Social Studies Lesson

Lesson Title:  French and Indian War 

Grade: 4th Subject: Social Studies 

OBJECTIVE:  Students will describe the 5 W’s of the French and Indian War while taking a position of either the French or British.   

GENERAL GOAL:  As part of the unit in Social Studies on the European Arrival to America students will describe the events of the war using important dates, events, and people while writing a newspaper article. 

GLCE:  4- H3.0.1  Use historical thinking to understand the past.  

ANTICIPATED LENGTH OF LESSON: 50 min. 

PREREQUISITE STUDENT SKILLS IN THIS AREA:Students should already be familiar with the French and Indian war, the fur trade, and the French explorers.  

TEACHER PREPARATION: Lesson Description: This lesson is designed to have students understand and review the events that led up to the war using a PowerPoint Presentation after reading The French and Indian War the previous day.  Students will be asked to become news reporters back in time by choosing the point of view of the French or British. Materials needed for this lesson: PowerPoint presentation, computer, paper, crayons, markers, newspaper worksheet 

Anticipatory Set: Ask students how they would feel if the other 4th grade class came and claimed their classroom as their own.  Connect this to how the French and Indians felt when the British claimed the land as theirs.   

LESSON PROCEDURE: 

  1. Introduce the Power Point presentation.
  2. During the PowerPoint presentation, students will be doing think, pair, and share so that discussion will take place.
  3.  Review the 5W’s and the important events and people of the war.
  4. Tell students to go back in time and become newspaper reporters for the French and Indian War.  They must choose to be a French reporter or British reporter.
  5. Students will create a newspaper front page about the French and Indian War (see worksheet).

                                                                                                                               

RUBRIC: Students will be graded using a 5 point rubric. 

LESSON CLOSURE:  Have students share their newspapers.    

ASSESSMENT OF THIS LESSON: Completion of the Newspaper Publication using the rubric. 

Extra Practice:  Students can put the events of the war in order.