Social studies: what makes a community special?
Third Grade Social Studies Lesson Plan
The Maasai community
Download here
Rationale and Essential Questions:
This lesson is to help students understand why the Maasai community attracts tourists to Kenya. This community has longed preserved its culture and has very little influence from the western world. We will go through the elements that make the Maasai community special. This including their housing, food, roles of men, women and children, traditional dances and their way of life. They live a nomadic way of life and move from one place to another in search of pastures for their cows. Students will therefore learn how they interact with their environment as many of the Maasai communities live where there is wildlife. They therefore teach their children how to survive and live with the wildlife. The students will then learn that in life it is important to acquire skills to help you interact with the environment as well as with other people around you.
The essential questions that will drive this lesson are:
What makes a community special?
What skills do we need to interact with our environment successfully?
Why do people move from one place to another?
Content Knowledge:
The role of men and women in the Maasai community, how the Maasai construct their houses and how and when the Maasai community decide to move to another location. Teacher should also know what the Maasai people eat, wear and live in their community.
Materials Needed:
· Social Studies Journals
· Pencils
· Personal whiteboards
· Whiteboard markers
Prior Knowledge of Students:
1) Students are familiar that the Maasai community has long conserved their culture and that they have very little western influence.
2) Students know that the Maasai houses called manyattas do not have windows.
3) Students also know that the Maasai people depend on their livestock for food.
New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards:
· CCSS. Social Studies. 6.1.4.C.2 Distinguish between needs and wants and explain how scarcity and choice influence decisions made by individuals, communities, and nations.
Cognitive Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of the Maasai community by writing three entries about the different aspects of this community in their social studies journals
Assessment
I will assess the entries in the students’ social studies journals to see if they written about three different aspects of the Maasai community
Affective Objective: Students will cooperatively work in their table groups to discuss the different aspects of the Maasai community
Assessment
I will informally assess this through observation. Students will have to demonstrate they are working together by actively listening to one another and participating in the discussion.
Activities
1) Hook: 5 minutes I will tell a story about a young Maasai boy who came to live in the city of Nairobi with his uncle. This boy had never left his village. Being the first time in such a big city, he was fascinated and at the same time confused by many things. Some of these things include how people dressed in the city, which was very different from how people back in the village, dress, the food eaten in the city and the kind of houses that people live in. After one week, he was overwhelmed by all the different things he saw that he decided to go back to the village where everything was familiar. At the end of this unit, we will get to visit a Maasai village and get to hear about their lifestyle from their village elder. But before the trip, we will learn as much as possible about the Maasai community so as not to be disrespectful to their culture and traditions as well as to have a deeper understand of another culture. I am hoping that this will arouse their interest to learn about this special community.
Grouping: All the students will be sitting on the carpet listening to the story.
2) The first thing the students will learn is the Maasai people way of life. I will teach them that they are a nomadic group of people who move from one place to another with their livestock. I will show them images of different Maasai villages and then ask them why think that they move from one place to another.
Grouping: Students will be work in their table groups where they will come up with their reasons and then one person from the group will share the group’s reasons with the whole class. (10 minutes)
3) We will then talk about what the Maasai people eat. Students will learn that they mostly eat meat and drink blood from their cows. In their table groups, students will discuss why they think the Maasai mostly eat meat and record their points in their journals. (10 minutes)
4) I will then show then project the images of Maasai’s houses called manyatta. Students will then note some interesting features they notice about these houses. This may include the fact that they are made of mud including the roof, they do not have windows, they are low etc. We will then discuss why these houses are constructed this way as a class while students take notes. (15 minutes)
5) Closure: The students will share one interesting thing they have learned about the Maasai people that may make tourist want to come and see them. (5 minutes)
Grouping: This will be in their table groups.
Future lesson planning: Depending on the outcome of the lessons, I may need to meet with some students to before moving on to the next lesson to address any challenges they may have faced. This could be by using a community from their country that they know.
The Maasai community
Download here
Rationale and Essential Questions:
This lesson is to help students understand why the Maasai community attracts tourists to Kenya. This community has longed preserved its culture and has very little influence from the western world. We will go through the elements that make the Maasai community special. This including their housing, food, roles of men, women and children, traditional dances and their way of life. They live a nomadic way of life and move from one place to another in search of pastures for their cows. Students will therefore learn how they interact with their environment as many of the Maasai communities live where there is wildlife. They therefore teach their children how to survive and live with the wildlife. The students will then learn that in life it is important to acquire skills to help you interact with the environment as well as with other people around you.
The essential questions that will drive this lesson are:
What makes a community special?
What skills do we need to interact with our environment successfully?
Why do people move from one place to another?
Content Knowledge:
The role of men and women in the Maasai community, how the Maasai construct their houses and how and when the Maasai community decide to move to another location. Teacher should also know what the Maasai people eat, wear and live in their community.
Materials Needed:
· Social Studies Journals
· Pencils
· Personal whiteboards
· Whiteboard markers
Prior Knowledge of Students:
1) Students are familiar that the Maasai community has long conserved their culture and that they have very little western influence.
2) Students know that the Maasai houses called manyattas do not have windows.
3) Students also know that the Maasai people depend on their livestock for food.
New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards:
· CCSS. Social Studies. 6.1.4.C.2 Distinguish between needs and wants and explain how scarcity and choice influence decisions made by individuals, communities, and nations.
Cognitive Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of the Maasai community by writing three entries about the different aspects of this community in their social studies journals
Assessment
I will assess the entries in the students’ social studies journals to see if they written about three different aspects of the Maasai community
Affective Objective: Students will cooperatively work in their table groups to discuss the different aspects of the Maasai community
Assessment
I will informally assess this through observation. Students will have to demonstrate they are working together by actively listening to one another and participating in the discussion.
Activities
1) Hook: 5 minutes I will tell a story about a young Maasai boy who came to live in the city of Nairobi with his uncle. This boy had never left his village. Being the first time in such a big city, he was fascinated and at the same time confused by many things. Some of these things include how people dressed in the city, which was very different from how people back in the village, dress, the food eaten in the city and the kind of houses that people live in. After one week, he was overwhelmed by all the different things he saw that he decided to go back to the village where everything was familiar. At the end of this unit, we will get to visit a Maasai village and get to hear about their lifestyle from their village elder. But before the trip, we will learn as much as possible about the Maasai community so as not to be disrespectful to their culture and traditions as well as to have a deeper understand of another culture. I am hoping that this will arouse their interest to learn about this special community.
Grouping: All the students will be sitting on the carpet listening to the story.
2) The first thing the students will learn is the Maasai people way of life. I will teach them that they are a nomadic group of people who move from one place to another with their livestock. I will show them images of different Maasai villages and then ask them why think that they move from one place to another.
Grouping: Students will be work in their table groups where they will come up with their reasons and then one person from the group will share the group’s reasons with the whole class. (10 minutes)
3) We will then talk about what the Maasai people eat. Students will learn that they mostly eat meat and drink blood from their cows. In their table groups, students will discuss why they think the Maasai mostly eat meat and record their points in their journals. (10 minutes)
4) I will then show then project the images of Maasai’s houses called manyatta. Students will then note some interesting features they notice about these houses. This may include the fact that they are made of mud including the roof, they do not have windows, they are low etc. We will then discuss why these houses are constructed this way as a class while students take notes. (15 minutes)
5) Closure: The students will share one interesting thing they have learned about the Maasai people that may make tourist want to come and see them. (5 minutes)
Grouping: This will be in their table groups.
Future lesson planning: Depending on the outcome of the lessons, I may need to meet with some students to before moving on to the next lesson to address any challenges they may have faced. This could be by using a community from their country that they know.