Kelsey Dinges

Grade Level: Kindergarten

1. Titles/Source of Lesson: Investigating Local Ecosystems,
http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/investigating-local-ecosystems/
2. Description of Learners: The class is a full day Kindergarten classroom.
There are 22 students. 10 girls, 12 boys. Two students are diagnosed with
ADHD. One student is on an IEP and works with the special education
teacher on a regular basis. There is also one student who is currently
being monitored to be put on an IEP.
3. Grade Band Theme: Observations of the Environment
Strand: Life Science
Topic: Physical and Behavioral Traits of Living Things.
Condensed Content Statement: Living things are different from nonliving
things.
Science Inquiry and Application: Observe and ask questions about the
natural environment. Plan and conduct simple investigations. Employ
simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the sense.
Communicate about observations. Review and ask questions about the
observations.
4. Instructional Objectives: Students will observe living organisms in a local
ecosystem and create detailed drawings and descriptions of them.
5. Differentiations: The Internet offers many resources for student exploration
and discussion. It also gives opportunities for students to observe
environments and organisms that are very different from those near at hand.
This resource could be used for students who are too easily distracted and
cannot participate in the outside portion of the lesson, or even students who
are from a different part of the world and want to learn about their home
environment. For ELL students I will provide images of specific living an non
living things that will be found in the area we explore. These images will also
have the Spanish word and English word for them to more easily identify the
living or non-living thing.
6. Materials/Resources Needed:
a. A local ecosystem
b. Rope
c. Pencil
d. Field journal (paper)
e. One inch square
7. Key Academic Vocabulary:
a. Example

b. Characteristics
c. Observe
d. Compare
e. Record
8. Instructional Strategies:
a. Engage
i. Ask students questions such as:
1. What makes something a living thing?
Use this question to start making a chart. Characteristic of
living things/ Characteristics of nonliving things
2. Are you a living thing? How do you know?
3. What do living things need in order to stay alive? (e.g.,
food, water, air)
4. What are examples of living things in the classroom?
5. What are some living things outside?
Use the rest of these questions to finish up the chart about
characteristics. (Realize movement is a misconception car,
sun)
ii. Present students with a living plant or animal and a non-living
things as an example and ask questions about each such as:
1. Is this alive? How do you know?
2. What do you see as you look at this?
3. What do you hear? Smell? Feel?
b. Explore: Students will observe the schoolyard, or local ecosystem. In
order to focus students observation, rope off a specific area. Have
students count and record the number of living things that they
encounter in this area. Encourage student to look for living things
interacting. Have students draw about the living things they observe,
encounter, and any relationships that appear to exist between them in
journal.
c. Explain: When you go back into the classroom, encourage students to
compare and discuss their findings. Have students analyze the
characteristics they came up in the pre-assessment. Delete the ones
that they think no longer apply. When students are done analyzing,
identify which characteristics are still incorrect, and help explain to
the students why they are incorrect. Use a bouncy ball and a plant to
explain the differences more clearly. (Moving- misconception)
d. Elaborate: Visit the One Inch Square Project at the Cool Science for
Curious Kids site, sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Tell students that they are going to observe the same outdoor area,
but this time they will be looking through the one-inch window. Have
students cut a one-inch square window using the worksheet and
instructions provided at the site. Allow students to look around the
classroom using the one-inch window. Encourage them to physically
get closer to the things that they are observing. Allow them to share
their observations. Then ask students:

i. Will the outside area look different when you look at it this
way?
ii. Why might it be important to look more closely at a smaller
area?
iii. Do you think that you will still be able to find some living
things in this much smaller area?
Have students return to the same outdoor area. Ask them to count and
record the number of living things that they observe in one square
inch. Again, encourage students to look for examples of living things
interacting. Have students draw or write about the living things that
they are observing, as well as answer the questions on the website
(found by clicking on the "Click Here" button at the bottom of the
page). Allow them to share their findings, and discuss the importance
of close observation and some of the tools that scientists use.
e. Evaluate: Teacher will look at the observations and descriptions
recorded in students journals to assess student understanding. Teacher
will also have students describe at least two ways in which living
organisms interacted in the outdoor area they observed.
9. Assessment Plan:
a. Pre-assessment: This informal assessment will take place in the
engage portion of the learning task.
i. Ask students questions such as:
1. What makes something a living thing?
2. Are you a living thing? How do you know?
3. What do living things need in order to stay alive? (e.g.,
food, water, air)
4. What are examples of living things in the classroom?
5. What are some living things outside?
ii. Present students with a living plant or animal as an example and
ask questions such as:
1. Is this alive? How do you know?
2. What do you see as you look at this [plant or animal]?
3. What do you hear? Smell? Feel?
b. Post- assessment:
i. This formal portion of assessment will take place during the
evaluate portion of the learning task. Teacher will have
students describe at least two ways in which living organisms
interacted in the outdoor area they observed and write it in
their journals at the end of the learning task.
c. Summative Assessment:
i. This portion of the assessment will take place throughout the
whole learning task. Teacher will look at the observations and
descriptions recorded in students journals throughout the
whole learning task to assess student understanding.