DIRECT INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN GUIDE AND TEMPLATE

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Name: Jasmine Hughes
Lesson #:

Lesson Title: Our Impact to our Environment

Grade Level/Subject:
2nd grade/Social Studies
NCES/CCSS Standard and
Objective (1)

Revised Blooms level of

thinking/type of knowledge
(1)
Behavioral Objective (2)
Objective Rationale (1)

Topic: Human effect on the environment

Social Studies NCES: 2.G.2.2 Explain how people positively and negatively
affect the environment. The students will explain, in a writing assignment,
how they would change the ending of The Lorax, focusing on vocabulary
that was taught throughout the lesson.
Writing CCSS: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.1
Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are
writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use
linking words (e.g. Because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and
provide a concluding statement or section. The students will write an
opinion piece, explaining their alternative ending to The Lorax using
information from the book.
The blooms taxonomy that will be primarily addressed will be
understanding. Verbs such as tell, discuss, explain, and define in
your own words, will be used during the lesson. Questions such as can
you write in your own words..? and What you do you think could happen
next..? will be asked.
The students will be able to write an opinionated, alternate ending to The
Lorax using two character names, at least two newly learned vocabulary
terms, and three details from the story.
I am teaching this lesson so that the students learn how humans positively
and negatively affect the environment around them. They will learn about
natural resources and cause and effect.
This content will pertain to the students everyday lives. Reduce, reuse,
recycle, conservation, and polluting are topics that will be addressed in the
lesson and these are the things that we, as humans, can and will do every
day. Its important for students to know what harm they can do to the
environment when they negatively affect it.

Prerequisite Knowledge
and Skills (1)

Key Terms and Vocabulary

This lesson will also strengthen their writing skills as well as their opinion
writing by using details from a book.
Students should already know natural products that come from the
environment such as paper comes from trees. In first grade, they should have
been taught the essential standard 1.G.2.2: How people use natural resources
in the community. The students will also already know how to write and
spell some grade level words, to write an alternate ending.
The key terms and vocabulary that will be taught during this lesson is:
Revised for spring, 2012

(1)

natural resources, cause and effect, reduce, reuse, recycle, conserve,

pollution, deforestation
Content and Strategies
Instructional
Strategies
Focus/Review (prepares
Gather the class on the designated carpet area.
The
students for the lesson) (2)
Ask students what they know about things found in
whiteboard
the nature that we can use. Write those ideas on the
will be used
whiteboard for all the students to see. Then ask the
Reminding the
students how humans can use resources they find
students of
in the environment. Write those ideas on the
what they
whiteboard. This will help get the students thinking
learned in first
about their prior knowledge and what they will be
grade
learning from this lesson.
Activating
their prior
knowledge.
Objective as stated for
Today we will learn about how humans positively and negatively affect the
students (helps students set environment and write our own ending to a story. By the end of the lesson
their own goals for the
you will have learned what natural resources are and things you can do in
lesson) (1)
your everyday lives that will help protect the environment.
Teacher Input (provides the Explain to the students what a natural resource is.
Whiteboard
content to students in a
Write a couple natural resources on the whiteboard
will be used to
teacher-directed manner)
along with the products that come from those
write natural
(3)
resources, to get the students understanding what
resources/prod
the lesson is about. Examples of natural resources
ucts for all the
and products from those resources are: cow/milk,
students to see
sheep/wool, tree/paper, tree/fruit, and air/breath.
The students
Ask the students to come up with any other natural
will be
resources/products that they can think of; possibly
gathered on the
natural resources/product from their own cultures.
carpet so
Discuss examples and non-examples of natural
everyone can
resources/products.
hear and see
Modeling of
After the discussion of natural resources and how
what the
humans use the products from those resources, read
students will
the book The Lorax. If time allows, read the whole
be expected to
book. If time is short, skip around and read key
do during
pages from the story.
guided practice
and
After reading The Lorax, write on the board some
independent
natural resources that were mentioned in the book
work will be
and their products. Some examples are: truffula
done by the
trees/thneeds, truffula trees/fruit, pond/hummingteacher
fish. Then discuss how the Once-ler took these
Character
natural resources, turned them into products, and
names,
eventually ran out of truffula trees which led to
vocabulary
deforestation. Explain what cause and effect is and
terms, and
how it relates to what the Once-ler did. Then give a
details from
brief definition of deforestation and how it ties in
the story will
with the book (When too many trees are chopped
be written on
down for human use, and not replenished by
Revised for spring, 2012

planting seeds).

the board

Explain to the students how to positively do things

to help protect the environment such as reduce
(using less water/ less electricity), reuse (reuse
water bottles, paper), recycle (using recycling
bins), conserve (eat less food if rationing/ use less
paper towels), planting trees and food. Also explain
non examples such as pollution and waste.

Guided Practice (scaffolded

practice with the content;
helps students make sense
of the content provided in
Teacher Input) (3)

Throughout the lesson, monitor students

understandings by asking questions and answering
their questions. If students seem to be struggling,
write more examples on the whiteboard that are
natural resources/products. Use items that the
students can relate to because sheep/wool might be
hard to understand if they have never seen a sheep
or wool.
Think out loud, an alternate ending that could be
written that would use the character names, details,
and key vocabulary. Model to the students the
thought process and the key factors that they need
to use when they write their own alternate ending.
Write the character names, new vocabulary, and
details on the whiteboard for students to see and
use.
Character Names: Once-ler, Lorax
Vocabulary: natural resources, product,
cause and effect, reduce, conserve, recycle,
polluting, deforestation
Details: Trufulla seeds, trufulla fruit,
truffula trees, brown bar-ba-loots, thneed,
factories, humming-fish, super-ax-hacker
Tell the students to then turn and talk with a partner
to think of ideas that could be a positive alternate
ending to The Lorax, using the information on the
whiteboard.
Allow a few minutes for students to discuss with
one another. Walk around and visit each pair to
hear their ideas. This would be the time to have
small group discussions with students that might be
struggling either understanding the concept, or
what they are supposed to be doing.
Bring the class back together and have students
share their ideas with the class, this will allow for
more options that students could write about, once
Revised for spring, 2012

The teacher
will model and
then scaffold
what the
students need
to do.
Students will
take it upon
themselves to
facilitate
discussion with
their partner, to
talk about
alternate
endings
Ideas will be
shared aloud
so students can
hear different
ideas than their
own

they are on their own for the independent practice.

Independent Practice
(application activities to
help students use and
demonstrate what they have
learned) (2)

After the whole class discussion of alternate endings, explain to the students
that they will now go back to their seats, and write their own endings that
will be a positive alternative to the storys. They will have to use two
character names, at least two new vocabulary, and at least three details from
the story. The character names, vocabulary, and details will already be
written on the board from guided practice. Have students go back to their
seats and get out a piece of paper. Restate the directions and then write them
on the board for all students to see.
Once students have started writing, walk around the room and monitor the
students progress. Make sure students arent just retelling what happened in
the story, but writing their own opinion piece using information from the
story and the lesson that they learned. Answer any questions students may
have and address out loud any misconceptions that might arise that the
whole class could benefit from knowing.
The written pieces will be taken up and used for the summative assessment.

Closure (provides a wrapup for the lesson) (1)

Once all the students have finished writing their short, opinion pieces about
their alternate endings to The Lorax, collect all the papers and then have the
students return to the designated carpet area. Allow students to share their
alternative endings to the class.

Quickly go over all the key vocabulary and the key concepts. Explain that
the students have the ability to affect their communities and neighborhoods
in a positive way. That they need to keep in mind that what they do affects
the environment. Close the lesson by saying the last phrase from the book:
unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to
change, its just not.
Evaluation (How will you
Formative:
assess students learning so
The questions that were asked during focus & review, teacher input,
that you can determine if
and guided practice will be counted for the formative assessments.
they met the objective of the
As well as the monitoring done by the teacher during the students
lesson?) (2)
work.
Summative
The students wrote their own short, opinion pieces explaining their
alternate ending to The Lorax. They need to use two character
names, at least two vocabulary terms, and at least three details form
the book to have met the objective.
If the students use two character names, two vocabulary terms, and
three details from the book, they will have mastered the objective.
If the students use a mixture of character names, vocabulary terms,
and details but less than the objective states, then the students will
score developing and would not meet the objective.
If the student barely write anything involving the character names,
vocabulary terms, and details from the story, then the students will
score beginning and would not meet the objective.
Revised for spring, 2012

Plans for Individual

Differences (differentiations
needed for students) (1)

Materials used in the lesson;

Resources used in
developing the lesson (1)

21st Century Skills (must be

in three lessons)

Global Awareness (must be

in two lessons)

For struggling writers: pull a small group in the back and come up
with alternate endings together and have them write them out, the
best they can. As long as they include two characters, at least two
vocabulary terms, and at least three details from the story, they will
have met the objective.
For ELLs: Partner them with peers who are strong in peer teaching.
Or pair the ELLs up with students of their native language, to help
each other. Possibly write some of the terms on the board both in
English and their native language, so they can see how word looks in
both languages.
For students with special needs: Allow the students to retell the story
using two characters, at least two vocabulary terms, and at least three
details from the story, instead of writing it out. They can also draw
pictures if needed.
For students who finish early: Have them write an alternate
beginning of the story that could avoid the entire situation, have
them go into more detail for their endings, work with another peer to
exchange what they wrote, or read independently from their book
baggies.
Website: http://www.learnnc.org/?standards=Social_Studies-Grade_2--All_Standards
The Lorax: Seuss, D. (1971). The Lorax. New York: Random House.
Paper per student
Pencil per student
Whiteboard
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: exercise sound reasoning in
understanding. This will be addressed during guided practice when
students turn and talk by discussing their own alternate endings and
also by the students writing their own alternative endings.
Communication: Articulate thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively
through speaking and writing. This will be addressed during the
students independent work when writing their own alternative
endings to the story and using the needed amount of terms from the
story and lesson.
Initiative and Self Direction: Going beyond basic mastery of skills
and/or curriculum to explore and expand ones own learning and
opportunities to gain expertise. This will be addressed when students
who finish early, are pushed to elaborate their endings or create their
own beginnings.
Social and Cross-Cultural Skills: Bridging cultural differences and
using differing perspectives to increase innovation and the quality of
work. This will be addressed if ELLs are in the classroom and
natural resources/products are written in their language as well as
English. Or using natural resources from other cultures as well as
their products.
The students learned about deforestation during teacher input when
Revised for spring, 2012

Culturally Responsive
Teaching (must be in three
lessons)

reading the book, The Lorax. That term will be defined for the
students and be discussed using examples and non-examples.
The students will learn what pollution is and how it affects the wild
life living in ponds, when reading The Lorax during teacher input.
The students will learn what it means to reduce, reuse, recycle, and
conserve during teacher input from examples and discussions.
The students will learn what it means to take a natural resource and
turn it into a product that can be sold. This will be taught during the
reading of The Lorax during teacher input buy reading of the Onceler chopping down truffula trees (trees) and turning them into
thneeds (sellable objects).
Different cultures, depending on the classroom, can be met by the
natural resources/products that could be written on the whiteboard
that certain students could relate to, during teacher input.
The natural resources/products could also be written in certain ELLs
native languages, during focus & review, and teacher input.

Overall alignment in the lesson (2):

The behavioral objective must be aligned to the lesson objectives (NCES/CCSS).
The instructional activities must help students meet the behavioral objective and be successful on the
lesson assessment.
The lesson assessment must provide enough reliable and valid data so the teacher can determine if
each student has met the lesson objectives or not.
Add any instructional materials needed for the lesson here (worksheets, assessments, PowerPoints,
slides from SmartBoard programs, etc.) (2)
For this lesson, all I used was The Lorax book during teacher input, for my materials. Other than that,
I wrote ideas on the whiteboard using an expo marker, and the students used paper and pencils to
write their endings.

Revised for spring, 2012