4th Grade Science

Jamilyn Keele
11/13/2020

LESSON RATIONALE
It is important for students to understand the life cycle of animals and why or how animals are
very similar, but not the same, as their parents. This lesson is an introduction to genetics and will
provide foundational vocabulary and background knowledge for learning about genetics later in
their academic career. It is always beneficial to learn more about the way our environment works
and how genetics provide balance and stability in our world.

READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goals
1. Upon completion of the lesson, students will begin to develop the
background knowledge of genetics and they will understand the concept of
heredity
B. Objective
1. Upon completion of the content instruction and station activities, students
will be able to give the definitions for trait, offspring, and inherit as well
as predict what offspring will look like based on parental features
2. After the research station, students will know and be prepared for
establishing a routine to care for baby chicks in the classroom
C. Standards
1. 4.LS.1 Observe, analyze, and interpret how offspring are very much, but
not exactly, like their parents or one another. Describe how these
differences in physical characteristics among individuals in a population
may be advantageous for survival and reproduction
II. Management Plan
A. Time 45 minutes
1. Anticipatory set - 4 minutes
2. Input - 6 minutes
3. Guided/Independent practice (stations) - 30 minutes (10 minutes each
station)
4. Review/Closure - 5 minutes
B. Space
1. Students will begin at their desks for the anticipatory set
2. Students will be at their desks during instruction. They will sit and listen
quietly to instruction, directions, and the video
 3. Students will move around the room during stations to complete the three
different activities for the guided and independent activities. They will
move through these stations with a group
4. Students will return to their desks for the review/closure portion of the
lesson
C. Materials
1. Pictures of my family
2. Technology for the video
3. Cage for baby chicks
4. Incubator for baby chicks
5. Bedding (for baby chicks)
6. Food for baby chicks (once they are born)
7. Technology for independent practice
8. Books about baby chicks/raising chicks
a) National geographic
b) Let’s Hatch Chicks! - Lisa Steele
c) Chicken Encyclopedia
9. Pencils
10. Science notebooks
11. Video watching notesheet
12. Pictures of mom and dad monster
13. Pictures of mom and dad chicken and rooster
14. Glue
15. Construction paper
16. Googly eyes
17. Markers
18. Crayons
19. Colored pencils
D. Behavior
1. Students will listen and watch the video during the lesson instruction.
They will be kind to one another and the respectful towards their peers and
the teacher throughout the entire lesson
2. Students will follow the rules, classroom management plan, and work in
stations according to the classroom rules that were established at the
beginning of the school year.
3. If students need a break, they may spend time in the brain break station
and then return to complete their work when they feel ready to participate
and do great work
4. If students are not being kind to one another or respectful to their peers,
they will be asked to complete work completely independently at their
desks instead of working together in groups.
III. Anticipatory Set
A. “Alright, I’m passing around pictures of me and my family. While you are
looking at these pictures, I want you to think of which parent or sibling that I look
most similar to. Which person in my family do I look most like?” Allow them
time to look at all the pictures and come up with their decision. Students are
allowed to talk during this time.
B. “Okay so who did you come up with? Who do I look the most like?” Allow for
their answers and talk about it more.
C. “Most of the time people tell me that I look like my mom. This is a picture of my
mom when she was 19 and this is a picture of me when I was 19. We look very
similar.” Have the pictures on the board, slideshow, or overhead.
IV. Purpose Statement
A. “Today we are going to learn about how animals are similar, but not the same, as
their parents. It is important to recognize similarities between parents, children,
and siblings in our environment because this creates a balance in our world of the
way the animals on the planet look and act.”

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

V. Adaptations
A. ELL
1. Having voice recorded directions for students to listen to if they need
further reinforcement or auditory aid
2. Students will be placed in a group with their assigned buddy so that they
feel more comfortable in their group and can ask questions
3. Provide visual research opportunities such as magazines, pictures, and
videos
B. ADHD
1. If students need to take a walk or brain break, they are allowed to do so to
help them refocus and prepare to accomplish work again
2. The teacher may implement a brain break activity for the whole class
halfway through the science time (exercise or youtube video)
C. Sensory
1. Students can wear gloves if they do not want to touch the craft materials or
glue. Other students can prepare the cage if they don’t want to be involved
with the cage materials
2. Students can use pencil grips if it helps them to hold their pencils and
write
3. Students can have a band on their chair to rest their feet on if that helps to
focus on their work
VI. Lesson Presentation
A. Input
 1. “To start our lesson, we are going to watch a video that introduces our
topic of heredity. Heredity means the passing of traits from a parent to an
offspring. What is a trait?” Allow a couple answers. You are looking for:
a) Eye color, hair color, skin tone, complexion, etc.
2. “Right so our traits can be physical or even sometimes mental. Have you
ever seen where parents who are scientists or engineers will often have
kids that grow up and choose a career in a similar field. We can get mental
traits from our parents as well as physical traits like our eye color, nose
shape, and so on. Can anyone tell me what it is called when an offspring
receives a trait from a parent? What is the fancy science word for
received?” Allow time for answers. You are looking for:
a) Inherit
3. “Yes! When we receive a trait from a parent, we will often say I
INHERITED this trait from my mom. So I could say that I inherited my
hair color from my mom. I received a trait from my mother.”
4. “That is some new vocabulary for us today, so I am going to give you all a
video note sheet that you guys have worked with before. I want you to
write down those vocabulary words we just talked about in the “topic”
section of your note sheet. I will write them on the board so that you can
spell them. For your notes section, I want you to write the things that you
hear in the video that will help you remember what each word means. I
will give you time after to draw a picture of each vocabulary word so you
will be experts on these terms. Pay attention and listen for those
vocabulary words in this video!”
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqEConjFPvg
B. Guided practice
1. “Please quickly tape, glue, or staple your video note sheet into your
science notebook on a brand new page because this is a brand new lesson
today.”
2. “For our investigation today, we are going to prepare for a pretty long and
ongoing investigation. In order to study how heredity is passed down, I
wanted us to experiment with live organisms in the classroom. Today we
are going to prepare our classroom and develop rules/guidelines to raise
our own chicks from eggs.” Allow time for response and
reaction/excitement
3. “So we are going to move around the room for stations and when you
come to the station with me, you are going to help me to create or prepare
an element of the container or home for our chickens and discuss the
responsibilities we need to set in place to take care of them. In the other
stations, you will be helping by researching how to raise chickens, and
experimenting with the different traits passed down from parents”
4. “There will be three different groups and you will rotate to each station.
You will have 10 minutes at each station to complete the activity. While
you are moving through the stations, I want you to think about the
questions; How can we best prepare to take care of chicks? How do
traits play an important role in understanding heredity? The groups
and stations are on the board so please find your name and group, gather
up the materials you will need and head to your first station.”
5. Chick Preparation Station:
a) “Okay so we are going to look at the mom and dad chicken before
we start preparing the cage. Based on these two pictures of what
the mom chicken and the dad rooster look like, what do you think
the baby chickens will look like?” Show two pictures, one of the
mom chicken and one of the rooster.
b) “Using your science notebook, I want you to predict by drawing a
picture of what you think the baby chicks will look like. What kind
of traits will they get from mom and what traits will they get from
their dad?” Allow students time to draw their picture predictions
c) “Now that you have made your predictions, you are going to help
me prepare the cage for these babies. I have a cage like a bird cage
so they have enough room to move around when they hatch, but
we want to make sure they have a warm and cozy place for the
eggs to be before they hatch. Once you have been to the research
station, you will know more about preparing for baby chicks. I
have an incubator right here. This will keep the eggs warm so they
will hatch healthy baby chicks.” The incubator will be put in the
cage once the straw bedding, dishes with food and water, maybe a
heated pad/blanket. Divide these jobs up evenly among the groups
so each group has a task to do to prepare for the baby chicks.
d) Eventually the students can vote for names for the chicks and have
a worksheet with the different eggs on them and name them on the
sheet (place on the cage so everyone who visits the room can see)
6. Research Station:
a) “For this station, you will be reading books about chickens both
young and adult chickens so that you can know what our baby
chicks will need in their cage to grow big and strong. Record your
notes, observations, or anything that surprises you in your science
notebook. We will use these notes to create a schedule of needs
and responsibilities for all of us to complete as we care for the
baby chicks”
 b) Students will read books and record notes about what they learned,
what surprised them, or what we should know to be successful in
raising baby chickens
7. Monster Baby Station (independent practice)
a) “At this station, you have two different pictures of monsters. One
is the mom monster and the other is the dad monster. Your job is to
pick traits from the parents and create a baby monster that has
traits from both the mom and dad monster. You are using
construction paper, glue, crayons, colored pencils, markers, and
googly eyes for this project. It may get messy so roll up your
sleeves and make sure you wash your hands when you are done.
Be thinking about how traits play an important role in what we
know about heredity.”
b) Students are going to create their own baby monster based off of
the traits that mom and dad monster have. They will use the
different craft materials to complete the activity and then put the
project on the drying rack to dry.
VII. Check for Understanding
A. Students will be using their science notebook to record their research on raising
baby chicks. This notebook can be collected and taken for a grade or informative
instruction on what to reteach/teach.
B. The teacher will be conducting a formative instruction while the students are at
the station with the teacher. There will be instruction over the content (heredity)
and then construction of the cage and incubator that the baby chicks will be kept
in. Formative instruction on what students know and understand, what they will
need to know, and what may need to be retaught.
C. Students are making their own monster based off of the parent monsters traits.
This can be take as a formative and summative assessment as it can be taken for a
grade and also inform instruction
D. Students will be sharing one thing they learned with a partner for the
review/closure portion of the lesson
VIII. Review Learning Outcomes/Closure
A. “Alright guys, the final timer just went off. Please clean up your station and head
back to your desk.” Allow time for them to move back to their seats.
B. “I want you to share with a partner why you think traits play an important part in
our understanding of heredity. You have two minutes. Go ahead!” Allow two
minutes for sharing time
C. “Okay, thank you for working so hard today and for paying attention and doing
your best work. I am so excited for these little baby chicks to be a part of our
classroom and for us to actually see what heredity looks like in animals. Heredity
is something that creates a balance and stability in our world. You will all learn
 more about it as you move through middle school and high school, but it is a very
fascinating concept and we will be able to observe the different traits right here in
our classroom!”

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

● Formative
○ Students will be creating their own baby monsters based on the traits of the parent
monsters. This gives the teacher a quick look at student understanding of traits.
○ Students will be drawing their predictions of what the baby chicks will look like
based off the parent chicken and rooster
● Summative
○ Students will turn in their science notebook which contains their predictions,
video notes, and research notes from the station where they will be reading about
how to raise baby chicks.
○ Teacher can collect the baby monster activity to see if students understand the
idea of heredity and traits within offspring

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
3. How should I alter this lesson?
4. How would I pace it differently?
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
7. Do students know and understand what heredity means?
8. What are other activities I could do for students to experiment with heredity?
9. What needs to be retaught so that students can explain what heredity is?