GRASPS Title: Kindergarten Social Studies US Symbols

Submitted by: Whitney Hess

Date 6/30/2008

Goal – You will discover and collect the American Symbols that we

have learned about in our unit.

Role – You will be a detective. You will uncover the nine American

symbols that we have been learning about. As you uncover

them, you will compile them into a scrapbook to keep track

of them.

Audience – You will be reporting your discoveries to the President,

who will be visiting our class after we have uncovered all of

our American Symbols.

Situation – The President of our country, President George W.

Bush, has a big problem on his hands. The nine American

Symbols that we have been learning about have been stolen

from the White House. He needs help remembering what

they are and finding them so that they can be returned. Your

job as detectives is to help him remember what these nine

symbols are, so that they can be returned to him. You will

work in your five groups to discover these nine American

Symbols. Each group will help to uncover all nine symbols which

have been secretly placed around the room. You will have to use

what we have learned to remember what the nine symbols are to

make sure you have discovered all of them. When you locate where

the symbol is in the room, you will find enough picture of the symbol

for each group to take one. When you are sure you have found all

nine, your group will scream, “America is Beautiful!” and I will come

check them to be sure you found them all.

Product/Performance – As you learn about each symbol, you will

record a drawing of that symbol on a new page in your

scrapbook. Upon completion of the unit, you will have

uncovered all nine symbols in your scrapbook. You will

pair/share your scrapbook with your group partner to make

sure that you have discovered all nine symbols. In this pair/

share you will take your baggie of the nine symbols labeled

with the words and a picture. You will match the label to the

picture that you drew in your scrapbook. On the last day

you will share your scrapbooks with the class as a group to

show that you were able to uncover all nine American

Symbols.

Standard/Criteria for Success – see rubric

American Symbols Rubric
CATEGORY	Excellent	Good	Needs Work
Pictures of Symbols	Pictures of all nine symbols in book.	Pictures of at least six of the symbols in book.	Pictures of five or less symbols in the book.
Label of Symbols	All pictures have the correct label glued to them.	At least six of the pictures have the correct labels glued to them.	Five or fewer symbols have the correct labels glued to them.
Working with Partner	Worked well together. Pair shared ideas and took turns.	Worked together on some things. Sometimes shared and took turns.	Pair did not work well together. Did not share or take turns.
Sharing	Group took turns sharing their American Symbols. Group spoke clearly to class.	Group had only several people share. Did not always speak clearly to class.	Group did not take turns sharing at all. Presentation to class was very unclear.