A Hat Is Shade for Me: Social Studies Lesson
Lesson Plan
1 hour 10 minutesGradesKScience, Social Studies
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Written by Susan Poage, Sustainable Jersey for Schools
About this lesson
Students determine what makes a good hat for protecting people from the hot sun and apply their new understanding to create their own hat.
Inquire: Students identify that people all over the world wear hats for protection.
Investigate: Students classify the properties of hats for different climates and weather.
Inspire: Students apply their understanding of how materials are affected by heat by creating a hot day hat.
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Suggestions
- This lesson can be taught during a unit on weather and climate while appreciating other cultures or in conjunction with both social studies and language arts.
- This lesson highlights the importance of “same and different” all over the world. We are all the same; we need and wear hats. We are all different; our hats look different.
- Before the lesson, teacher can read The Hat Seller and the Monkeys (the story is similar to Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina). This is a great story to get students thinking about different kinds of hats. Note: In Caps for Sale, the only difference between the hats is their color.
- For the Investigation section of the lesson, make sure there is one student with a good grasp of letter-sound associations and one student who can read two-digit numbers in each group.
- Teacher will need sunny days for the Investigate and Inspire part of the lesson.
- To extend the lesson, students can participate in a classroom hat day.
Prerequisites
- This is lesson 2 of 3 in our Kindergarten Stay Cool on the Playground unit.
- Students should have a basic understanding that the world is getting hotter.
- Obtain a copy of the book Hats, Hats, Hats by Ann Morris before teaching the lesson. A free e-book can be found here.
- Teachers will need to collect the following materials to use before the lesson:
- Hats of different materials and colors, such as baseball caps in both white and black, straw hats, winter hats in both light and dark colors, etc.
- Digital thermometers to measure the temperature of hats
- Art materials such as paper plates, tissue paper, string, yarn, hole punchers, lightweight cardboard, rubber bands, newspapers, paper bowls, and construction paper
- If you are unfamiliar with hat-making techniques, preview the hat-making guide in the Teacher Document.
Differentiation
- To extend the lesson, students can add an identifier to the hat to reflect something they love, for example, a picture of a puppy. This gives students a chance to share part of themselves with their peers.
- Students with attentional issues can listen to The Hat Seller and the Monkey and the poem in a small setting the day before the lesson.
- Students can write sentences about their design instead of labeling it. Students can also write sentences about their experience wearing their hats outside.
- Focus on antonyms with emerging multilingual students. Many pairs arise in the lesson (hot/cold, warm/cool, light/heavy, light/dark). The terms light (weight) and light (color) may need more examples before independent use in the experiment as the word is also used as a noun, ‘“turn on the light” and a verb, “light the fire” in English.
- When reading/writing temperatures with two or even three digit numbers you may choose to fill in the hundreds or tens place and have students focus on the ones place.
From the scientist review
Students will get knowledge about hats, including what kinds of hats are most useful for providing shade on hot, sunny days. After review, the lesson passed our science credibility process.
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About the teacher writers
Susan Poage
Susan Poage holds a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education, an Advanced Curriculum and Teaching degree, and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Teaching the Holocaust and Prejudice Reduction from Kean University. She has been teaching since 2002 and has 24 years of experience teaching all subjects in kindergarten and first grade. Susan has also served as an adjunct professor at Kean University and has been recognized with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science (2010) and her district's Educator of the Year award twice.
Sustainable Jersey for Schools
Sustainable Jersey is a network and movement of municipalities, schools and school districts working collectively to bring about a sustainable New Jersey. Acting with state agencies, non-profit organizations, foundations, academia and industry, Sustainable Jersey researches best practices for what communities could and should do to contribute to a sustainable future.
