Mary Beth Armstrong
Lesson Plans
Ecology and Human Impact Week 2
August 18-22 2024
Monday (18)
MS – ESS3 – 3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human
impact on the environment.
MS – LS2 – 5 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Learning Target: I can use information and scientific reasoning to determine the possible causes of a
fish kill in Riverside.
On Friday, students were introduced to a scenario in which their community had
experienced a fish kill. A newspaper article was given to students to outline the event. At
the end of class on Friday, students were
 Compiling information about the fish kill
 Listing problematic areas of based on land uses on the town map.
To begin class today, students will
 Share individual information with their table groups
 Construct a KWL chart in order to organize the information they collected in class on
Friday.
 Table groups will use a white board to record information In the “Know” and “Want to
Know” columns on their KWL charts
 Table groups will share out to the class.
 Teacher will compile one large “Want to Know” Column for the class to investigate.
For the remainder of class, students will begin “A River Runs Through It” Lesson.
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Students will be introduced to a scenario in which they will be given a tract of land
along a river. They must use the land to raise money to pay the taxes on it.
Student groups must decide how they will use the land and will then construct a
map of their land using markers.
Students will have 15 minutes to construct their maps,
To tie up the lesson, we will discuss that when we put each of the river/land pieces
together in the next class period, they will get to see how the entire watershed is
being used and how these land uses impact the watershed/ecosystem. By seeing
this, students may be able to transfer this lesson into questions they want answered
about the fish kill scenario in Riverside.
Tuesday (19)
MS – ESS3 – 3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human
impact on the environment.
MS – LS2 – 5 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Learning Target: I can identify a variety of land uses and the specific types of
pollution associated with it.
At the end of class yesterday, students began, “A River Runs Through It” Lesson.
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Students were introduced to a scenario in which they were given a tract of land
along a river. They had to decide how to use the land to raise money to pay the
taxes on it.
Student groups then constructed a poster/map of their land.
Students were given 15 minutes to construct their maps,
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In class today, after a brief review of yesterday’s activities, students will place their
tract of land/map on the large cabinets on my wall. Each piece of map has a number
on it, so students must place each map in the correct sequence. When all of the
maps are put together, students will see the entire watershed.
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Each group will share what they chose to build/do with their land.
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After all groups have shared, we will discuss what students know about land use
impacts based on how they decided to make money from their land.
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To find out more about land use impacts on water ecosystems, students will
complete a jigsaw activity in which small groups of students will read different
articles and will then share out the information with the rest of the group. The articles
deal with Urban land, Agricultural areas, mining, landfills, residential areas.
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Each group must come up with an acrostic to help their classmates remember the
important information from their articles. This will be placed on a class chart and
students will write them in their composition books.
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We will then tie this into our Riverside Fish Kill scenario. Students will look at their
Riverside Maps and will identify areas that contain land use issues that may impact
the Rapid River Watershed and may have been linked to the fish kill.
Wednesday (20)
Learning Target: I can identify a variety of pollutants, their sources, and
the land uses associated with them.
Students will complete a second jigsaw activity.
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To find out more about land use impacts on water ecosystems, students will
complete a jigsaw activity in which small groups of students will read different
articles and will then share out the information with the rest of the group. The articles
deal with construction, thermal impacts, acid rain.
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Each group must come up with an acrostic to help their classmates remember the
important information from their articles. This will be placed on a class chart.
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Students will copy the acrostics into their journals.
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We will then tie this into our Riverside Fish Kill scenario. Students will look at their
Riverside Maps and will identify areas that contain land use issues that may impact
the Rapid River Watershed and may have been linked to the fish kill.
Thursday (21)
LT – I can distinguish between examples of point source and non point source pollution.
I can provide evidence to support my claims from informational text using an Anticipation Guide.
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Students will be given an anticipation guide over point source and non-point source pollution.
Students will read the statements on the anticipation guide and will either agree or disagree
with the statement. This will set the purpose for reading.
Students will read the article and will then revisit each anticipation guide statement. From
the reading, students must now find evidence that supports each statement or refutes it.
Students will record the evidence on their guides.
The article is located on my webpage.
http://www.rowan.kyschools.us/admin/olc/classEdit.aspx?id=1493&s=994
Formative Assessement: Bellwork (3-2-1) and The students will complete an exit slip
at the end of class.
Special Needs Accomodations: Students with special needs in reading will use the
Read Write Gold Software.
Friday (22)
LT – I can distinguish between examples of point source and non point source
pollution.
Students will engage in a group activity involving scenarios about water pollution.
In a small group, students must reach a consensus about whether each scenario is an
example of point source or non point source pollution. After student groups
have had time to sort, they must present their thinking to the rest of the class by placing a
sticky note (p for point source and n for non point source) on the posted scenario in the
classroom. This sorting should allow for some discourse. Student groups with differing
opinions must give evidence for their choice.
Formative Assessment: Students will respond to questions using a pink or blue card. Pink will represent
point source pollution while blue will represent non-point source.