Kati Schwarzkopf SCI 495 Unit 2 December 3rd, 2013 Unit Theme/Title: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: Animals, Plants, and Their Environment Grade Level: Kindergarten Unit Standards (Assessable Component): Next Generation Science Standards: K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. [Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include that animals need to take in food but plants do not; the different kinds of food needed by different types of animals; the requirement of plants to have light; and that all living things need water.] K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live. [Clarification Statement: Examples of relationships could include that deer eat buds and leaves, therefore, they usually live in forested areas, and grasses need sunlight so they often grow in meadows. Plants, animals, and their surroundings make up a system.] K-ESS2-2. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs. [Clarification Statement: Examples of plants and animals changing their environment could include a squirrel digs in the ground to hide its food and tree roots can break concrete.] Cross-cutting Expectations: *** This unit could meet these expectations and more. This particular unit does not include assessments for the following standards. Common Core State Standards Connections: ELA/Literacy: RI.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. (K- ESS2-2) W.K.1 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book. (K-ESS2-2)
W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. (K-ESS2-2),(K-ESS3-3) W.K.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them). (K-LS1-1) SL.K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail. (K-ESS3-1) Mathematics: MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (K-ESS3-1) MP.4 Model with mathematics. (K-ESS3-1) K.CC Counting and Cardinality (K-ESS3-1) K.MD.A.2 Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has more of / less of the attribute, and describe the difference. (K-LS1-1) Unit Organization: Lesson 1: Plant needs Lesson 2: Animal needs Lesson 3 Mini Lesson: Relationship between plants and animals Lesson 4: Plant and animal habitats Lesson 5: Changing the environment to fit needs Lesson 1: Plant Needs Lesson Standards: NGSS (Assessable Component). K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. Objectives (From Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts): Objective 1: Students will distinguish between what is and is not a plant Objective 2: Students will identify different things that plants need to survive Materials: Assorted magazines and news ads Construction paper Scissors Glue
Dry erase markers Science journals Pencils Camera Ziploc bags Seeds Water Planting soil Construction paper Markers Colored pencils Safety: This lesson requires that students go outside and engage in a plant hunt. As the teacher will be taking the class outside of the building, he/she must establish rules with the class on conducting themselves in this situation to ensure all students stay safe. Prior Knowledge/ Requisite Knowledge: Students must have some general knowledge/ experience with plants and recognize that plants are living things just like us. Engage: To engage students and gage their capability to identify plants, students will be given an assortment of magazines (age appropriate) and newspaper ads. There should be a small pile of them at each table. Students will go through the magazines and ads and cut out things that they identify as plants. Students may share magazines with other tables if desired. Once they have cut out the things they identified as plants, they will paste them onto a piece of construction paper. Students will then share some of the things they cut out with the class. As students are sharing, ask them questions about why they chose to cut specific items out. What makes that a plant? Some students may say; It s a plant because it s green or it s a plant because it has a flower. Ask students to start thinking about if all plants have flowers or if all plants are truly green. Explore: Based on classroom discussion from the engage activity, students will create a wholeclass KWL chart on plants. Following this, the teacher will take students outside, around the school, in search of plants. Students will take their science journals along with them and will be instructed to make notes and draw pictures/ sketches of the plants they see on the plant hunt. Their notes should include characteristics of the plants and also where it was located (characteristics of the area). In addition, the teacher will take pictures of the
plants students identify/ find on the plant hunt. These pictures will be posted up in the room once developed. Explain: Once back in the classroom, students will engage in whole class discussion. They will be asked to think about and share the characteristics of the areas that the plants were located. They might give answers like; In the ground. The teacher will ask students if they know what's in the ground. This may require another trip outside to have students dig into the ground to see what s there. Once back in the classroom, continue with the class discussion of characteristics of the areas plants were growing. Make a list of the things students come up with on the board. When the discussion is complete, as students what they should call the list they just made (leading them to conclude that those may all be things plants need to grow). Elaborate: Tell students that our list is just speculation right now. They need to test if plants actually need all those things. Assign each corner of the room one of the things on the class-made list, ask students to pick one of the things from the list they think plants could live without. Then, have students play four corners (here s how it works; each corner of the classroom represents a multiple choice answer. Students move about the room, traveling to the corner to which they believe represents the correct answer). Add the middle of the classroom as a place for those who believe that plants need all of the things on the list. Each of the five groups will then create their own greenhouses in a plastic bag with a bean. The students will make their greenhouses and not give the bean the thing that they thought plants could live without in the four corners game (for example: no light or no soil ). Students will monitor their greenhouses over the next week or so, making observations and sketches in their science journals. When enough time has passed so the seed begins to grow into a plant in the students greenhouses, student groups will present their greenhouses to the class. They will have measured its height and counted any leaves. Once all groups have presented their greenhouses, the class will vote on which plant thrived the most (should be the plant that got all the resources needed to survive). Discuss with students that in order to thrive and survive, plants need all the resources together. Evaluate: Students will make a flower foldable. On each of the tabs, students will draw and write out the word of the things that plants needs to survive. Foldables will be hung throughout the classroom. Scientific Background for Teacher: Plants make their own food, but they need a few resources to do so.
What do plants need to survive? Sunlight Plants need sunlight to make food / sugar Water Water carries nutrients from the soil to the roots Soil Soil provides a medium to anchor the roots of the plants Soil provides minerals for the plants to grow Through soil, water flows to the roots Air Plants use CO 2 from the air during photosynthesis to make food References: http://mrscateskindergarten.blogspot.com/2011/04/plants.html http://www.dnr.state.md.us/forests/education/needs.html Lesson 2: Animal Needs Lesson Standards: NGSS (Assessable Component). K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. Objectives (From Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts): Objective 1: Students will identify animal characteristics Objective 2: Students will identify different things that animals need to survive Materials: Pet worksheet (Resource A) Wild Animal ABC s Animal resource books Construction paper Markers Glue What animals eat worksheet (http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_uploads/lesson_plans/1145/k_whatanim alsneed.pdf) What animals need worksheet (Resource B)
Safety: There are no safety concerns involved with this lesson. Prior Knowledge/ Requisite Knowledge: Students must have some general knowledge/ experience with animals. Engage: Engage students by having them write in their writing journals about a pet that they or a friend or family member has. Ask them to incorporate in their stories ways that they take care of their animal. Then, on the pet worksheet, have students draw a picture of the pet they wrote about and include a drawing of the things they provide for it to live. Students will share their drawings and the teacher will make a class list of the things they drew for their pets to live. (examples of what they should have drawn include; food, water, house ) Explore: To further explore the concept of animal needs, the teacher will read Wild Animal: ABC s to the class. This book has a number of different animals. Stop during the reading to ask students what the specific animals need to survive. Explain: Upon completion of the reading, discuss with students what the animals in the book needed to survive. Students may think-pair-share for this part of the lesson. Ask students if they found any similarities in what the different animals needed to survive. What were the similarities? Did all the animals need water? Did they all need food? What about shelter? Are these all things that we rely on to survive as well? Students will be assigned to make a four-tab foldable on animal needs. Each tab will have the name of the thing animals need with a picture. When a tab is lifted, the students will write out a reason why animals need the thing to survive. For example, when you lift the water tab, it should read something like animals need water to stay hydrated. Elaborate: Students will get into small groups. Each group will be assigned a specific animal from a certain habitat. The students will have to create a flyer of what the animal needs focusing on differences in types of food and shelter of the animals. Each group will present their flyers with the information about their assigned animal to the class. Ask students to make a list of the animals that were presented on. What were the foods that each animal ate? Do they notice anything about the different foods? such as; do some animals eat only plants or only other animals? The students
should recognize these differences in food preference among the different animals. Students will be guided through a what animals eat worksheet. Additionally, ask them to identify different types of shelter the animals seek. Are they the same or different based on species? Even though there are differences in the types of food and shelter preferred by different animals, do all animals ultimately have the same needs? If so, what are they? Students should answer; food, water, shelter.... Evaluate: Students will be assigned a what animals need worksheet to evaluate their understanding of the lesson. Scientific Background for Teacher: What do animals need to survive? Food/ energy Animals cannot make their own food like plants can Animals get food from plants (herbivore or omnivore) Animals get food from other animals (Carnivore) Water Animals need water to stay hydrated Shelter Shelter is used for protection Protection from other animals (predators) Protection from harsh environmental conditions Air Animals require air to breath and stay alive Plants provide essential oxygen to the air that animals breath References: http://ecosystems.psu.edu/youth/sftrc/lesson-plan-pdfs/habitat http://schoolpartnership.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/animal-lesson2.pdf http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_uploads/lesson_plans/1145/k_whatanima lsneed.pdf Lesson 3 Mini Lesson: Relationship Between Plants and Animals Lesson Standards: NGSS (Assessable Component). K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
Objectives (From Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts): Objective 1: The student will identify similarities and differences in plant and animal needs Objective 2: The student will describe using a model the relationship between plants and animals and their needs to survive Materials: 2 hula hoops (different colors) Set of balls (different colors - same colors as hula hoops) Zip lock bags (1 per student) Set of clip art pictures for each student (food, water, sunlight, space, shelter, soil) (Resource C) Venn diagram worksheet (Resource D) Safety/ Concerns: This lesson calls for students to get out of their seats and move around the room observing other students work. To ensure this happens successfully and safely, the teacher should implement classroom management for such activities. Prior Knowledge/ Requisite Knowledge: Students will need to know basic plant and animal needs as learned in the previous two lessons of this unit. *** As this is a mini-lesson connecting lessons 1 and 2, not all components of the basic 5 E lesson plan are included, as they are not necessary. Engage: Students will be introduced to the concept of a Venn diagram so that they may implement it later on in the lesson. To do so, give the students hula hoops of different colors. Students will also get styrofoam balls in the same colors as the hula hoops, there will be an additional ball that is both colors. In groups, students will need to sort the balls into the correct hula hoop based on color. They will soon come to realize that there is a problem with the multi-colored ball. Have students use problem-solving skills to figure out where to put the multi-colored ball. Eventually students should realize that in order to make a space for the multi-colored ball to belong, they must manipulate the hula hoops so that they overlap, forming a circle of both colors. (This activity may be done in the gym with permission from the school's PE teacher).
Explore: Each student will have a bag of clip art pictures. There will be two sets of each picture in the bags. The pictures included will be of plant and animal needs. Ask students to take their pictures and categorize them into either plant or animal needs piles. Have students go around the room when everyone s finished and view how others categorized the pictures. Return students to seats. Have students pair similar items from the plant and animal piles (both need water pick out water pictures from each pile and set aside). Students should have most things paired. They will see that what s left in the plant pile is sunlight and what are left in the animal pile will be the types of food animals eat. The paired cards are the similarities between the two, and the pictures remaining are the differences between the two. Elaborate: Students will participate in creating a whole class Venn-diagram comparing and contrasting plant and animal needs learned in the previous lessons. The Venn diagram will be created using the hula hoops and large pictures of resources. Evaluate: Students will write a few sentences explaining similarities between plant and animal needs. Additionally, they will write another few sentences explaining differences in plant and animal needs. They will then make their own Venn diagram of plant and animal needs based on and including all that they wrote about within their sentences. Scientific Background for Teacher: All animals need food in order to live and grow. They obtain their food from plants or from other animals. Plants need water and light to live and grow. Patterns Plants Photosynthesis Energy Animals Plants take in water, CO 2, and sunlight (energy), photosynthesize, and produce the O 2 needed for animals to breath. In addition, animals eat the plants and gain energy from them. Lesson 4: Plant and Animal Habitats Lesson Standards: NGSS (Assessable Component). K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live. Objectives (From Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts):
Objective 1: Students will define habitat Objective 2: Students will identify that the environment provides the basic needs that plants and animals require Objective 3: Students will represent the relationship between plant and animal needs and the environment using a model Materials: Student creative writing journals Pencils Whose House IS This? Habitat fill-in-the-blank (Resource E) Globe or world map Biome information books Poster board Markers Science journals Habitat posters Animal picture cards (Resource F) Habitat worksheet (http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_uploads/lesson_plans/1145/k_whatanim alsneed.pdf) Safety: This lesson calls for students to get out of their seats and move around the room. To ensure this happens successfully and safely, the teacher should implement classroom management for such activities. This lesson also requires that students go outside to make observations. As the teacher will be taking the class outside of the building, he/she must establish rules with the class on conducting themselves in this situation to ensure all students stay safe. Prior Knowledge/ Requisite Knowledge: Students will need to know basic animal needs learned from the previous lessons. Engage: Ask students to write about a different land; real or make believe. They must describe the land and the animals that live there. What are some of the animals characteristics? What does the land look like? What is the climate like there? Where does the animal get its food? Students may also draw the animal and its surroundings for clarification or as an art project. Students will then share their animals and land with others in the class.
Explore: Read Whose House IS This? with the class. Engage the students and encourage interaction by having students guess the habitat of the animals shown on each page, stopping at each different animal and having them describe the area it lives in. When the book is finished, ask students to reflect on it by asking if the places the animals lived in the book were all the same. What else did they notice? How come we don t find some of the animals from the book where we live? What is different about where we live? For example, when reflecting on the penguin and where it lives, students may say that the penguin lives in cold areas of ice and snow where water is present. Where we live, it snows sometimes, but not all the time, so penguins don t like it here. Tell students that the places animals live are called habitats. Do all animals have the same habitat? Students should answer no, not all animals have the same habitat. They discovered this in their reflection of the animals and the areas they lived (penguin example). Give students a student friendly definition of habitat. Students will need to fill-in-the-blanks to a definition of habitat. Explain: Assign students an area on the globe. Students will then research the kinds of animals that live there. This should be done in groups. The class can be split up so that there are eight groups -- representing the eight biomes on earth. Students will need to research the terrain and climate and also the kinds of animals found there. The teacher will provide biome information books for student research. Students will then create a poster detailing the climate and area information of their biome. Posters will also include pictures and names of common animals found in the biome. These posters will be presented to the class and hung throughout the room. Upon completion of biome presentations, the teacher will take students outside with their science journals. Once outside, the teacher will ask students to describe in their journals the climate and area outside the school. They must also make note of the animals that they see while they are out there. Students will then be asked to identify the biome we live in based on their observations of the animals and descriptions of the climate. Students will share their thoughts with the class and discuss the biome we live in and why we see the animals that we do here. What does the area outside provide for the animals that live there? Elaborate: Lay out habitat mats/ posters throughout the room (these mats will have pictures of the environment for different types of habitats). Give students animal cards and have them go around the room and place the animals on the habitat mat that you would expect to find the animal. Gather students around the different habitat mats that they placed the animal cards on. Ask students why they placed certain animals on different mats. Are there some animals that could be placed on more than one mat? What is it about that environment
that the animal likes? Does that environment provide all the basic needs for the animals? This may be used as a form of assessment. Evaluate: Students will need to draw the correct habitat for specified animals (animal cut-outs). Students will need to write one thing that the environment they drew provides for the specific animal that other environments might not. Scientific Background for Teacher: Plants and animals use their environment for shelter and as a resource that provides the food they need to survive. Animals and the places they live Animals depend on plants Food / energy Shelter Shade from the sun Use plants to make goods Cloth (cotton) Dyes Medicine Animal homes Caves Ground/ holes Holes in trees Nests Hives Webs Water Barns Houses Plants and the places they live Plants depend on animals Animals are used to disperse plant seeds Insects (bees) pollinate plants Worms aerate the soil - Natural resources Living things need water, air, and resources from the land, and they live in places that have the things they need. Humans use natural resources for everything they do. Air Water Food/ energy Lesson 5: Changing the Environment to Fit Needs
Lesson Standards: NGSS (Assessable Component). K-ESS2-2. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs Objectives (From Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts): Objective 1: I can identify examples of how plants change the environment to meet their needs Objective 2: I can identify examples of how animals change the environment to meet their needs Materials: Science journals Pencils Changing the environment worksheet (Resource G) Safety: As the teacher will be taking the class outside of the building, he/she must establish rules with the class on conducting themselves in this situation to ensure all students stay safe. Prior Knowledge/ Requisite Knowledge: Students must know basic plant and animal needs and recognize that the environment provides those needs. Engage: The teacher will take students on a nature walk around the school. Make stops along the way to point out plants that have changed the environment to meet their needs (ex. Cracking sidewalk or rock to continue growth). Ask students to note their observations. Take time to let students examine the area. Ask them what they think happened to the sidewalk. Was the crack in the sidewalk caused by something other than the plant growing in it? Could the plant have caused the sidewalk to crack? Don t give students definite answers to these questions, just let them think about the different scenarios and make observations. Explore: In small groups, students will be given either a specific plant or animal and told of something in the environment that is making it difficult for the plant or animal to survive.
Students will need to collaborate with each other and figure out a way the plant or animal could overcome the problem. Groups will present their ideas to the class by taking the problem and solution they came up with and performing it for the class as a dramatic activity to incorporate theatre. After each group performance, students will discuss the problem the plant or animal was experiencing and how they overcame it to meet their needs. The teacher will ask the group as well as the audience if they came think of additional ways to solve the problem. Explain: The teacher will explain that the scenarios acted out by the groups were real problems faced in nature. Ask students to recall the plant they saw outside the school growing in the crack of the sidewalk. What do they think happened with that situation now that they have thought through some other scenarios with the performances? Students will then engage in another dramatic activity lead by the teacher where they act as if they are the seed trying to grow into a plant beneath the sidewalk. Elaborate: Tell students that just like the plants and animals, we too change the environment to fit our needs. Ask students to think of some ways that we change the environment at school? How do they change the environment at home? (example: gardening). Talk about any negative effects we could have on the environment by changing it to meet our needs (example: driving cars, using up natural resources). Evaluate: Students will draw a way that a plant changes the environment to fit its needs and write a sentence why it needed to change the environment in that way. They will also draw a way that an animal changes the environment to meet its needs and write a sentence why it needed to change the environment in that way. Scientific Background for Teacher: Things that people do to live comfortably can affect the world around them. But they can make choices that reduce their impacts on the land, water, air, and other living things. Animals / Humans changing environment Good impacts (beneficial) Gardening Farming Humans can decide which plants / foods to grow Farming increases amount of food available Bad impacts (detrimental) Resources that humans remove from the ground are often not renewable Plants changing the environment Plants roots can break concrete and rock
Sometimes a sidewalk or rock obstructs the root system of plants. However, plant roots are able to break through these materials to continue growth
Resource A Name Caring for Animals Draw a picture of caring for a pet at home. Make a drawing of all the things you provide for the pet.
Resource B Name What Animals Need Animals need,, to live., and Draw a picture of three animals and draw what they need to survive.
Resource C
Resource D Name Plant and Animal Needs The similarities between plant and animal needs are The differences between plant and animal needs are
Name Resource E (Habitat fill-in-the-blank) A habitat is A or environment where a or naturally.
Resource F (Animal picture cards for habitat posters)
Resource G Name Changing the Environment to meet plant needs to meet animal needs