Performance-Based Instructional Task: Integrated Content Grade: 3

In this task, students will read a poem about families and analyze the family as a social institution. They will choose one family to read about and investigate, write a note to the teacher, and share what they have learned with their own family.


	Outcome Activity Match
	Teacher Directions
	Materials Required
	Estimated Time
	Student Booklet (386k Acrobat)
	Assessment Information

	Social Studies:
	#1 Political Systems
	#2 Peoples of the Nation & World
	#3 Geography
	#5 Skills & Processes
	#6 Valuing Self & Others
	Health:
	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life
	#2 Accessing Information
	#4 Communication Skills
	Library Media Skills:
	Outcome #3
	Outcome #4
	Outcome #6
	English/Language Arts:
	Listening (Standard)
	Language Usage
	Writing to Inform
	Writing to Express Personal Ideas
	Visual Arts:
	#3/Exp. A: Creative Expression & Production

Activities	Outcomes/Indicators
Activities 1A & B	#2 Peoples of the Nation & World (Outcome Level) Students will demonstrate an understanding of the history, diversity, and commonality of the peoples of the nation and world, the reality of human interdependence, the need for global cooperation, and a multicultural perspective.
Activity 1C	#2 Accessing Information Demonstrate the ability to locate resources from home, school, and community that provide valid health information. #5 Skills & Processes Obtain and use relevant information by reading, asking questions, observing, and listening. Outcome #4 (Library Media Skills) Use a variety of sources to acquire information.
Activities 2A & B	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life There are different family structures. #5 Skills & Processes Obtain and use print and nonprint sources of information such as pictures, graphics, maps, globes, and artifacts. #6 Valuing Self & Others Provide examples of social institutions and the media that have an impact on individuals.
Activities 3A & B	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life There are different family structures. #4 Communication Skills Apply a variety of methods to convey accurate health information and ideas. #6 Valuing Self & Others Provide examples of social institutions and the media that have an impact on individuals.
Activities 4A & B	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life There are different family structures. Outcome #3 (Library Media Skills) Use study skills to complete tasks, monitor success, and record and restructure information.
Activity 4C	#3 Geography Explain the relationship between the physical setting of a community and its ability to satisfy the wants and needs of its people. Outcome #3 (Library Media Skills) Use study skills to complete tasks, monitor success, and record and restructure information.
Activity 4D	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life There are characteristics that support being a responsible family member, friend, and student. #1 Political Systems Describe the processes people use for making and changing rules within the family, school, and community. Outcome #3 (Library Media Skills) Use study skills to complete tasks, monitor success, and record and restructure information.
Activity 4E	#4 Communication Skills Demonstrate an understanding of non-violent strategies to resolve conflicts. #2 Peoples of the Nation & World Predict how conflicts in values or beliefs may affect relationships among individuals or groups within the family, school, or community. Outcome #3 (Library Media Skills) Use study skills to complete tasks, monitor success, and record and restructure information.
Activity 4F	Use study skills to complete tasks, monitor success, and record and restructure information. Demonstrate asking, listening, and responding skills to build and maintain healthy relationships. #5 Skills & Processes Obtain and use relevant information by reading, asking questions, observing, and listening. Outcome #3 (Library Media Skills) Use study skills to complete tasks, monitor success, and record and restructure information.
Activities 5A, B & C	#4 Communication Skills Describe healthy ways to express needs, wants, emotions, opinions, and information.
Activity 6	#4 Communication Skills Describe healthy ways to express needs, wants, emotions, opinions, and information. #2 Peoples of the Nation & World Examine the contributions of various ethnic, racial, and religious groups to the development of communities. Listening (Standard) (Proficiency) Apply listening strategies to receive, interpret, and respond to messages. Outcome #6 (Library Media Skills) Share and promote books and media as sources of information and recreation.
Activities 7A & B	#2 Peoples of the Nation & World (Outcome Level) Students will demonstrate an understanding of the history, diversity, and commonality of the peoples of the nation and world, the reality of human interdependence, the need for global cooperation, and a multicultural perspective. #6 Valuing Self & Others Provide examples of social institutions and the media that have an impact on individuals. Language Usage Demonstrate ability to write effectively by considering correctness, completeness, and appropriateness and by making conscious language choices that create style and tone and affect reader response. In this way, students will focus on sentence form, word choice, grammar, usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
Activity 8A	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life The family is a basic unit of society. #6 Valuing Self & Others Provide examples of social institutions and the media that have an impact on individuals.
Activity 8B	#4 Communication Skills Describe ways to communicate care, consideration, and respect for self and others. #6 Valuing Self & Others Recognize that people everywhere have similar social needs, motivations, and desires but may express them differently.
Activity 8C	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life There are characteristics that support being a responsible family member, friend, and student. #6 Valuing Self & Others Provide examples of social institutions and the media that have an impact on individuals.
Activity 8D	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life Family members have roles and responsibilities. #6 Valuing Self & Others Recognize that people everywhere have similar social needs, motivations, and desires but may express them differently.
Activity 9 Option A	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life The family is a basic unit of society. #6 Valuing Self & Others Provide examples of social institutions and the media that have an impact on individuals. Writing to Inform Demonstrate ability to write effectively to inform by developing and organizing facts to convey information. In this way, students will create meaning for themselves and others.
Activity 9 Option B	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life The family is a basic unit of society. #6 Valuing Self & Others Provide examples of social institutions and the media that have an impact on individuals. #3/Exp. A: Creative Expression & Production Communicate ideas and feelings using art media.
Activity 9 Option C	#1 Health Concepts: Family Life The family is a basic unit of society. #6 Valuing Self & Others Provide examples of social institutions and the media that have an impact on individuals. #3/Exp. A: Creative Expression & Production Communicate ideas and feelings using art media. Writing to Express Personal Ideas Demonstrate ability to write effectively to express personal ideas by selecting a form and its appropriate elements (e.g., plot, dialogue, rhyme scheme, etc). In this way students will create meaning using personal or fictional ideas.

Extensive teacher involvement is essential as students work through the instructional activities. In general, the directions in the Student Booklet are self-explanatory. Specific notes are as follows:

Activity 1.
You may want to read the poem to the students before you distribute the Student Booklets, then have them work on their own to complete Steps A, B and C. Review expectations for the task before proceeding to Activity 2.

Activity 2.
Please note that the family is the social institution referred to in the Outcome/Indicator Activity Match for this activity, as well as for Activities 3, 7, 8 and 9.

Activity 3.
You may want students to draw the web in a pattern with which they are more familiar, or use the one provided. You can also use the activity to introduce or practice using different kinds of webs. These can be placed on the chalkboard for display and to check student work.

It is important in this and the following activities to be sensitive to the students' personal family situations. A variety of circumstances could make a study of families troubling. Students may have no biological relatives, or have parents who are divorced, not married, or of the same gender. They may also have family members of different races, from other countries, with disabilities, etc. Some families may feel that any discussion of this subject is prying into private matters. Students must feel that they are in control of what they choose to share about their own families and what they know about other families.

Possible responses are found in the previous paragraph.

Activity 4.
Use articles or chapters in books about human families. You may want to work with the media specialist to set up a classroom library, or take students to the media center to complete their investigation. Develop a procedure for pairing students and having them choose a book, then an article or chapter from the book.

The following books are recommended. Those marked with an asterisk (*) contain collections of articles on children and families for students of varying ability levels.

*		Erlbach, Arlene. The Families Book. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing, 1996.
*		Jenness, Aylette. Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment, and Love. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
*		Kindersley, Barnabas, and Anabel Kindersley. Children Just Like Me. New York: DK Publishing, Inc, 1995.
		Pelligrini, Nina. Families Are Different. New York: Holiday House, 1991.
*		Strom, Yale. Quilted Landscapes. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.
		Tax, Meredith. Families. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1981.

Activity 5.
This activity assumes that students have had instruction on healthy ways to communicate. If not, you may want to conduct a discussion or provide information before having students complete Steps A, B and C.

Activity 6.
Note that this activity measures the “Peoples of the Nation and World” outcome and the indicator stated in the Outcome/Activity Match. This match occurs because articles and chapters in books include contributions of families from various ethnic, racial and religious groups.

Develop a way of putting pairs of students together to form groups of four. Allow time for students to discuss all aspects of their investigation. When students have finished, you may wish to ask them to share with the class something they learned that was surprising, interesting or new.

Activity 7.
This activity assumes that students have studied other cultures. Before they complete Steps A and B individually, hold a class discussion and provide prewriting activities such as brainstorming, creating a graphic organizer, etc., to activate students' prior knowledge of different cultures and elements of culture. Encourage students to provide specific information in their responses, and to avoid cultural stereotypes.

Activity 9.
Distribute materials to students as needed. See the Materials Required list.

This activity calls for the teacher or the students to select one of three options, designated Options A, B and C. Students may write to inform, complete a visual arts project, or use the visual arts activity as a prewriting activity, then write for personal expression. Please note the Outcome/Indicator Activity Match. Depending on the skill levels of the students, Option A, and particularly Option C, may require a significant amount of instruction.

Extension Activities.
Use literature to investigate families that lived in other times, e.g. Wagon Wheels, Sarah Plain and Tall, Little House series, and others.

Use the lesson “Houses and Homes” that is part of a series developed by the Maryland Geographic Alliance and the Council on Economic Education in Maryland (call 410-455-3148 or 410-830-2137).

Activity 4:
Books for each pair of students (See Teacher Directions for a selected bibliography)

Activity 9:
Depending on the option chosen, students may need:

Lined paper

Drawing supplies, such as colored pencils, markers, paper, etc.

The total time required for this instructional task is 160-190 minutes. As described below, these tasks can be completed over several days.

	Activities 1,2, & 3		30 minutes
	Activity 4		50-60 minutes
	Activities 5, 6 & 7		30-40 minutes
	Activities 8 & 9		50-60 minutes

(386k) Acrobat

Rationale.
You may want to focus on particular activities to evaluate student progress on a certain indicator and outcome. For the purposes of this exemplar task, sample scoring tools are provided for Activities 3A & B, 5A, B & C, and 7A & B. Sample responses are not provided because responses are contingent upon the readings chosen by the students.

Activity 3. Score Steps A and B together.

Step A. Complete the web below showing different kinds or “mixtures” of families. Two examples have been done for you.

Step B. How is the information in the poem different from the information you included on your web?

This activity addresses Social Studies Outcome # 6, Valuing Self and Others, Health Outcome #1, Health Content Concepts: Family Life, and Health Outcome #4, Communication Skills. The response is gauged on a 0 - 3 scoring tool.
Scoring Tool: The response gives evidence of the student's ability to apply different methods to convey accurate health information about a specific social institution, the family, and its different structures.
	3:	The response shows: 4 accurate and different family structures. A thorough and accurate explanation of how information in the poem is different from that in the web.
	2:	The response shows: 4 accurate and different family structures. An adequate and accurate explanation of how information in the poem is different from that in the web. or 3 accurate and different family structures. A thorough and accurate explanation of how information in the poem is different from that in the web.
	1:	The response shows: 2 accurate and different family structures. A partial and accurate explanation of how information in the poem is different from that in the web.
	0:	All other responses.
Sample Response:
	Refer to statement in the Teacher Directions.

Activity 5. Score Steps A, B and C together.

Step A. On the line below, write the name of one family member that you read about and circle one thing that the person communicated to another family member.

Step B. Think about how the communication you circled was expressed by the family member you named. Was this a healthy way for the family member to express himself or herself? Explain your answer.

Step C. Explain how you express wants and needs to your family in healthy ways.

This activity addresses Health Outcome #4, Communication Skills. The response is gauged on a 0 - 3 scoring tool.
Scoring Tool: The response gives evidence of the student's ability to describe healthy ways to express needs, wants, emotions, opinions, and information.
	3:	The response shows: A named family member and a circled communication. A thorough and accurate explanation of whether or not the named family member expressed himself/herself in a healthy way. A thorough and accurate explanation of healthy ways the student uses to communicate wants and needs to his/her family.
	2:	The response shows: A named family member and a circled communication. A thorough and accurate explanation of whether or not the named family member expressed himself/herself in a healthy way. An adequate explanation of healthy ways the student uses to communicate wants and needs to his/her family. or A named family member and a circled communication. An adequate and accurate explanation of whether or not the named family member expressed himself/herself in a healthy way. A thorough explanation of healthy ways the student uses to communicate wants and needs to his/her family.
	1:	The response shows: A named family member and a circled communication. A partial and accurate explanation of whether or not the named family member expressed himself/herself in a healthy way. A partial explanation of healthy ways the student uses to communicate wants and needs to his/her family.
	0:	All other responses.

Activity 7. Score Steps A and B together.

Step A. Name another culture you have studied.

Step B. On your own, write a note to your teacher. Use what you learned and what you know about families to explain how the life of the family you investigated is different from the life of a family in the culture you named.

This activity addresses Social Studies Outcomes #2, Peoples of the Nation and World, and #6, Valuing Self and Others. The response is gauged on a 0 - 2 scoring tool. Note that the Language Usage scoring tool is not included below, but is available in your school.
Scoring Tool: The response gives evidence of the student's ability to demonstrate an understanding of the history, diversity and commonality of families of the nation or world and the impact of families on individuals.
	2:	The response: Names a culture studied by the student. Provides a thorough and accurate explanation of how the life of the family investigated is different from the life of a family in the culture named.
	1:	The response: Names a culture studied by the student. Provides a partial and accurate explanation of how the life of the family investigated is different from the life of a family in the culture named.
	0:	All other responses.

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