Kirsten Gregg

Educ 209

Dr. D.

9-20-2020

The purpose of this lesson is to have the second grade students learn about the similarities

and differences in the lifecycles of plants in the school garden and the animals that inhabit the

garden area. This lesson will be a semesters worth of daily activities that included planting the

seed of their chosen plant. Students will form groups of 4 and decide from the list I provide

which plant and which animal they would like to learn about. Once the group has decided on

which plant and animal they want to learn about they will begin the process of identifying their

plants’ seed and planting it and finding their animals’ home. They will then take notes everyday

about the changes that they see in both the plant and the animal. At the end of this study students

will give a presentation with their group about their findings, which will include comparing and

contrasting their plant and animals lifecycle.

I will be introducing this lesson to the students after learning about the four seasons in

this part of Pennsylvania. This will be a hands-on lesson for the children to work in groups.

Students will have the opportunity for some individual work along with this project, but mostly

will focus on team work and communication with each other. Students will need to work

together to decide their plant and animal that they would like to study as a group. I will work to

be a facilitator for this project and not be as involved. I will instruct and be available for

questions after I have done a sample of what I expect the students to do in their groups. I will

model what I expect from eat part of the lesson and encourage student researcher and
investigation. I am looking for cooperation, problem solving and the end result of presenting

what they have learned to the rest of the class.

This lesson involves a long period of time observing plants and animals every day for

weeks, so one way to accommodate students who are English Language Learns is to label

everything in the ELL’s native language to promote a deeper understanding for the ELL. Not

only would there be the English but also their native language will be printed on the label along

with matching pictures on each plant or animal. This will help the students learn not only

through hearing the words but also visually with the written word and the corresponding picture.

After reading the list on page 86, Theory into Practice, Teaching English Language Learners, it

became clear to me that this is one of the basic accommodations that would work with this lesson

because of the many new words that a student could learn throughout this lesson. They will no

doubt be hearing the new words over and over, but also being able to see the words written out

and see a picture is one of the best ways for an ELL to learn English.

To accommodate females in this lesson, I will make sure that every student has the

opportunity to participate in each activity if they chose to. For example when the students are

planting their seeds to begin the lifecycle of their plant, each student will be able to dig in the dirt

and plant the seeds or choose not to. We will talk about many different careers that involve

learning about the lifecycle and how it is important to know for many jobs including farmer,

gardener, cook, scientist, etc. that both males and females are capable of doing them. Just as it

says on page 92 under Treating Females and Males Equally section, every student will be given

the same opportunity to explore without stereotypes holding them back and will be encouraged

to participate in every activity. This can help females get the same chase to do a stereotypical
males job. But the student will be able to participate and try something new that may lead her to

an interest in a stereotypical male dominated career.

To accommodate for race, all races of students will be working in small groups and will

work together with their classmates regardless of race. This will allow for students to form bonds

with one another while learning about the plant and animal lifecycles that they chose. Having the

students work in small groups will help students from all races to work together in hopes of these

bonds to continue to grow outside of the school walls and into the community. All students will

be encouraged to work with new groups for this project to help form bonds and learn n about the

other students. As every day in the classroom, there will be no tolerance for any racial slurs or

bias, etc. and will punished accordingly his is discussed on pages 82-83, Theory into Practice,

Teaching in a Culturally Diverse School section, it talked about making the classroom a

welcoming place and to use cooperative learning strategies to encourage students to form bonds

with students that are different from themselves. It also gives a good description of what would

not be allowed in the classroom, which is extremely important to making everyone feel

welcomed as well as an equally important person.

One way to accommodate children who’s ethnicity involves being from a place that does

not have 4 very different seasons like Pennsylvania does, I will teach about the 4 different season

prior to this lesson. This will insure that all my students understand the weather and seasons

which goes right along with the lifecycles of the plants and animals that we will be studying. For

a student who has come from a place with two seasons, they will not understand how or why the

lifecycles happen during that season and this information will not match up with what they have

learned about where they are from or what they have experienced. Not getting the background

information will cause the student to not understand and test poorly just like what is discussed on
page 81. It is extremely important to consider all of the different ethnic backgrounds in my

classroom to make sure that each student receives all the background information that is

important to what we are learning about so that they have a better chance at succeeding.

This lesson will accommodate all students regardless of their socioeconomic status,

because there is nothing that they need to provide to be able to learn from this lesson. The only

thing students will need is to be in class. I will make sure that students that have trouble getting

to school will be partnered up (with parents’ permission) with another student to make sure they

both get to school. Once their all they need to do is be ready to learn. Because students of lower

socioeconomic status are more likely to miss or not have breakfast provided, I as the teacher will

collect enough of the school provided breakfasts so that each student will be able to eat when

they get to school. As discussed on page 71 students who are receiving free lunch at school also

do not score as well as students whose families do not qualify. By making sure that students are

fed they are more likely to be able to concentrate better which will allow them to learn better

throughout this lesson. I will also partner up with the parents who are willing and make sure that

students have the resources they need to work on their homework at home as well as sending

newsletters to the parents to keep them informed about what we are learning about and give them

starter questions to begin a conversation with their student about what is happening in the

classroom. Keeping parents informed and offering conversation starters will promote more

academic conversation at home like what is discussed on page 73. Using this strategy, I hope to

increase that conversation and help the students’ knowledge grow outside of the classroom.
 Work Cited

Salvin, R. E. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://etext-

ise.pearson.com/courses/6208495/products/4HL34LC73V/pages/a4513b9abad993e3266db
c1f76ca1cd1018a7ffd4?locale=