meagandoncov.weebly.com · Web viewUsing animals in word problems Which animal is larger? Favorite animal graph. Marybeth Hanley. Jennifer Birman. Meagan Doncov. Nov. 28, 2011

Marybeth Hanley, Jennifer Birman, and Meagan Doncov ENG 308-03

Vocabulary Cards

Interpret visuals– can you tell if it is a mammal?

Animal composition

Beach ball questions about animal stories

KWL Chart

Strategy Cards

Beginning-Middle-End Story Map

Become the expert– jigsaw activity

Classifying animals—definitions/vocabulary

What makes a mammal a mammal?

Role play favorite animal

My favorite animal mural

Draw different animals into categories– classifying

Using animals in word problems

Which animal is larger?

Favorite animal graph

First Grade

Marybeth HanleyJennifer BirmanMeagan Doncov

Nov. 28, 2011Literacy Unit Plan Assessment

Our unit will be on animals and the different classes that they make up. That being said,

some of our lessons are more focused on one animal class rather than all of them. The classes of

animals that we will discuss over this unit are mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and

invertebrates. We are gearing this unit toward lower elementary students, specifically first grade,

but it may be modified or extended for a second or third grade class. We will address the

cultural and lingual diversity in the classroom with various techniques and activities. Our unit is

also focuses on the various learning styles of the students and is not solely focused on one

specific learning style.

This unit includes language arts, science, math, art and drama. Since different students

learn different ways, it is beneficial to have multiple subjects involved in one unit. The

assignments and activities in this unit vary from group activities to individual assignments to

teacher led activities and more. Because every student learns in their own way, we tried to

address the unit in regards to the eight different learning styles. These learning styles are

linguistic, logical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, visual, naturalistic, kinesthetic, and musical. Most

students learn in multiple different styles however, as a group we felt that trying to incorporate

all the styles in our unit would be the most beneficial to our first grade students.

To elaborate, students who are linguistic learners will thrive throughout this lesson solely

because of the amount of literature presented. Logical learners will be able to excel in with


making connections based on inferences and the math activities mentioned above. Interpersonal

and Intrapersonal learners will appreciate the balanced amount of group work versus individual

work. Our lessons contain many books with visual aids, diagrams and pictures, therefore helping

visual learners. Naturalistic learners will love our unit, having a hands on approach to learning

about science will keep these students’ interest. We also directed parts of our unit towards

kinesthetic learners. Students are able to get up and act out their favorite animals, along with

moving freely to explore in the content area lesson below. The only learning style not

specifically addressed in our unit is musical. This learning style can be accommodated by simply

allowing student to listen to music during work time throughout the course of the unit.

In addition to addressing the different learning styles in our unit we also geared certain

activities to ELL, English Language Learners. For example, the jigsaw activity in the content

area lesson will help English Language Learners be in a comfortable environment working with

other students. When students are working with peers it is a less intimidating environment. This

more relaxed atmosphere makes learning enjoyable and non-threatening. Students who have

difficulty learning, will tend to work better in a less stressful environment. Also the art and

drama activities will give English Language Learners and those who speak other languages a

chance to show what they know by using a creative medium other than words. Art allows

students who have a difficulty vocalizing ideas to successfully display comprehension. It can be

used as a great evaluation strategy, and typically allows students to reach higher levels of

Bloom’s taxonomy. It can also be said that the use of the Strategy Cards will help accommodate

the cultural diversity in the classroom by allowing students to make visual connections and share

about their own life.


Our unit is based off the Interactive Model. The unit assumes that the process of

translating print to meaning involves both prior knowledge and print. The readers will access

their prior knowledge about animals during the unit while also using print to gain new

knowledge. Readers will make predictions about meaning throughout all of the lessons. For

example in the strategy lesson students will be asked to predict the meaning behind the story and

what it will teach them. Also the reader forms hypothesis based upon the interaction of

information from semantic, syntactic, and graph phonemic sources of information.

Our unit also uses a more Constructivist approach because it is more effective when

information is connected and supports the active construction of knowledge. We learn better

when we connect new information to what we already know. This can be true especially for this

unit because children are exposed to animals at an early age, whether it is pets or zoo animals.

There is also a tendency to connect anything child related to animals (cartoons, toys, clothes,

etc.) Students no matter what age have a large pool of prior knowledge when it comes to this

unit.

This unit also includes cognitive/information processing. Reading and writing are used

as meaning making processes, reader’s interpretations are individualized and students are

strategic readers and writers. For example in the area content lesson students are asked to

research specific animals and present to a group. Students are reading for the correct information

and writing (summarizing) what they need to know to make the material meaningful. The

readers interpretations of the material are individualized because even if every student reads the

same fact they are all going to have a different idea of what that fact means. Students are

becoming strategic readers and writers because they are reading and writing for a purpose while

creating meaning at the same time.


Comprehension Lesson: The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric

Carle

Objective: After reading The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle as a class, the students will be

able to describe three important events that happened during the story by drawing a Beginning-

Middle-End Story Map and explain orally to a small group.

Age: 6 years old to 9 years old

Materials: The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle, poster board, markers, strategy cards-

Connector, Predictor, Summarizer, Questioner, and Key Idea Identifier, animal cards-magnets(if

using a whiteboard)

Procedure:

Before Reading: Review the different animal classes, but focus on reptiles.

1. On the board the different animal classes are written out. (This will be used later

on)

2. A KWL chart hangs in front of the classroom and is labeled Reptiles.

3. The K-W-L Chart is broken up into What we Know, What we Want to Know, and

What we learned.

4. The students are asked what they know about Reptiles and the teacher writes down

what the students already know about reptiles.

5. The students are asked what they want to know about reptiles, and it is recorded in

the column for What we Want to Know.


6. Each individual student will have his or her own KWL chart paper in front of them,

and they can draw or write things that they know or want to know about reptiles.

During Reading: Groups are formed.

1. Students are broken up into groups of 5.

2. Each group is given a group of cards. Strategy cards will be used.

1. Strategy cards are handed out. The roles used are Connector,

Predictor, Questioner, Summarizer, and Visual Image Creator. Each card

is a different color. The Connector cards are red, the predictor cards are

blue, the questioner cards are green, the summarizer cards are orange and

the questioner cards are purple.

2. The Connector’s job is to make connections in their life to what is going

on in the story.

3. The Predictor will make predictions on what will happen next in the

story.

4. The Questioner will ask questions about what will happen next.

5. The Summarizer will summarize what is currently going on in the story.

6. The Visual Image Creator will draw a picture of his or her own

interpretation of what is happening in the story.

7. Each group also should think about what animal class each animal falls

under when the chameleon changes shape and size to be like other

animals.

After Reading: Wrapping up.

1. The KWL chart will be brought back up and the What we Learned will be filled in. This


children’s book is not very informational, so students are asked to think about if what happened

in the story would be realistic for a chameleon.

2. Pictures of all the animals that the chameleon changed into will be taken out. (Polar Bear,

Flamingo, Fox, Fish, Deer, Giraffe, Turtle, Elephant, Seal, and People)

3. Each one is held up and the students help decide what animal class to put them under, or

which animal class they think the animal would fall under.

Assessment: Each student will create a Beginning-Middle-End story map of what took place in

The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle. They will pick three main events and draw and/or

write about the events.

Extension: Some of these books can be used to extend this lesson.

Lizards, frogs, and polliwogs: poems and paintings by Douglas Florian.

What Is a Reptile? by Robert Snedden; photographs by Oxford Scientific Films; illustrated by

Adrian Lascom.


K-W-L Chart

ReptilesWhat we KNOW What we WANT to know What we LEARNED


Strategy Cards


Connector

Your job is to make connections own your own life to the story. If something that happened in the story that you experienced, let us know about it.

Predictor

Your job is to guess what will happen next in the story, or what a character will feel like or do next.

Questioner

Your job is to ask questions about what will happen next in the story. What is the character feeling?


Summarizer

Your job is to gather everything that happened in this story and say what happened in a few sentences or more.

Visual Image Creator

Your job is to draw a picture of what this story means to you and share it with your group members.

Beginning-Middle-End Story Map

The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

Beginning

Middle

End


Literacy Strategy/Skill Lesson:

Overview: Use this lesson as part of the overall unit of mammals. In this literature-based lesson

the skills and strategies include:

o Reader recall and comprehension are increased and assessed

o Oral language skills are improved

o Vocabulary enrichment and fluency are increased

o Reading and following written instructions is improved

By the end of this lesson about mammals, students will be hear a story about mammals and

participate in learning activities. Reader recall and comprehension will be assessed and

additional teaching will be provided where appropriate.

Objective: The student will be able to proficiently recall details from the story, Is a Camel a

Mammal?, and correctly answer 7 out of 8 questions correctly on the teacher-created worksheet.

Materials:

o Is a Camel a Mammal? , Tish Rabe

o Teacher Made worksheets


Teaching the Lesson about Mammals

Show the class the cover of the book, making sure all students see the information clearly. Ask

the class for their predictions about what the story will tell them. Making guesses about the story

by using visual clues will help emergent readers develop literacy skills.

After reading the story, give each child a copy of the lesson activity worksheet. When everyone

has completed the worksheets, let the students trade the worksheets and grade the answers.

Review any wrong answers and praise the children for their efforts.

Book List for Mammals to Extend the Lesson Material

Here is are a couple of books on the theme of mammals. These books are an excellent way to

extend lesson materials and help students develop larger vocabularies, greater fluency, and

increase knowledge of mammals.

The Magic School Bus Going Batty: a Book about Bats , Joanna Cole

About Mammals: a Guide for Children , Cathryn Sill


Teacher-Created Activity Worksheet

To prepare the language arts lesson activity worksheets, copy and paste the text below into a

word processing program and format to teacher preferences. Print copies for each student. For

each assignment below, read and follow the written directions carefully.

Reader Recalls 3-2-1

1. Name three places where mammals live.

2. Write the names of the largest mammal in the world, and the smallest mammal in the

world.

3. What is one reason a camel is a mammal?

(Teacher answer key: Mountains, oceans, land, blue whale, pygmy shrew, camels breathe air)

Using the story as a guide, write three facts about mammals

1. Fact number one:

2. Fact number two:

3. Fact number three:

Using the word list, fill in each blank with the correct word or words

Pygmy shrew, carnivores, blue whale, herbivores, kids, air, omnivores, hair, land, horns,

mammals, sea, antlers, air

1. The world’s smallest mammal is a _________ __________.

2. The world’s largest mammal is a _________ __________.

3. The Cat in the Hat’s favorite mammal is ____________.

4. Mammals breathe _________ and grow ___________.


5. Some mammals have ___________, but others have _____________.

6. Mammals can be ___________, ___________, or ___________, depending on what kind

of food they eat.

7. Camels are _________ because they breathe air.

8. Mammals live on ___________. in the ___________, and in the _____________.


Content Area Lesson:

Objective: The students will identify four different facts about an assigned animal group, after

researching in provided books, the students will present their findings orally to small groups

consisting of one student from each animal group.

Age: 7 years old to 9 years old

Materials: Given research books, Signs titled: invertebrates, fishes, reptiles, amphibians,

mammals, and birds), Items based on animal species ( could include: stuffed animals, animal

scat, taxidermy specimens, pictures, bones, furs and skins of different animals), construction

paper, crayons, worksheet.

Procedure:

Engage: Prior to the start of the lesson, the teacher will place desks into 6 groups. She

will then put different animal items on tables, separating them by animal group:

invertebrates, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and birds. These items can be

stuffed animals, animal skin/fur, bones, pictures, scat etc. Once set up is complete, the

students will be given time to explore every animal group table, 2 minutes per table.

After the students have had the chance to visit each table, the teacher will conduct an

inquiry session with the students.

Some engaging questions that should be asked are

1. Why were these animals separated into these groups?

2. What were some differences you noticed between tables?

3. What are the names of the animal groups at each table?

Explore: After the questions have been answered, the teacher is to put the correct animal

group labels at each table. She will also begin placing books on each table, specific to


that animal group. Students will separate into an animal group, and will move to the

assigned table. Once separated, the teacher will hand out a worksheet with spaces for the

student to write their name, assigned animal class, and four facts about that class. The

teacher will go over the instructions with the class, explaining that the students are to

research in the books provided at their table and find four facts about the class they were

assigned. There should be no reason for any student to be getting up from their table at

this time.

Explain: After 25 minutes, the students will be instructed to begin wrapping up their

research. Once the classroom is finished, the teacher will then number off students 1-6, at

each animal group. This allows students from each animal group to collaborate together.

These collaborative groups will then meet up, and each child will explain their specific

animal class and present their facts to their new groups. There may be too many or not

enough students in each classroom to work the groups out evenly. This can be addressed

by having a classroom review session after the collaborative groups are finished.

Elaborate: To further elaborate on animal groups, students will be asked to create a new

animal. This new animal has to be a hybrid of at least 3 different animal species. The

student will color on construction paper this new animal, making sure to label the specific

parts each animal class.

Evaluate: The teacher will then grade the worksheets with the four facts and also the art

activity. The teacher will be looking for accuracy when it comes to specific facts about a

class, and correct interpretation of those facts on the art activity.


Annotated Bibliography

Arnold, C. (2003). Birds : nature's magnificent flying machines. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge

This book gives student information on birds. It also provides pictures and diagrams

which are easy to follow. This book will be used for the content area lesson.

Bishop, N. (2008). Frogs. New York, NY: Scholastic Nonfiction.

This is an informational book about frogs. This gives close up pictures, anatomical

drawing and facts about this amphibian. This book will be used for the Jigsaw activity in

the content unit lesson.

Carle, E. (1984). The Mixed-Up Chameleon. HarperCollinsPublishers.

A chameleon moved to different surfaces and changed colors to blend in. The chameleon

visits the zoo and sees all the neat animals. Wanting to be like all the other animals the

chameleon changed into these different animals until he had parts of all different sorts of

animals. Unable to catch a fly, the chameleon wishes to be itself again. This book will be

used for the comprehension lesson. This book teaches a lesson; to be happy with Since

the chameleon changes its form and gets different animal parts during the book, we will

also look at the different animals and classify each into their animal class. It will also be

used to talk about whether these transformations are realistic or not.

Cole, J. (1996). The Magic School Bus Going Batty: a Book About Bats. N.p.: Scholastic

Paperbacks.


This book is an account of Ms. Frizzle’s students and parents going on a field trip to learn

more about bats. Some of the kids are a little nervous at first: Ralphie thinks that bats are

actually vampires. The field trip shows that this is not true, bat-facts are presented in a

creative and interesting way. This book is used in the extension for the Strategy/Skill

lesson. It is a good extension book for the lesson because it goes into detail about a

specific mammal, where it lives, and what makes it a mammal. It also helps to increase

fluency and their vocabularies.

Earle, S. A. (2000). Sea Critters. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

This book introduces its readers to different groupings of animals that live in the ocean. It

is a great informational book that gives readers colorful and intriguing pictures. This

book will be used for the jigsaw activity in the content area lesson. Students will use this

book to gather information and facts on fish.

Fardon, J. (1994). The Big Book of Knowledge. New York: Covenent Garden.

This is a child friendly encyclopedia. It is easy to read, yet still is interesting and

engaging. This book can be used during the jigsaw activity in the content area lesson.

This book would be used if not enough information could be found in other animal class

specific books.

Florian, D.(2001)Lizards, frogs, and polliwogs : poems and paintings. San Diego: Harcourt.


Funny poems about reptiles and amphibians. Some are the alligator and crocodile. This

book can be used as an extension in the comprehension lesson. It explores different

reptiles and amphibians.

Franklin, C. (2008). Ocean Life. New York, NY: Children's Press.

This is an informational book on the animals that live in the ocean. The book has

transparent pages, which give children different views of the ocean. This book will be

used in the content area lesson plan during the group activity.

Johnson, J. (2008). Animal Tracks and Signs. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic.

This is a general overview of many different types of animals. This book allows students

to compare and contrast different animal groups; The class would use this book during

the content area lesson plan.

Ling, M., & Atkinson, M. (1996). The Snake Book. New York, NY: DK.

This book gives informational facts about snakes. it also gives reader many different

examples of snakes. This book can be used to draw connections between a specific

animal class and will be used in the content area lesson.

Melville, H., Wardley, R., Zarick, N., Ladis, B., and Lilly, K. (2002) my first spanish animal

board book, mi primer libro de animales en español: a bilingual word book. New York, NY: DK

Publishing, Inc.


All sorts of animal names and pictures are given in Spanish and English. There are giant

animals, farm babies, wild babies, birds, creepy crawlies, noisy, powerful, swimmers,

climbers, speedy, armored, colorful, spotted, striped, spiky, and nighttime animals. This

book will be used so that children can learn Spanish and English animal names. It also

explores how to categorize animals in different ways.

Patent, D. (2000). Slinky, scaly, slithery snakes. New York, NY : Walker & Co.

This book is another informational book about snakes. This book will be used during the

jigsaw activity in the content area lesson.

Polotta, J. (1989). The yucky reptile alphabet book. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

This book arranges different types of reptiles alphabetically. This informative and factual

book is more engaging than others due to the way the information is organized. This book

will be used in the content area lesson during the jigsaw activity.

Rabe, T. (1998). Is a camel a mammal?. N.P.: Random House Books for Young Readers.

This book is a Dr. Seuss style educational book. It is filled with lots of facts about

mammals and distinguishes between mammals and non-mammals. The beginning of the

book tells the reader that mammals breathe air, are warm to the touch, and grow hair.

The rest of the book illustrates these three characteristics. It also shows that mammals

can live in different environments. The ending shows the child learning that she is a

mammal too. The book has a glossary of terms and suggestions for further reading on the


subject of mammals in the back as well. However I do have one criticism of the book, it

mentions in the glossary but not in the text that another main characteristic of mammals

is that they drink their mothers’ milk. This book will be used in the Strategy/Skill lesson.

This book teaches the students about where mammals can live and what characteristics

make them mammals. For example, mammals breathe air, grow hair and are warm to the

touch. It also talks about what the largest and the smallest mammals are. As well as

depending on what they eat mammals are carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.

Sill, C. (2000). About mammals: a guide for children. N.p.: Peachtree Publishers.

This book explains what mammals are, how they live, and what they do. It explains the

basic characteristics that all mammals share, while offering a look into the huge variety

of animals that fall into this category. Every other page has a full-color painting of one or

more mammals and on the opposite page there is an identification with a few words about

the animal. This book is used as an extension for the Strategy/Skill lesson. It is a good

extension for the lesson because it focuses on a wide variety of mammals and the

characteristics that they share. IT also explains where they live and how they live their

lives. This book will help to increase the reader’s vocabulary and knowledge of

mammals.

Siwanowicz, I. (2009). Animals up close : zoom in on the world's most incredible creatures.

London, NY: Dorling Kindersley.


This book gives readers a very up close look at some fantastic animals. While this book is

more difficult to find facts that could be used in the content area lesson, it can give

students an opportunity to make inferences to the animal classes.

Snedden, R., Lascom, A.(1995) What is a reptile? San Francisco: Sierra Club Books for

Children.

This is an informational book on reptiles. It talks about what a reptile is, the types of

reptiles there are, reptile skin, feeding, eggs, parental care and more. This book can be

used as an extension in the comprehension lesson as well. It gives factual information

about reptiles and has great pictures of different reptiles.

Tompkins, G.E. (2010) Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach Fifth Addition.

Pearson Education.

This book is an educational book for students learning to become a teacher in reading and

literacy. Some ideologies we used in the Unit Rationale and in the Comprehension

Lesson, the Beginning-Middle-End Story Map idea was used.

World Book. (1983). Feathered friends N.p.: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation.

This book was designed specifically for children. It gives easy to digest facts and

pictures. This book would be used for the jigsaw activity in the content area lesson.

Yopp, R.H. and Yopp, H.K. (2010) Literature-Based Reading Activities. Pearson Education.

This book gives great activities to do for reading and has pre-reading, during reading and

post reading activities. The KWL chart from this book will be used and the Strategy

Cards idea.


Documents

meagandoncov.weebly.com · Web viewUsing animals in word problems Which animal is larger? Favorite animal graph. Marybeth Hanley. Jennifer Birman. Meagan Doncov. Nov. 28, 2011