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ELEMENTARY UNIT/ LESSON PLANNING COMMENTARY

Your Name: Crystal Puentes
Date: April 29th, 2014
Unit/Lesson Title: Solar System Science Lesson
Grade Level and Content Area: Third Grade
Number of Students: 28
Total Amount of Time: 45 min



1. Learning Goals/Standards: What concepts, essential questions or key skills will be your focus? What do
you want your students to know at the end of this unit/lesson?

The learning goal for the lesson is for students to obtain a better understanding of the terms being used and be
able to incorporate the vocabulary into their writing.

2. Rationale: Why is this content important for your students to learn and how does it promote social justice?

Learning these terms will assist my students in comprehending the material they will be studying over the next
few weeks. They recently started learning about the solar system and space, however in order for them to fully
grasp the material being presented, the vocabulary must be reviewed. Because my classroom is made up of
several different types of learners, multiple opportunities for the students to acquire the information (song,
visuals, media, games) will be provided, assisting all of my students in engaging and participating in the lesson.

3. Identifying and supporting language needs: What are the language demands of the unit/lesson? How do
you plan to support students in meeting their English language development needs (including academic
language)?

The students will review and learn the following vocabulary: sun, rotating, star, planet, solar system, orbit,
asteroid, binoculars, and telescope. In order to support my students throughout the lesson, I had referenced an
article written by James Gee entitled Good Video Games and Good Learning. Comparing video games to the
classroom, this particular article mentioned 16 principles that make video games appealing to the general
public. Mentioning the fact that video games are interactive, involve risks, are pleasantly frustrating and
challenging; my goal for this lesson is to ensure that my students have fun and feel engaged as they learn new
vocabulary. Incorporating media, songs, kinesthetic movements, jeopardy, and a free writing activity; all of my
students will be given a chance to interact with their peers within the various activities.

4. Accessing prior knowledge and building upon students backgrounds, interests and needs: How do
your choices of instructional strategies, materials and sequence of learning tasks connect with your students
backgrounds, interests, and needs?

My students have been exposed to lessons involving movements, songs, and games. They are very familiar
with different forms of media, but this will be the first time that they will play jeopardy in the classroom.
Because many of my students enjoy singing, dancing, and hands on activities that require them to move around,
I was determined to incorporate their interests into the lesson assisting them in really learning the vocabulary.
Since I have different types of learners and my classroom does consist of various ELD levels; students ability
to interact with one another during pair shares and group work is key, providing everyone a chance to engage
with the curriculum and learn from one another.
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5. Accommodations: What accommodations or support will you use for all students (including English
Language Learners and students with special educational needs, i.e. GATE students and students with IEPs)?
Explain how these features of your learning and assessment tasks will provide all students access to the
curriculum and allow them to demonstrate their learning.

From visuals, kinesthetic movements, media, group work, independent work, and pair shares, all of the students
will be given many opportunities to engage with the vocabulary being discussed and learned. When it comes to
the writing activity, allowing the students to write creatively (using the vocabulary terms) will not only allow
me to check for understanding, but it will provide the students with a chance to write whatever comes to mind.
Taking away the pressure of completing a formal assignment, the students will be able to complete a free write
where they are responsible for their own writing. Presenting them with a choice to write one, two, or three
paragraphs, every student will be able to solely focus on the material and topic, and not on the amount of
writing that must be completed. Also, if students are in need of additional assistance, a teacher will be present.
However, the emphasis on working collaboratively and asking each other for help will be emphasized.

6. Theory: Which theories support your unit/lesson plan? (explain the connections)

I believe that the theories that support my lesson plan are Nel Noddings, Angela Valenzuelas, and Sonia
Nietos theory about Caring, Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligence Theory, and John Deweys Experience
and Education. Nel Nodding, Angela Valenzuela, and Sonia Nieto emphasize the importance of caring for our
students and the desire to provide a classroom environment and curriculum that integrates students needs and
interests. Incorporating different activities that my students really enjoy, their ability to simply have fun while
they are learning is then possible. Also, because all of my students are different types of learners, my bodily
kinesthetic, visual-spatial, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal students will all be provided with different
opportunities to interact with the material. Whether it is through media or independent work, all of my students
will be able participate in the lesson in their own preferred way. Lastly, John Dewey emphasizes the need for
educators to provide an experience for their students. Developing an engaging lesson, setting a purpose for the
material being learned, and overall creating an experience that my students will be able to refer to in the future;
my lesson plan is a combination of interactive moments that my students will be able to look back on to assist
them in learning new material. Therefore, I believe my lesson is supported by a combination of all three
theories.

7. Reflection: (answer the following questions after the teaching of this unit/lesson) What do you feel was
successful in your lesson and why? If you could go back and teach this learning segment again to the same
group of students, what would you do differently in relation to planning, instruction, and assessment? How
could the changes improve the learning of students with different needs and characteristics?

I feel as though the overall lesson was a success, but that the lesson could have been sped up in certain parts.
Trying to decide the kinesthetic movements that would correspond with each vocabulary word took a little bit
longer than expected, but I was very pleased with how engaged and excited the students were. They enjoyed
jeopardy, learning the vocabulary, and listening to the solar system song. The best part about the lesson was
that after we were done, the students wanted to check out space books, which demonstrated that they were
engaged and interested in the information being learned and shared. Overall, I think speeding up the lesson
would have been beneficial to ensure that all of the students were constantly interacting with the material, but
that the lesson was a great hit and that the objective of the lesson was met.


**COMMENTARY IS REQUIRED FOR ALL UCLA ELEMENTARY FORMAL OBSERVATIONS **