4rd Grade Social Studies
| Social Studies TEKS | NEISD Technology Standards | ||
| 4.16B |
Identify and explain basic functions of the three branches of state government |
N3 |
Create, name, and save files to personal directory on the network. |
| 4.22B |
Analyze
information/sequencing/categorizing/ |
N4 | Access files in personal directory and on the student-shared directory. |
| 4.22C | Interpret information in visuals/charts | N5 | Copy files from the student-shared directory to personal directory by copying the icon or using the Save As feature within the program. |
| 4.19A | Identify leaders in state and local governments including the governor, selected members of the Texas Legislature and Texans who have been President of the United States and their political parties. | I1 |
Open an existing resource page on the student-shared directory. |
| 4.18D | Explain how to contact elected and appointed leaders in state and local governments. | I8 |
Use the web to tour virtual environments, remote locations, and/or explore online interactive lessons. (8B) |
| I11 | Recognize and identify sources of URL suffixes including, but not limited to, .org, .com, .edu, .gov, and .net | ||
| Language Arts TEKS | |||
| 4.10L | Represents text in graphic organizer | G1 | Create a diagram or open an existing template that explains an idea or concept. |
| G3 | Use the link tool to connect objects within a diagram. | ||
| G4 | Enter text. | ||
| G7 | Use the Spell Check icon to edit diagrams. | ||
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Lesson Title: Texas State Government Software Application(s): Internet, Inspiration Directions: Before the computer lab activity: You can supplement your "Texas, Our Texas" unit by downloading* all or parts of these videos from the KLRN/Unitedstreaming site on our intranet. You may just want to download the sections that apply to what you are teaching. Each video comes with a comprehensive Teacher's Guide to supplement the film.
Each teacher on the grade level does not need to separately download; just one of you can and place them in your staff shared Fourth Grade folder on the server, then you can all play them on your televisions from your multimedia computers. (Make sure you all have accounts with KLRN and have downloaded Windows Media Player 9 before trying to watch them on your tv!) Just search by a few keywords for this title:
Our
Federal Government: The Legislative Branch
(31 minutes for entire video; it's pretty
involved; download the little section called "The Process of Making Laws."
It's only 2:39, and explains thoroughly how a bill becomes a law.
Lab Warm-up: The Scott-Foresman Social Studies website has an online activity for each unit. Here is a review on Famous Events of the 1900s from Chapter 12. Add this to your hotlists, or make it a shortcut in your Student Shared (usually the "I:" drive) Fourth Grade folder.
Here is the Spanish version of the same site:
Lab Activity 1: A Bill Becomes Law
Students can work alone, or in groups of two for this project. Students finished product will be a graphic organizer/flow chart that correlates with Chapter 13, Lesson 1, "Government for Texans" (Teacher Edition, pp. 400-403). In Internet Explorer, right-click this Inspiration template link below and choose "Save target as..." then place it in your Student Shared folder. Students will double-click on it, and then go to "File--Save As" to save it to their Home Directory (usually the "G:" drive. Then they can change and modify it without altering the template).
Because this is an open-ended project, both Spanish and English students will be able to work off of the template.
1. Click on titles to replace the text with the titles they want for the newsletter or for their articles. 2. Click on the "xxx"s to replace text with their own writing.
Be sure to use the Spell Check icon to edit diagrams. If working in pairs, make sure partners check and edit each other's work for content, spelling, and grammar!
Lab Activity 2: Texas Senate Kids
Directions: Click on this link, and make a shortcut. (In Internet Explorer, grab the little blue "e" to the left of the address and drag it to your desktop). Copy the shortcut into your fourth grade folder. (Be sure and click on all the boxes yourself first, so you can see how they work and know what directions you want to give your kids!) Bilingual teachers, open the site and have students click the oval "En Espaņol," then "Para Niņos," to tour the whole site in Spanish.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/kids/Kids.htm
In the Lab: Have students open their Student Shared Directory and navigate to where you have saved the shortcuts. Senate Kids: Here is a valuable site featured last year in our newsletter. This site provides a quick tour of the Capitol building in Austin, including facts on the Heroes of the Alamo monument and the Goddess of Liberty statue. A QuickTime panoramic view is also available. Explain to the students that because the URL suffix is ".state.tx.us," that it is a government produced web site, not a commercial (money-making) ".com" website. Next, take an online quiz on the symbols of Texas. If you have Shockwave loaded, you can take that version. The quiz will score your answers for you. (Additional bonus! Scroll to the middle of the page and click to hear a rendition of "Texas, Our Texas," a vocabulary item for this six weeks.) In the third box, "Senators," students can click the link in the blue box called "FYI," or "Find Your Incumbent." You can choose whether to have them use zip code, address, etc. All their legislators' names and addresses appear! Students should be able to tell three ways they can contact their leaders (phone, mail, email). The last box contains an interactive glossary of legislative terms. Extension activity: Have students write a letter to one of their appointed leaders using three of the glossary terms correctly!
*Download Instructions for KLRN Site
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