#4611. Nicole Buckley

Science, level: Kindergarten
Posted Mon Aug 20 11:16:19 PDT 2012 by Nicole Buckley (Nicole Buckley).
United States
Concepts Taught: Life Cycle

Rationale: The purpose of the lesson is for students to understand and sequence the life cycle of a frog, beginning with the frogspawn and ending with the frog. This lesson correlates with the current unit study focusing on life cycles.

Materials:
o Frog (Life Cycle of a) by Angela Royston
o Smart board
o Graphic Organizer Worksheet
o Science Journals

Focus: The teaching point of this lesson is to allow students the opportunity to gain greater insight into the life cycle of the frog. The students will be taking a deeper look at the frogs life cycle while making connections to their in class observations of the tadpoles. We will be focusing on the sequence from tadpole, frogspawn, to adult frog with the use of a graphic organizer. The students will be learning how to take information from a text, and sequence it in the correct order to help comprehend the life cycle stages.

Grouping Options: The students will be working in heterogeneous half groups during the read aloud as well as working to create the graphic organizer. The grouping will change, as the students will work in pairs to complete the after reading activity. The students will work at their table spots for independent work. The table spots have been pre determined by the classroom teachers. The students are working with classmates on varying skill levels at the tables.

Objectives: The students will learn how to sequence information from an expository text. The students will be able to take out the information that they believe to be important and create a graphic organizer.

Motivation: To activate schema the students will be asked to take a look at the class tadpoles and make an observation in their science journal of what the tadpoles look like at this time. As a group we will bring our science journals and share our observations. The students will engage in classroom discussion based on their observations. Students will be prompted with questions regarding the changes that they visualize during the life cycle changes.

Mini-Lesson: The students will be given a chance to look at the tadpoles in the classroom. They will then make an observational drawing in their science journal of what the tadpoles currently look like. As a whole group we will share a few observational drawing as well as take a look back to their first drawing. We will discuss that the frogs are currently in the beginning of the life cycle. I will pose the question of what the students believe the tadpoles will look like next, as well as what the tadpoles will look like in the final stage of the life cycle.

Body of Lesson:
o Give students an opportunity to look at their tadpoles and make an observational drawing.
o Discuss with the group and share a few observations from the journals.
o Look back to first observational drawing of tadpole and discuss changes we can see.
o Discuss the stage the tadpoles are currently in of the life cycle, which is frogspawn.
o Ask students to make predictions of what the tadpoles will look like next as well as what the final stage of the life cycle will be. Record predictions in class science journal.
o Conduct read aloud of Frog (Life Cycle of a) by Angela Royston
o While reading make sure to stop and point out when the frog has completed another phase of the life cycle.
o Once the read aloud has been completed upload graphic organizer on Smart Board.
o The first box of the graphic organizer will be filled in and as a whole group the students will work to complete the organizer filling in the life cycle of the frog.
o The students will be working in pairs with a copy of the text to use the pictures and activate their memory.
o The students will turn and talk to their partner to find terms that corresponds with the life cycle.
o Students will raise their hands and discuss selected terms.
o As a whole group we will write the terms on the bottom of the graphic organizer.
o The students will then come to the Smart board and drag the appropriate term into the correct sequence of the graphic organizer. The students will use their text as a reference.
o Once the graphic organizer is complete, we will use the text to evaluate if the sequence is correct.
o The students will go to their worktable spots.
o Students will complete independent work.

Culmination: The students will be asked to return to their seats where they will independently illustrate the life cycle in a hard copy of the graphic organizer. The students will then turn and talk to their groups to check their work and review the sequence. The student's work will be posted in the science area of the classroom for students to reference. If the students are able and feel confident they will add the name of the specific life cycle.

Assessment: The students will be evaluated when they complete and turn in their independently created graphic organizer as well as their participation in whole group discussion. The graphic organizer will be assessed based on the objective. During group discussion the assistant will be monitoring which students participate. The assistant will record anecdotal notes made by students.