Students will explore the foundational ideas of the Founding Fathers and create a PowerPoint presentation based on these key concepts.
3T-E1
PO1 Using word processing editing to revise a document
3T-E1
PO2 Design a document with graphical elements
3T-E3
PO1 Design a multimedia presentation using sources
3T-E3
PO2 Present the multimedia presentation
1SS-P11(1SS-E17)
Describe the aspirations, ideals, and events that served as foundations for the creation of a new government.
1SS-E18
Describe the actions taken to build one nation from thirteen states.
Students will investigate the foundational ideas crafted by the Founding Fathers and how they impact citizens in the United States today
Students will locate and summarize informational text, main ideas and supporting details. Students will interpret author’s viewpoint in information text. Students will explore core foundational ideas crafted by the Founding Fathers in the formation of our country
Students will utilize PowerPoint to create text, subtext, background, and pictures.
Students should be able to demonstrate basic computer operational skills including identifying and using the components of a computer (e.g., mouse, keyboarding, monitor), the use of basic technological vocabulary (e.g., cursor, icon) and the ability to use basic functions in PowerPoint.
PowerPoint access PowerPoint: Foundations of Our Country with acrostic and slide samples Foundations of Our Country Pre-Assessment handout Foundations of Our Country Post-Assessment handout
Tiered assignments and creative problem solving.
This lesson differentiates student requirements for the PowerPoint presentations and the idea content for the handout.
All of the students will be creating a PowerPoint presentation based on the ideas they wrote in their handout PowerPoint: Foundations of Our Country. The lower RIT grouping will be required to enter text, background, and some pictures into their presentation, the middle RIT grouping will be required to enter text, subtext, background, and some pictures into their presentation, and the higher RIT grouping will be required to enter text, subtext, background, pictures and additional bells and whistles (text timing, sound, etc . . .) to their presentation.
Day One (1 hour recommended)
Students will take the Foundations of Our Country Pre-Assessment
After the pre-assessment the entire class will engage in a collective brainstorming activity to create an acrostic using the word FOUNDATIONS. The class will discuss essential ideas that the Founding Fathers used to lay the framework of our republic. (Note: This activity does require that the students have had some exposure to the foundational ideas of our Founding Fathers either in your class or in prior years. It is recommended that this activity be done as a culminating activity).
Each class will create slightly different acrostics based on the ideas discussed.
The students will then place their foundational ideas and supplementary ideas (definitions, clarifying thoughts, experiences, etc. . .) onto their handout Foundations of Our Country. Students are welcome and encouraged to have different foundational ideas. However, the lower RIT grouping may simply be comfortable adopting the ideas that the class has discussed.
Each student must have all the text completed on their acrostic before they are allowed to start PowerPoint. The instructor may find it useful to create one master copy from h/her classes to be used as a general guide for the students (and absent students) when they create their PowerPoint presentations.
Days 2, 3, 4 (3 hours recommended):
This activity does require that students have some basic PowerPoint skills. If the students do not, the teacher will need to take the required time to instruct them on how to use basic PowerPoint operations.
Students will meet in the computer lab and need to bring the acrostic handout they created in class, Foundations of Our Country.
Students will enter all the text first for their 13 slides before adding any background color, pictures from ClipArt or Google, text timing, sounds, and other creations.
Day Five (1 hour recommended):
Students will take the Foundations of Our Country Post-Assessment in class.
Students may present their final PowerPoint presentations to the entire class, small groups, or to their parents/guardians.
Pre-Assessment: Students will take the Woods Canyon Pre-Assessment prior to the activity to help the instructor determine what the students know and do not know. The pre-assessment will be used to tailor the activity to the different learning needs of the students as addressed in the targeted learning continuum skills found on the ICC Differentiated Instruction Ladder.
Assessment: Students will form and support a hypothesis based on the evidence they collected on their Evidence Record Matrix. Students will complete Who, What, Where, and When and the Native American Perspective Study Guide that corresponds to the internet research site and addresses the targeted learning continuum skills located on the ICC Differentiated Instruction Ladder.
Post-Assessment: Students will take the Woods Canyon Post-Assessment after the activity to determine what they have learned. The post-assessment will address the targeted learning continuum skills for each student RIT grouping. Also, as an added student self-reflection, students may be asked to created a line-graph continuum numbered 1 to 10 and place how much fun and how much they learned somewhere on the continuum.