Thursday, December 1, 2016

Lesson 4

LESSON 4 

UNIT TOPIC: South America Tropical Rainforest
LESSON TOPIC: South America Rainforest Plants
AGE/GRADE: 10-11 / Fifth Grade
TIME: This lesson will take place over 2 days, each day being 60 minutes long.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION: 
What is the South America Tropical Rainforest?
LESSON ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
What are the plants in the South America Rainforest?
RATIONALE AND CONTEXT
This lesson is important for the children to learn.  We already learned about South America geography and culture, landforms, and rainforests in general.  Now we are focusing in on South America Rainforests and the specific plants on each level.  Going along with this lesson, it is great to focus in on the specific layers in the rainforest and how each of the plants on the layers interact with each other and effect the different living environments.  It is important to understand these ecosystems because everything in the world builds off of one another to create different habitats or ecosystems.  The Amazon Rainforest is just one of the many in the world that we are learning about.  It is important to know that even though there are different species all over the world and they each have their own ways of life, all species of all kinds work together to create the world as a whole, such as the plants in this lesson.
TEACHER CONTENT KNOWLEDGE:
Plants are a huge part of the world and have a great impact on the ecosystem.  The rainforest is just one example showing the importance of how those plants need to interact with one another to keep this ecosystem alive.  There are different plants on each of the four layers in the rainforest.  All of those plants are on each level for a reason and they each interact with and feed off of each other to help keep the rainforest alive and help the animals strive in each environment as well. 
DESIRED RESULTS: 
Common Core/Vermont Standard GE(s)/National Arts Standards:
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Learning Objective(s): 
  • I would like my students to learn how to work in groups and collaborate with their peers over certain topics being discussed.  
  • I would like my students to listen and respond respectfully to others who are talking and sharing ideas or thoughts.
  • I would like my students to participate and cooperate in each activity.
Focusing Question(s):
  • What plants are in certain types of South America lands?
  • What plants are in the South America Rainforest?
  • What South America plants are on each rainforest level?
Language Objectives:
  • The Amazon plants
    • leaf litter, nutrients
    • roots, soil
    • shrubs, small trees
    • fruits, seeds
    • “air plants”
    • Great Kapok Tree
ASSESSMENT:                 
Strategies: 
In order to assess my students’ learning and work, I will have the students create drawings and a shoebox of their favorite rainforest layer.  The drawings will be made while I read a short story about each layer and the students will imagine what they look like in their minds then put it onto paper.  This will improve their imagination and creativity.  The shoe box project will do the same.  They will put their rainforest layer into artwork and bring it to life while also creating a written analysis about this layer.  
Process:
In order to evaluate the students’ learning by using checklists and rubrics.  I will use the checklists for the drawings and shoebox project.  This checklist will help me ensure that each student has most of the main plants involved in the level chosen.  I will use the rubric for the written aspect of the shoebox project to ensure that the students are using appropriate writing skills while also retaining information about the rainforest.  
Criteria:
  • Did the students listen?
  • Were the students cooperating and collaborating nicely with their peers?
  • Were the students respecting each others’ thoughts, opinions, and answers?
  • Did the students participate?
  • Did the students correctly create and add on the plants to their Shoebox Project layer?
Reflection to Students:
To provide specific feedback to the students, I will use a rubric to assess their writing portion of the shoebox project.  Then I will use a checklist to assess their actual shoebox project and specific layer drawings during the lesson.  I can meet with each student individually to go over the assessments and what they need to work on and improve for their learning. 
LEARNING PLAN: 
Hook:
Has anyone ever wondered what different types of plants live in the rainforest?  Does anyone know what the Great Kapok Tree is? If so, could you tell the class a little bit about it? The South America Rainforest is full of amazing plants and each of the four levels contain different types. 
Connect: 
This lesson will connect with the previous lesson because the previous lesson leads into this one.  Lesson three talks about rainforests in general while also talking about each specific layer is.  Then this lesson talks about the plants on each layer.  This lesson just continues off of the last one.  I will introduce this lesson with a book that talks about the plants and environments on each layer and that will also re-cap the students’ memories of the previous lesson while introducing topics for this upcoming lesson.
Instruction:       
DAY 1 
  1. Lesson Overview (1 min)
  2. Morning Greeting (2 min)
The students will go around the room saying good morning and their favorite type of plant.
  1. The Great Kapok Tree  (10 min)
As a class, we will read The Great Kapok Tree which talks about the main plants in the Amazon Rainforest, especially the Great Kapok Tree.  This will give the students a better understanding of what plants live on each level of the rainforest and how they interact with each other in order to keep the ecosystem alive.  
  1. School Plant Tour (10 min)
As a class, we will take a short tour around the schoolyard looking at the plants located in the area we live in.  We will walk around and examine the different types of flowers, leaves, trees, shrubs, etc located around us and just notice the difference between those and the ones we will soon learn about in South America. 
  1. Forest Floor Layer Plants (15 min)
I will read a short story that focuses on the environment and plants in this specific layer.  While I am reading, the students will be drawing what they hear.  This will be a visual/listening arts activity where the students will have to imagine what I am saying and put it into a drawing.  Then we will compare drawings and I will show the students what the plants I was describing actually look like. 
  1. Understory Layer Plants (15 min)
I will read a short story that focuses on the environment and plants in this specific layer.  While I am reading, the students will be drawing what they hear.  This will be a visual/listening arts activity where the students will have to imagine what I am saying and put it into a drawing.  Then we will compare drawings and I will show the students what the plants I was describing actually look like.
  1. Pair Discussion & Class Overview (7 min)
The students will split into pairs and shortly discuss their favorite of the two layers focused on today and why they think that.  Then as a class, we will gather and shortly review some of the main plants or favorite plants talked about. 
DAY 2 
  1. Lesson Overview (1 min)
  2. Morning Greeting (2 min) 
The students will go around the room saying good morning and their favorite 
  1. Review of Day 1 (5 min)
We will have a morning meeting and, as a whole class, discuss some of the main facts and information learned in the first day of the lesson.  
  1. Canopy Layer Plants (15 min)
I will read a short story that focuses on the environment and plants in this specific layer.  While I am reading, the students will be drawing what they hear.  This will be a visual/listening arts activity where the students will have to imagine what I am saying and put it into a drawing.  Then we will compare drawings and I will show the students what the plants I was describing actually look like.
  1. Emergent Layer Plants (15 min)
I will read a short story that focuses on the environment and plants in this specific layer.  While I am reading, the students will be drawing what they hear.  This will be a visual/listening arts activity where the students will have to imagine what I am saying and put it into a drawing.  Then we will compare drawings and I will show the students what the plants I was describing actually look like.
  1. Shoe Box Project Continued (20 min)
The students will finish this lesson by continuing to work on their shoebox project.  They will focus on adding in the specific plants that live in the layer that they chose to create.  

Closure and Connections:
A culminating experience that will help the students demonstrate their knowledge and skill is the shoebox project.  This project will give the students the opportunity to create their favorite layer of the rainforest and put it into visual arts.  It is a great way for the students to create and demonstrate all that they have learned.  This art aspect helps them summarize what they have learned through the last three lessons.  There will also be a writing aspect that will help summarize their learning.  They will write about why they chose this layer, what it entails, and some extra facts about it, such as why is it important or how does it interact with another layer?  This relates to the essential question because it is completely focused on what the South America Rainforest is and this is also what all of the other lessons have been building up to. 
Extensions: 
This lesson about specific plants in the four layers of the South America Rainforest bridges into the next lesson because the next lesson talks about specific animals in the four layers of the South America Rainforest.  The end of this lesson will continue creating their shoebox layer of their chosen rainforest.  They can extend their learning by finding out more about the layer they chose which will help them add more creative aspects to their project. 
ACCOMMODATIONS:  
One way I can differentiate instruction is by having students explain the activity or instructions after I do myself.  Sometimes by having a student or a peer read something and explain it in a different way can help other students better understand what is going on and what needs to be done. I will help the ELL population with learning this lesson by creating a Word Wall.  The word wall will be split into four sections, one for each level of the rainforest.  Each section will contain the main words learned in this lesson about each level.  The students who are having trouble remembering can use that word wall as a reference as often as they need. 
RESOURCES/MATERIALS
  • The Great Kapok Tree book
  • blank computer paper
  • pencils
  • shoebox projects
  • a lot of art materials 
    • colored paper, color pencils, markers, glue, cotton balls, toilet paper rolls, magazines

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