Students:
The students that participated in this unit were 22 third graders, mostly second and third generation hispanics (México - no other countries represented) and a four philipino. From 2 to 5 are advanced students (one identified as a GATE [Gifted And Talented Education] student, the others reffered only), 2 resource students, 5 students with SSTs (Student Study Team). Half the students are bused in from other neighborhoods.

Major Goals:
The goals of this unit are:

• to familiarize the students with other cultures and sensitize them towards people who are different, or who have different life experiences/lifestyles
• to increase the student's knowledge of American history, culture and patriotic symbols
• to increase student's writing skills by using the writing process in creative story writing
• to help the students increase their map skills (achieve the concept of mapping, compass rose and it's uses)
• to give the students practice in using drawing and word processing programs
• to give the students experience with the Internet

Timeline:
The approximate time to complete this unit is five weeks. A lesson per week works well.

Assessments:
The final unit evaluation is the average of the sum of the individual evaluations for each lesson. Lesson One Rubric,  Lesson Two Rubric, Lesson Three Rubric,  Lesson Four Rubric,  Lesson Five Rubric.
All children will gain different skills and concepts from this unit. The best assessment is teacher observation.
 

Standards:

English Language Arts-

• Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development

                   Students understand the basic features of reading. They select letter patterns andknow
                   how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word
                   parts. They apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading.
• Reading Comprehension

                   Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They draw upon a
                   variety of comprehension strategies as needed (e.g., generating and responding to
                   essential questions, making predictions, comparing information from several sources).
                   The selections in Recommended Readings in Literature, Kindergarten Through
                   Grade Eight illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by
                   students. In addition to their regular school reading, by grade four, students read
                   one-half million words annually, including a good representation of
                   grade-level-appropriate narrative and expository text (e.g., classic and contemporary
                   literature, magazines, newspapers, online information). In grade three, students make
                   substantial progress toward this goal.
• Literary Response and Analysis

                   Students read and respond to a wide variety of significant works of children's
                   literature.
                   They distinguish between the structural features of the text and literary terms or
                   elements (e.g., theme, plot, setting, characters). The selections in Recommended
                   Readings in Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Eight illustrate the quality
                   and complexity of the materials to be read by students.
Writing Strategies
                   Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central
                   idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress
                   through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing
                   successive versions).
 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
                   Students write compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and
                   experiences. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English
                   and the drafting, research, and organizational strategies.

• Students choose and use appropriate units and measurement tools to quantify the properties of objects.
• Students make decisions about how to approach problems.

 

• Students in grade three learn more about our connections to the past and the ways in which particularly local, but also regional and national, government and traditions have developed and left their marks on current society, providing common memories.


                    3.1 Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps,
                    tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people,
                    places, and environments in a spatial context.

• Life Sciences


                    Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism's chance
                    for survival.

• Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments, such as
                    oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.

• Several visual arts standards are addressed by this unit.