Lesson Planning Form for Differentiating Instruction Education 305

Teacher

Sam Steiner and Julia Dixon

Grade level and theme

4th- United States Studies

Thread/crossover

Civics/Government, Math, L. Arts

I. Objectives
What is the main focus of this lesson?
The main focus of this lesson is to explore the planning of the budget for a local park.
How does this lesson tie in to your Big Idea
This lesson shows students how money is a key part of the government, specifically regarding the budget for a local project.
What are your objectives for this lesson? (students will be able to.) Indicate connections to applicable national or state
standards (glces). Indicate themes from any threads addressed in this lesson (ex-Geography-human environment interaction)
Students will be able to:
Explain responsibilities of citizenship. (4- C5.0.1)
Describe ways citizens can work together to promote the values and principles of American democracy. (4- C5.0.4)
Evaluate the best way to budget an amount of money.
Exercise voting power in a real-life scenario.
Fluently add and subtract whole numbers using the standard algorithm. (4.NBT.4)
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. (4- W.1)

II. Before you start

Prerequisite knowledge and skills.
What are you assuming they know
or have already done

Assessment
(formative and summative)

Prior to this money unit, the students partook in a unit called Think like a... During the unit,
they learned to think like economists, geographers, historians, and politicians by exploring
what sort of questions said people ask when examining the United States. Students will also
have a background in the basic characteristics of a budget.
Formative
- Teacher will walk around the room and monitor students during group work
- Discussion during proposal presentations (questions from the audience, answers by
the group members)
Summative
- Small group park proposals
- Letter to the mayor

Key vocabulary for this lesson

(include key concepts from
individual threads ex- economicsopportunity cost etc)
Materials-what materials (books,
handouts, etc) do you need for this
lesson and do you have them?

Civics:
Budget- an estimate of income and spending for a set period of time or for a specific
project
Handout listing prices of park equipment
White board &dry-erase markers

For a student with Aspergers Syndrome, the teacher could give an outline of the class period
to increase predictability and eliminate potentially stressful surprises. The teacher will also
closely monitor the noise level of the room during group work, as excessive noise could put
this student on edge.
Opportunities for differentiation

To increase difficulty, students could figure what fraction of their budget they will devote to
each piece of equipment.
To decrease difficulty, students could decide how to spend the budget as a whole class rather
than in small groups.

III. The Plan

Time
Parts
(min)

15

Motivation
(Opening/
Introduction/
Engagement)

The description of (script for) the lesson, wherein you describe teacher activities and student
activities
The teacher will try to get in contact with someone from the local government, ideally from the parks and
recreation department. Someone like the mayor would also be an option. The teacher would ask the
government official to talk with the class about what goes into making a parkfrom the labor, to the
voting process, to where the government acquires the budget.
If it is not possible to coordinate the appearance of a government official, the teacher could show a clip
from NBCs Parks and Recreation. (For example, http://www.nbc.com/parks-andrecreation/video/leslies-pro-pawnee/n4618?onid=145667#vc145667=3)

For the bulk of the lesson, students will work together as a community to create a park in the city where
the school is located. Ideas of what to include in the park will be shared among classmates. Small groups
of students will have the opportunity to form proposals of how the park should be built. Students will
then share their opinions and vote on each part of the park.
To begin, the teacher will announce that the local government is considering the construction of a new
park in the schools town. The lesson would work best if this is an actual situation in the town or in
somewhere nearby. However, this lesson could also be done with a hypothetical situation.

The teacher will ask what sort of things go into the construction of a park. For example, students may
name types of equipment (slides, restrooms, etc.) or legislative issues (budget, voting, etc.). The teacher
will list student input on the board.
_____

Development

20

The teacher will explain that the local government has a $550,000 budget for the park (number can be
modified if a real park is in the works). She will also list how much each potential part of the park will
cost:
Slides: $50,000
Swings: $30,000
Teeter-totters: $20,000
Monkey bars: $30,000
Climbing wall: $100,000
Merry-go-rounds: $25,000
Multi-purpose turf field: $200,000
Parking area: $75,000
Hiking trails: $50,000
Restrooms: $40,000
Water fountains: $15,000
Pavilion: $30,000
Skateboard track: $75,000
Frisbee golf: $25,000
Project management & labor: $150,000
*Must be included
Pool: $300,000
Benches: $10,000
**Actual costs would very based on location and size of the project
All this information will be given to students in the form of a handout. The class will then be split up into
small groups of four to five. In their small groups, students will form a proposal of how the park should
be constructed. They will be asked to calculate the park budget based on the costs of various pieces of
equipment. Additionally, each group will draw up a design for their park.

_____

After the planning period has concluded, groups will give their park proposals. Following each groups
presentation, the other students in the class will be able to ask questions about the presenting groups plan
(i.e. Why didnt you include restrooms? Why are you willing to spend half your budget on a pool?). The
presenting group will address questions to the best of their abilities.

20
_____

Once each group has presented, the class will take votes on what should be included in the park. The
teacher will tally the votes on the board. The top-voted itemstotaling up to $1,000,000will be
included in the classs collaborative park plan.

To conclude, the teacher will present the class with a writing prompt:
5

Closure

Write a letter to the mayor of our town proposing a plan for the new park in our town. You may
either propose your individual groups plan or the classs collaborative plan, whichever you think
is better. Make sure to outline your budget and the reasons behind it.

http://www.prm.nau.edu/prm423/cost_analysis_lesson.htm
http://www.gametime.com/products/