Fab Five Interdisciplinary Unit

Brooke MiskowskiDanielle Marg

Kristen Adachi Katie ShaleenJacob Vetter

GRADE: 8

In Teaching This Unit We Will:

Introduce students to the important environmental issues that pollution is posing all around the world as well as in their own community.

Provide hands on/research and inquiry based learning activities for all students.

Gets students involved in their own community.

Provide students with real world connections outside the walls of their classroom.

Objectives of Unit

The students will be able to write a research paper about an important issue surrounding pollution.

The students will be able to relate the content from all classes to the real world.

The students will be able to integrate the knowledge they have learned in this pollution unit in all of their classes.

The students will be able to participate in a community service day to help reduce the amount of pollution in their own community.

Team Member Content AreasBrooke Miskowski: Science

Danielle Marg: English & Language Arts

Katie Shaleen: Computer Applications

Jacob Vetter: Physical Education

Kristen Adachi: Math

Outline of Interdisciplinary Unit 

Science Literature Math Comput

er Apps Gym

Day 1

Inconvenient Truth/Write Reflection

Book Talks/Introduce New Unit/ Sign up for

Book

Graphing Lesson

Introduce Poster

Project/Typing

Assignment

Finish up soccer unit

Day 2Ecological Footprint

How to find good info, Lit

Circle

Plotting Coordinate

Art

Making Cross Word Terms with Terms

Clean up your yard

Day 3

Introduce PPT

Project/Work Time

Writing Activity,

Ecological Footprint, Lit

Circle

Ecological Footprint

Research Types of Pollution

Protect the trash-person

Day 4

Set up Experiment

Poems/Analyzing Them, Lit

Circle

Intro to Statistics:

Mean, Median, Mode

Work on PPT Trash swap

Day 5

Testing Water

Samples

Brainstorming Poems, Children’s

book discussion, Lit Circle

Quiz, explain Work on PPT Capture the pollutiongraphing

project, Examples

 Science

Literature

MathComputer Apps

Gym

Day 6Ghana Air and Water Pollution

Important Editing Tips, Peer Editing,

Lit Circle

Analyze Data, Write

Up a Summary

Work On PPT

Blob (warm-up game).

Start football unit

Day 7

Noise, Sound

Pollution

Pollution in other

countries, Primary

Sources, Lit Circles

Create Graphs of

Data

Typing Lit Poems

Football unit

Day 8

Present PPT information

Turning in final

drafts/sharing poems, Lit

Circles

Create Graphs of

Data

Water Pollution Chart,

Typing 2 facts on

each type of pollution

Football unit

Day 9

Guest Speaker

from DNR

Jigsaw Activity, Compare

and Contrast Books, Lit

Circles

Present Posters

Compiling Posters

Football unit

Day 10 CLEAN UP MISSISSIPPI RIVER DAY

Outline of Interdisciplinary Unit

Science – Ms. Miskowski “An Inconvenient Truth: An Introduction to Pollution and

Sustainability”

Pollution PowerPoint Presentations/Research

DNR Public Speaker

Calculating Ecological/Carbon Footprint

Global Pollution Connections – Ghana, Africa’s E-Waste

Lab Projects◦ “Pick Your Pollutant”◦ Humans in the Biosphere (Water and Air Pollution)

Math – Ms. Adachi

“Graphing and Data Analysis Unit”

Analyzing/Graphing Water Samples

Analyzing Ecological Footprint

Poster Presentation Activity

Language Arts – Ms. Marg“Digging Deeper Into Pollution”

Research paper about an important issue relating to pollution and/or sustainability.

Work within a writing group to edit and write papers.

Introduce the process of writing a research paper with accurate research and correct citations.

Physical Education – Mr. Vetter

“Pollution and Us”

Introduce the importance of recycling through interactive team games.

Allow children the exposure to the importance of being an active member of their community by keeping it clean.

Show the children how pollution affects the world and our own community.

Computer Applications – Ms. Shaleen

Pollution Research and Presentations

Conduct pollution research

Create PowerPoint presentations

Create and compile final informational posters

Culminating ExperienceCommunity Service Day

Allows students the chance to get out and make a difference in the community

Allows the community to see students making a difference

Students will visit community areas (such as the Mississippi River) to clean up and make improvements.

Data Use Within Lessons

Focus on Teaching 21st Century Skills ◦ Technology◦ Reading/Writing◦ Communication

Collaborative Teaching Practices

Cross-Curricular Activities

Differentiated Instruction

Community Involvement

Real-World Applications

Multiple Intelligence Connections

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Visual

Logical/Mathematical

Naturalist

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

Community Family Involvement

Enlisting help of community/parents in teaching about recycling and pollution.

Show children what types of materials are recyclable through posters or signs that can be presented to parents/community.

Allow the children to be active within the community by helping clean up the city.