EdTPA Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Introduction to Ecosystems and Biomes

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Central Focus/Big Idea​: Students will be introduced to ecosystems and biomes.

Subject of this lesson: E

​ cosystems; biomes

Grade Level​: Fourth Grade

NC Essential Standard(s)​: 4.L.1.1 - Give examples of changes in an organism’s environment that are
beneficial to it and some that are harmful.

Next Generation Science Standard(s)​:​ ​MS-ESS2 - Construct an explanation based on evidence for
how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

21​st​ Century Skills:​ Students will develop, practice, and demonstrate environmental literacy and
reasoning as well as ecosystems understanding.

Academic Language Demand

· Students will understand and summarize what an ecosystem is, the various biomes we encounter on
earth, and the positive and/or negative effects of changes in an organism’s environment.

Analyze Argue Categorize Compare/contrast Describe Explain

Interpret Predict Question Retell Summarize

· Scientific Vocabulary: Ecosystem, Biome, Biotic, Abiotic, aquatic, tundra, forest, desert,
grassland, carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore.

Instructional Objective​: Working individually in their table groups, students will develop, practice,
and demonstrate environmental literacy and reasoning as well as an understanding of ecosystems and
biomes, through summarizing what the different biomes are like and describing the kind of animals that
live there on a foldable. Students will be evaluated by a four-question exit ticket at the conclusion of
the lesson. Students receiving at least 3 out of 4 on their exit ticket (75%) will have met the lesson
objective.

Prior Knowledge​ (student): Students will need to possess an ability to take comprehensive, detailed
notes, be able to summarize information accurately, and understand that there are various environments
encountered around the world and that different organisms live in these environments.
Content Knowledge​ (teacher): Teacher must be well-versed in and able to explain the following terms
and concepts and terms: Ecosystem, Biome, Biotic, Abiotic, aquatic, tundra, forest, desert, grassland,
freshwater, marine, boreal, temperate, tropical, deciduous, carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore.

Accommodations for special needs​ Students in this classroom are ability grouped. Students at lower
levels will be sitting close to the teacher for access to additional support. Foldables will be pre-cut. A
variety of visual supports will be provided during the instructional time to provide ELL students with
extra contextual clues, as well as to make the instructional time most engaging and beneficial for the
entire class.

Materials and Technology requirements​: SmartBoard, paper, pencils, colored pencils, Google Slides,
white board, white board markers.

Google Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Sljwf6hu7UD_2DQ3y3NI78yQl6d0-zoZUH3WV-ZoB7k/edit
?usp=sharing

Total Estimated Time​: 30 minutes

Source of lesson: N
​ /A

Safety considerations:​ Students will be working safely inside the classroom; foldables will be pre-cut.

Content and Strategies (Procedure)

Engage​: To spark student interest, our lesson will begin with the creation of a K-W-L chart. Students
will be asked what they think an ecosystem is, this will go under the “K” category, what do students
know. T​ eacher will facilitate a discussion based off of the hypotheses that students present.

Explore​:

“Introduction to Biomes:” ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIy0ZlyPPD

As students watch the video, they will be instructed to think about questions that are coming to mind
regarding ecosystems. At the conclusion of the short video, the teacher will ask 2-3 students what they
want ​to learn about ecosystems, the “W” featured on the chart. What questions does this video give
you? What exactly is a biome? How many are there?

Explanation​:

Key Terms:
1) Ecosystem: An ecosystem includes all of the living organisms in a specific area; these systems are
the plants and animals interacting with their nonliving environments (weather, Earth, Sun, soil,
atmosphere).
2) Biome: A large area of earth that has a certain climate, environment, and type of living things.

By these definitions, you might be wondering what the difference between and ecosystem and a biome
really are. An ​ecosystem​ includes all of the biotic and abiotic factors that are found in a given
environment. A ​biome​, however, is actually a collection of different ecosystems which share similar
climate conditions. For example, a pond is an ecosystem and ponds can be found in many biomes!
North Carolina is considered a deciduous forest biome, but there are many ecosystems within it,
including ponds and lakes. (Deciduous forest means that the trees seasonally shed their leaves.)

An important thing to note is that ecosystems are made up of living and nonliving things. These living
and nonliving things have special names: biotic factors and abiotic factors. These living and nonliving
things can be found in biomes!

Key Terms:
1) Biotic factor: a living thing
2) Abiotic factor: a nonliving thing

Now, let’s talk about the five major biomes we find on earth.

1. Aquatic: he areas of ocean and other water bodies which have similar climatic condition on the
Earth (marine and freshwater)
2. Tundra: a treeless plain especially of arctic regions having a permanently frozen layer below
the surface soil
3. Forest: There are really several types of forest biomes. For example, the rainforest is a forest
biome and so is the deciduous forest biome, like we have in North Carolina. However, these
biomes are clearly different.
4. Desert: a region so dry due to little rainfall that it cannot support many types of vegetation or
any at all. It takes a special animal to be able to live in the desert!
5. Grassland: land that is dominated by tall grasses, such as with a prairie.

Every species of animal has some role in our ecosystems. For example, without bees, there would be
no insect that would carry pollen to different plants the way that bees do! Animals help to balance the
environments around us. One way that animals do this is through what they eat.

Key Terms:
1) Carnivore: an organism that eats only other organisms (meat.)
2) Herbivore: an organism that eats only vegetation (plants.)
3) Omnivore: an organism that eats both other organisms and vegetation.
Certain species of both plants and animals can become so prominent that they can actually be harmful
to the environment. Sometimes a certain population of animals, deer for example, can grow so quickly
in population that there are not enough resources for all of the deer to survive. Without predators to eat
some of the deer, the deer would suffer and die of starvation.

Fill in the “L” on the K-W-L chart.

Elaborate​: Students will create a foldable to summarize and depict the 5 major biomes, as well as
define what an ecosystem is and how ecosystems relate to biomes and affect the organisms that live
within them.
Students should write the definition of “ecosystem” on top of their foldable. The foldable should have
5 tabs, one tab per biome (aquatic, desert, forest, grassland and tundra.) The front of the tab should be
labeled and colored to depict the biome represented and behind the tab should be a summary of the
biome with examples of organisms that thrive there. Five major biomes: aquatic, tundra, forest, desert,
and grassland.

Evaluate​: Students will complete a formative assessment in the form of an exit ticket. The exit ticket
questions will be provided on display through Google Slides. On a blank sheet of paper, students will
be instructed to write their names on top and answer the four exit ticket questions, which will go as
follows:

1) Name the 5 major biomes.

2) What is an ecosystem? Give me one example.
3) What is a biotic factor?
4) What is an abiotic factor?

To be complete after the lesson is taught as appropriate

Assessment Results of all objectives/skills​: Out of the 26 students assessed by the exit ticket, student
assessment results are as follows:

11 students received 4 out of 4 on their exit ticket.

10 students received 3 out of 4 on their exit ticket.
2 students received 2 out of 4 on their exit ticket.
3 students received 1 out of 4 on their exit ticket.

Reflection on lesson​:

Feedback I received: ​You started off by doing a KWL chart with the students. I liked this technique. It
is not something that I do formally on the board as much, but more that we discuss. I think that putting
it on the board can help though so students have seen what has been said. The video was good and
made the students begin to think about what the topic you are going to go over is. Way to enforce the
classroom expectations as you reiterated the expectations and held students to them. This made it so
students really stayed focus on the lesson. I liked that the slideshow. I thought it was well put together.
Students had a hard time not calling out, but you very quickly re-directed them and put the focus back
on what the lesson was all about. I like how you kept the lesson moving.

I thought that this lesson went really well, and I was pleased to see that this was supported by the
feedback received and shared above. Students remained engaged throughout the topic and I felt that
the slideshow I created helped to support the concepts being addressed. The foldables went fabulously.
Students created them during the allotted time and were excited to share them with others throughout
the remainder of the day. Students did well on their exit tickets, with most students receiving at least ¾
points, most receiving 4/4. Students asked excellent questions during the lesson and demonstrated
understanding in their responses. One thing I would do differently next time, is think about seating for
the short video played during the lesson. Some students could not see very well from their seats and
had to be moving around during instructional time. In the future, I would have all students gather on
the carpet and reinforce that everyone’s attention should be on the video and not on their neighbor or on
being on the carpet.

CT signature/confirmation: _______________​N/A​__________________ Date: ________________