Working in groups, Dr. Smironova gave us the task to find 4th grade social studies textbooks that students are currently using. As we carefully looked through the books, she gave us a checklist to follow. As we went through the checklist, we were also given the task to rate the books. The issue my group encountered was that our three books (teacher's book, student workbook, and student book) did not match each other. When it came down to rating how well they worked with each other this became our major issue. How could it be possible to rate books that are not part of the same set. Instead of rating them as a set, we based their rating on their own independent rating. It was quickly obvious the ratings we were giving our books. We found the workbook was overall a good book. Workbooks allow the students to apply their knowledge of what they learn, allows them to practice, and review. Though the workbook is not colorful and not appealing at all, it is still practical and allows students to create a better understanding of the content they learn. The student's book was also rated as a good book. The book did have color, and was very informative on the content it presented in the book. The book also provided the students with visuals. The only problem with the book is that it was huge. This huge appearance makes it not very appealing for students. Lastly, the teacher's edition book was our last rating. Overall we did not give this book a good rating. The teacher's edition was hard to follow and did not provide the teacher with much direction on activities and how to present the lessons. The book was what we considered "all over the place" and a very difficult book to follow. This book did not meet our expectations at all!
In class, Dr. Smirnova introduced the unit plan we are required to create for the semester. Lesson plans can be tricky and at times very time consuming. Since Dr. Smirnova is all about cooperative learning, we were very lucky and were able to form groups. Social Studies is an area I have not been given an opportunity to create a lesson for. Knowing I was going to be grouped with others made me more at ease. My group members consisted of Corey and Erica. After choosing our groups we were given a topic. Our topic is "People and Places". At first we didn't know what to do with that topic, but since we were the last group we knew we have sufficient enough time to collaborate, discuss ideas, and most importantly create a great lesson plan. From here on out, its time to put those THINKING CAPS ON!!!!
Who would have known elementary students would be introduced and taught the different banking terms and concepts at such a rather young age. I can't remember learning that much about banking when I was in elementary school. So I was astonished to learn about some of the different terms students are given to learn. Dr. Smirnova paired us into group. As part of our reading for the week, we learned there are five types of questions we should create. My group consisted of Angela, Faith and me. Together we researched the internet and used different resources Dr. Smirnova gave us to form our banking quiz. Faith really had her reading down and guided us to help us form our questions. Together we were able to successfully create a five question banking quiz. Below is our banking quiz:
You can BANK on us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
American Banking
* Required
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_______ is another word for money. *Please fill in the bubble for the best answer.
· Credit
· Barter
· Currency
· Investment
Name three transactions that can be done at a bank. *Please provide three short answers.
· _________________________
· _________________________
· _________________________
When you make a deposit into your savings account, the balance goes down. *Please fill in the correct answer.
· True
· False
Matching *Please fill in the correct bubble to match the term with the correct definition.
Savings
Interest
Funds
Checking
Debt
A bank account you use to accumulate money.
The cost of borrowing money.
Money.
A bank account where money is kept so the owner can write checks.
Money owed usually as a result of borrowing.
Essay:Describe two types of accounts that you can open at a bank. Include at least two uses for each account. *Be sure to include vocabulary that you've learned in your essay.
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ESSAY RUBRIC
Category
0
1
2
3
Grammar
Student did not do assignment or had so many errors it was incomprehensible
Student used verb constructions incorrectly for the assignment. Student did not vary verbs, or made many mistakes
Student used verb constructions correctly for the assignment. Student tried to use a variety of verbs and subjects, but with several errors
Student used verb constructions correctly for the assignment. Student used a variety of verbs and subjects, with no or almost no errors.
Vocabulary
Student did not do assignment or it had so many errors it was incomprehensible
Student used little variety of verbs and subjects sticking with familiar vocabulary, with frequent errors.
Student used little variety of verbs and subjects sticking with familiar vocabulary, with no or almost no errors.
Student used a variety of verbs and subjects and additional vocabulary, with no or almost no errors
Creativity/Effort
Student did not do assignment or it had so many errors it was incomprehensible. Work showed lack of effort.
Student used little variety of verbs and subjects sticking with familiar vocabulary, with frequent errors. Work showed lack of effort.
Student clearly made an effort to be creative, trying to use new verbs and vocabulary, but made several mistakes
Student clearly made an effort to be creative, using new verbs and vocabulary correctly.
ACTIVELY ENGAGE PARENT BY:
9/26/11
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Extra Extra Read All About it!!!
Dear Parents:
Starting this week we’ll be discussing banking and money principles in class. We ask that you actively participate whenever possible at home. Be sure to include your student in transactions that involve money. Take them to the bank with you to cash a check or make a deposit. Let them hand the money to the cashier at a grocery store. Be sure to allow your student to actively participate in your duties. At the end of the unit we will be asking all parents who are available to volunteer, to come visit our classroom bank and participate in a role play where the students will have to process fake banking transactions. Parents will be using fake driver’s licenses, passports, check cashing, savings accounts etc. Thank you in advance for all of your help, the whole class is looking forward to you coming in.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Anfaje
ALL ABOUT THE QUESTIONS ON THE TEST:
The multiple choice question (1) checks for understanding of the vocabulary terms. The distractors that we used are not obvious answers but are also not thought of to trick the students.
The short answer question (2) we provided small spaces requiring specific short answer responses. We made it clear we did not want sentences, just specific terms listed in the space provided.
The true/false question (3) we wanted to see if the students understood what making a deposit meant, requiring a higher level of thinking than just remembering a definition.
The matching question (4) we were checking for vocabulary knowledge to see if they could distinguish between the terminology.
The essay question (5) we wanted the students to clearly describe the two accounts we learned about in a bank, while using their own knowledge plus the vocabulary terms learned during this unit.
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Our interactive activity started in the beginning of this unit when we sent our parent letter home. We asked parents to actively participate in our unit plans by asking them to include the students in as many financial transactions as possible at home. We then asked the parents to volunteer in our role play classroom bank where the classroom will be set up like a bank and the parents will be banking customers. The students would process all banking transactions from opening accounts to cashing checks, etc.
Working in groups, Dr. Smironova gave us the task to find 4th grade social studies textbooks that students are currently using. As we carefully looked through the books, she gave us a checklist to follow. As we went through the checklist, we were also given the task to rate the books. The issue my group encountered was that our three books (teacher's book, student workbook, and student book) did not match each other. When it came down to rating how well they worked with each other this became our major issue. How could it be possible to rate books that are not part of the same set. Instead of rating them as a set, we based their rating on their own independent rating. It was quickly obvious the ratings we were giving our books. We found the workbook was overall a good book. Workbooks allow the students to apply their knowledge of what they learn, allows them to practice, and review. Though the workbook is not colorful and not appealing at all, it is still practical and allows students to create a better understanding of the content they learn. The student's book was also rated as a good book. The book did have color, and was very informative on the content it presented in the book. The book also provided the students with visuals. The only problem with the book is that it was huge. This huge appearance makes it not very appealing for students. Lastly, the teacher's edition book was our last rating. Overall we did not give this book a good rating. The teacher's edition was hard to follow and did not provide the teacher with much direction on activities and how to present the lessons. The book was what we considered "all over the place" and a very difficult book to follow. This book did not meet our expectations at all! 
