Let Freedom Ring A Study of our National Symbols

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Let Freedom RingA Study of our National Symbols

• A Social Studies Lesson for 3rd Grade
• Judy McClurg
• William Brooks Elementary School
• May 19, 2001

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Let Freedom Ring

• This lesson is designed to allow students to
  construct their own knowledge of the national
  symbols that represent our most cherished ideal
• FREEDOM !
• This lesson is best taught during the months of
  January and February. Its a natural tie in to a
  study of Martin Luther King, Jr. The lesson can
  take anywhere from 2-4 weeks.

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Let Freedom RingHow This Lesson Relates to
California Standards

• Grade 3 Social Studies Continuity and Change
• 3.4 Students understand the role of rules and
  laws in our daily lives and the basic structure
  of the U.S. government, in terms of
• 3.4.3 The stories and histories behind
  important local national landmarks, symbols, and
  essential documents that create a sense of
  community among citizens and exemplify cherished
  ideals (e.g., the U.S. flag, the bald eagle, the
  Statue of Liberty, the U.S. Constitution, the
  Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Capital,
  Mount Rushmore, the Liberty Bell, the Great Seal
  of the United States, Uncle Sam, the Pledge of
  Allegiance, and the White House).

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Let Freedom RingInstructional Objectives

• Students will score 80 or higher on a test that
  requires them to correctly identify twelve
  national symbols when reading a descriptive
  phrase(s) about each symbol.
• Students will demonstrate ability to use the Big
  6 research model by producing a flipbook that
  contains information gathered from reference
  books, informational books, and online resources.

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Activities

• Students visit jigzone.com, an online puzzle
  site, and solve puzzles of several national
  symbols.
• Students receive instruction on the Big 6
  research model and generate research questions.
• Students visit Worldbook Onlines Statue of
  Liberty site and practice searching a website for
  information.
• Students will use the computer catalog in the
  library to locate sources of information.
• Students visit a government website called
  bensguide to gather information on their assigned
  national symbol.

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More Activities

• Students will be grouped in twos and will join
  two students from another 3rd grade class to
  gather information.
• Students will record information about their
  symbol on note cards and keep them in research
  folders.
• Students will copy images from clipart and online
  sources and store them in their computer files.
  Each student will create a flipbook containing
  information and images that have been gathered
  from books, references books, and online.
• Students will take part in a patriotic assembly
  in which they will share patriotic songs and
  information about the national symbols.

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Technology Activities

• This is our classroom technology center. We
  finally went online in January and we were able
  to complete some of our online research here as
  well as in the lab. So cool!

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Activities Research Online

• The students worked in our computer lab with the
  help of our district librarian, our school
  librarian, and parent volunteers. We have
  learned so much!

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Activities How to Use the Internet

• Mary Helen Fisher, our district librarian, gave
  a lesson on Internet research. We visited the
  website for the Statue of Liberty and completed a
  website scavenger hunt.

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Assessments

• Students took a pretest that was set up as a
  group of riddles asking Who Am I?
• Class average on the pretest was 32! Ouch! We
  have a lot to learn!

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Assessments

• After our unit of study, the students took a
  posttest that was set up the same way as the
  pretest but with slightly different wording and
  order. Class average was 91. Graph of results
  (left).

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Rubrics Self-evaluation

• Students completed a two page self-evaluation on
  their flipbooks. The first page was a yes and
  no questionnaire. The second page had them rate
  themselves on all aspects of their book using a 4
  point rubric.

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Internet Integration

• Our introductory activity was to visit
  jigzone.com and complete puzzles of the national
  symbols. Most of our research was done at a
  great government website called bensguide.

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Other Technology

• We used a scanner, a printer, and an LCD
  projector. Students learned to create files,
  save their text, download and save pictures and
  info, and insert pictures and text. We have
  learned a lot TOGETHER!

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Lesson Revisions

• This unit has been a work in progress from the
  very beginning. I knew what I wanted to do
  because I had taught the unit before, but now I
  needed to incorporate all the technology. I must
  have changed my plans a dozen times to fit time
  frames and student capabilities.

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Lesson Implementation

• We began our lesson in January and finished it
  at the end of February. The students gave their
  patriotic assembly during the week before
  presidents weekend. Flipbooks were completed
  afterward and were on display at Open House. I
  regret that we did not videotape the performance,
  and I did not take pictures of the flipbooks.

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Student Performance

• The students really enjoyed this unit and
  learned a lot. We coordinated with another 3rd
  grade class so that students could share research
  materials and information. Growth in knowledge,
  as evidenced by the pre and post test scores, was
  tremendous.

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What I Have Learned

• What have I learned? Well, considering I was a
  Techno Idiot at the beginning of this course, I
  guess you could say Im a changed person! I
  mean, look at me! Im creating links, inserting
  photos and graphics, and putting in sound and
  effects. Not to mention all the file management
  and web-building skills. Im actually looking
  forward to creating at least three lessons for my
  students next year, not to mention a class
  website. Yippee! Look at me! Im a Techno Babe!

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Its been the best of times and the worst of
times, but weve survived it. I appreciate the
opportunity to have worked with all of you. I
think we all deserve a big round of applause!
Thanks, Annette and Sandy, for everything!