Assignment+1

**LIBE 463 ** **Cindy Nedo **
 * Assignment 1; Selection and Curriculum Rationale **

**Selection ****: ** For the purpose of this assignment 1, I have chosen grade 4 Social Studies Section on Human and Physical Environment with a focus on the Continents. The purpose of this section is for students to be able identify the continents, major cities, oceans, hemispheres of the world. In the process, students will learn valuable research skills and factual information on the various continents. This topic is appealing for me as I have a Geography Degree and have always enjoyed researching and maps. In addition, I would like to create a SMARTboard Unit on Continents for grade four students. The unit will include opportunities for students to complete a mini research project on a continent of the world. Some of the activities the students will complete are; retrieving simple facts, labeling maps of the continents, identifying flags, major cities and landmarks. Finally, the students will be expected to input all of this information into the SMARTboard software, Notebook, and present it to the class. As well, I will create a SMARTboard unit that I teach from that will provide simple summaries of each continent, alternative activities such as matching games, labeling of maps and pictures and for the grande finale; jeopardy game about the Continents. Finally, all of the above activities support the guidelines provided in Skills and Processes of Social Studies for Grade 4 from our BC Social Studies Curriculum.

**Curriculum; ** The following information is the Social Studies Curriculum for Grade 4. It has been taken from the B.C. education website; []

//It is expected that students will: // **SKILLS AND PROCESSES OF SOCIAL STUDIES ** A1 apply critical thinking skills – including comparing, imagining, inferring, identifying patterns, and summarizing – to selected problems and issues A2 use maps and timelines to gather and represent information A3 gather information from a variety of sources A4 identify alternative perspectives on a selected event or issue A5 create a presentation on a selected historical event or topic A6 formulate strategies to address problems or issues

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">HUMAN AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">E1 use maps and globes to locate, the world’s hemispheres, the world’s continents and oceans <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">E2 identify the significance of selected place names in BC and Canada

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Rationale; ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">My rationale for choosing this topic came to me in my daughter’s music class. They were singing the Continents Song and it came to me that this would be a great unit to complete a unit on my own or collaboratively with another teacher. Studying the Continents and its countries will give me the opportunity to evaluate what resources I have in the 900 section of my library. I have always wanted to take a closer look at what I have in this section but have yet to do so. This evaluation will allow me the view what books I have on the Continents or what I don’t have in print, DVD, etc. During this process, I would also take inventory of books on Countries as well. Following this, I can begin the process of weeding and purchasing new and appropriate resources. The selection process of the new resources will support my library and my mini-research for my Social Studies Curriculum for grade 4.