Georgia Southwestern State University

Lesson Plan Guidelines

Early Childhood Department

Sections I and II address factors which influence lesson planning. Section III describes the interactive
presentation of lesson content. Section IV is the closing/summarizing of the lesson.

Section 1 Information that influences lesson content. For example: Basic information about the
teacher candidate, placement, and standard(s) to be covered.
Name

Mollie Roberts
Subject Area

Science/ English and Language Arts
Grade Level

5th Grade
CCGPS/GPS S5L4. Students will relate how microorganisms
benefit or harm larger organisms.
a. Identify beneficial microorganisms and explain
why they are beneficial.
b. Identify harmful microorganisms and explain
why they are harmful.

ELACC5W2: Write informative/explanatory texts to
examine a topic and convey ideas and information
clearly.
b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions,
concrete details, quotations, or other information
and examples related to the topic.

Section 2 A description of the learning objective, means of assessment, plans for differentiation, and
materials necessary for teaching the lesson.
Essential Question
or I Can Statement
What are examples of beneficial microorganisms?
What are examples of harmful microorganisms?
How do I write an informative text?
Lesson Objective Students will be able to distinguish between harmful and beneficial
microorganisms. If given a definition of what a microorganism does, students will
be able to sort them into appropriate place. They will also be able to tell me why
these microorganisms are harmful or beneficial in an expository essay.
Assessment While students participate in guided practice I will be walking around the room
monitoring understanding. On my clipboard with the students names on them I
will put a check beside the students names that seem to be catching on. Once
students seem to be ready to move on to independent practice I will take it up
and grade it. However the grade will not go into the grade book. This grade is
specifically for me to check their current understanding of beneficial and harmful
microorganisms.
Differentiation
a. Interventio
n
b. Enrichment
A. For intervention while other students are stating their advanced expository
essays I will review the guided practice game more one on one. I will help explain
to each student why each microorganism is beneficial or harmful. I will also have
students play this interactive game.
(http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/microorganisms.html) After I
feel that each student is ready to move on to the expository essay I will give them
the pillar that is more intermediate that has clues.
B. For enrichment while the other students are with me getting extra help, I will
have them start on their advanced expository pillar that has minimum clues to
help guide them along. These students will also play a little bit harder interactive
game.
(http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/science/micr
oorganisms/micro-organisms/ )
Materials Microorganism Playing Cards
Harmful/ Beneficial Labels
Intermediate/ Advanced Expository Pillar
Both Expository Leads Worksheets (Independent practice)
Microorganism Worksheet (Independent practice)


Resources Teachers Pay Teachers
Monster Wrangler Mike
Microorganisms: Harmful or Beneficial?





Section 3 (opening/work session)
Opening to include the following elements: (These components may be combined, depending
on lesson content. This section should be brief but thorough.)

Gain attention Good morning students! It's time to start our
science lesson on microorganisms! One thing I
want us to think about during this lesson is
whether microorganisms are helpful or harmful.
Have Students listen and watch voice thread to
introduce microorganisms and spark their interest.
https://voicethread.com/share/5760756/
State behavior expectations During the lesson I want everyone's eyes on me
and ears eager to hear what I have to say. If
everyone does this then we will play a fun game
after the lesson!
Prior Knowledge We have all been sick with a virus of some sort.
Some of us have even gotten sick from food that
had been left out to long. We have all pulled out a
slice of bread just to find out that there is mold on
it.
Lesson Objective Today, we will explore all the different
microorganisms. Some of them can make us very
sick. Surprisingly some can be very beneficial and
have saved millions of lives. How could something
that seems so nasty like mold help us in any way?
During today's lesson we will answer that question
and many more!

Work Session (These components involve clear presentation of the lesson objective, followed
by practice, using gradual release of responsibility (scaffolding of instruction). Differentiation
of the lesson presentation and/or practice activities should be indicated.

Instruction If you can only see a living thing with a
microscope, that means it is a microorganism.
They are found everywhere! Some of them, like
yeast are helpful. And some of them are harmful
and disease causing, like some bacteria.
Microorganisms are very tiny living things.
Microorganisms are all around us, in the air, in our
bodies and in water. Some microorganisms are
harmful to us, but others are helpful to us.
There are four types of microorganism:
protist
viruses
bacteria (Students will watch video about
bacteria made on movie maker)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC7tLjLZ8
Js0)
fungi
Microorganisms that cause diseases are often
called germs. Some diseases, like chickenpox, are
caused by viruses. Diseases caused by viruses
usually spread easily from one person to another.
Uncooked foods can contain bacteria. The bacteria
are killed when the food is cooked properly. But if
you eat food that has not been cooked properly, the
bacteria may survive and make you feel very ill.
Bacteria left in your mouth by not brushing your
teeth properly can cause a tooth infection.
Some examples of useful microorganisms are
when bread is made. A microorganisms
called yeast is added to the dough to make the
bread rise. Yogurt is made by boiling milk and
adding special bacteria to it. Cheese is also made
by bacteria. Inside a pile of dead leaves are
millions of tiny bacteria. These bacteria feed on
the leaves and break them down into nutrients.
Algae is a protist that produces the majority of the
oxygen me and you breath. Mold on bread
produces a drug that doctors use to help heal
people. This drug is called penicillin.
As you can see microorganisms can be very
beneficial and also harmful. We need them in our
lives just like we need air to breath.

Guided Instruction Students will play attached game with cards that
describe different microorganisms and what they do.
Students must place the cards under the proper
heading. Either beneficial or harmful. While students
are doing this I will be walking around the room
correcting mistakes and explain why each card goes in
the designated area. After the game students will
either get a expository essay that is advanced that
offers no clues or will get the one that is more
intermediate that has scaffolding clues. Their
comprehension of the game will decide which
expository essay pillar they will receive.
Independent Practice Students will complete a worksheet with 26 different
questions about microorganisms. They must either
write H or B. H standing for harmful and B standing for
beneficial. Students will turn this in and I will grade it.
However this grade will not go into the grade book.
This is just for me to see their level of understanding
on the subject. Next students will look at example
leads for expository essays and describe what tactic
the author used in the introductory paragraph. For
example did the author use an amazing or unusual
fact, or a statistic. After students tell what lead the
author used in each case they will then write their own
based on microorganisms.




Section 4 Summarizer This section provides a summary of the days lesson, as well as connecting
the lesson to future learning.
Review Today we learned about the four different microorganisms. We also learned that
they can all be beneficial and harmful. Without them we could not survive.
As a class we will play an interactive game on the smart board.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/science/living_things/microorganisms/play/
Preview Tomorrow we will create either a wanted poster or a hero poster about a
microorganism. We will tell why our microorganism is beneficial or harmful and
give a brief description about its life. Tonight I want each of you to come up with a
creative name for your villain or hero.