AnimalpaloozaJustice Strong 

Kindergarten/ Mathematics/Science

 

Common Core Standards:KindergartenMeasurement and DataClassify objects and count the number of objects in categories.

Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count.

Life SciencesBenchmarks (K–2)

B.Explain how organisms function and interact with their physical environment.

Lesson Summary:This lesson is designed to assist students with counting and matching animals with their living environment. This is set up to follow a previous lesson on the different types of animals. The students would have a good understating of the different kinds of animals and where they mostly live. The students will draw different environments and match them with their corresponding animals. 

Estimated Duration:

Two 50 minute class periods.

 Commentary:  

The students will start by drawing three different environments where animals can be found. I

would break them up in groups to create their pictures. Due to the chance that some children will be done faster than others, They will be instructed to use this for reviewing Slight words on their ipad minis.    Due to there being multiple groups and parts to the lesson this will take two class periods. During the next class period the students will be placed in different groups to play Animalpalooza (matching the environments with corresponding animal that can be found there. This game will be done with index cards and QR codes. 

A challenge would be keeping all of them engaged with the activity. When dealing with an age group between 4-6 it is not easy to keep them focused, even during fun activates.   The first section of the lesson is not very active, but I am hoping that the use of creativity is motivating. The second section requires a lot more movement, so I believe that this will keep them interested and excited about the lesson.    

Instructional Procedures:  

Day 1: First 10 minutes: Introductory activity-  The teacher will review the prior lesson on the different types of animals by asking the class questions.  The students will be rewarded with "star points" to put on the Shine chart. 

 Over the next 10 minutes- Activity set up and instructionsAt this time the students will be instructed to take out their ipad mini’s and leave them off on their desk.  The activity will be explained in detail.

A short synopsis:"Today we will start a new exciting activity called "Animalpalooza!  Remember when we talked about all the places animals can live, well you'll are going to draw one of the three environments (land, water and sky).  I will put you'll in 4 groups of 5 so you can share ideas. You will use your art app to create your masterpieces.  Due to the amount of groups two groups will have "land" as their environment.  You will have 20 minutes to finish your pictures. I will set our "fun watch" to help keep us on track. If anyone finishes early they can go do a quiet activity in the "Wind down" area. Once you are done I will sit with each group to save your work for printing, ok let’s get started!

10 minutes-  Activity Wrap up During this time I will sit with each group to save everyone's pictures so I can print them later. Also I will quickly let the students know that the lesson will continue tomorrow with a different activity. 

 

Day 2:First 15 minutes- Introductory/Activity setup instructions During this time I will put the students in different groups than they were in the day before.  At each of the tables there will be a deck of 25 index cards with QR codes attached. The QR codes will have a variety of animal pictures.  Each group will have 5 different environment pictures. Due to the number of pictures some groups will have their own drawings.  They will be placed on the wall near each group.  Using the QR code app on the ipads each group will go through their cards and match then with the corresponding environment.  There are pockets in front of each picture to hold the cards.  Due to the students needing to move around more this activity should take the around 25 minutes.  Also each environment should have five different animal cards. At the end we will all come back together to discuss. 

10 minutes- Discussion wrap up

I will go over what animals were placed in each environment and ask the groups about their choices. 

Ok all I hope you all had a great time doing our activity. Can anyone tell me a couple of reasons why you put the animals in the different environments? 

Pre-Assessment:

A strategy that the teacher would use for pre-assessment would be posing questions to the group about the prior lesson on animals.   A few examples of this would be Can anyone tell me a few animals that can fly? Can anyone tell me a few animals that can live on the land and in the water?  Although the questions are being asked to the group, the teacher would be mindful of who is participating. 

Scoring Guidelines:

The scoring tool that will be used is teacher judgment due to the flexibility it gives the students. 

Post-Assessment:A strategy that the teacher would use for post-assessment is a group discussion about the different animals that the students placed in the environments.  Examples of these questions are What did some of you place the tiger in the water and others on the land?  Can anyone tell me about a few other animals that we have not talked about? 

Scoring Guidelines:

Due to how the lesson is set up a formal grading assessment will not be used.  The teacher will use self judgment and observation skills to assess the students on an individual bases.  

Differentiated Instructional SupportTo meet the needs of gifted or accelerated students the lesson can be altered for working independently or in smaller groups.  This would assist them with elaborating on the different types of animals and the larger environments they could coexist in.  Due to the other students being placed in groups from the beginning peer assistance was previously considered.  Also due to the groups changing during the second part of the activity the students would not feel as pressured to not ask for assistance from each other.   Extension

These are two websites that have good materials that students can use to help grow their understanding of the lesson. 

http://www.greatschools.org/worksheets-activities/6060-animal-homes.gs

http://www.greatschools.org/worksheets-activities/6120-animal-homes-that-are-just-right.gs

These are both worksheets that can complete for reviewing at home or being to class to share.  

Homework Options and Home ConnectionsAlthough the students are in Kindergarten they would be able to use the worksheets that I previously added in the "Extension" section.  But they would also need some parental assistance to stay on task.  For some students this is a little easier in the classroom because of the structure in the classroom vs. the home environment.  

Interdisciplinary Connections

I have already used two content areas in this lesson plan, but another area that could be integrated would be reading. Due to the focus that is places on “sight words” at the grade level, they could be used in addition to the different animal pictures. This would assist the students with correlating the two.  

Materials and Resources:

For teachers

A few materials that the teacher will need for this lesson are:1. A laptop2. 80 index cards 3. Memory sticks 4. OR code website

The materials would be used to assist in creating the activities for the students to participate.

 

For students

A few materials that the students will need for the lesson are:1. Ipad minis2. Painting/drawing app

 

Key VocabularySome key terms that will be used during the lesson are:

1. Environment 2. QR codes3. Different animals

 Additional Notes Some useful information would be some terms that I used in my lesson plan.

Fun watch- A classroom stop watch that is used for different activities to keep on track.

Wind down area- a space set aside in the room designated for students engage in quite activities or rest.