Grade Level:  5th Grade

Time: 45 minutes

Essential Question:  How can we be stewards of Wyoming’s public and private lands to benefit current and future generations?

Objective:  Students will:

• •  Be introduced to vocabulary important to understanding the unit.
  •  Practice a reading strategy that will be used throughout the unit.

Purpose:  Students learn vocabulary and a reading strategy to help identify characteristics of good stewards throughout the rest of the unit. These will later help students identify a Mystery Steward who they will eventually recognize as themselves.

Required Materials/Resources:

• • Construction paper (Ten pieces of different colors)
  • Two decks of playing cards (If your class is larger than 28 students, a third deck of cards is needed.)
  • Three spoons for every four students (can be plastic)
  • Directions for How to Play Spoons (one copy per group or a teacher copy to display)
  • Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkDC3JoRjSk How to Play: Spoons (Source 2) Video length: 1 minute 26 seconds
  • Spoons Vocabulary cards (One set for every group printed front to back. Make sure the term on the front has its correct definition on its back.) (Source 1)
  • Bags or envelopes to hold vocabulary cards
  • Vocabulary table (one per student)
  • Mystery Steward Portrait for Portrait Gallery
  • Stewardship definition poster
  • Practice text: Wyoming Conservation Corps crew tackles erosion on Casper’s Bridle Trail (Source 3)
  • Sticky notes (4-5 per student)
  • Highlighters

Suggested Teacher Preparation:

• • Make card decks for small groups to play Spoons. You need four cards of the same rank for each group deck. For example, with four players, you could use the Aces, 2s, 3s, and 4s. Therefore, one complete card deck of 52 cards should be enough to make three small group decks.  Two decks should be enough for six groups.
  • Review how to play Spoons.
  • Prepare vocabulary cards and place in bags or envelopes.
  • Prepare a space for the “Portrait Gallery” in your classroom.  Post ten pieces of different colored construction paper.  The construction paper will be used as background for the portraits that you hang up throughout the unit. Make a copy of each of the ten portraits contained in the unit.
  • As you come across a part of a lesson that has a portrait listed, you will see the camera icon. When you see this icon, please attach that portrait to a piece of construction paper.  Place portraits in order of the lessons they appear.
  • Place the Mystery Steward Portrait on the last piece of construction paper in your gallery.
  • Preview the practice text and find parts that students should highlight when practicing the reading strategy (see step 4).  Save these at the end of the lesson because they will be used again in Lesson 4.

Standards:  

ELA: 5.L.6 (Explicit), 5.RI.1, 5.RI.2, 5.SL.1 (Practiced/Encountered)

Vocabulary:

• • Care – providing for something in a positive way
  • Develop – to aid in growth, maturation, or expansion
  • Manage – be in charge of, run, be head of, head, direct, control, preside over, lead, govern, rule, command, supervise, oversee, administer, organize, conduct, handle, guide
  • Natural resources – sources of life, materials, or energy that we are able to get naturally from the earth
  • Property – land mass of varying size
  • Resource – a place or thing that provides something useful
  • Stewardship – As Wyoming citizens, we are stewards entrusted with the responsible development, care, and use of our resources to benefit current and future generations.
  • Use – the way in which land can be interacted with based on regulations

Instructional Procedure/Steps:

1. Direct students’ attention to your empty Portrait Gallery.  Say: “As we complete each lesson, we will add a portrait to the gallery. There will be portraits of several stewards, but this last portrait is our Mystery Portrait.  Together, we will begin by discovering what it means to be a steward. We will study each of these portraits as they are added to see how the individuals are stewards of Wyoming’s lands. By the time we are finished filling our gallery, we will have learned about each of the people in these portraits. You will also be able to help me figure out who the Mystery Portrait belongs to.”  
2. To introduce lesson vocabulary, students will play the card game Spoons with a twist. Either play the video with the game directions or use the written direction sheet to teach the Spoons game. Place students into groups, and pass out card decks, spoons, Vocabulary cards, and Vocabulary tables. Have students complete the Vocabulary table as they play Spoons. The table has three columns: word, definition, and a picture. Students will draw a picture to help them remember the definition of the word. Each student who loses a round of the game draws a vocabulary card from the top of the word pile and reads it out loud to the group. Group members need to continue playing the game until they have completed their Vocabulary table with all eight vocabulary terms. Be sure to monitor where groups are during the game, so when all groups are finished, the class can move on to step three.
3. When students finish, have them place their Vocabulary tables on their desks. Say: “We are now going to complete a silent walk about. Look, but do not touch, your classmates’ Vocabulary tables. Focus on the different ways other students ‘pictured’ their words. Questions?” The teacher should also walk around to note any students’ misconceptions of the words.
4. Collect game materials, and pass out the practice texts, highlighters, and sticky notes to each student.  Say: “Today we are going to set up our reading strategy for how we will do the work in each of our lessons. The article you are about to read was reprinted from the Casper Star Tribune. We are using this text to practice our strategy. I will read the passage to you first, and you will follow along with your highlighter ready to highlight what I emphasize.  I will tell you something specific to look for in the text, and you will highlight it when you find it.  When I am finished reading the text aloud, you will work with your elbow partner to read the text again, and discuss what you highlighted from the text.  You can use your sticky notes to jot down any questions you have from the reading and stick it on the text for later discussion.  We are going to practice this strategy now.”

   Teacher Note:

   The practice text will be used again in Lesson 4.
5. As the article is being read, have students actively highlight by following the strategy described in step 4. Say: “Look for and highlight ways that the crew works together to repair a hiking trail.” When finished reading, have students work with a partner to discuss what they highlighted. Listen in on students’ conversations to see if they identified the look-fors listed below. Some might include:

• • stacking logs and trees to help people stay on the main trail
  • take turns working and cooking dinner
  • dig gullies and “knicks” to help prevent erosion
  • work hard and encourage each other

6. Close lesson by saying: “The purpose of today’s lesson was to learn important vocabulary and a reading strategy to help us identify stewardship examples and stewards of Wyoming’s public and private lands. We are not identifying any of our stewards at this time, but we will use this strategy throughout the rest of the unit to identify a steward from every lesson.”

Assessment:  Collect students’ Vocabulary tables and highlighted Practice texts to assess students’ understanding of vocabulary terms and ability to practice the highlighting strategy.

Credits/Sources:  

1. 1. the spruce. (n.d.). How to Play Spoons. Retrieved August 17, 2017, from https://www.thespruce.com/spoons-card-game-rules-411144
   2. Triple S Games. (2015, October 22).  How to Play: Spoons. Retrieved October 7, 2018, from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkDC3JoRjSk
   3. Leah Todd, Casper Star Tribune. (2013, June 30). Wyoming Conservation Corps crew tackles erosion on Casper’s Bridle Trail. Retrieved August 19, 2019, from https://trib.com/news/local/casper/wyoming-conservation-corps-crew-tackles-erosion-on-casper-s-bridle/article_1e3c66f9-7590-567d-91ae-e529fa99e902.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share