Habitat Unit of Study – Lesson Plan

 

Lesson Author

First and Last Name:

Laura Calhoun

School District:

Tarleton Unified School District

School Name:

Tarleton/ESC Master Cohort

School City, State:

Waco, TX


Lesson Overview

Lesson Plan Title:

Ecosystems, Habitats and Survival

Lesson Summary:

Analyzing the habitats of animals and people, how they are developed and maintained, and what factors affect shelter selection.


Subject Area(s):  Click box(es) of the subject(s) that your Lesson targets

 Business Education

 Drama

 Foreign Language

 Home Economics

 Language Arts

 Math

 Music

 Physical Education

 Science

 Social Studies

 Technology

 Other:      

 Other:      

 Other:      

 Other:      

Grade Level:  Click box(es) of the grade level(s) that your Lesson targets

 PreK-K

 1

 2

 3

 4

 5

 6

 7

 8

 9

 10

 11

 12

 

 ESL

 Gifted and Talented

 Special Education

 Other:      

 Other:      

 


Targeted State Frameworks/Content Standards (TEKS):

3.3B; 3.8A,B,D; 3.9A; 3.11A   4.3B; 4.5A; 4.8A,B; 4.11C   5.3B; 5.5B; 5.9A,B,C;

Student Objectives/Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

 

Approximate Time Needed:

Five – Eight  50 minute class periods (due to presentations and enrichment activity)

Prerequisite Skills:

Some background knowledge of habitats, reading/writing abilities, computer skills to surf internet, ability to use digital camera

Materials and Resources Required For Unit


Technology – Hardware:  (Click boxes of all equipment needed)


 Camera

 Computer(s)

 Digital Camera

 DVD Player

 Internet Connection

 Printer

 Projection System

 Scanner

 Television

 VCR

 Video Camera

 Video Conferencing Equip.

 Other:      

 Other:      

 

Technology – Software:  (Click boxes of all software needed.)

 Database/Spreadsheet

 Desktop Publishing

 E-mail Software

 Encyclopedia on CD-ROM

 Image Editing

 Internet Web Browser

 Multimedia

 

 Web Page Development

 Word Processing

 Other:      


Printed Materials:

Textbooks, reference materials on animals and animal pictures, pictures of different ecosystems, etc.

Supplies:

  • Real estate ads from local newspaper/”Parade of Homes” tour booklet
  •  Venn Diagram papers
  • White paper to create home picture and foldable graphic organizer
  • Materials to create a classified ad that describes an animal’s habitat
  • Questions from United Streaming Teacher’s Guide, cut into 4 different groups
  • Combination notes paper
  • Goals for Habitat unit on chart tablet or sentence strips
  • Student Science Journals
  • Vocabulary word instructions
  • Animal Habitat Classified Ad examples
  • Graphic Organizer for recording researched information
  • Habitat Classified Ad Rubric

Internet Resources:

Concepts in Nature: Where Animals Live http://www5.unitedstreaming.com/index.cfm

What’s Your Habitat?

http://www.nwf.org/schoolyardhabitats/pdfs/whatsyourhabitat2.pdf

Environmental Exchange Box Activity

http://www.plt.org/cms/pages/35_178_4.html

 

Sites to search for habitat information:

Animal Habitats:

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=3792

Habitats/Biomes

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/

Animal Habitats

http://t3.preservice.org/T0110505/

Habitats

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/nature/habitat/

Thorntown Zoo: Habitat Links

http://www.bsw.primetap.com/Zoo.html

Yahooligan search

http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/

Ranger Rick: Homework Help

http://www.nwf.org/kidZone/kzPage.cfm?siteID=3&departmentId=107&articleId=185

Desert Animals

http://www.desertusa.com/animal.html

Animals A-Z

http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/atoz.html

 

Others:

Optional: Field trip to zoo or outdoors to show different animal habitats.

Procedures: (click on link or see attached papers)

Engage:  Show examples of real estate classified ads. Have the students make comments of what information they see/read in the ad. What does this information tell us? Explain that a home is part of a human’s habitat. (Note: It’s the entire neighborhood where an animal gets the food, water, air and shelter with space it needs to survive and raise young.)

Use the website, What’s Your Habitat?, for procedural steps and background information. Ask the students, “What do all humans need to survive?” Generate a list on the board. (Accept all answers) Sort the list into the basic needs for survival.  Have the students illustrate their home leaving enough space around the home to add to the environment.  As you follow steps #3 through #5 to show where they get their resources to survive.  (Make sure students have a visual representation for each one of the basic needs for survival.)

Details: It’s a good idea to identify key details that students are expected to know in depth and then to plan your unit so that students are exposed to these details multiple times (at least three). The key details in this unit of study are the basic needs for survival in a habitat.

 

Exploration:  Review the word “habitat,” and the elements necessary in that habitat for a plant to survive.  Ask the question, “Which of these do animals also require?” Review the resources for humans, plants and animals:  food, water, air, and shelter with space it needs to survive and raise young. Have class discuss some examples of these in different habitats. Some questions to ask could be:  What type of food would a frog find in his habitat? Where would a bird get water? Where would a bear raise its babies? What might happen if a plant did not have much soil?

Students create a graphic organizer that shows the 4 resources in a habitat that animals need to survive. (air, food, water, shelter/space) On the inside of the graphic organizer they illustrate the plant or animal.

Graphic Organizers engage students in the creation of Nonlinguistic Representation that actually stimulates and increases activity in the brain.

Have students, in pairs, complete a Venn Diagram comparing a human habitat to an animal’s habitat. (blank Venn Diagram)

Venn Diagram – We can use this process to deepen students’ understanding of the knowledge they are learning to identify similarities and differences in characteristics of living things.

 

Explanation: Students watch United Streaming video, Concepts in Nature: Where Animals Live, and answer specific questions highlighted during video. (Teacher copy of specific questions.)(Specific questions make the students focus more on information presented.) After the video the different groups share the questions they answered during the video. Students use “combination notes” note-taking technique during video to record information about habitats. (Teacher pauses during video after each section for students to compose notes.) blank combination notes paper

Combination notes: Uses both the informal outline and pictures or graphic representations. This type of note taking method has the students review information three times---writing, drawing, and summarizing.

 

Teacher explains what goals/learning outcomes are expected for the habitat unit.

  • Understand the concept of habitat and what living things need to survive.
  • Compare animal versus human habitats.
  • Creatively imagine and describe different habitats for different animals.
  • Describe several ways living things adapt to their habitats.

 

Students write personal goals of what they want to learn about habitats in their Science journal.

(Student uses the teacher’s objectives as a guide and makes his/her own learning goals.)

Examples: To understand how a deer lives in the forest. To explain the tiger habitat and where they find shelter, food, and water.)

Student goals: Give direction to students but allow them some flexibility to further define their own interests within a topic.)

 

Five vocabulary words (habitat, resource, environment, reproduce, survive) are modeled using the 5-step process for teaching vocabulary. The 5-step instructional sequence gives students multiple exposures to vocabulary terms in multiple ways.

 

Elaboration: As a class identify different habitats/ecosystems. Create a list on the board. Show the cluster-web graphic organizer.  Explain that the students are going to work in Cooperative groups of 4 to research a specific habitat. The students will divide the research and report back their part at designated times. Cooperative learning uses five elements (positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing to decrease tension and make group work more constructive. Everyone contributes to the whole. The students will use the blank cluster-web graphic organizer to record information collected related to their specific* habitat. The Webbing gives students a visual representation of the relationships between and among ideas or elements. They will then use this information to create a classified ad for a specific animal in that habitat. Share 2 examples of classified ads for animals. (Underground Castle, Prime Grassland )Students create classified animal habitat ad working in groups of 4. Students use rubric to assess. Rubrics let students know up front what they need to know or be able to do.

*specific habitat – You can either have names of animals on slips of paper and each group selects one. Or if necessary, after every group has created their habitat classified ad, display a list of all the animals chosen for participants to see. The group then guesses which animal goes with which ad. Discuss how some ads might fit more than one animal and how some animals might adapt to fit into a habitat that is not their ideal home.

After animals and habitats are correctly matched, have each group present more detailed information about their habitat explaining how the resources are provided for the animal.

 

Evaluation: Presentation of Habitat Classified Ads with peer feedback. Peer feedback is for students to clarify for each other what was correct or incorrect in an assessment. 

After presentation each student writes a reflection in his/her Science journal concerning:

  • The goal(s) I accomplished was/were…
  • When we prepared the classified ad I liked …
  • When we did the presentation I liked…
  • If I had more time I would…
  • Because of this activity I will…

Self-assessment helps students gauge their own progress. It also helps students to connect what they are doing in the classroom to their learning goals, and to their grades.

 

 

Extension: Project Learning Tree Environmental Exchange Box class activity.

 

 

Student Assessment:

Student learning will be assessed in the following ways:

·          Observation of students in large and small groups.

·         Venn diagram documentation - to attain mastery, students must produce diagrams that illustrate similarities and differences with at least 80% accuracy. 

·         Correct completion of foldable graphic organizer - The correct completion will be assessed by noting the proper elements matching the type of animal.

·         Science journal documentation of personal goals and notes taking during research. These are reflective of what is being researched.

·         Completion of habitat research on graphic organizer - information relates to topic being studied and is accurate.

·         Habitat Classified Ad rubric

·         Group presentation of habitat - defined in rubric.

·         Reflection in journal correctly addresses topic of study