Professional Documents
Culture Documents
sequencing to further assess students understanding and the degree to which they are interested
in the material.
How:
This lesson is designed for whole-class instruction. The central teaching tool for this
lesson will be a power point presentation entitled The History of Your Bowl of Rice, in which
we will teach students the process by which rice comes to be sitting in bowls on our dinner
tables. We will present this history by showing traditional and modern methods side by side,
demonstrating that each step of the process can be accomplished using different kinds of
equipment. We will develop this powerpoint in consultation with our classroom mentors,
ensuring that text and visuals are both understandable to our third graders and relevant to what
they have been learning in social studies thus far.
Prior to beginning the presentation, we will utilize concrete materials in order to spark
students curiosity, aiming to point our lesson onto an inquiry-based path. We will pass out
bowls of rice, allowing students to develop hypotheses before acquiring new information. We
will then ask students to talk in their table groups about where they think their rice came from
and how long they think it took to get here from its beginnings.
The powerpoint itself will include video clips and images, as we plan to present the
information in a multimodal fashion. In order to maximize student involvement and cooperative
learning during what could otherwise become a straightforward lecture, we will incorporate turnand-talks, a practice very familiar to our students, at deliberate times throughout the lesson.
Following the presentation, students will complete a sequencing activity in their table groups,
utilizing information from the powerpoint and videos in order to create their own version of the
history of a bowl of rice (in other words, the process it must go through before we can eat it).
Students will then use their own versions of this sequence as a resource later on in the unit, as we
are planning a culminating activity in which each student will compose his or her own
combination nonfiction/fiction books documenting rices journey from the growing field to a
special dish at his or her own familys table.
Why:
While our third graders do not get a great deal of social studies education throughout the
semester (at least when compared with literacy and math), they are accustomed to participating
in group discussions, sharing ideas, and making connections. We plan to tap into these skills,
particularly those for connection-making, in order to broaden their social studies learning and
enable them to view learning about global topics as relevant to their own daily lives. Because we
agree that social studies lessons should focus more upon asking and answering questions than
doling out facts (Levstik & Barton, 2006), we have chosen to begin with an unknown: How did
this bowl of rice get from a field somewhere in the world to our classroom? Hiebert and
colleagues (1997) say, For something to be a problem for a student, he or she must see it as a
challenge and must want to know the answer (p. 19). Although they are referring to
mathematics, we believe this notion is applicable to all subject matter, especially when working
with students in the elementary grades. While we may pique the interest of a few students simply
by telling them we will teach where rice originates, theory indicates that it is far more likely for
students to become invested in the lesson if they have been able to mull over the question that
drives the lesson. Thus far in our emerging teaching practices, we have seen evidence of this. In
this case, that question is about all of the steps and stages that came before a bowl of rice was
here in our classroom.
Additionally, we are aware of the benefits of using visual sources in order to tap into a
[wide] range of background knowledge, and this is particularly important when teaching a topic
that is relatively broad or contains brand new information (Levstik & Barton, 2006, p. 89). One
of the Common Core standards for third grade indicates that students should be able to recall
information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources and take
brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories. Because our students have not
yet had much experience with research or note-taking, we have designed an activity to scaffold
the process. In order to cater to varying intelligences (Gardner, 1993) we will present the
information multimodally: through our own explanations, through text on the screen, and
through video clips with accompanying audio. We will give students a pre-prepared organizer on
which they can demonstrate their understanding of the information they have acquired.
The culminating idea we plan to convey through this lesson, especially by tying it to prior
knowledge from a read aloud of Everybody Cooks Rice, is that rice is a part of our global culture.
It is grown in very different places, it is processed using different methods and machines, it
appears in stores in different varieties, and people in various cultures use it to create lots of
different dishes. Ultimately, though, we are all eating rice! By simultaneously teaching the steps
of rice production and contrasting production methods, we hope to stimulate thinking about the
various journeys taken by our food and how this experience is shared by so many people
throughout the world.
Lesson Plan
Goals and Objectives:
Through a focus on rice:
Students will understand the global nature of food production, consumption, and culture.
Students will demonstrate understanding the specific sequence of events, rice cultivation, and
understanding how said sequence leads to rice being present in their own lives. We will lead
students toward this objective by including cooking and eating as the final steps of this sequence,
and we will make specific references to the idea that this bowl of rice could be the one they eat at
home for dinner. This learning objective is central to the entire rice unit, as it relates to ideas of
cultural inclusiveness and diversity. At the end of the unit, we plan to utilize and reinforce this
understanding in a culminating project: each student will create their own books that include the
steps of rice production (either modern or traditional) and end with a page showing the student
and his or her family cooking and eating a rice dish they may typically have at home.
Students will demonstrate proficiency in comparing and contrasting traditional and modern
agricultural practices, with an emphasis on commonalities and the advantages of diversity.
Standards:
Common Core Standards, Grade 3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.3
Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or
steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and
cause/effect.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7
Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to
demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.8
Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take
brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.2
Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in
diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.6
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domainspecific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g.,
After dinner that night we went looking for them).
Materials and Preparation:
bags of rice (brown and white)
paper or plastic bowls (12)
smart board and laptop
prepared digital version of sequence sheet
sequence worksheets for students (x6)
scissors
colored pencils, markers, crayons
Classroom arrangement and management issues:
Before beginning the lesson, we will let students know that we would like to start out our lesson
on where rice comes from by allowing them to explore the rice themselves. We will tell students
that we have decided to do this because we know they, as third graders, can be responsible
enough to have the rice on the tables, investigating it for the first 2 minutes, and then placing it in
the middle of the tables and leaving it alone during the presentation. We will assure them they
will have another chance to touch and look at the rice later in the lesson.
During the presentation, we will have students sit at their desks, turning their chairs
toward the smartboard if they are not already facing that direction. The teacher for the lesson will
begin by walking around the classroom and distributing rice bowls, bringing each student into
the lesson with this brief interaction. During the powerpoint and included video clips, the teacher
will stand at the front of the room, navigating through the presentation on the smartboard, and
students will face the teacher in their chairs. Our students are accustomed to participating in
whole group lessons and participating in discussion from their desks, so we do not anticipate any
major difficulties with this.
Emilys accommodation: For a student with an IEP that tends to easily become
distracted by objects in or on her desk, I will allow her to hold a whiteboard and dry erase
marker and let her know she can use it to keep track of some of the things she is learning during
the presentation. I will tell her that Id like to see it afterward to ensure she is writing or drawing
relevant information.
After the powerpoint is completed, we will explain the sequencing activity while standing
near the smartboard, facing the class and modeling the activity on the board. After students begin
working on the activity, we will circulate around student desks, answering questions and giving
reminders as necessary.
Plan [3rd Grade, 40 minutes total]
Introduction, the hook [5 minutes]:
We will begin our lesson by briefly reminding students of the classroom rule, Be
Responsible. We will let them know that we will be handing out two bowls of rice per table and
that we would like them to make observations and interact with the rice for about two minutes.
After which time we would like them to place the bowls in the center of their tables and give us
their full attention.
Before handing out the bowls we will introduce a few focusing questions, which will be
written on the smartboard for guided conversation: Where do you think this rice came from?
How did it get here? Did it always look like this? What else do you wonder about these bowls of
rice?
We will then distribute the bowls and invite the children to explore them for two minutes.
After the children have had a chance to interact with the rice and discuss the focusing questions
with their table groups we will gather a few responses from the class and use them as a jumping
off point for our presentation and say something to the effect of:
Today were going to talk about the history of these bowls of rice. Most rice comes from
the same plant and it all goes through the same, basic sequence of events. But, a bowl of
rice can have one of two different histories. Rice can come from different places, and it
can be produced with different tools and technology. Today, we are going to learn about
both the traditional and modern ways of planting, harvesting, and processing rice.
Here we will ask students what they think we mean by traditional, aniticipating responses such
as, old fashioned, the first way, the old way, or the way passed down in generations. We will ask
a few students for their responses and then synthesize the class understanding with a statement
like:
So, the traditional way is how rice has been being cultivated for thousands of years, there
practices were passed down from generation to generation and involve basic tools,
animals, and doing a lot things by hand. Whereas, modern cultivation uses new
technologies, machines, very precise practices to mass-produce rice as efficiently as
possible. Both processes are valuable and effective.
We will then remind students of connection that this, like all lessons in our thematic unit, have
with Everybody Cooks Rice, specifically:
Just as we saw in Everybody Cooks Rice that there are lots of ways to prepare rice and
lots of dishes to make, well learn today that there are lots of different places that grow
rice and diverse methods and machines used to cultivate it. Ultimately though, we are all
eating rice! Eating rice is a common experience shared by so many people throughout
the world.
informational texts. We dont believe this task will require significant scaffolding, as those who
finish early are likely to be students who need less writing support. However, we will provide
paper and written instructions for this task, and we will be available to answer questions or
provide clarification during the activity. Information written in a paragraph like this will be
helpful to students later on in the unit. Additionally, this task will provide an additional
opportunity for students to process factual information and express it in their own words, an
important piece of the third grade standards.
References
Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books.
Hiebert, J., Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E., Fuson, K.C., Wearne, D., Murray, H., , & Human,
P. (1997). Making sense: Teaching and learning mathematics and understanding. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Levstik, L.S. & Barton, K. C. (2011). Doing history: Investigating with children in elementary
and middle schools. New York: Taylor & Francis.
SS Lesson notes: