TLED 408 - Integrated Lesson Plan Project (15 pts)

Overview of Lesson Plan

In a third-grade science class, the theme is “Everyone Has an Impact on the

Environment”. This science class will incorporate the content area English. This unit plan
incorporates literacy through gathering information from valid sources and putting it together in
one presentation and by being able to explain their knowledge on the topic. Integrating literacy is
beneficial in this unit because it builds the skill of research and being able to realize a good
source versus a bad one. Incorporating writing skills and comprehension into the content area
will help the students excel in the classroom and allow for the expansion of their vocabulary. The
students will focus on the standard of learning objectives to include:

Science 3.10 The student will investigate and understand that natural events and human
influences can affect the survival of species. Key concepts include:

b. the effects of human activity on the quality of air, water, and habitat;

English 3.10 the student will demonstrate comprehension of information resources to research a
topic and create a research product.

Sequencing and Coherence of Unit Plan

Day Activity Description/ Rationale

The writing activity will be
their script that will be
presented in their final
Day 1 Writing Activity
newscast.

“In Class Presentation”:

This activity will guide the
students in retaining
Vocabulary Activity
knowledge and the skill to
apply/ recognize them in their
daily lives.
“Problem-Solution Outline”:
Students read one of the texts
Day 2 Comprehension Activity in the text set and create a
graphic organizer listing
problems and solutions.
“Preview & Predict”: This
pre-reading activity will assess
Pre-Reading Activity their prior knowledge and
their skill of making
predictions.
Students will be assessed by
the rubric given and the
Day 3 Assessment Activity
content of their script and final
newscast.
Reflection Activity The reflection activity will be
 a journal reflection where
students can critique their final
works.

Interdisciplinary Connections

Interdisciplinary connections are important for all students because being able to
incorporate other content areas may increase their knowledge and skills in each content.
Specifically connecting English and science, will help to build literacy and research skills which
they will need for the entirety of their academic careers. Science is a content area that requires
in-depth thinking and writing and being able to read someone else’s work and can successfully
comprehend it. While the basics of literacy is learned in English, it is continuously taught in each
content area. Students having those basic literacy skills will encourage their learning and they
will also be able to become literate in science.

Technology

For my traditional use of technology, students will use laptops/ iPads to research the
different environments and how they are being affected by human activities. They will also use
these devices to put together their final product of the unit which will be a video or newscast.

For my non-traditional use of technology, students will be placed into groups and be
responsible for growing a plant (chia pet). Through this activity, they will be able to see what it
takes to grow a plant and what they need to live.

Differentiation

Differentiation can be implemented in a variety of ways within this unit. For the inclusion
of ELL and special education students, the terms will also have pictures to assist with their
predictions and by giving students specific materials ahead of time so they have more time to
focus and complete the assignments. Students will also have the option to draw their responses in
case they have trouble writing or articulating what they are trying to say. With a group of diverse
learners, it is important to assist them in organizing their thoughts and information given by the
teacher. Another example of differentiation is working independently or in small groups, because
some learners prefer to work alone but they sometimes also need the ideas of others to help
create their best work. As an educator, it is important to know when to push our students towards
success but not to the point of compromising their want or ability to learn. Gifted learners will be
differentiated by

Text

“Who Was Rachel Carson?”, by Sarah Fabiny is a biography and it will act as the anchor text
(trade book) for the unit plan because it provides a good introduction into conservation and the
environment. Rachel Carson was a pioneer in making people aware or the environment and how
to conserve it. She helped to jump start the need for global consciousness for preservation and
conservation. I will use this as my anchor text for my unit plan because it will provide an
appropriate and fun introduction into someone who cares about the environment and is trying to
teach people how to take care of it. It will fit into the unit because the students will be
responsible for creating a newscast explaining the different environments and how they are
effected by people every day and give ideas how to reduce their impacts on each environment.
This book, in relation to the English SOL, is important because it is a biography which can be
thought of as information used to further research into the specific topic.

“Me…Jane”, by Patrick McDonnell is a short story about Jane Goodall who was a
humanitarian, conservationist, animal activist, and environmentalist. Instead of just reading the
story to the kids, I will play it as a video read along just to incorporate more technology and a
different method of storytelling into the classroom. The story begins with her observing the
world out of curiosity with her toy chimpanzee, and she realizes she wants to live a life where
she can help all animals in the world. I will use this short story as a support text in the unit plan
because it will show the students another person who cares about the environment and wants to
help. It connects to the rationale because at young ages, children also may want to help save all
the animals and they will see that they can do something to help most of the animals, if not all of
them. This book in relation to the English SOL, is important because it tells the story of another
individual who is known in the community for conservation and preservation and can also be
used to gather more information to complete their final newscast activity.

“Bee & Me” is a wordless picture book by Allison Jay and it is about a bee who is befriended by
a little girl and together, they go on a journey to discover that every child can play a role in
conservation. It shows what the world would be like if there were no bees, encouraging people to
be aware of the role they have on the environment and how important they are. This book in
relation to the English SOL, is important because the research information will have to have been
successfully comprehended to create the final newscast project.

Pre-reading Activity

The pre-reading activity will consist of a preview and predict chart that will be completed by
each student. The students will observe pictures in the anchor text and predict what they think
will happen by looking at the pictures. After they have flipped through the story, they will go
back and confirm their predictions or correct them. This specific activity will be beneficial to use
because it allows them the chance to use their imagination and prior knowledge about animals
and their habitats to think about what the story will be about and teach them how they can help
conserve keystone species and their environments which is important for everyone to know
about.

Materials:

1. Paper with the 2 columns (preview and predict, confirm)

2. A timer
3. Desks
4. Pencils/ pens
5. Music playing in the background
6. & the anchor text

Instructional Steps:

1. Place the paper with the columns on your desk

 2. Make sure you have a pen or pencil to write with
3. Set the timer for 10 minutes, then see if they need more time
4. Before they begin, explain to them to only look at the pictures and not to read the full
pages.
5. Make sure everyone understands what they are supposed to be doing & begin playing
music and they will begin predicting.
6. After the time is up, they will share with the fellow students at their table
7. I will ask if anyone wants to share their predictions with the class and if not I will share
my completed chart and state my predictions.
8. This should hopefully lead to an interesting discussion that will make them interested in
reading the story.

Differentiation: My lesson will need to be differentiated to fit the needs of all my students. If I
have a student with a physical impairment, I could make the pictures larger to see and separate
from the book so they don’t see the words and the picture, they will only have to focus on the
pictures. For my ESL learners, I could ask another teacher or even another student to help them
write down what they think is happening in the picture. I could also allow them the choice to
read the bold or italicized words near the picture but not the whole story.

Vocabulary Activities

Vocabulary Words and Rationale:

1. Environment- The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives

or operates.
2. Habitat- The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
3. Keystone Species- A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend,
such that it if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.
4. Investigate- Carry out research or study into a subject to discover the facts or
information.
5. Organism- An individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.
6. Air Quality- The degree to which the air is pollution-free
7. Human Impact- Changes to environments and ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural
resources caused directly or indirectly by humans.
8. Extinction- The state or process of a species, family, or larger group being or becoming
extinct.
9. Endangered Species- A species of animal or plant that is seriously at risk of extinction.
10. Pollution- The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing
that has harmful or poisonous effects.
11. Contamination- The presence of unwanted harmful substances in the natural
environment.
12. Solution- A means of solving a problem or dealing with a difficult situation.

I decided to choose these specific words because they relate to the key concepts of the unit. This
unit covers the different environments, key stone species, and human impacts to both which is an
important thing to learn and be aware of because it affects everyone. Some of the terms above
may be recognizable to 3rd graders which is good because that means they have some sort of
prior knowledge about the topic. With having prior knowledge, I can further explain certain
things like how certain habitats are becoming destroyed and why they are necessary to preserve.

Introducing Vocabulary Activity: In-Class Presentation

 • Activity Overview & Rationale: To introduce the vocabulary I will use the in-class
presentation activity. The smartboard would be used for this activity along with the
anchor text. The list of vocabulary words will be up on the board and I will have each
student read a word and say their definition of it, doesn’t have to be correct. I want the
students to become familiar with the terms and begin thinking about what they mean
alone and in relation to one another. After going through the list on the smartboard, I will
have the students read a few pages from the anchor text and observe and write how the
words are being used and see if they had the right ideas for their definitions.
o Rationale- I chose this activity because it gives the students a chance to get
familiar with the words and test themselves to see what they know, it also ignites
their prior knowledge.
• Materials:
o Smartboard
o Anchor text
o Pencils
o Paper

Sample

The words would appear on the smartboard and for each word I would call on a student
and give them the chance to think about what it means and share their definition with the
class.

Organism
Pollution
Habitat
Environment
Keystone Species
Investigate

• Instructional Steps: Outline the specific instructional steps for this activity.
1. Welcome the students and inform them that we will be starting a new unit
2. Tell them that the unit is about the environment and the impacts humans have
on it and on animals.
3. Introduce the new vocabulary with the in-class presentation activity,
4. Be sure that each student has a chance to read a vocab word and give their
definition.
5. Have the students read a few pages from the anchor text
6. They will see if their definitions were right or close to being right by using the
context clues in the story.
 7. Repeat the in-class presentation activity with the new definitions (if they
changed)
8. Make sure each student is clear on what each word means and has a working
definition.
• Differentiation: Identify how you would differentiate within this activity.
o I would differentiate this activity by providing struggling readers or ESL’s with
more time with the terms, meaning give them to them before the in-class activity
and after to ensure they understand each word.

Teaching Vocabulary Activity: Knowledge Rating

• Activity Overview & Rationale: To teach the necessary vocab for this unit I will use the
knowledge rating concept because it gives me the chance to see which words students are
familiar with. The rationale for this activity connects to the idea of using their prior
knowledge and making connections about things that have learned previously about the
environment and what they have learned in other classes.
• Materials:
o Chart of terms
o Pencils/ Pens
o Individual work time
• Instructional Steps:
o Give each student a rating chart of the vocabulary terms
o Explain that they are to fill out the chart according to the headings using the terms
discussed earlier.
o Give them time to figure out the words they don’t know.
o Go over the charts as a group

Sample
Vocabulary I have seen this I know this I don’t know
Definition
Word word before word this word
Habitat
Contamination
Pollution
Keystone
Species
Investigate

• Differentiation: I will differentiate this activity by giving struggling readers or ESL’s the
chart ahead of time to give them more time with the terms and make deeper connections.

Reinforcing Vocabulary Activity: Four Square

• Activity Overview & Rationale: To reinforce the new vocab words, the students will
create a four-square using at least 4 words they need more practice with. This activity is
helpful to the students because they will become more independent learners by defining
the word and making their own cues or drawings to help learn the meaning.
• Materials:
o Four square chart
o Pencils/ Pens
o List of terms
 Sample Four-Square
Term Definition in students own words

1. Habitat 1. A place where something lives

2. Pollution 2. Making something dirty that used to be clean
3. Human impact 3. How people affect things

Synonym / antonym Drawing or cue to help remember

1. Home 1. (A picture of a house)

2. Clean-up 2. (A picture of a broom and dust pan or
3. Human effects cleaning supplies)
3. (A picture or a person littering)

• Instructional Steps:
o After the other 2 activities are completed and students are more familiar with the
terms, the four-square will be completed
o I will provide the four-square charts
o They will decide which terms they want to focus on, preferably ones they need
deeper understanding on.
o They will then complete each square for the terms they chose.
o They should do at least 3 words.
• Differentiation: I will differentiate this activity by giving the four-square charts to
struggling readers and ESL’s early and explain what is expected and explain they can use
pictures to explain the terms also.

Comprehension Activities

Overall Description: In this activity, the students will create a graphical representation chart
called the Problem-Solution Outline which is a graphic organizer that helps students organize the
main points of topic including the who, what, when, why, and how. For this activity, questions
like what human activities effect the environment, who will be impacted by the loss of keystone
species, how can humans decrease their impacts to animals and the environment, why should we
care about the different environments and their species, and when did impacts become
noticeable? Each of these questions will allow for the students to gain a better understanding of
the content material.

Rationale: When learning about the environment and its species, there can be a lot of
information and the students may not be able to decipher between the true and false or what is
more important. I chose this activity because with the questions in the form a problem-solution
organizer, students will be able to see what information is important and which concepts are the
main ideas. Also, because concepts about the environment and discussed in a problem-solution
format meaning, the issue is stated and then an idea is mentioned on how to fix or lessen the
problem.

Materials: For this activity, students will need a writing utensil and the Problem-Solution
organizer.

Instructional Steps: After completing the pre-reading activity, the students will

1. Be placed into groups

2. The groups will each read the story together taking turns reading 1 paragraph each until
the story is finished.
3. After reading the story, they will go back to their paragraphs they read and identify key
information following along with the outline questions and share with their group
members.
4. Students will fill in the problem-solution organizer with the identified answer.
5. The students will then discuss how each piece of information is relevant to the lesson
topic and write down their thoughts in the corresponding section of the organizer.
6. The groups will share one aspect from their organizer and explain its importance to the
topic of lesson with their classmates.

Differentiation: This activity allows for differentiation through tiered learning because each task
is divided into different comprehension levels. Students can, with their groups, work individually
while reading and identifying terms which represents the base of Bloom’s taxonomy and while
students are writing individually and thinking about the relevance of the reading, they are
applying the understanding aspect. Finally, having them discuss with their group allows for
everyone to have the chance to ask questions or get clarification on things they were confused
on. Allowing the students, the chance to work in small groups can make them feel more
comfortable with asking their questions and getting the answers they need.

Assessment Plan: During the activity, I will be walking around to each group and listening to
their discussions ensuring they are on the right path. After each group has completed their
organizers, I will begin a class discussion to determine their knowledge of the topic. For the
conclusion of the activity the students will write a reflection on what they have learned about
human impacts on the environment and what they can do to help. If there is not enough class
time for the reflection, it will become homework that will be turned in the next class. This is
another way I can determine their knowledge about the topic and see if they understand it.
 Problem-Solution Organizer

WHO:

WHAT:

WHY:

HOW:

Attempted Solution Results

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

End Result-

Guiding Questions

I. What species and environments are being effected?

II. How are humans impacting the environment?
III. Why is it important to save the animals and the environment?
IV. What are the results?

Reflection Activity

For a reflection activity, students will write one paragraph explaining how they felt writing a
script and making a newscast and they will include 2 things they liked the best about their project
and 1 thing they didn’t like or would have done differently. The reflection will be handwritten in
each student’s journal, this activity justifies the lesson because it allows them the chance to really
sit back and think about how they put their presentation together. It will also allow them to
reflect on what they have learned because while doing the project, students must research, learn
new information and terms, and be able to explain to people why they should want to preserve
the Earth.

Writing Activity

Writing is an integral part of every curriculum and it is a tool students will need for their entire
academic career. The writing activity for this unit plan will be there script that will then be
recorded into the newscast. The script must include a description of each of the 3 environments,
how they are being impacted, and 3 ways people can lessen their impacts on the Earth.
Completing this script will enhance their writing because they must use proper grammar and
facts to have a successful news story.
 Communication Activity

Oral communication is an integral part of every curriculum and is an important thing for students
to feel comfortable doing in front of others because it will be used throughout their entire
academic career. The communication activity for this unit plan will be the final product which is
the newscast. This covers the oral communication aspect because students must speak about the
different environments and other components to educate people and make them aware of how to
conserve the Earth.

Performance Based Assessment

Goal:

• Your task is to complete a news report on human activities and the effects they have on
the environment.
• Your goal is to help people understand their impact on the environment.
• The problem or challenge is not everyone watches the news
• The obstacles to overcome are getting people to want to learn about how they impact
air, water, and habitats.
Role:

• You are a news reporter.

• You have been asked to create a script to be read on the news to explain how human
activities impact the environment.
• Your job is successfully explain the impact of human activities on water, air, and habitat.
Audience:

• Your clients are people in Hampton Roads

• The target audience is younger people ages 9-20
• You need to convince the target audience of the importance of their impacts on the
environment.
Situation:

• The context you find yourself in is you must be able to recognize and explain human
impacts on water, air, and habitat.
• The challenge involves dealing with each of the different environments affected.
Product Performance and Purpose:

• You will create a news report in order to show human impacts and how it affects air,
water, and habitats.
• You need to develop a news script so that people are aware of their impacts.
Standards and Criteria for Success:

• Your performance needs to be informative

• Your work will be judged by your teacher
• Your product must meet the following standards: script must include at least 3 human
activities that negatively impact each environment (air, water, and habitat) and the
animals that are being affected as well.
• A successful result will be informative and persuade people to think about their impacts
on the Earth and each of the environments.
 The assessment pertains to this unit plan by assessing the knowledge the students have on each
of the environments and how humans can negatively impact them.
Rubric

Criteria 3 2 1

1 error
All 3
Each of the environments are 2 of the 2 or more errors or none of the 3 environments
environments are
explained environments are are discussed.
discussed
discussed

Lists 3 ways 1 error

3 ways people affect air, water, people affect air, 2 or more errors
and the environment water, and the 2 correct affects
or no affects listed
environment listed

1 error
Lists 3 ways
3 ways people can reduce their people can lists 2 ways 2 or more errors or no ways listed people can
impact conserve the people can conserve the environment
environments conserve the
environments

Includes each of 1 error

the 3 includes 2 of the
environments, 3 environments, 2 2 or more errors or no environments discussed,
An informative news script ways people ways people no human impacts, and no suggestions on
affect them, and 3 affect them, or 2 conservation.
ways to help ways to conserve
conserve them. them

Students will be assessed on their final newscast video and the information included in it. The
rubric above lists the qualifications and will be used when determining a grade.