Jordan Lee TEDU 517 Lesson Plan Animals Body Coverings Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to allow students to explore animal s different physical characteristics. Through this lesson, students will investigate and make observations using their sense of touch. Students will be able to identify the different body coverings animals have and be able to identify examples of animals with each different body covering. Science SOL 1.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature of science by planning and conducting investigations in which a) the senses are used to observe differences in physical properties; c) objects or events are classified and arranged according to characteristics or properties; Science SOL 1.5 The student will investigate and understand that animals, including humans, have basic needs and certain distinguishing characteristics. Key concepts include a) basic needs include adequate air, food, water, shelter, and space (habitat); b) animals, including humans, have many different physical characteristics; c) animals can be classified according to a variety of characteristics. National Science Education Standard C. Life Science The Characteristics of Organisms o All organisms have basic needs o Each organism has different structures for different functions. Objectives: During and after listening to the book, Comparing Body Coverings, the students will be able to participate in a whole class discussion about the different animal body coverings discussed in the text: hair, fur, scales, shells and feathers. Students will make observations and develop an understanding of how the different body coverings look and feel by touching and examining the samples passed around of each body covering. Students will be able to work cooperatively in groups to sort 12 of the animal pictures into the correct body covering groupings with 80% accuracy (12 out of 15). Procedures: Introduction ENGAGEMENT Ask students what they think a body covering is Discuss with students that we have hair all over our bodies (this isn t mentioned in the book so it needs to be discussed prior) Ask students if they can name any other body coverings animals may have
Begin reading the text Comparing Body Coverings to the students o During reading questions: o Why do you think a polar bears fur is so thick? (help stay warm) o Why do you think a chameleon has scales that can change color? (help it hide) o Why do you think the sea snail has a shell that is so bumpy? (keep predators away) o Why do you think the bald eagle has feathers that are so long? (help it fly) After reading comprehension questions: o Can someone raise their hand and tell me one of the body coverings discussed in the book? (continue calling on students till all 4 from the book are mentioned) o Ask students what the 5 th body covering is, the one that we have? (hair) o After learning about fur, can anyone tell me an animal that has fur? o After learning about scales, can anyone tell me an animal that has scales? o After learning about shells, can anyone tell me an animal that has a shell? o After learning about feathers, can anyone tell me an animal that has feathers? o Ask what body coverings do for animals? (provide warmth, keep them save, place to hide, help them move) Development: Have students return to their tables of 5 by their table color o Have the yellow table fly like a bird back to their table o Have the green table slither like a snake back to their table o Have the blue table walk like a turtle back to their table o Have the red table hop like rabbit back to their table EXPLORATION Pass around the samples of each different body covering (fur, scales, shells, and feathers) Explain to students that they are to gently touch and examine each different body covering Explain to students that for hair, they are to examine their own hair Students should discuss within their group how each sample looks and feels Students should work together to describe each of the 5 body coverings Have students try to make comparisons between the different body coverings; how they look and feel Teacher should be walking around the classroom, observing and listening to the students as they interact Once students have had enough time investigating each body covering (about 5-10 minutes), pass out the 15 animal pictures and the animal body coverings chart (attached at end) Tell the students that they should work together to sort their animals into groupings based on their what is covering the outside of the animals body The teacher should still be walking around, facilitating conversation and asking probing questions to redirect student thinking when necessary o Why did you put these animals in the same group? o Do the animals in each group have something in common with each other? Once students have agreed on their groupings, they should paste their animals into their animal body coverings chart.
EXPLANATION: Call students back to carpet by tables, again asking them to join us by moving like the animal they previously did Reintroduce the terms: Scales, feathers, hair, fur, shells Take out the poster board (already labeled with headers) and the large animal pictures that go along with it. **** My practicum teacher asked me to combine my lesson with my science bulletin board assignment for TEDU 310. So the poster I am referring to, is the bulletin board. A picture of my bulletin board is attached at the end. The animal pictures were velcroed onto the board, prior to the lesson I removed all pictures and let students place the animal pictures on the board **** One animal at a time, ask the students what the animal is, which header the animal should go under and why they believe that Call on one student to come up and place the animal under the corresponding body covering header Continue doing this until students have placed all the animals under the correct body covering header After all animals have been sorted, ask students what similarities they see within each header Answers may vary (ex:// all the animals with feathers are birds, animals that swim have shells etc.) EXPANSION: Have students return to their groups Discuss with students that animals can also be sorted by other characteristic besides their body coverings Have students work in their groups to explore other ways the animals could be sorted Call on students to share their insight with the class Praise students observations and inferences and say that next time we will explore other ways we could classify the animals *Differentiation: o For the inclusion students in the classroom: The table group formations for this lesson will include children from all different academic levels. This will help struggling students work with more advanced students that understand the concept and can assist them through it. The book read at the beginning, that helps students identify appropriate animal body coverings, will also be available to assist these students o For advanced students: have these students write a sentence describing the different body coverings. Provide the additional book What Kinds of Coverings do Animals Have to these students. This text is more advanced and focuses more on why animals have different coverings rather than what the different coverings are. o Each learning modality is addressed through this lesson. The visual learners will benefit by viewing the book, the pictures of the animals, the poster, and by viewing the samples of the body coverings. The auditory learners will benefit by
listening to the book, listening to the discussions and talking with their peers. The tactile learners will benefit by touching the body covering samples, having the opportunity to act like an animal, and sorting the animal pictures. Summary As a whole class, review the information we learned today o What groups can we sort animals into based on their body coverings? o What observations did we make when we felt and saw all the different body coverings? o How did each feel? o Similar or different? o Do all animals have the same characteristics? EVALUATION: Collect each groups animal body coverings chart with the animals pasted on Assess learning by checking to see if animals are properly sorted into correct body covering groupings Materials: Book: Comparing Body Coverings by Rebecca Rissman Book for advanced students: What Kinds of Coverings do Animals Have? by Bobbie Kalman Samples of: fur, feathers, scales and shells Animal body coverings chart (I created) Pictures of animals for students, some of the animal pictures were taken from http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science/2010/lesson_plans/grade 1/life_processes/sess_1-5bc.pdf the rest were found on Google images Glue sticks Large animal pictures for group discussion Poster board (my bulletin board) Crayons Markers Safety: Although there are no safety concerns for this lesson, remind students when going back to their seats (acting as animal) to do so safety. Evaluation Part A: I will be expecting the students to orally and actively participate in a whole class discussion before, during, and after reading Comparing Body Coverings about animals different body coverings To assess the students during small groups, I will monitor which students are participating. I will monitor for students using their senses and making observations while examining the body covering samples. To assess students learning, I will review their animal body coverings chart and check that they pasted their animals into correct groupings. If groups have correctly sorted 80%
of the animals under the correct corresponding header, the students have met the objective. Evaluation Part B: Overall, I was really happy with how my lesson went. I was very stressed about this lesson because a week prior to teaching it, my practicum teacher changed the subject she wanted me to teach due to being behind and then asked if I could incorporate my bulletin board assignment into my lesson. Although it was a lot more planning and work than I originally thought it would be, the combination of my bulletin board and the lesson turned out to work in my benefit. The lesson wasn t as inquiry based as I had planned for it to be. My practicum teacher doesn t have the students work in groups often, so completing the chart ending up being an individual assignment for the students, although they were talking with each other about which covering the animals had while doing so. Another thing that differed from how I originally planned was the order of events things occurred in. My practicum teacher thought it would be a good idea for me to read a book, share the samples with the students, sort the animals on the bulletin board together and then have them go back to their seats and sort their animals individually. Although this lowered the amount of exploration the students were able to do, they still got to explore and describe the samples and sort and discuss the animals with me as a whole class. The students did meet my objectives. They all participated in the group discussions, they made observations about the textures of the samples, and all but one student sorted their animals into their charts with 80% accuracy or above. The lesson did accommodate the needs of all my learners. I accommodated all of the different learning styles as discussed above. Although group work did not go as planned, I made sure to pay special attention to the two inclusion students that
are in the classroom. They understood the concept well, but needed assistance with cutting out their animals and pasting them. I was very happy with how this lesson went even though the plans changed. A large strength of this lesson was the samples of the body coverings. The extra time I took to make these for the students really paid off. I actually put a sample on the bulletin board and one to pass around; you can see both of these in the pictures attached. The students loved these and used their sense of touch to describe each one. Another strength was the interactive bulletin board. It allowed for students to get up and be part of the lesson. The Velcro worked well and my practicum teacher absolutely loved it and said she could use the board again to teach other animals characteristics, which was rewarding to hear. On the day I taught my lesson, my teacher asked if for hair, we could remove one the pictures of a human that they had to sort on their own in their chart, and add in a picture of them! She quickly printed out images she had of each student and we passed them out. So under hair, they got to see themselves as an example, they got really excited about it and I am glad my teacher incorporated this idea into the lesson! I also noticed that I am getting better with more experience at classroom management. Just by doing small things, such as calling tables by color, helped me maintain the classroom flow. One weakness and something that my practicum teacher wrote on my grow side, was that when reading the book and it had the work predator in it. I did not stop and go over this term with the students. I realized after that I should have, sometimes it is easy to forget that students don t have the knowledge we do. Another weakness was that it didn t allow for as much student exploration as I originally intended. If I changed the lesson to teach it again, I would have done it how I planned to. Although this wasn t my choice, I think that doing the lesson as I planned, as group work and exploring the
coverings more before sorting animals with the students, would of allowed for students to learn more by themselves rather than with me leading it. In the end, the lesson did go well. The students enjoyed feeling the samples and getting to be apart of the lesson by placing the animals onto the bulletin board. They showed me through their charts that the understood the information taught.
Picture of Bulletin Board Picture of samples passed around