Writing for Understanding
Teacher Plan
Teacher Jess Loeffler Class 5th Grade Date July 2011 Writing genre Report
This unit is part of a yearlong focus on sustainability. The focusing question for this yearlong focus is “How do the decisions that we make impact the environment around us?” and “How is one organism in an ecosystem impacted by others?” Other environmental and social topics will feed into this yearlong focus including local foods, renewable energy, water cycle, waste management and recycling.
Interdependence within an Ecosystem
Content: One organism in an ecosystem is impacted by other organisms.
Reading: Students will read and reread texts and articles to make inferences, paraphrase, establish connections, and identify cause and effect relationship.
Writing: In report writing, students include details to support and develop their focus, draw conclusions, and make connections
to generalize their understanding of interdependence.
Focusing Question
How do habitat and other organisms impact the deer population in Vermont?
Focus (answer to focusing question)
Deer population in Vermont is impacted by the loss of habitat, hunters, natural prey, food sources and the weather.
Building Content Knowledge, Understanding of Writer’s Craft
Establish background knowledge and connections of ecosystems
Frequent outside visits and observations
Reteach paragraph writing
Teach Painted Essay
Teach/Discuss Cause & Effect
Understanding cause and effect relationship in an ecosystem
Vocabulary: interdependence, organism, adaptation, sustainable, ecosystem, food chain, food web, adaptation, carrying capacity, limiting factor, cells, matter, consumer, producer, decomposer, predator, prey, population, habitat, herbivore, carnivore
Frayer Model interconnected, ecosystem, interdependence
Dramatizing- games including Food Chain, Predator Prey and “Oh Deer”
Writer's Craft- introduction, supporting details and conclusions
discussions, public notes, notes in writer's notebook, practice
constructed response models
report models
Texts- Sciencesaurus: A student handbook,
What are Food Chains and Webs? Bobbie Kalman and
Vermont Fish & Game articles and graphs
teach how to use textbook (headings & subheadings, graphs, tables, maps, typographical features, contents, index, glossary, appendix
Text mapping
I notice, I wonder” interactions with text
Paraphrase and summarize text
Structures
Teacher-written model that includes context, evidence and from notes
Teacher-and-student written model (class write)
Writer's Craft lessons on introduction, using supporting details and conclusions
Reminders to students about previous work they have done in writing responses
Template- Painted Essay
Framed model as needed
Writing / Revising
Students write introductions to focus question
Students write in chunks and teacher responds with feedback
Reteaching content happens as needed
Students make revisions
Lesson Sequence
Establish connections to local environment (discussions and journal prompts)
Frequent outside visits and observations will occur throughout the lessons
- students walk on nature trail and make observations in their science notebook
- scavenger hunt on nature trail to trigger observations
Kapok Tree
- read aloud for enjoyment
- read aloud second time thinking about impact of kapok tree
- “I notice, I wonder” think/pair/share conversation and group debrief
- introduce focus question “How is one organism in an ecosystem impacted by others?”
- fill in web as a group that shows the interrelationships between the characters
Take notes in science notebook
- organism a living thing
- ecosystem the interaction of all living and non living organisms living together
- habitat the specific environment that meets an organisms needs
Frayer Model- ecosystem (displayed in classroom)
Identify cause and effect
- relate to PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention System) and logical consequences
- match cards with cause and effect
- role play
- graphic organizer/ thinking map
Finding Home by Sandra Markle.
- read aloud for enjoyment
- read aloud second time thinking about what impacts the koala bears habitat?
- model of constructed response
- review parts of paragraph- introductions/supporting details/conclusion
- group write on “How is the koala bear's habitat impacted by the fire?”
Frayer Model- interconnected
Flute's Journey
- read aloud for enjoyment
- read aloud second time thinking about “What organisms impacted Flute's journey?”
- fill in web that shows the interrelationships between the characters
- apply new understanding of cause and effect to Flute's journey in graphic organizer
- constructed response “How did the loss of habitat impacted Flute?”
Read Sciencesaurus (pgs 130-131, 133- 138)
- teach how to use textbook (headings & subheadings, graphs, tables, maps, typographical features, contents, index, glossary, appendix)
- Fill in graphic organizer
Discuss and take notes on food chain and food web
Create food web on board based on reading
Do activity with strings in a circle to see how different organisms are connected
Pond Food Web activity
- identify producers & consumers
- answer questions about food web
- sort producers, consumers, and decomposers
- create food chains with organisms
- create food web
- answer questions about one organism being removed from food web?
Frayer Model- interdependence
Play Food Chain Game
- create web of game
- discuss “How did you stay alive?” “What resources did you need to stay alive?”
Reread The Great Kapok tree and assign each student a character from the book to create a web. The narrator stands in the center and hands out string to connect them all.
What are Food Chains and Webs by Bobbie Kalman, pgs 6-21)
these pages introduce the energy pyramid, herbivores, carnivores, producers, predators and prey.
- complete graphic organizer to show how these are interrelated
Play Predator-Prey game
- discussion
- create food web of predator-prey game to use as public notes
Take notes in science notebook on limiting factor, carrying capacity
- relate to cause and effectively
- student discussion/ share examples
Students are given a list of organisms and must create a food web connecting them. (including deer)
Class discussion- What do organisms need to survive?
- habitat
- food
- water
Play “Oh Deer”
- Review limiting factor and carrying capacity and discuss how it relates to deer
- keep track of data while playing ( # of deer at beginning & end of round)
- data becomes public notes
- discussion about game
- Get in small groups and answer/discuss following questions: What happened if you didn’t get your resources? What impact can a lack of resources have on a community of species ? What do animals need to survive? How do these components impact carrying capacity? What are some limiting factors that affect survival of animals? How do factors limiting carrying capacity affect the healthy, numbers and distribution of animals? How do these affect competition within a species? Why is good habitat important for animals? Are wildlife populations static or do they fluctuate?
- chart answers as needed- public notes
- students graph the data that was collected during game
- in groups students discuss if this data could be accurate
- Compare game data to Vermont Fish & Wildlife data
Read articles on Vermont Fist & Wildlife website and discuss
Pose question, What factors impact deer population in Vermont?
Complete graphic organizer to help them determine which factors they are going to write about
Reteach Painted Essay as needed (introduction, details, conclusion)
Write report in chunks as teacher reads and responds
Assessment
District report rubric to assess final writing
other assessments within unit will include:
district constructed response rubric
exit tickets
vocabulary quiz
notes in science notebook
connections
“I notice”, “I wonder” statements
drama work
Next Steps
The rest of our unit on ecosystems will continue from this point. We will look at adaptations and classification of species.
Jess, I think this project is very valuable and will be fun for the students. I like how you have varied the activities and have outdoor and hands-on lessons throughout. I wonder if you can find graphs that show how the weather, food, etc. affects Vermont wildlife? It would be interesting to show it in that format too. Some students may be ready after this to do a persuasive piece as well about sustainability or make opinions about the affects of hunting on the deer population when you look at the other factors. I hope it goes well for you!
ReplyDeleteJulie, as I was reading your lesson activities, I found that I was imagining myself as your student and wanting to be a part of the multiple hands on activities. As an adult they were very enticing to me! I'm sure your students thoroughly enjoy studying this topic. I also noticed that you were able to integrate with PBIS. I thought this was a wonderful idea and has caused me to strive to do the same with my lesson - Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your lesson plans. My 5th graders are very involved in youth hunting and many of them attend hunter safety classes in the fall. They study their manuals and take the testing very seriously. Perhaps you could incorporate this as a resource or include it in your plans somehow. You have many varied activities for your students. They will get so much from your thoughtful planning.
ReplyDelete-Meg Clayton
Jess,
ReplyDeleteYour focus on supporting and scaffolding students for understanding and skill work in this unit is very well done. (Read first to enjoy, second time for structured work, reteaching painted essay to those who need it,paragraph writing, public notes, sequence of lessons, etc.) There are many opportuniites to determine those students who need more work, and can move others forward who do not. I agree that this unit will be very interesting to your students and especially to some of those boys who always want to read about hunting. Great variety of activities and some very solid ground work for students. I'm sure that they will find much success and fun through this unit.
What a cool project! Your 5th graders will love this! Is the sustainability focus just in your class, or is it a school-wide focus? We have tried to do something similar at my school, but it never really left the ground. I'd love to hear about how this goes for you! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHi Jess: Your planner is very clearly presented. You have planned a variety of multi-model activities that will engage all of your students and keep the interest-level high throughout the unit. It's wonderful to see all of the interactive read-alouds and companion lessons that teach writer's craft and science content. The past few weeks in summer school we've been doing a weekly interactive read aloud. We complete large (poster paper) graphic organizers, talk a lot, group write and finally complete independent writing chunks. It's been wonderful to see that the group work and stepping stone lessons are super rich and certainly build confidence and ease with craft. Thank you for providing such a nice model that we can all learn from. It was great to meet you at the WU Institute and I look forward to seeing you again or chatting online in my growing professional community. :)
ReplyDeleteNice job presenting a lot of information - I especially like all the different activities/games that you have the children do together and many of these are probably done outside as you explore the local ecosystem. It seems like each step has enough scaffolding so that every student will be successful and engaged throughout. I really like the idea of a year-long focus to help drive your curriculum - our school has tried this with varied degrees of success. I'm sure you will find changes and restructuring you may need as you go along but what a great way to get it started! I would love to use some of your ideas next year as my class is working on a sustainability project for a service-learning component of the curriculum - keep me posted as you work with this unit.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I would like to say that I love your year long theme of sustainability. Have you taken the Sustainability Academy that Shelburne Farms offers each summer? If not, I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteMy other question for you is have you taken the week long class that Vermont Fish and Wildlife offers each summer to educators at Buck Lake? Another fantastic learning experience! Plus you will receive amazing curriculum to take home with you, Project Wet, Project Wild, Project Learning Tree. I thought of both of these courses when reading your plan.
Now on to your plan, I think your use of a scavenger hunt when you go on the nature trail to make observations is a great idea. I am going to borrow this idea if you don't mind :)
I also really love your use of literature to teach specific science concepts as well as the integration of constructed responses after reading and discussing the books together.
Another great strength to this unit plan is how you have many hands-on activities and games included in this unit to teach very important content. And you have done a brilliant job integrating math (data collection) in the "Oh Deer" activity.
I think your students will not only really enjoy this unit they will learn an incredible amount!
Hi Jess,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your unit! It is very detailed and seems thorough. It is very helpful to me to see how you have built the re-reading into your plan, because it is something I am never sure how to do. I like the idea of reading once for enjoyment, and then again with a specific question in mind. You have students do this several times - hopefully they have a good start to making it a habit of mind. I also noticed how you plan to circle back to one of the first stories and use it in a food web activity, which seems like a great way to help tie all the information the students are getting together.
Good luck, and thank you! Hannah