Observation of a History and Social Science Lesson
Gena Beamon
University of Phoenix
Curriculum Constructs and Assessment: History and Social Science
MAT 531CA
Bernardita Beni Murphy-Jobes
April 7, 2009
Ms. Cejas third grade classroom was observed at 95th Street Elementary School, which is
apart of the Los Angeles Unified School District located in Los Angeles, California.
During the observation Ms. Ceja stated History and Social Studies requirement was
required weekly for ninety minutes. The lesson plans duration were thirty minutes for a
one day a week.
During the observation the teacher provided the following outline, which was apart of a
mini lesson from the teachers resource book, ” History-Social Science for California: Our
Communities.”€
While Ms. Ceja was asking her students questions with the transparencies that
contained graphic organizers and was building an existing knowledge for preparation of
the reading materials. The students answered the questions, such as “Where do you
live?”€ Then the teacher pointed out where they lived on a large map of California. The
students were asked a series of yes or not questions about nearby geographical features
such as “Is there a mountain in your region?”€ While the teacher was getting their
response to her questions and after they answered yes Ms. Ceja would point to that feature
on the map and repeat its name. The students received a preview of the lesson by reading
“Connect to You”€ with the class. Thereafter, they were showed a large map of California
and pointed out the four major land regions: valley, desert, mountain, and coast. The
teacher told the students what they would be learning more about the regions and they
appeared very interested.
There were about four students appeared to have some difficulty and the teacher was
observed spending time working with them, later when others were in there assigned
groups. Once the students completed their vocabulary activities and reviewed the
definitions of a synonym and they responded to Ms. Cejas question on which word is a
synonym for area.
Overall, while the students were reading together and the teacher reminded them to
look for the main idea in each paragraph they exceeded this area of understanding and
objective. Once they found the main idea, it appeared easy for them to find details that go
with it. The classroom had many materials on the bulletin board stating the lessons
objective and the state standards. Together with the teacher, and her assigned group
members in the classroom had seemed to help the various learners comprehend social
