Rachel Parada
Secondary Principles
Lesson Plan
1. Descriptive Data
a. Subject: Earth Science
b. Grade level: Eighth grade
c. Unit: Earth History & Geologic Time
d. Topic: The Three Mass Extinctions
2. Lesson Objectives
a. Short term learning objective: the students will learn about the Cretaceous-Tertiary
extinction, the Permian extinction, and the Pleistocene ice age.
b. Standards:
-E5.3C : Relate major events in the history of the Earth to the geologic time scale,
including formation of the Earth, formation of an oxygen atmosphere, rise of life, CretaceousTertiary (K-T) and Permian extinctions, and Pleistocene ice age (Michigan Department of
Education Earth Science Standards).
3. Procedures Overview (Detailed Procedures Attached with time tables)
a. Introduction/Orientation: The kids will be greeted at the door while “Send Me On My
Way” by Rusted Root plays. This gets them in the swing of the class period, this song being
pertinent because it is from the Ice Age movie and the students will be learning about that
extinction. The students will pick up their worksheets and do their warm-up questions from the
PowerPoint. After a few minutes, the warm-up overview will take place, as well as a short
brainstorm involving group work up and down the rows.
b. Lesson Development: I will present the PowerPoint. The students will take notes on their
worksheet (master and blank copy attached). During the presentation, they will be answering
guided questions and thinking abstractly during the PowerPoint. Once the PowerPoint is
finished, the students will do the fossil drawings section of their worksheet with partners. After
correcting that, the students will do their final Scramble activity.
c. Conclusion: We will correct the Scramble activity if there are any errors. The students
will fill out a short Exit Journal, which will help me review the success and shortcomings of the
lesson. This should go right up until the bell, when they will be dismissed.
d. Time Table: Included in the attached detail procedures.
4. Assignments
a. Coached/Guided Practice: The students will be practicing the content with the Mass
Extinctions worksheet (attached), which encourages them to take notes about each specific mass
extinction. The information they need to record is evident because it is labeled “Who, What,
When, Where, Why” both on the worksheet and on the PowerPoint. This way, there is no
guesswork involved, and the information is not just spoon-fed to them in a handout or chapter
of the book. They will also be answering guided questions that will give them a greater
understanding of the significance of these extinctions (examples attached underneath
“PowerPoint” on detailed lesson plan procedures).
b. Independent Practice: The students’ Brainstorm activity after the warm-up does
function as an independent practice, where the students are addressing what they already know,
discussing it to expand this common prior knowledge, and it is they who are responsible for
presenting this knowledge and writing it on the board without any input from me. Another
independent practice is the completion of the worksheet with the fossil drawings section. It is up
to them to use the information they gleaned from the PowerPoint/lecture portion of the lesson
to put the fossils alongside the appropriate extinction. They have each other to use as a resource,
but they are independent from me for five minutes or so. Lastly, the Scramble activity is
independent. The students must put their fossils on the respective section of the board. This is
somewhat a repetition of the fossil drawings, but with a kinesthetic touch, and much more threedimensional. It also involves the entire class simultaneously, not just pairs.
5. Materials and Equipment
a. Students
1. Mass Extinctions worksheet. It is necessary for students to have these
documents in order to record and preserve the information presented in the PowerPoint.
2. Exit Interview slips. Students need these in order to review the lesson at the end
of the class period.
3. Fossils/Specimens. These small laminated pictures of fossils and specimens are
necessary for each student to have during the Scramble activity.
4. Pencils/Pens. The students are responsible for having these in every class period
so that they can take notes, do worksheets, do the warmup, and accomplish any kind of required
recording necessary for the given class period.
5. Notebooks/Lined paper. This is where the students need to do their warm-up at
the beginning of the class period.
b. Teacher
1. Computer. Without the computer, I cannot upload the PowerPoint or play the
intro song.
2. Overhead Projector/Screen. These technological objects are also needed in order
to display the PowerPoint so that all the class can see the information before them.
3. Masking Tape. The masking tape is important because it’s how I will stick the
pictures of fossils/specimens under their desks.
4. Whiteboard/Markers. The whiteboard and corresponding markers are useful
because that is where the students will record the results of their Brainstorm, and it is also
where the columns for the mass extinctions are drawn so that the students can stick their fossils
up during the Scramble activity.
5. Lesson Plan/Printed version of PowerPoint. This helps me to follow along with
my plans so that parts don’t get left out or mixed up.
6. Accommodations For Special Needs Students
a. There are a few students in both of my hours who have learning disabilities or
emotional impairments. What I would offer the LD students in class to help them focus their
abundant energy (their primary issue) would be to allow them the responsibility of handing back
homework to the class in case Mr. Johnson has any that needed to be passed out. This would
give them the opportunity to stretch their legs and move around, and it also shows them I trust
them with a task just as much as any other student. As for the EI students, I would let them
choose their partners freely for the fossil drawings, not necessarily the person next to them. This
way they can feel comfortable doing the activity away from their desks without the pressure of
automatically having to work with somebody that makes them uncomfortable, withdrawn, or
irritated.
7. Assessment of Student Learning
a. Formative Assessment will occur at the following points throughout the lesson.
1- Overview of the warm-up (students will be called on for responses)
2- Guided questions during the PowerPoint (students will be called on for
responses)
3- Correction of Fossil Drawings (class will give answers in unison as directed)
4- Correction of Scramble Activity (class as a whole will be responsible for
identifying incorrect placement of specimens on whiteboard and where to put them properly)
5- Exit Interview (students will tell me what they like about the lesson/what serves
them well, in addition to what isn’t working for them)
b. Summative Assessment will only occur if the students do not finish their
worksheet/fossil drawings, in which case they will be required to complete it as homework, to be
turned in the following day for evaluation.
Detailed Procedures: The Mass Extinctions
Introduction/Warm-Up (5 minutes)
Students will be greeted at the door, as per usual. They will be reminded during greetings
to pick up their assignment sheets on the table by the entrance. Once the bell rings, I will
announce that I will be teaching today. The students must do their warm up, which is shown on
the overhead projector. The warm-up will consist of 2-3 questions about their previous lesson
and the impending lesson. They will have approximately 5 minutes to complete the warm up.
This warm-up is done individually without students consulting one another. They may consult
me as I float around the classroom.
Warm-Up Overview (5 minutes)
Once students have completed their warm-up in the time given, we will go over the
answers together. Students will be selected individually to respond to the questions, and if a
student struggles, another may be called on to assist them.
Brainstorm Transition (5 minutes)
Branching off the warm-up, I will ask the class to name something they already know
about extinctions, whether it be one of the great events, a specific species going extinct recently,
or possible theories they have heard of. The students will have two minutes to brainstorm down
their rows. During this time, they must also elect one spokesperson and one writer. The writer
will write the group’s response on the board for the class to see and each spokesperson will
articulate this piece of knowledge they have come up with in just a short sentence.
PowerPoint (20 minutes)
The PowerPoint will cover the definitions, facts and concepts involved with the mass
extinctions. The students will be doing a worksheet along with the PowerPoint, which they
picked up at the beginning of the class period. They will be filling in the various blank spaces
with the appropriate information from the PowerPoint slides. They will be instructed to leave
the fossil drawing spaces blank for the time being.
Guided questions
-Permian: Who did not die in the Permian? (The dinosaurs, because they have not arrived
yet)
-Why did the Permian happen? (Separate PPT slide)
-What’s the difference between the time scale for K-T and the Pleistocene? (There is a
change in epoch, not a change in period)
Fossil Drawings (5 minutes)
The students will be instructed to work in groups of two, just with a neighboring partner,
to draw 3 fossils per extinction event in the blank spaces given. They must choose from the fossil
bank on the right side of the page. I will warn them that the fossils, though given in a column,
are in random order, and do not necessarily correspond with the extinction events they are next
to. We will correct them by calling aloud the fossils and having the class respond with where
they put them.
Scramble Activity (2 minutes)
Once the students are done drawing their fossils in the blank spaces, they will return to
their seats and I will instruct them to reach under their chair. Underneath each chair will be an
extinct specimen- there will be several of each specimen scattered throughout the seating chart.
The students will have one minute to go to the whiteboard and stick their specimen under the
appropriate mass extinction. When students are finished placing their species on the board, they
must return directly to their seats. We will correct based on mistakes- if there are many, we will
work through what is wrong and how to fix it.
Exit Journal (2-5 minutes)
The students will be supplied with a two-question survey that they will fill out in the
remaining 2-5 minutes of the class period. These are anonymous questionnaires. When they are
finished, they can pass them up the rows and place them on the cart at the front.
Dismissal
The students will be dismissed when the bells rings at the end of the day. If anybody did
not finish their worksheet, that will be homework due for the next class. Otherwise, no new
homework is assigned.