LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE Your Name: Wendy Barney Title of Lesson: Wonderful World of Biomes Grade: 3rd Grade

STANDARDS Strand 2: History and Nature of Science Concept 1: History of Science as a Human Endeavor PO 1. Describe how, in a system (e.g., terrarium, house) with many components, the components usually influence one another. Strand 4: Life Science Concept 3: Organisms and Environments PO 5. Describe how environmental factors (e.g., soil composition, range of temperature, quantity and quality of light or water) in the ecosystem may affect a member organisms ability to grow, reproduce, and thrive. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2.A: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2.A: Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

LESSON SUMMARY/OVERVIEW As a person living in a certain environment, it is very important to understand the habitat around you and why it operates the way it does. We have all adapted naturally to our surroundings depending on the location we live. Sometimes we become so comfortable that we do not realize that we are sharing the habitat around us with millions of other species and vegetation. It is important to educate our students throughout their educational journey about the world they live in and how they personally can affect it. This unit does just that in an engaging, hands-on educational way. Students should know that there are many different habitats on this Earth and that like humans, living organisms need to adapt to their surroundings as well. Students need to learn that the importance of Biomes cannot be overestimated and that we need to take a stand to protect these major biomes and the organisms living within them. Since we are living on this planet, we should all be aware of the many different habitats and the different elements each of these habitats offer to us, as well as the various plants and animals that survive in it. In teaching these elements, we can only hope that it will motivate the students to dedicate their lives to making this Earth a better place and join the fight to sustain the Earth's Biomes before it is too late. OBJECTIVES Students will be able to identify and describe five major biomes of the world. Students will be able to describe the plants and animals that live in each biome. Students will be able to write 4 paragraphs describing their home biome.

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION Students will write a 4-paragraph text about the biome they live in. Each paragraph should be 4-5 complete sentences to receive full credit. Paragraph 1: What Biome do you live in along with 3 characteristics of this biome (weather, scenery, etc)? Paragraph 2: List and describe 3 wild animals that live in this biome? Paragraph 3: List and describe 3 plants that thrive in this biome? Paragraph 4: What you love most about living in this biome? When students are finished with their writing assignment, they are to draw what their Biome looks like with some of the items they listed in their writing and staple the drawing on top like a cover page.

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE Prior to this lesson, students will need to know that diverse places on earth look different and feel different. Also these various habitats have multiple kinds of animals that live in them. Throughout the lesson, students will be reminded of these various habitats and learn the actual names of each habitat. Also the elements of the environments that help animals survive in different areas of the world. Students will also need to know what constitutes a complete paragraph and complete sentence. To check for background knowledge, I will ask questions at the beginning of the lesson such as, Is the environment the same where we are than in Alaska right now? I will provide pictures of Alaska and have the students discuss and describe what is different between the two environments.

MATERIALS Smart Board Text What is a Biome by: Kalman Videos Visual of Alaska (retrieved from http://www.willgoto.com/1/144764/liens.aspx) Class Laptops Lined paper Plain paper Pencils Markers/ crayons/ colored pencils Biomes information sheets for the unit to record Biome facts

VOCABULARY/KEY WORDS Biome- A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat. Habitat- the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism Environment- the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. Aquatic Biome- From oceans to rivulets, aquatic biomes are host to a wide variety of life-forms, and minerals, from the most common algae to the most mysterious deep-sea creature. Desert Biome- dry places, where the availability of water is the major factor that determines the types of organisms that can live there. Typically, a desert is defined as having less than an average 25 cm of precipitation per year. Forest Biome- biological communities that are dominated by trees and other woody vegetation can be classified according to numerous characteristics, with seasonality being the most widely used. Grassland- a large open area of country covered with grass. Tundra - a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen. Flora- plants of a particular region, habitat, or geological period. Fauna- animals of a particular region, habitat, or geological period.

TEACHING PROCEDURES 1. Ask students: What is an environment? Allow students to participate is a class discussion 2. Next ask: Do you think the environment outside is the same right here where we are as Alaska? (Show an image of Alaska retrieved from http://www.willgoto.com/1/144764/liens.aspx) 3. Next ask: What is different about Alaska and where we are right now? 4. Encourage students to discuss and participate in discussion.

5. Ask students to come up to the board and list characteristics they see in the picture of Alaska that they do not see in Arizona. (Example answers: snow, icebergs, ocean etc.) 6. Next explain that Alaska is different from Arizona because they are located in different Biomes. 7. Share Introduction to Biomes video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIy0ZlyPPDg 8. Discuss the many different environments they saw in the video. 9. Explain to students that Biomes are the large naturally occurring community of flora (plants) and (fauna) occupying a major habitat. 10. On the Earth there are many different types of Biomes 11. Explain that we are going to learn about 5 major (Aquatic, Desert, Forest, Grassland, and Tundra) 12. Show Images of each Biome 13. Share that it is important that if we visit other Biomes that we need to respect the environment because for example in the coral reef if you touch the coral it will die. In knowing this, we need to protect the biomes we live in because if we dont it will become uninhabitable. 14. Show the Saving Environment video and discuss what they can do to protect their Biome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31XrAaH8YqI 15. Pass out and have students complete Biome Map Coloring Activity (attached). The worksheet gives directions 16. Ask students to identify which biome they live in 17. After biome is identified, allow students to search the web using the class laptops with a partner and find characteristics of their home biome, three animals that live in this habitat, along with three plants that thrive here. 18. Communicate expectations of the writing assignment: Students are to construct a four-paragraph story about the Biome they live in along with an illustration that describes their writing. 19. Write the paragraph expectations on the board 20. Pass out lined paper and blank paper for illustration for when they are done searching the web 21. Give students 25 minutes to construct their stories. If students do not finish they will pick up where they left off during their personal work time. 22. When students are finished, provide biome word search or flash cards until it is time to move on. This will help with distractions while the other students are finishing up.

RESOURCES http://bogglesworldesl.com/kids_worksheets/biomes.htm (worksheets) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIy0ZlyPPDg#aid=P-KCFQsE3dA (Introduction video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31XrAaH8YqI (Saving environment) http://www.willgoto.com/1/144764/liens.aspx (Alaska visual) WAYS OF THINKING CONNECTION This lesson will focus on values thinking. Students will be thinking about how they value the flora and fauna and the different characteristics of the different biomes. They will also use values thinking to understand the importance of conserving and preserving these biomes. Hopefully students will gain an appreciation of these diverse biomes and realize how the world would look without the different characteristics and beauty we get from each one.