EDUC 474 LESSON PLAN

Candidate Name:
Ashley Miller
Brianne Champion
Cindy Rich
Lauren Lopez

Date:
4/20/15

Lesson Title: Now You See Me, Now You Dont

Grade Level:
3rd

Type of Lesson:
Inquiry
Content Area:
Science
Content Standard:
3-LS4-2 Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in
characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in
surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.
[Clarification Statement: Examples of cause and effect relationships could be plants
that have larger thorns than other plants may be less likely to be eaten by predators;
and, animals that have better camouflage coloration than other animals may be more
likely to survive and therefore more likely to leave offspring.]
ELD Standard:
Collaborative-Emerging-Offering Opinions:
3. Offer opinions and negotiate with others in conversations using basic learned phrases
(e.g., I think) as well as responses in order to gain and/or hold the floor
Lesson Objective:
All students will be able to create a habitat for a selected animal and explain how that
animal uses its environment to protect itself from predators in order to survive.
Driving Question:
How can we, as Scientists, discover how animals use their environments to protect
themselves from predators?
Assessment Plan (formative & summative):
Formative Assessment:
During the Jot Thoughts activity, the teacher is able to assess what the students
already know about survival and what kinds of dangers animals face.
Quick Write in student journals
Summative Assessment: .
Animal Camouflage Project: Can students create a habitat that camouflages their
chosen animal and its characteristics?

Science Weekly Article that will be added to the classroom periodical.

Assessment Accommodations (formative & summative, per focus student):

Focus Student #1: English Learner
Formative Assessment:
Words on Tally Chart are color coded
Quick write in primary language or given orally.
Summative Assessment:
Modifying Science Weekly Article to include sentence frames to assist in their
writing. This habitat will help the _______ (animals name) survive from
predators because _________.
Focus Student #2: ADHD Student:
Formative Assessment:
Allow dictation: someone else writing responses
Summative Assessment:
Reduce auditory distractions by providing noise cancelling headphones
Break article response for their Science Weekly Article into a 2 day period.
INTO (intro event or hook, driving question)

Begin lesson by showing students 2 YouTube videos: a picture file that shows 25
pictures of camouflaged animals (https://youtu.be/XpdoDBYuHIA) and a video
of an octopus in action (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDTtkZlMwM) to
engage students
Jot Thoughts: With a partner, students will answer, What are some dangers that
animals face? So that students are able to tap into prior knowledge. Teacher will
then call on a few students to share what their partner said.
Introduce the make believe animals that we will be using in this lesson:
o Ferocious Fly: Black paper
o Slimy Salamander: Green paper
o Fuzzy Flipper Fish: Yellow Paper
o Silver Spiny Shrimp: Orange Paper

Driving Question:
How can we, as scientists, discover how animals use their environments to protect
themselves from predators?

THROUGH (cycle of inquiry, formative assessment/checking for understanding)

Students will be put into groups of 4. Each group will be given 4 different pieces
of colored paper.
o Teacher poses question: Based on the colors in front of you, make a
hypothesis about which color will show up the most. Students will record
their hypothesis in their Science Journals.
Pair Share: students will share their predictions with their group.

Introduce Predator-Prey Activity, where students will begin gathering their data:
o Students will be assigned the role of a Six-Legged Swamp Beast. The
whole group will have 30 seconds to go outside and collect as many of the
colored papers as they can find. These colors will represent the different
types of prey.
Students will return to their groups, where they will assess their gathered data by
tallying the amount of colors found on a chart provided. Students will discuss the
data as a group.
Each individual group will add their data findings to a class bar graph
As a whole class, students will discuss the overall findings
Quick Write: students will return to their science journals and answer the
following questions in paragraph form:
o Was your hypothesis correct? Explain
o What color showed up the most/least? Why?
o Include 3 things you learned
o 2 interesting things you discovered
o 1 question you still have
Formative Assessment: Quick write in student journal

BEYOND (application or presentation of learning, summative assessment)

Students will select a plastic animal and use the various materials provided to
create a camouflage habitat for it (paper, fabric, multi-colored leaves, rocks,
etc.). They will use a large piece of construction paper as their background.
Once students have created a habitat for their chosen animal, they will document
their work on a Science Weekly Article form. Here they will use evidence to
explain how the environment in the habitat and the animals characteristics work
together to help it survive against predators.
The completed Science Weekly Article, along with a picture of each students
created habitat, will be reported in a cumulative Classroom Science Periodical.

*Subsequent lesson would involve students making the connection between an

animals ability to camouflage in order to survive and how this affects its ability to
reproduce and strengthen its species livelihood.