Alex Bonikowske

“On the Farm”

Lesson Plan

The Learner(s)
Discuss your learners’ context.
 What is their general level of development? The general level of development is that the
students are beginning to learn about farms. Their level of learning will be at the
very basic level. They will learn the general idea of what happens on a farm and
what types of animals they see.
 What are their interests (knowledge of strengths, needs, interests) and lived experiences,
(individually and culturally appropriate; knowledge of students & community)?
The interests of the students are included in this lesson because animals are a concept of
interest with their age. In addition to talking and learning about different animals, this
lesson will be done the day before their field trip to a farm, which also sparks interest in their
learning.

Prior Learning
Discuss students’ past learning connected or related to this topic (What they know and can do)
 What do the students already know prior to this lesson? Tell prior assessment data (formal
and informal), teacher observations, MAP data, or other sources that will inform you about
students' strengths and areas of growth.
Prior to this lesson, the students do not know much about farms in general because
most of them live in the inner city. Not many of these students have been to a farm
before and have no idea what happens on the farm or what kinds of animals live
there. This lesson is just a preparation lesson for their field trip the next day, so I was
will just give an overall introduction to their learning, including vocabulary words
that they might hear on their field trip. These are the areas of growth.

Rationale
Given your answers to the above, describe your rationale for teaching this lesson in this way to
these students. (How does the information you gathered about the preferences, development and past
learning inform the way you plan to teach this lesson)
Students will learn about the different parts of a farm and what kinds of animals live there. This is
an introductory lesson in preparation for their field trip, so this lesson will be very basic in terms of
what exactly they will be learning. The students will learn some basic terms that will help them to
understand their field trip better the following day.

Outcomes/ Goals
The outcomes and goals are that students will be able to understand the basic facts of the
farm including what kinds of animals they see and the different parts of the farm.
Standards
What relevant content and anchor standards connect to this learning experience? (Cite information
from the Early Learning Standards, Common Core Standards or Next Generation Science
Standards.)
(Standard from the Next Generation Science Standard: 2-LS4-1: Make observations of plants and
animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.)

Learning Objective
What will students be able to do as a result of this learning experience? Frame your response in an
"I can" statement (kid-friendly language – found on Moodle).
As a result of this learning experience, students will be able to understand some of the basic
learning vocabulary terms and use them in context during their field trip. Students can
understand the basic vocabulary words and facts about farms.

Assessment
What are the multiple ways you will know whether your students have learned, and how deeply
they have learned? What elements of choice in showing their learning can you provide to students?
Describe formative and summative assessment strategies. Provide examples of how you will keep
track of students' learning (chart, conversational notes, rubric for analyzing student work, etc.)
I will be able to assess their overall understanding throughout the lesson by their
participation of answering questions and active engagement in the discussions. Their
element of choice will be to choose two vocabulary words to use in one sentence to share with
a partner.

Academic Language Demands (see additional handouts on Moodle,week 3 student resources folder)
What are the academic language demands of this lesson? From the edTPA "Making Good
Choices" handbook:
In this lesson, the academic language is farm, barn, cow, chicken, duck, silo, tractor, and
farmer.

Accommodations / Strategies for Differentiation

What are needed supports and/or additional challenges needed for individuals or subgroups to
demonstrate high learning outcomes? Describe connections to IEP goals if known.
One accommodation is an extra adult in the classroom to help some of the challenged
students stay focused. There are at least 3 special education students who need reassurance
and help almost every step of the way in order to demonstrate high learning outcomes.
During my lesson, Ms. Adelmeyer will be the extra adult in the classroom.

Materials/ Resources
What materials and resources will your students and you need for this lesson?
Smart board, youtube reading of the book (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXAve3-
xk8o&t=47s), flashcards of the vocabulary words, and the projector on the smart board, so
that all students can see the cards.
Procedures w/Instructional strategies (Task Analysis, Scaffolding, Behavior Reflections, Paraphrase,
Modeling, Effective Praise, Telling, Explaining, Questioning, and Turn &Talk/Pair Share...) (anticipated
duration: 15-20 minutes)

 Introduction
How will you engage the students in the important and essential ideas at the beginning of
the learning experience? What open-ended questions might you ask to activate their
curiosity and wonder? What connections can you make to their interests and strengths?
I will start my lesson by initially sparking interest in the following lesson. I will do
this by talking about their field trip the next day, which will get them excited. “Today
we will be learning some vocabulary words and other facts about farms so that you
can be more prepared for your field trip tomorrow! If you remember these things
tomorrow, you can show the farmer how smart you all are!”

 Demonstration / Modeling
How will you provide interactive/ demonstrative examples of the activities and
expectations of the learning experience? (Modeling, scaffolding, questioning, reviewing
norms for group work, co-constructing a rubric for self assessment, other?)
I will provide interactive/demonstrative examples by reading the definition of each
flash card while using my finger to focus on each word, so that they can all see me
reading.

 Individual or Group Exploration and Practice

How will your students work individually or collaboratively with the ideas of the lesson?
What will you do to support and probe their thinking as they engage with ideas?
Collaboratively- students will collaborate with one another in partners as they tell
each other their sentence with two or more vocabulary words.
I will support and probe their thinking as they engage with ideas by walking around
the room to listen to their sentences and challenging them to use more than two
words.

 Sharing/ Celebrating Learning

How will students exchange and share their work? How will you select students for
sharing, and how do you anticipate that you will connect their individual or group work
with the learning objectives and assessment methods?
The students will share their sentences with multiple partners, as time allows. At the
end, I will ask some volunteers to tell the class their sentences. I will connect their
individual work with the learning by responding to each sentence “Yes, that’s a good
sentence because these two words are two of our vocabulary words. These two objects
are found on a farm.”

 Closure/ Transition
How will you adjourn the learning opportunity and make an effective transition, both to the
next time that students will engage with the ideas as well as to the next moment of the day?
As we wrap up the activity, I will tell them what a lovely job they each did today. I
will tell them that now they are smart enough to surprise the farmer with how much
they already know about farms, which will excite them even more.
 Consideration
How can you flexibly adapt your plan if you run out of time or if things go more quickly
than you anticipate?
I can flexibly adapt my lesson plan if I run out of time by only allowing each student
to talk to one partner rather than multiple partners, or skip the class sharing. If we
finish early, Mrs. Adelmeyer already has a planned activity for afterwards, so we will
just move on to the next planned thing.