Unit+of+Instruction

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 * Teacher Work Sample Elementary Education Revised 2010 **

Plants Unit

** 1. Organizer **

__ TWS Organizer.xls __

** 2. Scope and Sequence **

Sabin, being an International BaccalaureateSchool, supports all of their units on inquiry-based learning. This particular plant unit falls under the “Sharing the Planet” program of inquiry. This is an inquiry-based program exploring rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; and peace and conflict resolution. In first grade, the central idea is that interdependence exists between animals and habitats. The lines of inquiry they learn are the types of habitats that exist, characteristics of healthy habitats, and the relationship between animals, humans, and habitats. In third grade, the central idea is that people use and manage renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy. The lines of inquiry are the kinds of energy we get from the earth, the extent to which our society depends on earth’s power sources to function, and how responsible use of the earth’s power sources can affect our planet.

** 3. CO Model Content Standards/ Benchmarks **


 * Science **

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

1 - Organisms depend on their habitat’s non-living parts to satisfy their needs

A - Use evidence to develop a scientific explanation about how organisms depend on their habitat

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

2 - Each plant or animal has different structures or behaviors that serve different functions

A - Use evidence to develop an explanation as to why a habitat is or is not suitable for a specific organism


 * Reading ****, Writing, and Communicating **

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

1 - Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others

B – Contribute knowledge to a small group or class discussion to develop a topic

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

2 – New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively

A – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small or larger groups

B – Recount or describe key ideas of details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media

C – Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue

Standard 2: Reading for all purposes

Concepts and skills:

1 – Fluent reading depends on specific skills and approaches to understanding strategies when reading literary text.

B – Summarize using sequence of events and story elements of texts read or read aloud.

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

Standard 4: Research and Reasoning

Concepts and skills:

1 – Reference materials help us locate information and answer questions

C – Use text features to locate, interpret, and use information (table of contents, illustrations, diagrams, headings, bold type)


 * Social Studies **

Standard 2: Geography

Concepts and skills:

2 - People in communities manage, modify, and depend on their environment

A – Identify how communities manage and use nonrenewable and renewable resources

D – Identify examples of physical features that affect human activity.

Standard 2: Geography

Concepts and skills:

1 – Geographic terms and tools are used to describe space and place

A – Use map keys, legends, symbols, intermediate directions, and compass rose to derive information from various maps

D – Identify and locate cultural, human, political, and natural features using map keys and legends


 * Mathematics **

Standard 2: Shape, Dimension, and Geometric Relationships

Concepts and skills:

2 – Some attributes of objects are measureable and can be quantified using different tools

A – Measure and estimate lengths in standard units

I – Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes

Standard: 3. Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability

1. Visual displays of data can be constructed in a variety of formats to solve problems

A - Represent and interpret data.

I - Generate measurement data by measuring lengths of several objects to the nearest whole unit, or by making repeated measurements of the same object. Show the measurements by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in whole-number units.

II - Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories

** 5. Unit Resources **

Lima and pinto beans for our ‘From Seed to Plant’ and ‘Plant Needs’ lessons. These are continuous lessons throughout the unit. Soil, water, Promethean board, rubber bands, candy corn, cooking oil, silly bands, bike tire, __Plant Parts__ by Richard and Louise Spilsbury, Plant parts: leaves, roots, small tree to show plant stem, plant seeds, plant parts diagram, Carnivorous plant books, Internet for watching carnivorous plant videos, a couple of different seeds, a germinated seed, a sprouted plant, and a plant with a flower, Plastic tray, paper cup, tape, petroleum jelly, pencil, marker, plastic bags, three different leaves: one green, one not so green or red/yellow, and one brown, __Catching Sunlight: A Book About Leaves,__ by Susan Blackaby and Illustrated by Charlene DeLage, Food ingredient lists on internet or on food packaging, document camera, corn kernel, soy beans, Fruits and vegetables: avocados, bananas, apples, carrots, oranges lemons, limes, tomatoes, etc., map of the world, cut out of different fruits and vegetables, fruits and vegetables locally grown and ones mass produced, Local vs mass produced slide show, knife, local vs. mass production hand out, herb seeds, small growing station with grow light, paper, markers, pots, soil, water, __From Seed to Plant__ by Gail Gibbons, seed flip chart, magnifying glass, document camera, several different types of seeds: acorns, poppies, carrots, lettuce, rice, watermelon, nuts

** 6. Integration Ideas for Other Subject Areas 1.1-1.5, 2.1-2.2, 4.2, and 7.1-7.5 **

This unit will integrate lessons with Mathematics, as the students will be plotting data and creating bar graphs. The unit will integrate Social Studies by having the students will be plotting on a world map where different plants, mainly fruits and vegetables, come from and why some come from so far away. This lesson will integrate technology by having the students work with a plant parts flip chart as well as watching different videos on the Promethean board. One of the lessons also has a station where students will be operating the Promethean board on their own. Technology will also be used in every lesson with the use of the Promethean Board as well as the document camera. I also have the students using the Active Expression devices. I will be asking true or false questions and have the students answer them anonymously to gauge whether they have an idea about the lesson I am going to teach. Literacy will be integrated into almost every single lesson. The students will be writing informational paragraphs as well as how tos. They will be researching and reading many different plant books during each lesson.

** 7. Integration of Theory and Research...CPBS 6.1 **


 * Major Instructional Strategies || Research or Reference Support ||
 * Students will be constructing a body of knowledge through research and videos in both a small group and whole group learning environment. This concept follows __Piaget’s Constructivist Theory__. || Children do not just absorb their experiences, they actively try to interpret and make sense of events and then integrate what they have learned into comprehensive, personally constructive understandings (McDevitt and Ormrod 2007 pg 194). ||
 * __ Group investigations __ are a way for students to work on communication skills as well as listening to others’ thoughts and opinions. || When the topic is appropriate, and especially if it relates to the curriculum for that grade level, teachers allow students to participate in an investigation…to learn as much as they can about the subject and, in process learn research and communication skills. (Eby, Herrell, and Jordan 2009 pg 172). ||
 * __ Bloom’s Taxonomy __ as the basis for organizing instructional objectives into coherent, connected learning experiences. || Knowledge level objectives can be planned to ensure the students have a knowledge base of facts, concepts, and other important data. Comprehension level objectives cause students to clarify and articulate the main idea of what they are learning. (Eby, Herrell, and Jordan 2009 pg 53) ||
 * During this unit students will learn in a variety of ways in order to cover __Gardner’s Theory of Multiple__ __Intelligences__. || Gardner’s perspective offers the possibility that the great majority of children are intelligent in one way or another. Many educators have wholeheartedly embraced such an optimistic view of human potential and propose that all students can successfully master classroom subject matter when instructional methods capitalize on each student’s intellectual strengths (McDevitt and Ormrod 2007 pg 280). ||
 * During this unit there will be several opportunities for the students to think about a question posed, turn and talk to their shoulder partners, and share with the class __(Think-pair-share)__. || One popular technique is think-pair-share, in which students think about a topic individually for several minutes; then they pair up with classmates to share their thoughts and hear other points of view. Last they would come back together as a class to discuss the topic (Tompkins 2010 pg 408). ||
 * The student will take part in several __interactive demonstrations__ during inquiry-based lessons. They will have the opportunity to plant their own lima beans and watch them grow as well as plant their own herbs and take them home at then end of the unit. || In science inquiry, we want students to be intrinsically motivated to pursue a learning task and to engage in it for intrinsic reasons, rather than because of grades or teacher approval...Novel or discrepant events, can presented through hands-on student investigation or through a teacher demonstration using science materials (Pearson Custom Education 2011, pg 120-121). ||

** 8. Standardized Test Preparation....CPBS 3.7 **

This unit will prepare students for standardized testing in all subject areas, but mainly in science and writing. This unit will use scientific knowledge addressing all of the appropriate state standards. This unit will take the students through scientific investigation using authentic terminology that is used during standardized testing. This terminology includes terms such as: define, describe, and explain. The different summative assessments given during this unit can also help prepare students for standardized testing. There are several problems where written responses are required on the summative assessments. This will require the students to use different problem-solving strategies and comprehension skills to answer the questions.

** 9. Comprehensive Assessment Plan....CPBS 3.2-3.5 **

a. **Pre-Assessment:** The pre-assessment will be done on 02/09/2012. This pre-assessment is designed to get an idea of what the students already know about plants. It will include questions based off of the lesson objective for the plant unit. It will cover questions on plant parts and needs, the life cycle of a plant, how humans can use plants, and why are plants so important to people, and photosynthesis.

b. **Formative Assessment:** For the formative assessment, I chose to do a KWL chart to see what the students already knew about plants and what they wanted to know about plants. This allowed me to alter the lesson plans to better help the students as well as teach towards what they wanted to learn about. This data was very intriguing and made me even more excited to teach the Plants unit. Much of what the students wanted to know about was how plants grow, how paper was made, and where different plants come from. For the most part, the formative assessment in each lesson will be questions asked to the students as I take notes on what the students know and what they don’t. For a couple of lessons, I have the students using the Active expression devices. I will ask true or false questions and have the students answer them anonymously to gauge whether the have an idea about the lesson I am going to teach.

c. **Post-Assessment** This assessment will be given on 03/15/2012. This assessment will cover each lesson’s objectives to carefully see what the students learned during this unit. The assessment will strongly cover the first half of the unit as this is what the students mostly struggled with during the pre-assessment. There will be many questions on plant parts and how each part helps the plant stay alive.

d. **Copy of Assessment Instrument(s)**


 * Pre-assessment: Assessment.doc **

e. **Metacognition/ Self-Assessment** Much of this section will be done through informal discussion with the students. I will also have the students using their active expressions. When I have them use these devices at the beginning of a lesson, I will be asking them a question or series of questions to gauge what they already know about the topic of the current day’s lesson. I will also be using a rubric to assess certain end products of different lessons. Prior to each summative assessment the students will be told what is expected of them. These expectations will be written on the promethean board or on the dry erase board in the front of the classroom. Much of the writing the students will be doing is not new for them, so they will know what type of work the teacher is looking for.

** 10. Modifications....CPBS 3.5, 6.2, 6.3, 6.5, 6.7 **

For the most part, I did not change too much of the unit based off of the pre-assessment. I did make an adjustment and decided to spend an extra day on Plant parts and their uses because the students did seem to struggle a bit with the questions on this topic during the pre-assessment. There is one diagnosed gifted and talented student in the class, but there are also 3 to 4 other students who have not been diagnosed, but do have a passion for learning and will be done before most of the class. I have decided to watch these students carefully and give them a few more challenges during some of the lessons. I have decided to give the gifted and talented students a variety of different challenges to broaden their horizon and thoughts on plants. The challenges range from more in-depth or advanced research to high-level, thought-provoking questions. I believe this will test these students and keep them motivated throughout this unit. I feel that I made the appropriate accommodations for my ELL students in certain lessons. The accommodations range from supplying these students with different books in Spanish (or their native language) to allowing the students who have trouble writing to just use pictures. I did mention that as we have worked on informational paragraphs in our previous unit, I did not feel that the ELL students needed an accommodation for the summative assessment in that particular lesson. I will be available for those students should any questions come up.

** ....Lesson Plan 1 **

** Information: Plants: What are they and how do we use them? **

Date: February 13, 2012

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to explain what a plant is and some basic uses for plants.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

2 - Each plant or animal has different structures or behaviors that serve different functions

A - Use evidence to develop an explanation as to why a habitat is or is not suitable for a specific organism

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

1 - Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others

B – Contribute knowledge to a small group or class discussion to develop a topic

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

Standard 4: Research and Reasoning

Concepts and skills:

1 – Reference materials help us locate information and answer questions

C – Use text features to locate, interpret, and use information (table of contents, illustrations, diagrams, headings, bold type)

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: This introductory lesson about what a plant is and what some basic uses for plants are will start with a KWL chart. The students will be required to answer two questions on a note card to create an inquiry chain. Then we will have them come to the group area and share their thoughts. The two questions will be what they think a plant is and what they think are some basic uses for plants. As a class we will add this to what we think we know about plants on the KWL chart. The next step will be asking the students what they want to know about plants. These answers will be recorded under the ‘W’ of the KWL chart.

Summative assessment as appropriate: For the summative assessment, the students will fill out a two-column graphic organizer, writing a list of all the different types of plants they know and have learned about on one side and what some of the uses for these plants are.

** Materials **

Teacher: Promethean board for KWL chart, Plant books, note cards, pipe cleaner to hang inquiry chain, plant picture flipchart, rubber bands, candy corn, cooking oil, silly bands, bike tire

Students: Science notebooks, pencils

** Resources **

[|www.kidrex.com]

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This lesson will start as a whole group lesson. We will have a class discussion filling out our KWL chart. The students will be required to work individually when filling out their note cards. After the class discussion, the students will be divided into groups of five and allowed to go off and explore 4 different discovery plant stations.

Expectation for groups: Students will be expected to stay on task and adhere to the school’s IB profiles. They are expected to stay balanced and principled during all lessons. All students are expected to follow normal classroom procedures and expectations during the lesson. Students are to remain seated at their desks or in the group area unless otherwise told to be in a different location. If they should have a question, hands are to be silently raised. Students are not to shout out answers/questions, unless directed to by the teacher. If and when students are split into groups, they are expected to work with their group and not wander off to another group. When working in groups, especially when we are doing fun activities like planting beans, the students are expected to follow all rules. If students act out or call out they will be given one warning. This warning will be verbal and the student will be asked to move their clip on the behavior chart. If a student calls out again they will be sent back to their desk and not get to plant their own bean. When back at their desk they are to reflect on what they did wrong. If they can pull it back together they can rejoin the group, but have to work with a partner to complete the task, as they have already wasted time to start or continue on their own.

** Differentiation **

Gifted students: I will challenge these students to research more than one way certain plants can be used by people and other animals. I will then have them see if they can come up with their own ways they can use plants. This will be done if/when these students finish their two column chart.

** Introduction **

Plants, What are they and what do you think some basic uses are of different plants? Relevancy and Prior Knowledge: I will bring in a few different items from around my home and even the store that will get the students thinking about plants. I will ask the students if they have ever gone trick or treating. I will then ask them if they think that any of the candy they eat comes from any plants. I will hold up different objects asking the students if they think any of them come from plants. The objects will include paper, a shirt, rubber bands, candy, cooking oil, silly bands, and a bike tire.

** Expectations and Directions/Student Learning Activities **

- The lesson will start as a whole group lesson filling out a KWL chart on what the students know and want to know about plants.

- The students will answer two questions on a note card. The questions will be: What do you think a plant is? What do you think are some basic uses for plants?

- After they fill out the note card, we will fill out our KWL chart as a class.

- After this task is complete, I will break the students into groups of five and explain to them that they will be going around to four different stations to explore different plants and find out what some basic uses for these plants are.

- I will explain that the four stations include a computer station, where the students can search Kidrex.com to look up different plants, two book stations filled with books about different plants and their uses, and a station where they will be working with a “How People Use Plants” flipchart on the Promethean board.

- I will explain to the students that they are to record their findings in their science notebooks.

- Once each group completes all the stations they will go back to their desks and fill out a two column graphic organizer on what are some different plants and what the uses are for each of these plants.

- The groups at the Promethean board are only required to look at pages 2-9 on the flip chart. Each page has a short video for them to watch about different plants and their uses.

Students will be required to work in groups of 5 exploring four different stations around the room. The stations will be designed to let the students explore different ways of finding out about plants and about some basic uses for these plants. The four stations will include a computer station, where the students can search Kidrex.com to look up different plants, two book stations filled with books about different plant and their uses, and a station where they will be working with a “How People Use Plants” flipchart on the Promethean board. The students will go through a series of pages on this flip chart watching different videos that explain different uses of plants. The students are to be carrying their science notebooks around to each station and recording all of their findings. After the students complete all of the stations they will go back to their desks and fill out a two column graphic organizer on what some different plants are and what the uses are for each of these plants.

Questions to be asked while walking around a meeting with groups

- Can you describe the different plants you have read about?

- What do you think would have happened if this plant was never discovered?

- How else do you think this plant can help people?


 * Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives **

What are some basic uses for plants? Why do people use plants?

** ....Lesson Plan 2 **

** Information: Parts of Plant **

Date: February 15-16

** Learning Objectives ** The students will be able to identify the different parts of a plant and explain how each part helps the plant live.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

2 - Each plant or animal has different structures or behaviors that serve different functions

A - Use evidence to develop an explanation as to why a habitat is or is not suitable for a specific organism

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

1 - Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others

B – Contribute knowledge to a small group or class discussion to develop a topic

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: This will be done by questioning the students on what they think they know about plants and plant parts. I will display several pictures on the Promethean board asking the students what they believe each part of the plant does. I will have the students raise their hands to answer these questions and I will take notes on who is having trouble with these questions.

Summative assessment as appropriate: The students will complete a blank diagram of the different parts of a plant. At the bottom of this diagram, they will explain what each part of the plant does to help it stay alive.

** Materials **

Teacher: Promethean board, __Plant Parts__ by Richard and Louise Spilsbury, plant parts (leaves, roots, small tree to show plant stem, plant seeds), plant parts diagram

Students: Pencil, Science notebooks

** Resources **

You tube video showing different plant parts:

[]

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: The first part of this lesson will be whole group. This lesson will be whole group in order to have the entire class involved in the lesson. The second part of this lesson will allow the students to explore in small groups of 4-6 students.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Gifted: I will have these students investigate different plants and compare and contrast the plant parts of different plants. I will have them look at different seeds and ask them to explore why some plants flower and other do not.

** Introduction **

Are all the parts of a plant the same? Do all the parts of a plant serve the same purpose?

Relevancy and Prior Knowledge: I will have several different plants, leaves, pictures of roots and stems, and flowers for the students to view. I will ask them if they have ever seen any of these plant parts. I will ask them if they think any or all of these parts serve the same purpose.

** Expectations and Directions/ Student Learning Activities **

- I will start the lesson by asking the students what they think the different parts of a plant are.

- I will have the students talk to their shoulder partner to discuss this question and what they think each part of the plants does.

- As a class we will fill out a three column chart about plant parts.

- The three columns will be titled: Part of Plant, What we think this part does for the plant, and what we know this part does for the plant.

- We will fill out the first two columns as a class.

- After this discussion, I will then read the book, __Plant Parts__ by Richard and Louise Spilsbury.

- After reading the book, the students will watch a video about plant parts.

- After the video, the students will have an opportunity to discuss as a class what they saw and heard.

- I will then have the students make an oval around the group area and I will dump a bunch of different leaves, flowers, and different plants out on the floor, on a garbage bag.

- I will then go over each part of the plant with them and have them write the different parts in their science notebooks. After this, I will tell the students they will have an opportunity to explore each of these parts in small groups.

- After our discussion, the students will be allowed to break into small groups of 5-6 students (with a total of 4 groups). Each group will be able to investigate one plant part at a time. They will work together in these groups to search for the different needs of each plant part in the various books and encyclopedias in the book library.

- Each group will be given time to look at each plant part. Once they have rotated four times, we will come back together as a class and work to fill out the third column of the chart they were working on.

- After this, the students are required to go back to their desks and work individually to fill out the blank plant diagram and explain what each part of the does to help it live.

- What do you notice about the different parts of the plants?

- Look at the parts of a plant. Why do you think the different parts vary so much between plants?

The student will gain knowledge through exploration and hands-on visualization during this activity. The students will be able to label a blank plant diagram and explain what each plant part does for a plant by the end of this lesson. The students will work together through exploration to attain this goal.

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** - Why do plants need so many different things to live? - Why don’t plants just have one part to do everything to help them live?

** ....Lesson Plan 3 **

** Information: Plant Needs **

Date: 02/17/2012

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to determine what different plants need to grow.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

1 - Organisms depend on their habitat’s non-living parts to satisfy their needs

A - Use evidence to develop a scientific explanation about how organisms depend on their habitat

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

1 - Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others

B – Contribute knowledge to a small group or class discussion to develop a topic

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

2 – New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively

A – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small or larger groups

B – Recount or describe key ideas of details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media

C – Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

Standard 4: Research and Reasoning

Concepts and skills:

1 – Reference materials help us locate information and answer questions

C – Use text features to locate, interpret, and use information (table of contents, illustrations, diagrams, headings, bold type)

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: The students will be questioned on what they know about what plants need to grow. I will ask them if they think plants eat any type of meats, fruits, or vegetables to help them grow like we do.

Summative assessment as appropriate: The students will write an informational paragraph including a main idea and details on one of the carnivorous plants learned about in class.

** Materials **

Teacher: Promethean board, Carnivorous plant books, Internet for watching carnivorous plant videos

Students: Science notebook, pencils

** Resources **

You tube videos showing what different plants need to grow:

Venus fly trap: []

Sundew:

[]

[]

Bladderwort:

[]

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This lesson will start as a whole group lesson and then the students will be separated into 5 groups in order to research and explore different carnivorous plants.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Special needs or specific learning/ background differences: For our ELL students, I will provide copies of the different books on carnivorous plants in Spanish so these students will be able to read the books with little help. As we have been working on informational paragraphs in our Earth Changes Unit, I do not think that the ELL students will need too much help with the assessment for this lesson. I will be available to help these students on an individual basis if that problem arises

** Introduction **

What do plants need to grow? Do we think some plants need more than just the basics?

Relevancy and Prior Knowledge: I will ask the students if they have ever gardened or grown plants before. I will then ask them to think about all the different plants they have ever seen and what they needed to do to care for these plants. Have you ever seen a plant need something besides what you gave it to grow?

** Expectations and Directions/ Student Learning Activities **

- I will start the lesson by asking the question, What do plants need to grow? I will then ask the students if they think some plants need more than just the basics that they know of to grow and stay alive?

- Do you think plants eat meats, fruits, and vegetables to grow big and strong like people do?

- I will then explain to them that all plants need certain things to help them grow.

- I will show the students a video on what plants need to grow.

- After the video, I will ask the students if they think that water, sunlight, and nutrients from the soil is all that every plant needs to grow?

- I will explain to them that there are many plants that can not get all of the nutrients they need from soil, water, and sunlight to grow.

- I will then have the students turn to their shoulder partner and discuss what else they think plants need to grow and stay alive.

- I will then ask for a couple of volunteers to be risk takers and share what they heard or were thinking.

- I will record the predictions they have made.

- I will then show the class a few videos on different carnivorous plants. I will explain that they will be researching different carnivorous plants in groups and presenting their findings to the class.

- The groups will be able to find information in the books provided to them.

- After the presentations, the students will go back to their desks and write an informational paragraph about the carnivorous plants they presented on. The students are required to include a main idea and details in their paragraphs.

The students will be able to complete this task in a timely manner. The groups will stay on task. I will be available to the groups should any questions arise. The research will help the students gather proper information for their paragraphs. Focusing on one carnivorous plant will allow the students to stay on task and focus on the objective for the lesson. Having each group present on a different plan will allow the entire class to learn about the many different carnivorous plants in the world.

Why do these types of plants need to eat insects?

What are some of the different ways these plants trap their prey?

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** Why do non-carnivorous plants need sunlight? Why do carnivorous plants need insects to live?

** ....Lesson Plan 4 **

** Information: Plant Life Cycle **

Date: 02/22/2012

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to arrange a plant’s life cycle in order, beginning with sprouting, developing roots, stems, leaves, and flowers, reproducing, and eventually dying.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

2 - Each plant or animal has different structures or behaviors that serve different functions

A - Use evidence to develop an explanation as to why a habitat is or is not suitable for a specific organism

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

2 – New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively

B – Recount or describe key ideas of details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media

C – Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: I will question the students on what they know about a plant’s life cycle. I will display several pictures of a plants life cycle on the promethean board and ask the students what they think the correct sequence of pictures is. I will point to certain pictures and ask the students to give a thumb up or thumb down to the correct order of them. I will take notes on who is struggling with this activity.

Summative assessment as appropriate: The students will fill out a few different blank diagrams about different plant life cycles.

** Materials **

Teacher: Plant life cycle diagrams, Promethean board, internet for time lapse video on a plant’s life cycle, a couple of different seeds, a germinated seed, a sprouted plant, and a plant with a flower

Students: Science notebooks, pencil

** Resources **

Time lapse video: []

[]

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This will be a whole group activity. The students will watch several videos about a plant’s life cycle and we will have whole group discussions. This will be more effective for all students as this is an important part of our unit and I would like to make sure everyone is staying on task and learning at the same time.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Gifted: In addition to labeling the blank diagrams of a plant’s life cycle, I will have these students get together and explain each process to the class.

** Introduction **

How do plants grow? Knowing what we know about what plants need, how do plants get to the point of being a plant?

Relevancy and Prior Knowledge: I will have the students think about the book we read prior to this unit called __City Green.__ I will also have them think about our gardening example from the previous lesson. I will ask the students if they have gardened before and if so, how did they start getting vegetables or fruit or flowers? Did they plant seeds or plant starter plants? Or did they just show up to the garden and carrots were all ready to be eaten?

** Expectations and Directions/Student Learning Activities **

- The lesson will start with a discussion about what the students know about a plant’s life cycle. I will have them turn to their shoulder partners and discuss what they know about a plant’s life cycle. I will then have them turn back to me and raise their hands to share what they talked about.

- How do plants grow? How do plants become plants?

- Do plants just appear?

- Today we will be talking about the Life Cycle of a plant.

- I will explain to the class that all plants start out a certain way and go through a certain process to become what we know as a full grown plant, tree, or flower.

- I will then show the students, in this order, a full grown plant with a flower on it, a seed, a sprouted plant, and a germinated seed.

- I will ask them if this is the order they go in. I will have the students put a thumb up if they agree or a thumb down if they disagree.

- I will then ask them what they think the order is.

- As a class we will discuss a plant’s life cycle. The students will be able to come up and look at the plant parts that I have brought in.

- As a class, we will put each part in order and discuss what happens as the plant grows.

- We will then discuss how new plants are made from the current plants.

- I will have the students then watch a few time lapse videos of a plant’s life cycle.

- We will discuss words such as germination, sprouting, pollination, and life cycle

- Why do plants have a life cycle?

- What are the important steps of a plant’s life cycle?

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** What is pollination? Why do plants need insects, people, and other animals?

At end of lesson soak lima beans over night in order for students to be able to use them for next lesson.

** ....Lesson Plan 5 **

** Information: From Seed to Plant **

Date: 02/23/2012-02/27/2012

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to identify the parts of a lima bean and get to plant a lima bean to watch it grow.

The students will be able to identify different environments where plants grow best.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

1 – The duration and timing of life cycle events such as reproduction and longevity vary across organisms and species

A - Use evidence to develop an explanation regarding the stages of how organisms develop and change over time.

Mathematics

Standard 2: Shape, Dimension, and Geometric Relationships

Concepts and skills:

2 – Some attributes of objects are measureable and can be quantified using different tools

A – Measure and estimate lengths in standard units

I – Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

2 – New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively

A – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small or larger groups

B – Recount or describe key ideas of details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media

C – Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: I will ask the students about what they know about planting seeds and what they think the best environment to plant seeds is. I will ask for risk-takers to share their thoughts with the class.

Summative assessment as appropriate: The students will fill in a blank seed chart identifying the structure and parts of a lima bean. The students will fill in a matching sheet distinguishing the best places to plant seeds.

** Materials **

Teacher: Cotton balls, plastic gloves, eyedroppers, lima beans, small paper cups, twist ties, markers, pencils, Promethean board, __From Seed to Plant__ by Gail Gibbons, Promethean board, seed flip chart, magnifying glass, document camera, several different types of seeds: acorns, poppies, carrots, lettuce, rice, watermelon, nuts.

Students: Science notebooks, pencils

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This lesson will start out as a whole group discussion, but the students will eventually break off individually to dissect a lima bean and later to plant their own lima beans.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Special needs or specific learning/ background differences: I will provide the ELL students the opportunity to work with the ELA-S teacher when she reads the book __From Seed to Plant__.

** Introduction **

Today we are going to plant our own seeds and learn about the different environments that plants grow in.

Relevancy and Prior Knowledge: How many of you have planted something before? What did you plant? How did it turn out, did it grow?

** Expectations and Directions/Student Learning Activities **

- This is a three day lesson.

- The first day, the students will get to dissect their own lima beans and learn about the different parts of the bean.

- The second day, the students will continue to work with the lima beans and learn about different environments to grow plants in as well as what plants grow in certain environments.

- On the third day of the lesson, the students will get to plant their own lima beans and eventually get to watch them grow and record data.

- This lesson will start with a discussion about what the students know or think they know about planting seeds and environments where seeds grow best.

- I will explain to the students that this lesson will take three days and it will culminate with them getting to plan their own lima beans.

- I will have the students come to the group area and I will explain that most plants come from seeds. I will display pictures of different seeds on the Promethean board as well as show several different kinds of seeds on the document camera.

- I will ask the students if these seeds all look the same.

- I will ask them if they think all of the seeds are from the same plant.

- I will ask them if they know why plants have such different looking seeds.

- I will go through the seed flip chart with the class.

- I will tell the class that they are going to get the opportunity to dissect a lima bean. I will then display a dissected lima bean diagram up on the Promethean board. I will show the students how to split the lima bean in half and what to look for based off of the diagram.

- I will send the class back to their desks and pass out paper towels and a blank sheet of paper. I will then come around and place a pre-soaked lima bean on the paper towel.

- I will explain to the class that we ‘wear a coat’ to keep us warm from the cold. Similarly, seeds from flowering plants have seed coats to protect themselves. I will hand out magnifying glasses and tell the students to examine the outside of the seed. I will have them split the seed in half. I will ask them to look for the parts showing the chart. Then, they will draw the lima bean.

- I will also ask them to label the three parts of the split bean, the seed coat, food storage, and embryo.

On the second day:

- Prior to this lesson, I started to grow pinto beans in three different environments. One bean was just in soil, one bean was in clay, and one bean was in gravel.

- I will hold a class discussion today on what we think the best place to plant seeds is.

- I will read the book, __Plant Growth__ by Louise and Richard Spilsbury. This book has a ton of great information on different environments to grow plants.

- I will have the students share any stories they may have of growing different plants in different environments.

- I will then explain to the students that many different plants grow in many different places. I will go through an interactive plant flip chart about different growing environments.

- I will then display the three different environments that I created for the pinto beans for the students. I will explain that as the unit moves on we can watch these three different cups and see if one is growing more than the others. I will have the students write some predictions down on which pinto bean plant is going to grow the best.

- The students will then go back to their desks and fill out a match sheet, matching several different plants to the best environment they would grow in.

Day three :

- On day three of this lesson the students will get to plant their own lima beans and be able to record days and time of growth. It is important for all students to stay on task throughout this entire unit, but on this particular day they must be paying close attention. If they are talking out of term, they will be given one warning and have to move their clip in order to show this. If I have to speak with them again, they will not get to plant a lima bean at all. If this happens, they will go back to their desks and reflect on how they were acting. If they can pull it together, they will help a friend finish planting their lima bean plant. When it comes to recording data, they will partner up with this friend to record days and height of plant.

- Today we will actually plant our lima beans and get ready to record data and watch the plants grow.

- I will have the students first come to the group area so I can explain how we are going to be planting our lima beans.

- I will explain to the students that we will be planting our lima beans today, but first we need to get our supplies.

- I will tell the students that we first need to write our name on our cup because the bean is not going to stay on our desk, it is going to be by the window to get sunlight.

- I will write my name on the cup. I will then explain to them that we now need soil to put in the cup. I will get a little bit of soil in the cup.

- I need to make sure that my cup does not have too much soil in it because we still need to put the lima bean in.

- I will then put the lima bean in the cup and cover it with soil.

- I will take an eye dropper and add a little water to the cup. The students need to know that too much water is not good for the plant especially at this stage. I will then have the students ask any questions that they have before I send them back to their desk.

- Once back at their desks, I will pass out cups and have the students write their names on them.

-The students will each get a little bit of soil and then I will pass out the lima beans. They are to put the lima beans in the cup on top of the soil. I will then have the students add a little more soil to their cup. I will then have them take eye droppers full of water and add water to the cup.

- After this, the students will go by table group up to the window sill and place their cups down.

- Each day the students will be able to water and observe their plants growing. Once the plant sprouts, they will be recording the height that their plant grows each week.

I expect the students will be intrigued and excited. The students love to do hands-on work, so I am expecting them to be excited about dissecting the lima bean and learning about what is inside of it. I think they will also be very excited to see the pinto beans growing in the three different environments. This is a great experiment for the visual learners to actually see this process. I expect that the students will also enjoy planting their own lima bean and waiting for it to grow. Overall I think this lesson plays a great role for the Plants unit. I expect everyone to be on task and that all of the experiments will keep the student’s attention.

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** What do the different parts of the bean do? Why are some environments better for some plants and not others?

** ....Lesson Plan 6 **

** Information: Photosynthesis **

Date: 02/28/2012-03/09/12 – This is another on-going lesson where the students will be observing and recording data of plant growth and other observations.

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to describe what photosynthesis is and how it helps a plant grow.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

1 - Organisms depend on their habitat’s non-living parts to satisfy their needs

A - Use evidence to develop a scientific explanation about how organisms depend on their habitat

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

1 - Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others

B – Contribute knowledge to a small group or class discussion to develop a topic

Standard 2: Reading for All Purposes

3 – Deciding words with accuracy depends on knowledge of complex spelling patterns and morphology.

A – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: I will start this lesson by asking if anyone has heard of the word photosynthesis. I will see what the response is to that question. I will ask the students if they know the process of how a plant makes food for itself and, in turn, helps all other animals to live.

Summative assessment as appropriate: Together the class will write an informational paragraph defining photosynthesis, describing how photosynthesis happens, and explaining how it helps humans and other animals.

** Materials **

Teacher: Plastic tray, paper cup, tape, water, petroleum jelly, pencil, marker, lima beans, plastic bags, three different leaves: one green, one no so green or red/yellow, and one brown, __Catching Sunlight: A Book About Leaves,__ by Susan Blackaby and Illustrated by Charlene DeLage

Students: Science notebooks, pencils

** Resources **

Photosynthesis rap: []

[]

[]

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This will be a whole group activity. The students will watch several videos about Photosynthesis and we will have a whole group discussion. This will be more effective for all students as this is an important part of our unit and I would like to make sure everyone is staying on task and learning at the same time.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Gifted: I would like to have these students look at photosynthesis at a deeper level. I would like them to think about the CO2 to O2 process and explore the idea if plants keep getting cut down and no one is planting new plants. I want them to answer the question: What will happen if people keep cutting trees down, but no one is taking action and planting new trees? These students are capable of orally answering this question as well as explaining it in writing. I think for our purposes and for time I will have these students orally answer this question after they have some time to think about it.

** Introduction **

Do plants help us live? Are they playing a big or small role in our lives?

Relevancy and Prior Knowledge: After asking the above questions, I am going to hold up three different leaves, one green, one not so green or red/yellow, and one brown. I am going to ask the students if they have ever seen a leaf look like any of these colors before. I will ask them if they know why a leaf turns from green to yellow or red, and finally to brown. I will tell them that we are going to explore this and much more in this lesson.

** Expectations and Directions/Student Learning Activities **

- I will start the lesson by showing the students three different leaves, one green, one not so green or red/yellow, and one brown. I am going to ask the students if they have ever seen a leaf look like any of these colors before.

- Do you know why leaves turn different colors?

- I will then read the book, __Catching Sunlight: A Book About Leaves,__ by Susan Blackaby and Illustrated by Charlene DeLage.

- This story will help show the students that a plant’s leaves play a crucial role in photosynthesis.

- After the story, I will have the students talk to their shoulder partner and discuss how leaves help us and if they know how plants help us too.

- I will ask for some risk-takers to share their thought about how leaves help the plant and how plants help humans and other animals.

- We will go over t he vocabulary that will be introduced will be: sugar, absorbs, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, chlorophyll, and photosynthesis.

- We will discuss each vocabulary word and clap out the syllables. I will explain to the students that many of these words have more than one syllable. By clapping the words out and breaking down the syllables we can easily sound out and say the word.

- We will then launch into a discussion about photosynthesis. As a class, we will work through pictures of the steps of photosynthesis one by one on a flip chart.

- As we slowly move through each picture, I will pause and answer any questions the students have.

- What is the plant absorbing?

- Why are plants so important to humans and other animals?

- What is the plant releasing?

- During this time the students are expected to take notes and draw pictures.

- After we complete the flip chart, the class will write an informational paragraph together defining photosynthesis, describing how photosynthesis happens, and explaining how it helps humans and other animals.

- The students will be allowed to draw a picture of what they wrote about if they complete their paragraph.

- I will explain that in addition the pinto beans we have growing in the three different soils, we are going to do another experiment that involves four growing controls of plants. This process will help show how photosynthesis can help a plant grow strong and healthy.

- I will have the students record this in their science notebooks.

- We are going to plant a lima bean in four separate cups. Cup 1 will be our control, normal growing of a plant in soil with water and sunlight and air. I will label Cup 1, place a lima bean in the cup with soil, and give it some water. I will have the students draw a picture of this in their science notebooks.

- I will label Cup 2 and place soil and a lima bean in the cup but this time I will not water it. I will have the students draw this in the notebooks and label Cup 2 as our no water plant.

- I will label Cup 3 and place soil and a lima bean in the cup. This time I will give it water, but cover it with a black garbage bag. I will have the students draw this in their notebooks and label Cup 3 as our no light plant.

- I will label Cup 4 and place soil and a lima bean in the cup, give it water and make sure it has light, but this time I will use petroleum jelly to cover the cup. I will also put it in a Ziploc bag. I will have the students draw this in their notebooks and label Cup 4 as our no air cup.

- I will have them make predictions under the pictures of what they think is going to happen. I will ask for a few people to share their predictions.

- I will tell the students that we will be recording the data we observe over the next few weeks.

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** Why are plants so important to humans and other animals? How does photosynthesis help a plant grow?

** ....Lesson Plan 7 **

** Information: How One Plant Can be Used For so Much **

Date: 02/29/2012-03/02/2012

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to analyze an ingredient list and point out one or more food sources that are in all of them.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

2 - Each plant or animal has different structures or behaviors that serve different functions

A - Use evidence to develop an explanation as to why a habitat is or is not suitable for a specific organism

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

2 – New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively

A – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small or larger groups

B – Recount or describe key ideas of details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

Social Studies

Standard 2: Geography

Concepts and skills:

2 - People in communities manage, modify, and depend on their environment

A – Identify how communities manage and use nonrenewable and renewable resources

D – Identify examples of physical features that affect human activity

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: With this lesson, I will have the students use their Active Expressions to answer true/false questions about why they think one crop/plant is in so many different foods. I will ask questions like: True or False? Most sweets are made with one particular vegetable in it. Soy is in many foods we eat. Corn is in many foods we eat.

Summative assessment as appropriate: During this lesson, the students will learn to read ingredient lists on the side of food boxes. They will take this knowledge home and choose 10 items in their cabinets at home and look for one or two different plants that are in most, if not all, of these items. They will come back in to class and plot these items on a bar graph.

** Materials **

Teacher: Food ingredient lists on internet or on food packaging, Promethean Board, document camera, corn kernel, soy beans

Students: Science notebooks, pencil, Students will be required to go home and look in their cabinets to find 10 items. They are not required to bring these items to school, but they will be required to look at the ingredient lists of all the items and find one or more ingredients that are the same. They are to write the name of the item and the name of the ingredient in list form.

** Resources **

[]

[]

[]

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This will be a whole group lesson as the class learns about looking at ingredients lists and how one plant can be in so many different foods.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Gifted: I am going to have these students look up a few more items at home and have them look for more than one ingredient that is in the particular items they have chosen.

** Introduction **

Thumbs up if you like Hot Cheetos. How many of you think that Hot Cheetos are made from one plant? What about two or more plants? Who has ever eaten soy beans or corn on the cob before? Thumbs up if we think Hot Cheetos have corn or soy in them.

** Expectations and Directions/Student Learning Activities **

- Has anyone ever heard the expression or heard a family member say “you are what you eat.”

- What do we think that means?

- If so, I have some interesting news for you.

- Who likes salad dressing? What about soda? Who likes cookies or chips? All of this stuff has something in common. Do we know what it is?

- I will then hold up a corn kernel and some soy beans. I will display these items under the document camera and ask the students if they recognize either of them.

- I will have the students raise their hands and make predictions about these two items.

- I will then tell the class that today we are going to learn about two particular plants that are in almost every packaged food you can think of.

- I will explain to the class that just because these plants are in our foods does not mean these particular foods good for us. The foods go through a process that actually can make them bad for us to eat. We will learn more about this in our final planner, The Health Unit.

Vocabulary: Processed, ingredients, food label.

- I will read off the ingredients to Hot Cheetos and several other snack foods kids like to eat. I will have the students listen to these lists as I read them off and see if they can recognize any patterns or repeat ingredients in these foods.

- I will ask for any risk-takers to share what they heard as I read.

- I will talk to the students about how these two particular plants, corn and soy, are mass produced in the United States and used to make so many different foods. They are processed in a way that makes them easy to work with and easy add other ingredients to, to make many of the foods we eat.

- I will explain to the students that they will be going home and looking through their refrigerators, cabinets, and pantries, finding ten packaged items that they like to eat, and looking at the food ingredients list for each item.

- They will be doing just as we did with the snack item packages, reading the lists and recording what they discover. They will be looking for corn or soy products in each list.

- They are required for home work to write down the name of the product and what ingredient they have found, either corn or soy.

Day two of this lesson:

- The students will come in and share their findings. As a class, we will go over how to plot their findings on a bar graph. I will do the same as the students and model how I want the bar graph to look. I will also ask for some risk-takers to share their data and add it to my bar graph.

Day three of this lesson:

- The students will work individually to plot their data on bar graph that they create.

- What patterns do we notice with all of our foods we looked at?

This lesson will be very helpful for the students moving forward into our health unit. I believe listening is a skill the students will be able to take home and talk to their parents or guardians about. I think that plotting the data will be a real eye opener to all students, and make them more conscious about what they are eating.

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** Why do you think corn or soy is in so many different foods? What do we notice about all of the ingredients we looked up?

** ....Lesson Plan 8 **

** Information: Geographical Comparisons and Contrasts: Where Different Plants Grow and Come From. **

Date: 03/05/2012-03/07/2012

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to identify and explain where different plants are grown around the world.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Social Studies

Standard 2: Geography

Concepts and skills:

2 - People in communities manage, modify, and depend on their environment

A – Identify how communities manage and use nonrenewable and renewable resources

D – Identify examples of physical features that affect human activity.

Standard 2: Geography

Concepts and skills:

1 – Geographic terms and tools are used to describe space and place

A – Use map keys, legends, symbols, intermediate directions, and compass rose to derive information from various maps

D – Identify and locate cultural, human, political, and natural features using map keys and legends

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

1 - Organisms depend on their habitat’s non-living parts to satisfy their needs

A - Use evidence to develop a scientific explanation about how organisms depend on their habitat

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

1 - Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others

B – Contribute knowledge to a small group or class discussion to develop a topic

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

2 – New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively

A – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small or larger groups

B – Recount or describe key ideas of details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

Standard 4: Research and Reasoning

Concepts and skills:

1 – Reference materials help us locate information and answer questions

C – Use text features to locate, interpret, and use information (table of contents, illustrations, diagrams, headings, bold type)

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: With this lesson, I will have the students use their Active Expressions to answer true/false questions about where they think different plants are grown around the world. I will ask questions like: True or False? All plants are grown in the United States. You can get nearly any fruit or vegetable all year round. I will take note of the answers to the questions.

Summative assessment as appropriate: The students will get a list of different fruits and vegetables to plot on a map. They will plot the different countries where each of the fruits or vegetables came from.

** Materials **

Teacher: Fruits and vegetables: avocados, bananas, apples, carrots, oranges lemons, limes, tomatoes, etc., Promethean Board, internet, map of the world, globe, cut outs of different fruits and vegetables

Students: Science notebooks, pencils, active expressions

** Resources **

[]

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This will be a whole group lesson to start. After the instructional portion of the lesson, students will be put into pairs and asked to look up information on 2-4 fruits and/or vegetables. The information they are looking for will mainly include where the U.S. imports the food from or where it is grown in the U.S. The class will then come back together to see what everyone found out and then go to their desks to work individually.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Gifted: I would like these students to do a little more in-depth investigation on the fruits and vegetables they were assigned. I would like specific information on when the plants are grown and what city they are grown in.

** Introduction **

Who eats bananas? What about apples? Has anyone ever had an avocado? These are all fruits that we can get at our local grocery store, but may not be grown locally, may not be grown in the state of Colorado, and may not even be grown in the United States.

Who has been to another country? Are the fruits and vegetables in other countries the same as they are here in Colorado? Let’s think about why we can get our favorite fruits and vegetables almost all year round.

** Expectations and Directions/Student Learning Activities **

- This lesson will start with a few questions for the students on their Active Expressions to see what they know about different fruits and vegetables from around the world and in the United States.

- Vocabulary covered: equator, Asia, Europe, South America, Central America, crop, import

- The class will then go into a discussion about how different foods, especially fruits and vegetables, may not have come from the United States.

- Why don’t you think the U.S. can farm every fruit and vegetable that you want all year round?

- What about our warmer states like Arizona or Florida, why can’t they produce everything we need?

- We will talk about climate changes and how some countries are closer to the equator and it is much warmer there during our winter. It is easier to grow crops all year round in these countries.

- We will also touch on how some countries are known for growing one particular fruit or vegetable for the whole world.

- I will have several fruits and vegetables for the class to look at and ask if they think each of them were grown in the U.S. or in another country.

- I will explain that we are going to be learning about several different fruits and vegetables that are grown all over the world and that they may be on this table or may be in the lunch room as we speak.

- Students will be put into pairs and asked to look up information on 2-4 fruits and/or vegetables. The information they are looking for will mainly include where the U.S. imports the food from or where it is grown in the U.S.

Day two of this lesson:

-The class will come together in the group area to see what everyone found out. We will discuss the class’ findings. Each pair will be given a cut out of their particular fruits and vegetables and asked to come up to the Promethean Board, which has a map of the world on it, and stick their cut out on the country where it was grown.

- The students will be expected to be copying this information in their science notebooks because they will be going back to their desks to do this on their own.

Day three of this lesson:

- We will meet in the group area and review the findings from yesterday. The students will then go back to their desks to work individually.

- The students will be handed a blank map of the world with different fruits and vegetables on a separate sheet of paper. The students will be required to cut out each fruit and vegetable picture and glue them on the appropriate country where each food is grown.

I believe the students will respond well to this lesson. This will be a tougher lesson because they will be exploring different parts of the world and may have a hard to saying or figuring out the names of different countries. I believe they will be interested in learning about this topic because many of the students’ families are from different countries and they will be interested in learning more about that particular country. I purposely chose to have the students use maps and pictures of the fruits and vegetables because I knew it would be less frustrating for them to do than to actually write out the names of the countries or foods.

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** Why do different countries grow different fruits and vegetables and import them into the U.S.? Why do certain countries grow one food for the entire world?

** ....Lesson Plan 9 **

** Information: Local production vs. Mass production **

Date: 03/08/2012-03/09/2012

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to distinguish between locally grown fruits and vegetables and mass produced fruits and vegetables.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

1 - Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others

B – Contribute knowledge to a small group or class discussion to develop a topic

Standard: 3. Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability

1. Visual displays of data can be constructed in a variety of

formats to solve problems

A - Represent and interpret data.

I - Generate measurement data by measuring lengths of several objects to the nearest whole unit, or by making repeated measurements of the same object. Show the measurements by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in whole-number units.

II - Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

2 – New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively

A – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small or larger groups

B – Recount or describe key ideas of details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

1 – The duration and timing of life cycle events such as reproduction and longevity vary across organisms and species

A - Use evidence to develop an explanation regarding the stages of how organisms develop and change over time.

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: I will bring in pictures from my garden as well as pictures from mass produced farms and show them to the students. I will ask the students which pictures they think are from a local farm and which are from a farm that grows many fruits and vegetables every year.

Summative assessment as appropriate: The students will distinguish between local fruits and vegetables and mass produced fruits and vegetables by learning to look at labels on the food as well as taste testing the food.

** Materials **

Teacher: Promethean Board, fruits and vegetables locally grown and ones mass produced, Local versus mass produced slide show, knife, local versus mass production hand out

Students: Science notebooks, pencil

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This will be a whole group lesson. This will allow me as the teacher to keep a close eye on the students and make sure everyone is learning at the same pace. In this lesson, the students will get to taste different fruits and vegetables to see if they can taste the difference between locally grown and mass produced.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Special needs or specific learning/ background differences: I will provide the handouts in Spanish as well as Vietnamese for those students who have trouble reading them in English. I will have these students translate the different fruits and vegetables into their native language and display the words with a picture.

Gifted: I will have these students research which fruits and vegetables are most popularly grown in Colorado.

** Introduction **

Who eats fruits and vegetables? Who has ever gone shopping for fruits and vegetables? Who has picked their own fruits or vegetables out at the grocery store? Have you ever paid attention to where that fruit was from?

** Expectations and Directions/Student Learning Activities **

- Today we are going to talk about local or fruits and vegetables grown in Colorado versus mass produced fruits and vegetables.

- Can anyone tell me what that even means?

- Let’s think of each word carefully. What does local mean? What does mass mean? What does produce or production mean?

- I will go on to explain that locally produced fruits and vegetables are the foods that are grown here in Colorado at small farms that only really make a certain amount each year. Mass produced fruits and vegetables are those foods that are grown in huge amounts. They can be grown in the U.S. or in other countries, but they usually grown in a very large amount every year.

- The next time you are in the grocery store you can look at the different labels or stickers on the fruits and vegetables or look at the signs above each food to see where it is from. I will then show the students pictures of different signs and labels to look for at the store so they can have a good visualization of what they will see.

- Many times when you mass produce a product the flavor and taste can change and even suffer. Who can tell me what suffer means?

- Tomorrow we will get the opportunity to try some different fruits and vegetables locally grown and mass produced.

Day two of this lesson:

- The students will meet in the group area and we will review the idea of locally grown food and mass produced food.

- The students will then get the opportunity to try different fruits and vegetables that are locally grown and mass produced.

- We will try different fruits and vegetables one at a time and will make a chart as a class on what they think is locally grown and what is not.

- I will then reveal the answers and see if the students were correct in their picks.

- We will compare and contrast the different fruits and vegetables and see what the students liked and disliked about the locally grown foods.

- As a class we will record this data on the Promethean Board and have the students write it down in the science notebooks.

This lesson is just designed to expose the students to locally grown and mass produced fruits and vegetables. There is no real summative assessment in this lesson because I really wanted to students to be able to see the taste and flavor difference between locally grown and mass produced. This lesson will be a building block for the students as they move into the health unit.

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** What are the differences in taste between local versus mass produced? How can you tell if something is local?

** ....Lesson Plan 10 **

** Information: Taking Action: Planting at Home **

Date: 03/12/2012-03/14/2012

** Learning Objectives **

The students will be able to identify when to plant different plants and what they can grow at home.

The students will be able to organize the correct steps to planting a seed and caring for it.

** Colorado **** Model Content Standards **

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

1 - Discussions contribute and expand on the ideas of self and others

B – Contribute knowledge to a small group or class discussion to develop a topic

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

Concepts and skills:

2 – New information can be learned and better dialogue created by listening actively

A – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small or larger groups

B – Recount or describe key ideas of details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media

C – Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

Concepts and skills:

2 – Exploring the writing process helps to plan and draft a variety of simple informational texts

A – Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

D - Organize ideas using pictures, graphic organizers, or bulleted lists

3 – Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are used when writing

F – Write with precise nouns, active verbs, descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance writing

Standard 2: Life Science

Concepts and skills:

1 – The duration and timing of life cycle events such as reproduction and longevity vary across organisms and species

A - Use evidence to develop an explanation regarding the stages of how organisms develop and change over time.

** Assessment- Student Process/Product and its Documentation **

Formative assessment: I will question the students on when they think they can start planting different fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. I will make note of this as I have students raise their hands to questions like: Do you think you can plant in the winter time? Do you think you can plant in the summer time?

Summative assessment as appropriate: The students will get to plant their own herb garden and learn when it is the right time to plant outside.

The students will also write a how to about the steps for planting seeds or a plant and caring for it.

** Materials **

Teacher: Promethean Board, herb seeds, small growing station with grow light, paper, markers, pots, soil, water

Students: Science notebooks, pencils

** Student Grouping **

How will you group: This will be a whole group lesson. The students will learn about when to plant different plants and will get to take home their own herb garden. The students will break off individually to work on their own how to.

Expectation for groups: Please see first lesson plan expectations.

** Differentiation **

Special needs or specific learning/ background differences: I will allow the ELL students to just draw pictures of the steps in the how to if they are having some trouble writing the steps out.

** Introduction **

How many of you have helped someone plant or garden before? Think back to a time when you helped someone garden. What did you plant? When did you plant the seeds? What were the steps you took? Were they seeds or were they small plants?

** Expectations and Directions/Student Learning Activities **

- Explain to the students that in this lesson we are going to write a how about the proper way to plant seeds and care for them.

- We are also going to be learning about when to plant seeds and plants and eventually take home our own little herb garden. We will review our plants vocabulary at this time so the will be prepared for the post assessment. We will go over plant parts and their uses as well as the vocabulary we have discussed throughout the unit.

- I want you to think back to our previous lessons about the plant life cycle and photosynthesis.

- What do you remember from these lessons? When is the plant making food for itself? When are a plant’s leaves falling off?

- Can we dig in the ground when there is snow on it? Do trees have leaves during the winter time?

- I will go on to explain to the students that based off of what we have learned so far, the best time to plant most plants is during the spring or after the last frost or snow fall. We have also talked about different environments that plants can grow in. This is where we will look for the final time, at the different cups of pinto beans and see whether clay, gravel, or soil was best for growing. We will also look at the four lima bean plants that were each placed in a different environment, one grown normally with water and sunlight, one grown with water but no air, one grown with air but no water, and one grown with no sunlight.

- As a class, we will examine these plants and see which one grew the best as well as which environment was best for the plant.

- The students will record this data in their science notebooks.

- They will be required to go home and ask their parents or guardians which 2-3 herbs they use the most at home.

Second day of this lesson:

- The students will come back to class with the 2-3 herbs they asked their parents about. We will plant several different herbs in the classroom and in three to four weeks the students will be able to bring their herb plants home for their families to share and use.

- The students will watch and learn as we plant these seeds and will be able to see what the proper steps are for planting seeds and for caring for them.

- As a class we will record the step by step process on the promethean board and in our science notebooks.

- After we plant the seeds, we will meet in the group area to talk about our how to on planting seeds and plants.

- I will model the steps to show the students what I am looking for.

Day three of this lesson:

- We will meet in the group area to review our how to steps.

- Then the students will go back to their desks and write their own how to on planting seeds and plants. They can also draw pictures of the steps.

The students love hands-on and inquiry based lessons. I think that the students will really get into this lesson and be excited to finally look at which plant grew best in which environments and to be able to take something home from this unit. I believe that growing their own herbs will hold them accountable and they will be able to learn what the correct steps are to planting a seed at home so they can be active and help their parents or guardians. All of the lessons in this unit will play a huge role in their lives. They will be able to take this information and apply it to any number of situations down the road.

** Questions to Summarize Learning Objectives ** Why do we take these steps when planting seeds or a small plant? Why do we plant plants when we do?

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This video gives a brief overview of my Unit on Measurement. I shows the kids some of the concepts that will will be working with when learning about measurement.





Measurement Brian Leoncini

Unit Overview Overview  This will be a unit on Measurement. This unit will cover the four major content areas of the school’s curriculum. This unit has a wide spectrum of lessons; we will range from learning to measure temperature and master the use of a thermometer to learning the concept of money and learning the difference between metric and standard units.

Student Audience  This unit will cover the four major content areas of the school districts learning, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts. This unit is intended for second graders.

Timeframe  This unit will take a total of 4 weeks. Each day the class with work on different aspects of measurement as well as incorporating measurement into the different subject areas. On a given day, the class will be working a total of 30-45 minutes on different forms of measurement.

Rationale  I am teaching the students about measurement because this is a crucial part of everyday life as well as to effectively meet Colorado Performance Based Mathematics Standard 5 - Students use a variety of tools and techniques to measure, apply the results in problem-solving situations, and communicate the reasoning used in solving these problems. To meet this standard, the students must be able to know, 1. use, describe, and estimate measures of length, perimeter, capacity, weight, time, and temperature; 2. compare and order objects according to measurable attributes (for example, longest to shortest, lightest to heaviest); 3. demonstrate the process of measuring and explain the concepts related to units of measurement; 4. use the approximate measures of familiar objects (for example, the width of your finger, the temperature of a room, the weight of a gallon of milk) to develop a sense of measurement; and 5. select and use appropriate standard and non-standard units of measurement in problem-solving situations.

Unit Objectives <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> The student will be able to: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> 1. …know, use, describe, and estimate measures of length, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">perimeter, capacity, weight, time, and temperature; <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">2. …compare and order objects according to measurable <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">attributes (for example, longest to shortest, lightest to <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">heaviest); <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">3. …demonstrate the process of measuring and explain the <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">concepts related to units of measurement; <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">4. …use the approximate measures of familiar objects (for <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">example, the width of your finger, the temperature of a <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">room, the weight of a gallon of milk) to develop a sense of <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">measurement; and <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">5. …select and use appropriate standard and non-standard <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">units of measurement in problem-solving situations.

<span style="color: #339966; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Unit Standards <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> This unit will address Colorado Performance Based Standard 5 - Students use a variety of tools and techniques to measure, apply the results in problem-solving situations, and communicate the reasoning used in solving these problems.

<span style="color: #339966; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Variations or Adaptations <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> This unit will be very hands-on. I believe that this will definitely help the kinesthetic and the spatial learners. For my gifted students, once they have completed a lesson, I will allow them to increase their knowledge base and work on another project. This can range from creating a website that will allow them to tell the class what they know and have learned about measurement. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> I will also allow them to construct their own television show on youtube that has to do with measurement and the different ways to measure things. I will ask the students to not only include the ways to measure things that we went over in class, but to also try to find more ways they can measure certain things.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">** Lesson #: 1 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">__Title of lesson: Introduction to Measurement__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This lesson is designed to introduce the students to the different forms of measurement that are in the world. We will briefly touch on several forms of measurement and I will be explaining that we will go more in depth with each one in the coming weeks. After this lesson, the students will be able to describe some different forms of measurement.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: I will start off by asking the students what they know about measurement. I will ask them if they know what tools are used for measurement and if they have ever measured anything before. I will then talk to the students about the different forms of measurement and tell them that over the next week or two we will be exploring each form of measurement more in depth. After discussing measurement with the students, we will watch a series of videos introducing some different forms of measurement.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">For the students’ homework assignment, they will be asked to go home and see how many different tools of measurement they can find in their houses.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Smartboard, [|www.youtube.com], ruler, penny, nickel, dime, quarter, yard stick, thermometer (all for extra visual aids)

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">All of the videos are geared for kids.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**-Video number one** is great because it actually shows students thinking about measurement and measuring something around them, instead of just reading or hearing a teach lecture about it. This video allows the students to see other students, even though they are cartoons, working through the measurement process. It also shows students how to measure something if they do not have a ruler or measuring tool.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**-Video number two** talks about the metric and standard measurement systems. I think this is important for the students to know even though we only really use one in the United States. This would be a great time to talk to the students about why this is and ask there feelings on this issue. It is also a good way for them to learn about what other countries do for measurement.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**-Video number three** is a sample video on how to tell time. I think this is a good way to introduce the lesson on time and explain to them that we will be going over how to tell time in the next few days. It is also a good time to talk about analog vs. digital clocks as well as the different components of a clock.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**-Video number four** is a song about counting money. I think this is a great way to introduction the money and making change lesson because it breaks down what each coin is worth and what the value of one coin is compared to the value of others. I also think having a song can help the students with their motivation and keep their interest

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**-Video number five** is a rap about the standard measurement system. It talks about many of the measurements in the standard measurement system, such as, inches to feet, feet to miles, cups and quarts and how many are in a gallon. It also talks about ounces to pounds and pounds to tons. It briefly talks about area too. Again, I think having a song or rap is a great way to change up the lesson and keep the student’s interest.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Using the [|www.youtube.com] is a great way for students to learn. Being able to show the students videos is a great way to break up a lesson and give the students a break from listening to the teacher talk. Again, this technology allows me to keep the students motivated. It also allows me to give my lesson a certain type of variety. For instance, the “coin song” and the “standard system rap” are great videos because of their incorporation of music. A song is a great way for the students to stay involved in the lesson and can also help with the students’ memorization.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I was only able to find five good videos for kids on different forms of measurement. I will need to be careful when teaching this lesson to make the students aware that these are not the only forms of measurement. I will be talking about other forms not in the videos, but I do not want the students to have any confusion.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> **Lesson //#//: 2**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">__ Title of lesson: What Time is it? __

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This will be a lesson on teaching your child how to tell time. After this lesson, your child will be able to calculate the proper time on an analog clock. This lesson will be fun and hands-on for your child. Your child will be able to come home with an artifact from the lesson that he or she can continue to reference if having some difficulty with telling time.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I will start this lesson with my pre-assessment. For my pre-assessment, I will have the students gather on the carpet in front of their desks. I will start by asking the students if they know any words that are associated with telling time. I will record all of this information on my white board. I will also activate prior knowledge and ask the students if they know how long they think their favorite television show is or how long they think a commercial is that they have seen recently. I will start to mention such vocabulary words as second, minute, hour, and day. I will then ask the students if they know what any of these words mean. After answering any questions and going over our vocabulary I will talk to the students about telling time. I will then show them a video about telling time. I will also go over the basics of a clock with my sample clock, starting with the face of the clock, talking to them about the minute and hour hands, and then finally talking about what each of the numbers mean. Finally, I will model a time telling worksheet on the smartboard to demonstrate what they will be doing at their desks.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">After the pre-assessment, we will move onto the formative assessment. For this part of the lesson, the students will go back to their desks; I will first work with them to put together their own learning aid. This aid will be their own paper clock for them to refer to when working on the next part of our lesson. This clock will look exactly like the one I just used in front of the class. Once they have completed their own clock, they will be required to work on a worksheet that I modeled for them. This assignment will be assessed with a rubric. The rubric will assess how proficient they were with all of the times given, whether they put the hour and minute hand in the correct place, and how accurate they are at telling time.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Worksheet, smartboard, learning aid, brass fasteners – to attach clock hands to paper clock, scissors, analog clock for reference, and the website [], [], []



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I believe that the ability to use videos in class can help the students tremendously. The technology really allows the students to connect with the lesson. It gives them a minor break from my voice while keeping them motivated to continue learning. The smartboard is also a great piece of technology to have in class because it helps you get students involved and allows the students to participate in the lesson by actually coming up to the board and helping you. The ability to have a hyperlink in your document makes all the difference in the world. It is extremely beneficial to have the internet at your fingertips and have a smartboard for all the class to see and interact with.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">My main concern about teaching this lesson in a classroom is the fact that I may not have a smartboard for use in my classroom. This would really put a damper on the entire lesson. The lesson can still be taught with out a smartboard, but not having this technology could really hurt the effectiveness of this lesson. I will mainly need to focus on making sure the students get the concept of an analog clock. I really need them to know, living in the world of technology, that they should still know the basics of a clock and how to tell time on an analog clock. This will benefit them not only in school, but later on in life as well. The students also need to understand the abbreviations for the clock, such as half past, quarter to, quarter after, etc. This will also be a crucial part of teaching them to tell time.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Lesson # 3:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">__Title of lesson: Time Will Tell__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This will be a lesson on timelines. After this lesson, your child will be able to organize a particular span of time with a virtual timeline. I know that this can be considered a Social Studies lesson, but I want to continue the discussion on time by taking it a bit further and allowing the students to create a timeline of their lives and allow them to see how long ago certain events happened. I believe this is a crucial part of mathematics and will carry over into future History and Social Studies lessons.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Pre-assessment – I will have the students come to the front of the room on the carpet. I will ask the students if they know anything about timelines. I will start by explaining to the students that time is more than just having a clock. I will ask the students about a calendar, and how important they think calendars are and what are the ways we can use them. I will ask if anyone knows what past, present, and future means. I want to get a sense of how much students know about time other than a clock.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Formative Assessment – For this part of the lesson, I will discuss time and the many ways it is measured. I will explain how we just learned about clocks and seconds, minutes, hours, and days. I will explain that we are going to take this a bit further and start talking about months and years. I will talk to them about what a timeline actually is and how we are going to use one. I will also briefly talk to them about what an autobiography is and how we will be incorporating it with our timeline. I will then start by telling them about my life. When I was born, the places I’ve lived and how many times I have moved to different cities. I will talk to them about the different aspects of my life and then ask them if they know how I can keep all of this information organized. I will have a Smartboard in front of them, and after my story I will explain that we will be creating a timeline of our lives. I will then pull up the Web 2.0 tool, Timetoast, and create a timeline of my life. I will explain to them they this is what they will be doing for their lives. I will show them how to use Timetoast as I am creating my life’s timeline. Their assignment will be to create a timeline of their own lives. They will have a day to go home and ask their parents or other family member’s questions. I would like them to come back with a sheet of paper with some facts and events that happened in their life as well as some dates to go along with these events.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Summative Assessment - This assignment will be assessed with a rubric. The rubric will assess the number of events in the timeline, how well the student's timeline is organized, and whether or not they have pictures of each event.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Smartboard, Timetoast Web 2.0 tool, sample calendar and clock

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I think the Web 2.0 tool, Timetoast, is a great way for kids to learn about timelines. Letting the students be more interactive with creating their timeline is the key. This keeps motivation up and allows the students to increase their knowledge base. I believe that permitting them to upload a picture for each event is an amazing way for them to really connect with their hard work. It can also help them visualize this event more vividly and can make it easier for them to remember. This is an extremely beneficial tool that I look forward to using in my own classroom. This tool makes learning fun and allows the students to do something more than just writing the timeline out on a piece of paper.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This podcast allows the students to look at the timeline I created about my life with some audio. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Please follow along on the timeline as the audio plays.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> I only have one real concern with this lesson. Many students do not have family members they can go to for help with this timeline lesson. I am concerned because I do not want a student to feel bad about their situation and just blow off the assignment or have the other students tease them because of this. I would like to have the students come up to me on an individual basis if they have any questions or concerns about this matter. I do not want to put any of my students in a compromised situation that would allow them to feel left out.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> For one of my next lessons: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> This web 2.0 will be a great asset to my classroom. It will allow me to create lessons more easily and keep my students motivated. This particular set of flash cards will be used in my pre-assessment for my lesson on distance. It will be much easier to display the flash cards on a Smartboard and allow me to walk around and teach the students. I think this will help motivate the students by keeping them interested in the lesson instead of me standing up in front of the class and lecturing. It will also be great to get them involved in the lesson and have them come up and work/flip the cards. This tool will be great to increase the learning environment of my classroom and really help with making my lessons fun and interactive for my students.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> **Lesson #: 4**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">__Title of lesson: United States over the last centuries, decades, years__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">We are going to explore the United States from the beginning of the Colonial period through Modern day. After this lesson, the students will be able to determine centuries, decades, and years. This lesson is designed to help the students realize how long each period is while learning some history of the United States.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Pre-assessment – I will have the students come to the front of the class and ask them what they know about centuries, decades, and years. I will activate their prior knowledge by having them reflect on our previous lessons of time and timelines. I will tell them a story about the Colonial period and ask them if they have heard of this or know anything about this period. Once I get an idea of what they know I will explain to them that we will be taking part in a Virtual Field Trip to learn about centuries, decades, and years by briefly exploring the history of the United States. This Virtual Field Trip will incorporate learning about different time periods and will make the students think about how that time period is different than their life and how it could have changed their life. Prior to letting the students go off on their own to explore the different websites, I will model one example of how they are supposed to approach this assignment. I will have a website for the class to explore up on the Smartboard. I will also have an example question posed for them. As a class we will go through the site to answer the question.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Formative assessment – The students will take a virtual field trip exploring centuries, decades, and years, through the investigation of the history of the United States. The students will follow along on an investigation sheet as they explore different websites searching for answers to some higher level thinking questions. The students are required to search each site to the best of their ability in order to seek out the answers to the questions.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Summative assessment – This assignment will be assessed with a rubric.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Smartboard, http://bleoncini.wikispaces.com/Unit+of+Instruction, [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">[], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Using technology with this lesson really made the lesson come together as a whole. Being able to use internet sites, instead of having the students’ research each event really made the lesson go by much more quickly and helped keep their interest. The students would have lost interest very quickly if they were just flipping through several books to find this information. I also feel that the information found on most of the websites is much more up to date than it would be in a school text book.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">My main concern about this lesson is worrying about the students who do not know how to use a computer and the students who are not reading at grade level. Many of the websites are geared towards kids, but I worry about the ones who do not understand or can not read some of the text. I will need to be aware of this when releasing them to work on their own. I can also have them work with a partner to buddy read some of the passages.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">** Lesson #: 5 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">__Title of lesson: Temperature and Global Warming__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This is a lesson about how to tell temperature, the weather and climate patterns, and global warming. After this lesson, the students will be able to identify the correct temperature on a thermometer and explain what global warming is. This lesson was designed to inform your children about global warming, and have them research some information on a problem that will affect them as they grow.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The students will first learn about temperature and the thermometer. They will learn what a thermometer is and how to read one. Once they have an idea about temperature, we will then talk about global warming and what the students think these words mean. We will first read the book, __Winston of Churchill: One Bear’s Battle Against Global Warming.__ This will start the students thinking about global warming. After reading the book, the students will have to go off and research global warming. They will have to answer questions such as what is global warming, why do you think global warming is happening, what can you do to help stop global warming, what are some consequences to global warming, and what is some evidence that global warming is happening? The students will go on several websites and have several books, geared towards kids, to help them answer these questions.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">[], [], [], [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Internet, and books supplied off Shelfari.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This is a great assignment for the kids to work on. The internet help makes it easier for the kids to do some of the research for this assignment. Using Glogster is a great to make this assignment interactive for the students. It is a great website to create an interactive poster that is fun for the students. This technology also allows you to put many interactive features into one area for the students to use.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I am excited for the students to use Glogster in my classroom. I think it is one of the great ways for a teacher to put so many features into one interactive area for the students to use. I am concerned that the students will get caught up not looking for global warming websites. I am also concerned that some students will not know how to do some research on the internet. I will need to keep a close eye on them and even pull a few students aside and ask them one-on-one if they will need some extra help with researching this subject.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">** Lesson #: 6 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">__Title of lesson: Money Matters__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The students learn about the concept and value of money and how to make change. After this lesson the students will be able to determine proper change from real life scenarios and recognize coin values. This lesson will be the basis of their knowledge of money.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I will start this lesson by asking the students if they know they value of different coins. I will also ask them if they know how many of each coin makes a dollar. I will then read the book, “Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday.” This book will give the students a basis for the value of different coins and how quickly a dollar can be spent. I will then show the students a slide show to help them further understand how much different coins are worth and how to make change. After the presentation the students will go through a few short money word problems. I will hand out paper money consisting of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, dollars, and fives to help them with their word problems.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">“Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday”, Smartboard, []

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I think that using this technology will be very helpful. Having a slide show will allow for more visual stimulation for the students. The slide show will also allow me to show the students pictures as well as have music accompaniment that will keep the student’s interest. It can also help with keeping kids motivated and allowing them to interact with the Smartboard. Having a math word problems game online will be better than having them go back to their desks and fill out a work sheet.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> I think this lesson will be well received. I think applying money to real life situations will help get this lesson across to the students more thoroughly. I am concerned that there may be students whose parents buy them whatever they want and they don’t really understand the concept of money.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">** Lesson #: 7 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">__Title of lesson: Height and Weight__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This lesson will be fun and exciting for all of the students. The students will learn about how weight and height are calculated. They will also learn how to measure height and weight. They will be learning how to read a scale and measure height with a tape measure.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">For the first part of this lesson, I will sit with the students and talk with them about height and weight. I will ask them if their parents or doctor has ever measured their height or weight. I will also ask them what types of things they already know about height and weight. I will explain to the students that we are going to measure the height and weight of several objects in the classroom and also measure our own height and weight. We will then listen to the podcast I created to help the students learn about how many inches are in a foot, what a pound is, and how many ounces are in a pound. After we listen to the podcast we will talk more about inches and feet and more about weight. I will then model for the students how we will be measuring both the objects around the classroom and our fellow classmates. After this, the students will be free to measure the height and weight of at least three objects in the classroom. Once they have completed this task, they will be paired up to measure one of their peers. They will be asked to record all of the data because as a class we will be entering this information on a classroom chart.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Homework: After the lesson is complete, I will have the students take their personal information home and have them measure one or two of their family members and compare it to their information. I will also have them go on www.nba.com and find the stats of their favorite basketball player and compare the athlete’s height and weight to their personal information.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Tape measure, scale, receipt paper, classroom objects (books, pencils, paper, etc), nba.com, Smartboard media type="file" key="podcast 1.mp3" width="240" height="20" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This podcast gives an overview of height and weight as well as talks about how many inches are in a foot and what will be done in the lesson.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I think that using a podcast can be a fun way to teach to my students. I am looking forward to having the students go online when they are at home to get an assignment or to have them create their own podcast to turn in as an assignment. This type of technology can help a teacher keep the motivation of their students up as well as help with assigning students work if I miss a day of school. Even though it is my voice, I think this technology will be fun for the students to listen to. It will definitely bring a change of pace to the classroom.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Once again, I feel a bit worried about the students who do not have personal computers to work on or view an assignment at home. I will need to keep a close eye on this and speak with these students individually if this problem arises.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> **Lesson #: 8**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">__Title of lesson: Liquid Measurement__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The students will be able to identify the difference between cups, pints, quarts, and gallons. The students will be learning about each type of measurement and how to convert from one type of measurement to another. The students will be watching a couple of videos to help put the measurements into perspective.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I will start off by asking the students what they know about liquid measurement. I will ask them if they have ever heard of the different forms of measurement or have ever used any of the types of measurement. I will tell them that this type of measurement is most commonly used when cooking or baking. I will ask the students if any of them have ever cooked or baked with a family member and used these measurements. After this talk, the students will watch two videos on liquid measurement and learn how to convert the different measurements. After the videos, we will go over our conversions one more time with the conversion flash cards I made. After this, the students will get into pairs and get to experience hands-on how to convert the different forms of measurement. I will have cups, pints, quarts, and gallons set up at different stations. The students will be able to pour water into the different measuring tools to actually see how many cups are in a pint, how many pints are in a quart, and how many quarts are in a gallon. The students will then fill out a virtual worksheet called Mr. Gallon. They will fill in the number of cups, pints, and quarts that make up a gallon on the Mr. Gallon worksheet.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Smartboard, youtube.com, measuring cups, pints, quarts, and gallons, water, Mr. Gallon virtual worksheet

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Using the [|www.youtube.com] website is a great way for students to learn. Being able to show the students videos is a great way to break up a lesson and give the students a break from listening to the teacher talk. I believe that this is a great way to help a teacher teach a lesson. Any technology that can aid in the students’ learning is both great for them as well as the teacher.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I will need to make sure that the students are aware that these forms of liquid measurement are not only used in cooking and baking, but for many other things. I will also need to be careful with showing videos from www.youtube.com. I will obviously need to view them before I teach the lesson.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> **Lesson #: 9**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">__Title of lesson: The Distance we have Traveled__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">In this lesson, the students will be learning about distance and will be taking a closer look at a trip that they have taken. They will be able to see how far they traveled during this trip. After this lesson, the students will able to describe the differences between different distances.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I will start by asking the students about different measurements of distance. I will ask them what they know about distance as well as if they know any particular measurements of distance. I will ask them about miles and kilometers. We will also talk about how to break down miles into shorter distances. After this discussion, the students will be creating an online travel journal, in mapvivo.com, of a trip that they have taken. This trip can be anything, from going to the store with their parent(s) or guardian on a Saturday afternoon, or it can be a vacation. I will then model the cross country bicycle trip that I took with my brother shortly after I finished college. I will explain to the students how to use mapvivo.com and then have them start on their virtual travel journal. Once they have completed their journal, we will move onto the next activity. They will be required to bring back some pictures on a flash drive or via email of their trip.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Homework: Find some pictures of their trip so they can upload them into their journal. They can also do some research and find some pictures online.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Smartboard, mapvivo.com, student pictures or internet pictures.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This is a great tool for the students to use in order to help them visualize an actual trip they have taken. Breaking down specific stopping points can help them see mileage in a whole other perspective. This tool can really help a teacher keep his/her students’ attention and also keep their motivation for learning at a high level.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I think the only thing that bothers me about this lesson is that there may be students who are embarrassed that they have never gone on a vacation before or have never taken a trip before. I need to keep an eye on this and make sure the students who have been on an exciting trip do not talk negatively towards the students who are struggling with this lesson.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> **Lesson #: 10**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">__Title of lesson: Measurement with Length__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">In this lesson, the students will learn how to use a tape measure or ruler to make measurements. The students will be assigned to measure the perimeter of the inside walls of their house as well as draw the layout. After this lesson, the students will be able to measure objects using a ruler or tape measure.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I will start this assignment by asking the students what they remember about measurement from our height and weight lesson. I will ask them about measuring in feet and inches. I will explain to them that we are going to take this a step further and measure some bigger objects, like our house. I will go over how to read a tape measure and ruler again with the students. Once we have reviewed this, we will measure some objects in the classroom. After this, we will take our tape measure and I will model the assignment the students will be doing for homework. As a class, we will take our tape measure and measure the perimeter of the classroom. After this, I will bring up floorplanner.com to show the students how they will do their homework. I will the students the floor plan of my house that I created and explain to them that they will be doing the same thing for their house. I will show the student how to use floorplanner.com and explain to them that they will first go home and measure their house. After they are done measuring, they will log on to floorplanner.com and create a floor plan of their house with the measurements they recorded.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Homework: Measure the perimeter of house walls and record findings. Also, make notes of the lengths each wall measured to help when creating virtual floor plan.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Smartboard, floorplanner.com, tape measure, ruler, classroom objects, paper and pencils, []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This website is great to help students visualize the length and width of a much larger object. Using the computer and this web tool can help keep the students’ motivation as well as keep the attention of the class. This is also a lesson they can take and use in everyday life when they are older.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I have two concerns about this lesson. First, I am worried that there may be students in my class that are homeless or do not currently have a stable living situation. Second, I am worried that there may be a student that does not have a tape measure or ruler. I will need to be careful with this and possibly supply tape measures and rulers to the class.

media type="custom" key="9172516"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">** Lesson #: 11 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">__ Title of lesson: What I learned __

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Description of lesson: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This lesson is designed to see what the students have learned throughout the unit on measurement. The students will be able to create a video answering three questions about the measurement unit. The students will be explaining what influenced them the most during this unit.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Assignment: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The students will create a video with Animoto. This video will explain in the students’ own words what they have learned in the measurement unit and what influenced them the most. They will be required to answer three questions in this video; first, how does measurement affect my everyday life, second, what perceptions of the world have changed for you, now that you have learned about different forms of measurement, and lastly, what form of measurement that you learned about influenced you most, and what form of measurement do you think you will use most in everyday life and why? I will explain to the students that this will be our final lesson in our unit on measurement. For their final assignment, they must create a video with Animoto that explains to me, as the teacher, what they have learned during this unit. I will model for them how to use Animoto and then I will show them an example of what I want their final assignment to look like. After viewing my example, the students will be allowed to work on their assignment. I will give them one week to complete this assignment. When it is due, I will have each student present their final product.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Resources/materials needed: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Animoto.com, Smartboard, internet, scanner (possibly, if students want to scan their own photos into the video)

media type="custom" key="9261784" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This video is an example of what the students are required to do for their final assignment. I took the perspective of a second grader to show them an idea of what I am looking for with this assignment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Technology reflection: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">This is a great way to assess the students on what they learned during the unit before moving on to the next set of lessons. I think this is a great way to keep the students motivated and keep their interest on the task at hand. Using this technology will really leave a mark for the students and will give them something to walk away with and remember for the rest of their lives. This is also a great way for them to complete other projects for different classes.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Evaluation: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">I think I will only run into a problem with students downloading picture to their videos that are inappropriate for the videos. I will have to keep a close on their downloading.