EdTPA Lesson Plan Format, Grades 1 6

Fordham University Graduate School of Education

WHATS WILD?

CONTEXT &
DEMOGRAPHICS

EXPLANATION
Whats Wild will be facilitated to kick off the Animal Diversity unit. The key objectives of the lesson is to aid
students in defining the concept of wildlife and to distinguish between domesticated and wild animals. The
objectives of the lesson align with the New York City Department of Education K-5 Scope and Sequence key
ideas and science standards. This lesson will be used as an informal assessment to gauge student knowledge
of / familiarity with different animals. Student participation in Animal Charades will inform and guide the
teachers engagement and support of students throughout the unit.
Animal Diversity is planned for a 1st grade class of 25 students, in a New York City Department of
Education Public School located in a middle to low-income community. Six children in the class have an
individual education plan (IEP) and receive services for speech therapy, occupational therapy, and guidance
counseling. There are no English Language Learners in the class, and student reading levels range between B
and H.

CENTRAL FOCUS or
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
LEARNING TARGETS &
ASSESSMENTS
(AIM / OBJECTIVE)

Can you tell what animals are wild and what animals are domesticated?
Students will be able to accurately categorize a variety of wild and domesticated/tame animals and verbally
explain why (at least) one animal is wild and one animal is domesticated/tame.
Students will be able to discuss features that make wild animals versus domesticated animals different.
One target for academic language is for students to understand what it means for two things to be different
and some key differences between domesticated and tame animals, such as habitat, adaptation, and survival.
Pre-assessment will have be conducted in previous days activities including the Animal Charades simulation
and daily Read Aloud. The objectives of this lesson are observable and measurable, as it will provide
information on the students understanding both verbally and with a formal activity.
Observations of students when they are working on their poster and their feedback will be a gateway point
for understanding. If there are students who do not understand the difference between wild and domestic
animals they will be retaught in a mini-lesson.

NYS or NYC Common

Core STANDARDS

Key Ideas:
LE. Key Idea 1: Living things are both similar to and different from each other and from nonliving things.
LE. Key Idea 2: Individual organisms and species change over time.
LE. Key Idea 4: The continuity of life is sustained through reproduction and development.
NYC Science Standards:
-

Each animal has different structures structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and
- reproduction.
In order to survive in their environment, plants and animals must be adapted to that environment.
Each kind of animal goes through its own stages of growth and development during its life span.

Academic Language

Directional:
-

informational poster: a poster that provides the person who views it with some facts or information
about a topic

Content Specific:
-

animal: a living organism (thing) other than a plant

wildlife: animals that live in a natural state, providing their own food, shelter and other need in a
suitable habitat

domesticated animal: domesticated animals are those that humans have kept in captivity and bred
for special purposes

Language Function:
GROUPING

categorize: place in a particular group

Students will receive their instructions as a whole group. - 5 minutes.

They will then collect their materials and return to their seats where they will work independently in
completing their Wild v. Domesticated Animals Poster independently. - 35 minutes

PRIOR ACADEMIC
LEARNING AND
PREREQUISTE SKILLS

Students should know what animals are wild and what animals are domesticated, following a weeks worth
of study through science-related read alouds, lessons, and activities.
This lesson will be used to reinforce the differences between wild and domestic animals, and will serve as an
assessment of the knowledge students have gained during the science-related read alouds, lessons, and
activities throughout the week.

MATERIALS
/RESOURCES

The materials needed for this lesson are:

-

INSTRUCTIONAL
SEQUENCE

pictures of wild and domesticated/tame animals from magazines, or printed from the internet
legal size paper (11x14)
markers
scissors
glue

Motivation or Hook
Teacher will have students come to the run to receive instructions.
T: Today you will each be creating a poster that you can use to teach our Pre-K schoolmates about what
animals are wild and what animals are domesticated/tame.
Procedures
Teacher: Ok. Im going to call you one by one to come and get a poster paper and a baggie of animal images.
You will observe them for and think about if they are wild or domesticated/tame.
Be sure to think carefully how you categorize the animals, so you dont confuse our Pre-K friends when you
teach them. Take a quick look at the one I made so you can see how to create yours. You can cut out your
animals and past them in the appropriate column. It is very important that you do not peak at your friends.
They could be making mistakes, so be sure to do your own work. When you are finished, you can color in the
letters in the headings at the top.
Teachers calls 5 students to go first and put scissors, glue and crayons on each table. Then calls students one
by one to collect their poster paper and baggie.

Rev. 11/2015 Moliterno/Caballero/Huber

As students work teach walks around observing them, and asking them to provide feedback as to how they
determined if an animal was wild or domesticated/tame. Students responses will be recorded onto a post it,
and placed on the back of their poster.
When individual students have finished their poster they will continue to read one of their non-fiction animal
books until the entire class has finished their work.
**Students can chat quietly while they work, as long as they are not giving hints or tips.**
Closing
When the entire class has completed their poster, students will return to the carpet to close the activity. The
teacher will ask one or two additional comprehension questions, such as:
How did you determine if the animal you had was a wild or domesticated/tame animal?
Are there any additional characteristic or situations we should think about when categorizing an animal?
.f/u Why should we consider *_______?
MODIFICATIONS FOR
DIVERSE LEARNERS

Struggling readers will be given support to read the post-it selected, using decoding strategies. The classroom
para will provide additional support to the six students with IEPs throughout the lesson, should they require
it.

FOLLOW-UP &
STUDENT WORK
SAMPLES

This lesson will be used to reinforce the differences between wild and domestic animals, and will serve as an
assessment of the knowledge students have gained during the science-related read alouds, lessons, and
activities throughout the week. Additionally, this will lesson will serve as a gateway to introduce students to
the second portion of the unit, an in-depth look at three species of wild bears.
The students posters we be copied and their verbal explanations of which animals are wild and which are
domesticated/tamed will be recorded and kept as a student sample.

FORMAL ASSESSMENT
& STUDENT VOICE

The content of this lesson will be formally assessed. The activity will be set up so that each student has 12
animals to categorize, and their final determinations will be scored for comprehension. Students ability to do
this and explain why (at least) one animal is wild and one is domesticated will identify if they have met the
learning targets.
Student scores on accurate categorization of the animals will be analyzed for the mean score of the class.

TEACHER
SELF-ASSESSMENT

Teacher self-assessment to be completed following the lesson.

Anticipated issues:
-

students do not bring in pictures to use (have a at least a few dozen on hand for students to use)
students still do not understand the difference between wild and domesticated animals and thus
struggle to complete the activity.

Rev. 11/2015 Moliterno/Caballero/Huber