LESSON DESIGN CONTENT STRUCTURE WORKSHEET
LEARNING SEGMENT (link to established goals)
Social Sciences/Earth Science/Language Comprehension
First and Second Grade Learners
RESOURCES
Introduction-definition flash cards: earth-earth day-pollution-conservation-environment
Definition flashcards-words on front and definitions on back
Hands on-object lesson: water bottle-glass of water-fish tank
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Fresh water to drink/glass or plastic
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Fish tank-fish- object lesson-hands on activity
Trash/pollution added to water: trash/coffee grounds/cig butts/plastic bottle/pop cans
Questions: Would you drink the glass of water with all of the trash in it?
Questions: Would a fish want to drink this water? Could it harm them?
Earth Day Lesson Packet: vocab scramble/color sheets/fish maze
PLANNING INSTRUCTION*
Build background & context for learning*
I will build on the students basic understanding of what earth is and the difference between land and water.
I will link this lesson with one of their earlier social lessons that discussed goods and services.
I will emphasize that they live in a world (earth) where they have and can buy many “goods” and “services”.
I will continue from that baseline of learning to introduce what their roles and responsibilities are for all of their “goods”.
I will conclude the lesson with suggested services that they can offer in an effort to actively conserve nature “goods”.
The students when complete an Earth Day lesson booklet to solidify their learning.
OBJECTIVES/LESSON SEQUENCE^
Language and Content Objectives
• Objective 1-Introduce the concept of Earth Day and what it means to the students.
• Objective 2-Increase their language and vocabulary skills of the learners.
Earth Day vocabulary words will be visually learned and defined.
• Objective 3-Social responsibility and citizenship will be taught and encouraged.
Bloom’s Taxonomy structured here.
DIFFERENTIATION
What decisions will you make regarding understanding for all learners?
I based my lesson on the learning skills of the students in the classroom. I have chosen an activity that includes visual
observations, oral interactions, written definitions, and small group activities. I have observed this group of students and they
are all at different language comprehension levels. These students have different learning styles as well. I selected the
lesson because it will introduce new words and concepts in ways that all of the students will enjoy and comprehend.
TEACHING NARRATIVE
See attachments : teaching narrative
: definition flashcards
: Earth Day Booklet/conservation code
: class photos
Teaching narrative is a great way to put YOU into the class.
ACTIVITY / SOLVE A PROBLEM
Earth Day Lesson
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Intro to Earth Day: flash cards-definitions
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Object lesson: glass of water-bottled water-fish tank-fish
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Practice, application: Earth Day Lesson Booklet
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Meaningful activities: How can I help? What can I do? Make a plan.
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Interaction: oral discussion-small group activity
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Feedback: What service could you do to conserve goods? Conservation Code Committeemen
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Wrap up: “Clean-up, clean-up” song
SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY
The Earth Day lesson-activity was presented to 25 1st grade students in Ms. Sorenson’s classroom at Achieve Language
Academy. The students had an all school assembly in the morning and I was scheduled to teach right after at 10:00am. The
students had just came from an hour choir assembly in the gym and it was clear that we needed to let them wiggle and jump
around a little before they would be ready to listen. Ms. Sorenson had the students stand by their chairs and run in place for
3 minutes and then she had them hop on one foot 10 times and jump up and down 10 times. She then asked the students to
sit at their tables while she passed out some animal crackers and explained to them what they were going to do for the rest
of the day. She explained that I had come to share a special lesson and suggested that I get set up in the front of the room
while the students finished their snack. I had carried all of my props and lesson materials in a large basket so most of the
surprise was hidden. The students became excited and curious when I started to set up my water tank on the table. MS.
Sorenson invited the students to come up to the circle area in the front of the room.
While the children were eating their snacks I wrote 3 questions on the white board and used the questions to introduce the
lesson along with the flash cards that I had made. First question” What is Earth Day and when is it? Second question: Who
started it and why? (Who and what is a governor?) Third question: What is pollution and what can we do about it?
Some of the students had just cleaned up a park the week before so they had heard of Earth Day but did not know any
details about it. When I asked them about pollution they seemed unclear on what it was until I showed them some of my
pollution pictures. When I asked them how lakes and parks got so polluted they all had hands raised to respond. I then asked
them if they wanted to see an experiment that would explain how a lake might get polluted. They all eagerly responded and
began to stand up and became disruptive. I explained that I was going to do it up high on the table and that unless everyone
was sitting quiet and still I would not be able to do it. They all regained their spots and we continued. I poured a gallon of
water into a clear glass tank like container and then proceeded to pollute the water. We added pop cans, plastic bottles, egg
shells, banana peels, miscellaneous trash and coffee grounds. I then asked the children who would like to drink or even swim
in the water. They all agreed that they did not. I then offered them a solution; we could clean up the (lake) water tank. I then
took fishing net and had some of the students come up to try to get the trash out of the water. When we were unable to get
the water completely cleaned I introduced the concept of conservation and their role in it.
Conservation and pollution were somewhat abstract concepts for the students until they viewed the water pollution visual and
we tried to clean it up. We cleaned up the water mess and I started to pass out the booklets but instead MS. Sorenson
suggested that the students return to their tables and that we would pass out the booklets in a couple of minutes. When the
students got back to their chairs she had them stand up and run in place and do their table exercises before she had me
finish the lesson. It was wisdom on her part as the students had begun to become restless and I had already lost many of
them. I passed out the booklet and had the students read the pages as we reviewed the Earth day concepts that we had just
learned. The booklets included several pages of pictures that suggested ways that we could recycle, reuse, and reduce. In
the back of the booklet there was an Earth Day maze, a word find, and a picture for the students to color. We instructed that
students that we were going to form three groups and that they were to work on a writing assignment called: My
Conservation Code Commitment (CCC). Each student was asked to complete their CCC by writing down 5 things that they
could do to recycle, reduce, or reuse. When the students finished their CCC they could then color the picture or do the word
find in the back of the book. I took a group of 10 to the lunch room and they all came up with great ideas and it became clear
that they understood the information and really seemed to enjoy the activity. I learned a lot and it was a great experience.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT (ASSIGNMENTS/ACTIVITIES)
Main lesson will be given up front at the circle meeting center of the room. Definition flash cards will be presented and then
displayed on the large white board in the front of the room. Students will be called upon to read and define the new terms
that they are learning from the lesson. A visual object lesson about water pollution will follow the term definitions. A
discussion about water pollution and what they can do about it will conclude the large group discussion. The Earth Day
booklet will then be introduced and explained. The students will be given a choice as to what activity in the booklet they want
to complete in class. They will then be asked to go back to their small group tables to complete the booklet and work on their
conservation code. Students can share their ideas with their small groups and share as a group when they have completed.
JOURNAL / REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT
How will students reflect on their progress in the course?
The students will have the opportunity to create a conservation code. The conservation code is designed to get them thinking
about what they can do to prevent pollution and help with conservation. They can initiate their conservation code by involving
the other students in the school or by enlisting the help of their parents. The lesson plan could include an outdoor activity and
a Go Green event if time allowed, but in this classroom setting it did not. Students can include these activities in their
conservation code.
DISCUSSION & REVIEW
Review objectives and academic language, assess learning.
Students will be given asked to redefine the Earth Day terms that they learned in an open forum at the end of their small
group time. The students will be given the opportunity to discuss their conservation code commitment and ideas at this time
as well.
WRAP-UP
Students will be reminded to include their names on their Earth Day booklets and begin to clean up their tables. I will
conclude the lesson with the song,” Clean-up, Clean-up, everybody do their part” while they put their conservation code
commitments and booklets away in their take home folders.