Unit Planning

Getting Ready for Winter

Grade 2, bilingual / 5-week unit (all subjects) with performance task

Rationale & Structure of the Unit As the month of November began, my grade two students at Sinclair Laird School started talking about the chubby squirrels and hungry birds they could see around the school. At some point they started asking questions regarding the ways in which animals get ready for the cold season. This seemed like an excellent starting point to build a unit, as it related to the students interests as well as many subjects including science, visual arts, language arts, French, and mathematics. This unit lasted over a period of five weeks and was very well received by the children. Throughout these five weeks, we learned about three different survival methods: hibernation, adaptation, and migration. During the first week, the students got to think about how they got ready for the winter and generated a KWL chart. The last week was devoted to the performance task, which was the creation of a survival guide that was meant to help a certain animal (chosen by each student) prepare for the cold season. The students individual needs and interests were met as their survival guide could be presented in various ways (i.e. poster, booklet, video, comic strip...).

Unit Structure
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Hibernation

How do animals get ready for winter?

Week 3: Adaptation Week 4: Migration

Week 5: Performance Task

Creation of an animal survival guide

Working Hard!