Education Plan for Fourth Grade Class Assignment

Education Plan for Fourth Grade Class - Assignment Example About five percent are reading below grade level and approximately 10 percent are reading above their grade level; there are a few children with diagnosed learning disabilities who have been mainstreamed. There are three fourth grade classes that will join together for the unit on history and we have chosen to study World War II with special emphasis on the Holocaust. The curriculum will work to make the events of the Holocaust relevant to the children. 1. Type of Curriculum Harriet Sepinwall states that John Goodlad created five types of curricula that are suitable for teaching fourth graders about the Holocaust. The five curricula are: ideal, formal, perceived, operational and experimental. The operational design is what has been chosen for this educational plan. The operational classroom speaks to the function of the classroom and what is actually being done. The curriculum is â€Å"defined and assessed by lesson plans, observational reports, and videotapes of instructional situa tions† (Sepinwall 4). By using this type of curriculum it will allow students to be immersed in the Holocaust in order to make it more relevant to them. Activities will include reading, drawing, group work and group reading. 2. Goals for the Curriculum We were able to purchase 51 books about World War II and/or the Holocaust. The objective of our program is to use the story of the Holocaust to teach about tolerance, respect for differences, and to help children understand prejudice. Some of our goals include: 1. Students will read books that include the feelings and emotions of children and adults who experienced the Holocaust. 2. To talk about the Holocaust and WWII as they pertain to prejudice and people who were different. 3. To help children identify situations today that are similar to what the Jews experienced during that time. 4. To discuss how children in school are treated and mistreated and talk about what could be done about those children who are mistreated. 3. Act ivities Because we will have four classes coming together to learn about this time in history, we have planned both online and offline activities. As an example, we will start by talking to students about the Holocaust and what it was and how it fit into World War II. Children will read several stories during the course of two weeks from our new library of books and they will present short reports about what they read. We will discuss the information presented in terms of what happens today in similar situations. We will create literature circles so that children can talk about these experiences and they will learn about the Jewish experience and gain more knowledge about WWII and how it is relevant to the Holocaust. We will have the children look at a world map and find where these activities took place. Children will also talk about Hitler and how he came to power and how he lost. Another topic that will come up will be freedom. We will talk about freedom and how we experience fre edom today and what would happen if those freedoms were taken away. Although we would like to take the children to the Holocaust Museum, we are not sure whether this will be a possibility with the school’s budget. An alternative plan is to take them to the museum website because there is a lot of information to read and discuss. We can also take the children on a virtual tour of the Anne Frank house with important information about what happened there (one of the books we