing 9 feet )
• When the groups are finished they will come back to the large group in the Riverboat and share what they learned/explored. The posters they made will be put on the wall to form a large picture of what the Amazon encompasses.

Conclusion:

• Looking at the photo, the tour guide will ask the students to imagine the big picture of the Amazon. The tour guide will explain that there is more to the river than just water and that many systems depend on this.
• The tour guide will talk about the environmental problems we are facing in the Amazon.

Extension Activity:

• Students can answer one of the following questions in their journal (one paragraph):
o What can you do to help save the rainforests?
o Why do you think the population of indigenous people living on the riverbanks has decreased?
o What do you think the Amazon River will look like in 20 years? Explain your answer.

Accommodations for Special Needs:
• Students who have difficulty reading will be paired up into groups of four, and will be able to illustrate rather than write to represent their fact.
• Students with physical disabilities will be able to rely on group members to draw the ideas they may come up with.
• ELL students will be able to rely on photos for clarification, as well as working in small groups to help them understand content.