| Unit | World Olympics, p. 90 |
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| Lesson Name | Creating a Team Motto |
| Grade Band |
Elementary (Grades 3-5) Middle School (Grades 6-8) |
| Required Materials |
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| Standards / Competencies |
CASEL Core Competencies
Common Core ELA-Literacy Standards
NCSS Social Studies Themes
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| Recommended Time | 2 days |
| Essential Question | What do we want our motto to be? |
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| Learning Objectives |
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| Activating Prior Knowledge |
Post the What do These Sayings Refer To? chart. Read the 10 sayings out loud. Ask the class: By a show of hands, how many of you know what these sayings refer to? Ask a number of students what they think and chart responses. As soon as someone says they all refer to lottery games ask: How did you know this? Get responses from one or two students. Ask: Look at the list. What do they all have in common? Be sure to get that all encourage people to play the lottery, they all refer to the chance of winning, and that they all are short. Tell the class: These are called slogans. They are short, easily remembered phrases that advertisers use to sell products or in this case, to encourage adults to buy lottery tickets. Tell the class that the class is going to learn about and create another kind of short phrase that communicates an important idea: a motto. |
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| Core Instruction |
Post the definition of a motto:
Make sure students know what an ideal is: the highest model or standard to be aimed for. Ask students to give examples of ideals. If they are having difficulty, start by giving them examples such as always being truthful or honest, striving to always be kind to others, and so on. Say: The first motto of the United States, which was created in 1776, is on the Great Seal of the United States – “One from Many.” Say: Think about what you know about 1776 and the founding of the United States of America. What do you think “One from Many” refers to? (If students are not sure or don’t offer any suggestions, ask: How many original colonies were there in America? In 1776, these 13 colonies became the first states and they united to form one country – Out of Many (originally 13) One (USA).) Tell the class: Like the slogans we looked at, it is short. It expresses an ideal and belief the founding fathers had for our country – that while we are many different kinds of people from many places around the world, and live across a country that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, we are one nation. Tell the class: Now we are going to look at some mottos to help us figure out what we want our team motto to be. Divide the class into groups of six students per group. Tell students in each group to pick a partner. Ask one of the people in each pair to raise a hand. Walk around the room and have each person with a hand raised pick a card from the deck. Once each pair of students has a card, tell the pairs they have five minutes to read the motto on their card and the organization it belongs to and discuss what the motto means and why they think the organization chose the motto. Tell students that if any pair does not know about the organization on their card to raise their hands and you will provide assistance. As the pairs talk, walk around the room and give a piece of numbered chart paper and marker to each small group. (If there are five groups of six, distribute five pieces of chart paper numbered 1 to 5.) At the end of five minutes, stop the discussion. Tell students: Now each pair in your group has two minutes each to share their ideas with the other two pairs in the group. Tell the class you will tell them when two minutes is up so the next pair will know when to begin. Repeat so that all three pairs share in the small group. (6 minutes) Ask someone in each group to list the names of the group’s members at the bottom of the chart paper. Tell students that, at the end of the class, one person from the group must bring the chart paper and the three motto cards to the teacher’s desk to be used in the next lesson. Ask for a pair of volunteers to stand and read the name of the organization and the motto printed on their card and then state why they think the organization chose that particular motto. Repeat this until at least three or four pairs have shared. Ask the class: Imagine you are a member of one of the organizations that your small group talked about or that you just heard about from other groups. Take a minute to think about the motto of the organization. How do think the motto would make you feel about belonging to the organization? Get responses from five or six students. Say: Again, think about how the motto would make you feel if you belonged to the organization. Ask: Why do you think you would feel this way? Ask: What does that tell you about the power of a good motto? Day 2 Preparation:
Ask students to reassemble in their groups from the previous lesson. Tell each group to send a representative to pick up the group’s chart paper and a marker. When all groups are formed, randomly distribute three motto index cards to each group. Post the Motto Summary Chart. Tell the class: I have started a summary chart of what we know about mottos. Read aloud the two bullets on the chart. Tell the class: We learned a lot more about mottos yesterday. Ask: What did we learn about how they make a member of a group feel? Chart responses (to be read aloud in the next part of the lesson). Tell the class: I want to add three bullets. The first one is that a motto:
The second is that a motto:
Say: So, if my group’s motto communicates an ideal that I believe in and produces feelings like pride, respect, or determination or confidence in me, what do you think it will also do? Get student responses and use them to add the third bullet: The third is that a motto:
Post the Motto Summary Chart where all students can see it. Tell students: Each group is going to brainstorm what you think our class motto should be for our Olympic Games. Take ideas from what we just reviewed, the mottos you personally talked about yesterday, and the cards your group has today. The motto needs to communicate ideals, connect our hearts to the ideals and inspire us to do our best. If you want to trade motto cards with another group during your discussion you may do so. You have 15 minutes to come up with your group’s suggestion for what our class motto should be. Once you have decided, print it on your chart paper and pick one or two students to read your motto to the class and explain in a few sentences why you think it should be the motto for the whole class. At the end of 10 minutes tell students they have five minutes left. At the end of 15 minutes, tell the class time is up. Ask by a show of hands if any groups need two more minutes to finish. Give the extra time if needed. Ask for a group to volunteer to go first. Give the student or students two minutes to read the motto to the class and say in a sentence why the group thinks it should be the whole class’ Olympic motto. As each group finishes, provide a piece of masking tape for the speaker to post their chart on the wall. Help students to stay within the two- to three-minute time period. When all groups have shared, thank all the groups for their work. Tell the class: I see some common ideas in the mottos. Circle the words (using a colored marker) on two or more charts that communicate a similar or the same ideal. Ask the class if anyone else sees any similarities. If yes, then ask students to point out where they see a similarity and explain why. Circle the words with a different colored marker. When all similarities have been circled, look at any differences. Point to a word that was only used by one group and ask someone from the group to explain why they believe it is an important word to use. After the explanation has been given, put a P next to the word for Possible. Repeat the process as needed until all voices have been heard. On a new piece of chart paper, list the words that were circled and then the words that were P (possible). Ask the groups to use only the words on this new chart paper to come up with a possible motto for the group. Tell them they will have five minutes. Tell the groups if some want to combine and work together, they may do so. Give students a minute or two to regroup if needed. Give each group a new piece of chart paper and tell them to start. While they are working, remove the previous chart papers to make a space for the new ones the groups will have at the end of the exercise. At the end of five minutes, tell them to print their motto on the chart paper and post it on the designated wall. Read each motto aloud. If any two (or three) are very similar, repost one so that they are next to each other. Explain why you think they should be considered as one possibility. Ask: What are the most important ideas you want our motto to convey? Get multiple responses. Read each motto aloud. When all have been read, stand by each motto or grouped mottoes and ask for a show of hands to indicate how many students think it is the motto that best conveys our best ideas. When a motto has been selected, thank the students for their work in coming to agreement on the group motto. |
| Wrap-up | Ask: What is the most important message of our motto to you? |