Social Studies plan for EB 2009-2010 - Mohini Vohra

Social studies topics are combined units covering Geography and History. This is part one of a two-year programme.

Dinosaurs
Aims:

To experience the process of dinosaur discovery from start to finish – the digging, reconstruction and finally the realisation of what dinosaurs might have looked like.
To discover the world of Dinosaurs, their evolution, behaviour, habitats and why they mysteriously disappeared.

Method:
• Finding out about dinosaurs – studying fossils to build up a picture of life on earth.
• The dinosaur Age – the Triassic period – the Jurassic period and the Cretaceous period.
• Different types of dinosaurs – observational drawings and writing the names.
• Life in the Triassic – Triassic plant-eaters – Triassic meat-eaters.
• Life in the Jurassic – Jurassic plant-eaters – Jurassic meat-eaters.
• Life in the Cretaceous.
• Why were these different creatures called Dinosaurs?
• Make Dino-file for Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Styracosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. (How long, how tall, how heavy, what did they eat, what enemies they had?)
• Learn to draw dinosaurs.
• Make dinosaur time line.
• Design and make clay and plasticine models of dinosaurs.
• Make information or story books with flaps illustrating observational drawingsand information gathered.
• Make a ‘Dinosaur Names’ display and write them on paper strips. Produce ‘Top 20 Dinosaurs’.
• Make ‘Dinosaur Dictionary’ and write down all the special dinosaur words.
• Make ‘question and answer’ writing book.
- What was a dinosaur? When did dinosaur live? What did they eat? Name a plant-eating dinosaur. Name a meat-eating dinosaur. How was a dinosaur born? How long were the biggest dinosaurs? How do we know dinosaurs lived on earth? Where can you see a dinosaur today?
• Write a rhyming poem about one of the dinosaurs, e.g. Diplodocus.
• Why did Dinosaurs disappear? Write down the reasons.

Resources:
Books, picture books, posters, films, DVD’s, visit at the museum.

Evaluation:
The students should be able to answer the following questions:
• How and where did dinosaurs live?
• How did dinosaurs attack and defend themselves?
• What was the main dinosaur diet?
• How did dinosaurs keep their eggs safe? How did the eggs hatch? Who took care of the babies? How long did it take for a dinosaur to grow up?
• How long ago did the dinosaurs live?
• What other animals lived then?
• How did dinosaurs become extinct from the earth?


Food and Harvest
Aims:

To explore and identify some features of living things while focusing on the need for food.
To find out about where food comes from using a variety of tools and techniques.
To understand the development of a seed to a plant.
To look at types of farm machinery and processes used today.
To develop a concern for others and to develop a sense of community (both locally and globally) in terms of dependency.
To identify differences between ways of life at different times; to find out about farming practices past and present
To understand why harvest is celebrated at this time of the year.

Method

• Make collage pictures and discuss how we all need food to give us energy, make us grow and keep us healthy.
• Make an interactive display to have the children understand where food comes from before it reaches the table. Extend ideas by telling that food comes from a variety of places including trees and plants, sea, farming and farm animals.
• Use a traditional tale “The little red hen” to explain the process of making bread from a grain of wheat. Make bread.
• Make list of preserved food that we eat under the headings frozen, canned, bottled and dried.
• Talk about the climate and conditions needed for the produce to grow and examine the issue of poverty and drought in many countries overseas.
• Discuss and make a comparison between modern day harvesting and that in the time gone by.
• Investigate evidence of harvest time. Conduct a survey to find out what food from Danish farmland we find in the shops.
• Learn about traditions of giving to others at harvest time.
• Make models of tractors, trailers, seed drills, plough and combine harvesters.
• Make corn dollies and finger puppets of harvest mice.
• Draw and write what they learned to put in a class book which will be a class resource.
• Make healthy drinks and snacks.
• Hold a bread tasting session with a selection of breads from around the world.


Resources:

Children’s literature Resources.
Videos
Wall charts/photos/magazine pictures of different kinds of food.
Visit to bakery or farm.


Evaluation:

• Did we succeed in covering the main purposes? The concepts? Personal, social and emotional development; interdependence; change between modern day harvests and those in the times gone by; types of machinery and processes that are used today, scarcity and culture.
• Are our attitudes good? - confidence building, appreciation of peers, sense of ownership of learning.
• What were the most successful activities?
• Were the resources ok?