Lesson Plan 1: Introducing Animal Habitats

Goals/Objectives
Students will be able to identify key animal habitats (rainforest, grassland, ocean, desert, polar).
Students will also be able to identify the vital components of a habitat.

Standards
PA SAS:
• 3.1.1.A2: Investigate the dependence of living things on the sun’s energy, water, food/nutri-
ents, air, living space, and shelter.

CCSS ELA:
• W.1.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather
information from provided sources to answer a question.
• RI.1.5 Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text.

Materials and preparation

• Smart board
• Animal Habitat introductory powerpoint
• Non-fiction book (“Animal Homes” by Ann O. Squire)

Classroom arrangement and management issues

• The lesson will take place on the carpet, in front of the smart board
• Transitioning from one activity to another, the students will have to shift from facing the
smart board to the side of the room, where read alouds take place - this is common practice
for them
• Management issues are minimal with this first grade class; there may be some blurting and
side conversations

Plan
Total time allotment: 45 minutes
1) Hook (10 minutes)
• Display Animal Habitat powerpoint on smart board; the first slide shows an image of a polar
bear in a desert
• Ask students - what is wrong with this image? (Students just finished a polar animal unit so
they will be very familiar with polar bears)
• Students discuss what’s wrong with the image (e.g. polar bears don't live in the desert)
• Ask why polar bears wouldn’t survive in the desert; if necessary, use prompts such as ‘what
will they eat?’ and ‘will they be too hot, why?’)
• The next slide shows the polar bear in its natural habitat, discuss why polar bears belong in
the arctic
2) Body of the lesson (30 minutes)
• Ask students if they’ve heard of the word “habitat” and what they know about it
• Continue with the powerpoint, introduce the definition of “habitat”
• Go through remaining slides, stopping for discussion. We’ll talk about our own habitats and
what we need to survive
 • Conclude powerpoint with things that animals need as well in their habitats (food, water,
shelter, space)
• Continue lesson with a read aloud (students will have to shift on the carpet to face the read
aloud chair) “Animal Homes” by Ann O. Squire
• Stop and have students point out non-fiction features, as well as allowing questions and any
connections that students are able to make with the text
3) Closure (5 minutes)
• Prompt discussion of what types of habits the students have seen before
• Ask students to restate what “habitat” means; repeat definition - write on smart board, as well
as any connections that students are making with prior knowledge
• Wrap up by transitioning to next activity

Assessment
I will informally assess students by their participation during the class discussion and read aloud.
I will be able to get a sense of which students have some background knowledge of animal habi-
tats and which students may need more support throughout this unit.

Anticipating students’ responses/Teacher’s possible responses

a) Management issues - there is a possibility of students blurting or getting distracted with side
conversations when sitting on the carpet. I will follow my classroom mentor’s practice of
starting with a behavior poem when students take a seat on the carpet (e.g. “my ears are
ready to listen, my eyes are ready to see, I’m sitting on my bottom, as quiet as can be”)
which helps with gathering students’ attention. In regards to blurting, I will be firm in asking
students to raise their hands.
b) Response to content of the lesson - I expect a few students to have some background
knowledge of animal habitats and will encourage those to share. For those who aren’t famil-
iar with animal habitats, the hook portion of the lesson will draw upon the class’s recent
learnings on polar bears, so the unit will begin on familiar ground. It’s not unusual that the
same 5 students participate in whole class discussions; if more participation is needed, I will
utilize the popsicle sticks with students’ names (as my CM often does).

Accommodations
Accommodations for students who may find the material too challenging
The images used in the introductory powerpoint will hopefully help with getting the message
across to the ESL students (and visual learners) in the room. Also, the hook with polar bears as a
familiar topic will likely help by eliciting prior knowledge and making the connection to animal
habitats. I will stop at various points during the powerpoint and read aloud, to make sure all
questions are addressed and if anything needs to be further explained. During the closure of the
lesson, I will have students restate what they think an animal habitat is, and will write their re-
sponses on the board as a way to reinforce what the class has learned. What’s written on the
board will also help students with the next activity, which will require them to fill out a KWL
chart.

Accommodations for students who may need greater challenge and/or finish early
For students who may already know a lot about animal habitats, most of this may be information
that they already know. If that happens, I will ask those students to share what they know so they
can share their knowledge with their classmates. This is a whole group, discussion-heavy lesson,
so I will give students space to discuss and will facilitate as needed.
Lesson Plan 2: Endangered Animals

Goals/Objectives
Students will be able to study an endangered species and identify the cause for their endanger-
ment. Students will also be able to write a letter informing someone about the endangered spe-
cies and how they can help.

Standards
PA SAS:
• 3.1.1.A2: Investigate the dependence of living things on the sun’s energy, water, food/nutri-
ents, air, living space, and shelter.

CCSS ELA:
• W.1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts
about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
• W.1.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather
information from provided sources to answer a question.
• RI.1.5 Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text.

Materials and preparation

- Non-fiction book “Almost Gone”
- SciShow Kids video “Endangered Animals”
- Articles on endangered species - students will have a choice between three different endan-
gered animals
- Graphic organizer - allows students to take notes on article
- Letter template
- Smart board
Classroom arrangement and management issues
1. The lesson will begin on the carpet, where we will have a quick introductory discussion fol-
lowed by watching a video
2. The students will then shift on the carpet to face the read aloud chair
3. The students will work in partners, they have assigned reading partners which more ad-
vanced readers/writers are paired with students who need more support
4. Management issues are expected to be minimal, there might be some blurting or lack of par-
ticipation from students

Plan
Total time allotment: 90 minutes (2 days)
1) Hook (6 minutes)
• Begin lesson by asking students if they know what an endangered species is; provide defini-
tion of an endangered species
• Play SciShow Kids video “Endangered Animals” (4 minutes)
• Discussion questions: What were some endangered animals that the video mentioned? Can
people help endangered animals? What are some ways we can help endangered animals?
2) Body of the lesson (75 minutes)
Day 1: (35 minutes)
• Continue lesson with a read aloud (excerpt) of “Almost Gone” (10 minutes)
• Introduce activity to students, explain that they will get a choice between 3 endangered spe-
cies to do research on
• Ask students to get with their reading partners, and decide on which animal they want to read
about
• Students will get a short article on that animal, as well as a graphic organizer for their re-
search notes
Day 2: (40 minutes)
• Explain to students the next part of the activity, where they will be writing a letter to a friend,
telling them about the endangered animal and what they can do to help
• Model for students - display letter template on smart board, and show them how to fill it in
(the graphic organizer that the students filled in the previous day will help with filling in the
letter template)
• Students will get with their reading partner again for this activity
• Conference with students on making edits to their letter
• If time allows, students can rewrite their letter from the template onto “good letter paper”
3) Closure (9 minutes)
- Have a few students share their letter with the class
Assessment
Informal assessment will be provided as I observe and sit with students as they’re working in
pairs. I will be able to gauge how they work with a partner, how much of the article they’re able
to comprehend, if they’re applying any new knowledge from the video or read aloud into their
graphic organizer. On day 2, I will continue to observe and provide support to students as they
write their letter.

Anticipating students’ responses/Teacher’s possible responses

a) Management issues - there is a possibility of students blurting too much or getting distracted
with side conversations when sitting on the carpet. I will follow my classroom mentor’s
practice of starting with a behavior poem when students take a seat on the carpet (e.g. “my
ears are ready to listen, my eyes are ready to see, I’m sitting on my bottom, as quiet as can
be”) which helps with gathering students’ attention. In regards to blurting, I will be firm in
asking students to raise their hands. When working in pairs, I will need to make sure students
stay on task. My classroom mentor usually displays a timer on the smart board when stu-
dents do independent or partner work, as a way to let students know they don’t have all day
to work on the assignment. It has proven to help students manage their own time and take
ownership of their work.
b) Response to content of the lesson - similar to introducing the topic of animal habitats, some
students may already have some background knowledge on endangered animals and others
may have never heard of the term. The video, along with the read aloud, will set a solid foun-
dation for learning about endangered species. After the video and during the read aloud, I
will prompt for discussion, allowing space for questions, for connections to be made, and for
students who have background knowledge to share what they already know. Knowing this
 group of students, I anticipate them to be extremely engaged in this topic as they have shown
immense empathy when learning about animals.

Accommodations
Accommodations for students who may find the material too challenging
The way that the students are assigned with their reading partners is that one higher level reader
is paired up with a lower level reader. The students are familiar with working with their reading
partners, as they do partner work at least 3 times a week. It allows the lower level readers/writers
to have some support and lean on their partner as a resource, and it’s a great way to encourage
collaboration in the classroom. The three endangered species provided as options for the students
to do research on, will be included in the read aloud so that students already have some infor-
mation on those animals when they go on to do research in pairs. I will spend most of my time
sitting with the ESL students to make sure they understand the task and can comprehend the arti-
cles.

Accommodations for students who may need greater challenge and/or finish early
For students who have background knowledge on endangered animals, I will give them an op-
portunity to share their knowledge with the class during discussion and the read aloud. For stu-
dents who finish early during the research portion of the lesson, I will provide a selection of non-
fiction books about endangered species for them to look at, to see if they find any more infor-
mation on their animal. As for the letter writing portion of the lesson, if students finish early, I
will ask them to rewrite their letter on “good letter paper”, without the help of the template. I
could also ask them to share their letter with the class during the closing portion of the lesson.
Lesson Plan 3: Opinion Writing

Goals/Objectives
Students will be able to write their opinion using the appropriate sentence starter (e.g. “I think”
or “I feel”) and provide reasons to support their opinion.

Standards
PA SAS:
• 3.1.1.A9 Distinguish between scientific fact and opinion.

CCSS ELA:
• W.1.1 write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writ-
ing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of clo-
sure.

Materials and preparation

- Fiction book “Duck! Rabbit!”
- Smart board
- Opinion writing graphic organizer
- Opinion writing paper (for final draft)
Classroom arrangement and management issues
1. The lesson will begin on the carpet for a read aloud
2. After explaining the activity on the carpet, students will transition back to tables to work on
their writing
3. Management issues are expected to be minimal, there might be some shouting out during the
read aloud as students may get excited to share their own opinions

Plan
Total time allotment:
1) Hook (15 minutes)
• I will start the lesson by asking students “what is an opinion?” and “can there be more than
one opinion?”
• My Classroom Mentor and I will take turns reading from the two perspectives presented in
the book “Duck! Rabbit!”
• After the read aloud, I will ask students if they think the character in the book was a rabbit or
duck
• Students will share reasons why they think it’s either a rabbit or duck; I will take notes on the
smart board
2) Body of the lesson (30 minutes)
• Explain to students the task of writing their own opinion onto the graphic organizer, which
includes their opinion (whether they think it’s a rabbit or duck) and provide two reasons to
support their opinion
• Students will transition back to their tables to work on the graphic organizer
• Once students complete the graphic organizer, I will check their work to see if any changes
need to be made
 • When students are ready for their final draft, they will take what they’ve written on the
graphic organizer and write it on “final draft paper”
3) Closure (5 minutes)
- Have a few students share their opinion piece with the class
Assessment
Informal assessment will be provided as students share their opinion and reasonings after the
read aloud. I will observe and provide support to students as they work on their graphic organiz-
ers, and will be able to assess students’ work as I check their graphic organizers before they
move on to their final draft. As students complete the task, I will also be able to assess their final
drafts to understand their comfort level with opinion writing. Ideally, I would use that infor-
mation to adjust my instruction and future activities within the opinion writing unit.

Anticipating students’ responses/Teacher’s possible responses

a) Management issues - concerns are minimal, but students may get excited to share their opin-
ion on whether they think the character in the book is a duck or rabbit, so blurting or side
conversations may happen. I will establish expectations before reading the book by asking
students to keep their opinion to themselves until the read aloud is over. I will stop and re-
peat as needed.
b) Response to content of the lesson - some may have read this book before, some may still be
trying to understand what opinions are. As students listen to the read aloud, they may be con-
fused as to why they have to choose an opinion, as they can see that the animal can be both a
duck and a rabbit. I will explain that for this activity, they have to choose between a duck or
rabbit - it can’t be both. Some students may think it’s neither a duck nor a rabbit - if that hap-
pens, I will ask them what they think it is and challenge them to provide two reasons to sup-
port their opinion in their graphic organizer.

Accommodations
Accommodations for students who may find the material too challenging
After the read aloud, I will ask for students to share their opinion and reasons for their opinion. I
will write these responses on the smart board and will keep them up when students fill in their
graphic organizer, so if they need help with ideas or even with spelling, they can refer to what’s
up on the board.

Accommodations for students who may need greater challenge and/or finish early
It’s possible that some students may find this activity too easy, and the point is really to get them
started on thinking about writing down our opinions and providing reasons for our opinions. It
also shows that people have different opinions - there’s no right or wrong. If they need a greater
challenge with the activity (after they complete the final draft), I would ask them to create an il-
lustration based on the duck/rabbit character to provide another reason that supports their opin-
ion.