Developmental Lesson Plan

All equal
Teacher Candidate: Nicole Tener, Devyn Grube, Leslie Montero Date: 9/19/18

Group Size: 22 students Allotted Time: 45 minutes Grade Level: 3

Subject or Topic: Environment and Ecology: Lesson 1

Common Core/PA Standards:

Standard Area - 4.1: Ecology
Standard - 4.1.3.E
Identify changes in the environment over time
Standard - 3.1.3.A1
Describe characteristics of living things that help to identify and classify them.

Learning Targets/Objectives:

The students will be able to define the several different ecosystems by choosing an ecosystem
and creating poster that includes pictures of the plants and animals that are found in that
ecosystem.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. The students will fill out an inquiry
sheet about the different ecosystems.
2. In a small group, students will create
a poster on an ecosystem to show their
knowledge on one specific ecosystem.
1. The teacher will collect the inquiry sheets
and review them, checking off if the
students understand the content.
2. The teacher will create a rubric

Assessment Scale:
5 - Proficient
3-4 - Basic Understanding
2 or below - Needs more information/facts
Subject Matter/Content:
Prerequisites: The students will know the difference between nonliving and living organisms in
their ecosystem.
The students will gain knowledge about each of the different ecosystems.

Key Vocabulary:
● Ecosystems: An ecosystem is a large community of living organisms (plants,
animals and microbes) in a particular area
● Habitat: A habitat is a place that an animal lives. It provides the animal with food,
water and shelter
● Biomes: A biome is a large region of Earth that has a certain climate and certain
types of living things
● Biotic: The living things in an ecosystem
● Abiotic: The nonliving parts of an ecosystem
● Community: a natural group (as of kinds of plants and animals) living together
and depending on one another for various necessities of life (as food or shelter)
● Population: a group of people or animals living in a certain place

Content/Facts:
● Ecosystems examples:
○ Desert
○ Forest
○ Wetlands
○ Caves
○ Swamp
○ River
○ Rainforest
○ Shoreline
○ Coral reefs
○ Tundra
○ Freshwater
○ Grassland
○ Terrestrial
○ Woodlands
○ Pennsylvania ecosystem is the deciduous forest
● Habitat examples:
○ Grasslands
○ Temperate forest
○ Tropical rainforest
○ Desert
○ Polar ice
○ Tidepools
 ● Biome examples:
○ Forest
○ Grassland
○ Freshwater
○ Marine
○ Desert
○ Tundra

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
● The teacher will place pictures of different ecosystems on the rug.
● Teacher: “Good morning! I would like everyone to bring their pencil and clipboard with
the attached paper (inquiry sheet) to the rug. Please sit on any one of the pictures on the
rug”.
● Once the students have taken a seat on a picture, the teacher will ask questions about
what the students see in their picture they chose to sit on.
● After this discussion, teacher: “Today, we will be learning about ecosystems and the
different living and nonliving organisms that populate them”.
● Teacher: “As we watch these short videos, I want you all to pay close attention and
answer the following question on your inquiry sheet that is attached to your clipboards”.
● *Teacher will read the questions before starting the video*
○ “What is the definition of an ecosystem?”
○ “Give an example of an ecosystem”
○ “List two things you can find in an ecosystem”
○ Teacher: “Does anyone have any questions?”
● *Teacher plays videos*
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr_U1P7XwhI
○ https://happylearning.tv/en/ecosystems/
● As the videos are playing, the teacher will walk around the rug to make sure students are
filling out their inquiry sheets, making notes in the gradebook.
 ● Teacher will pause the videos if students have any questions.

Development/Teaching Approaches
● After the videos, the teacher will give students two more minutes to finish their inquiry
sheets.
● Teacher: “Once, you are all done answering the questions on your inquiry sheet, please
return to your desks.”
● Teacher will review, go over, and discuss the inquiry sheet with students, answering any
questions.
● After this discussion, the teacher will separate the students into six groups of three and
one group of four.
● Teacher: “Now that we all have a basic understanding of the different ecosystems, we
are going to work in small groups to do research on a specific ecosystem and the living
and nonliving things that make up that ecosystem”.
● *Teacher will pass out the rubric*
● *Teacher will go over the rubric with the students*
● Teacher: “Each group will create one poster that includes;
○ The definition of an ecosystem in your own words
○ Include pictures and labels of animals and plants
○ Include other examples found in the ecosystem
○ Include interesting/important facts about the ecosystem
● Teacher: To find this information you will be looking through books I found in the school
library, along with doing research on the Ipads”.
● Teacher: “You may begin”.
● Students will begin working with their small group on their posters.
● Teacher: “If your group finishes early, you may quietly work on a wordsearch on
ecosystems from my desk.”
 ● Teacher will walk around the room and monitor the work that each group is doing and
allow them to ask questions.
● While walking around the room, the teacher will ask inquiry based questions about each
of the groups’ ecosystem to ensure they are finding correct, appropriate content on their
ecosystem.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
● Teacher gives a five minute warning* Teacher: “This is your five minute warning to put
final touches onto your posters!” *Teacher sets a timer for five minutes*
● After five minutes the timer will buzz, getting the students attention.
● Teacher: “I need everyone to stop and freeze”
● Teacher: “Whoever is the tallest in the group, please take your groups poster to the back
of the room and place the posters in a line then return to you group.”
● Teacher: “We are going to be doing a gallery walk”.
● Teacher: “As a class we will walk through the line of posters, read the information, and
look at the posters your peers made”.
● Teacher: “Don’t forget to take your inquiry sheet and a pencil with you, we will be taking
notes on the back of the sheet about the different ecosystems that you see.”
● Teacher: The gallery walk will last for ten minutes *Sets timer*
● As the students are doing the gallery walk, teacher: “When you finish going through and
seeing each of the posters, please place your inquiry sheets in a pile on the front table
and return to your seat”.
● *Teacher and students will have a discussion about what they learned from the posters*
● Teacher “I will be looking through your work later today and returning your inquiry sheets
to you tomorrow so you have something to refer back to”.
● Teacher: “I will also be hanging up each of the posters that your groups made, you can
use these to refer back to as well”.

Accommodations/Differentiation:
● Student J group will work near the teachers desk to avoid distraction from windows and
doors.
● Teacher will also be making sure student J is involved in the creation of the poster and
the sharing of ideas with his group members.
● Teacher will make sure student J is on task and helping his group members.
 Materials/Resources:
● Laminated pictures of different ecosystems for the rug
● Scissors
● Markers, Crayons
● Inquiry worksheet (22)
● Posters (7)
● Collection of books about each of the ecosystems for research
● Ipads
Resources:
Baker, L. (1993). Life in the rainforests. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Burton, J., & Taylor, B. (1992). Coral reef. New York: Dorling Kindersley.
Collard, S. B., & Rothman, M. (2000). Forest in the clouds. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Ganeri, A. (2014). Exploring deserts: A Benjamin Blog and his inquisitive dog investigation.
Chicago, IL: Capstone Heinemann Library.
Greenaway, F., & Taylor, B. (1992). Pond life. New York: Dorling Kindersley.
Greenaway, T., Burton, J., & Taylor, K. (1993). Swamp life. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Guiberson, B. Z., & Jenkins, S. (2015). Rain, rain, rain forest. New York: Square Fish.
Gunzi, C., & Greenaway, F. I. (1994). Cave Life: A close-Up look at the Natural world of a cave.
NY: DK.
Schaefer, A., & Preston-gannon, F. (2016). Because of an acorn. Chronicle Books.
Taylor, B. (1992). Desert Life: A close-up look at the natural world of a desert. Photos by Frank
Greenaway. New York: Dorling Kindersley.
Taylor, B., & Greenaway, F. (1992). River life. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Taylor, B., Taylor, K., & Burton, J. (1993). Forest life. New York: Dorling Kindersley.
Taylor, B., & Greenaway, F. (1993). Shoreline. London: Dorling Kindersley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr_U1P7XwhI
https://happylearning.tv/en/ecosystems/
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ecosystem-Word-Search-2371707

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels
● 18 out of 22 students showed proficient work on their inquiry sheets
● 20 out of 22 students received a 5 on their poster

Remediation Plan (if applicable)

N/A

Personal Reflection Questions

1. How was the overall all pacing of the lesson? Was it too fast, too slow, or just right?
2. Was the class able to recall the information that was presented in the lesson in the
assessment?
 Additional reflection/thoughts

Ecosystem Inquiry Sheet

Name:

1. In your own words, define an ecosystem

2. Give an example of an ecosystem

3. Give an example of living thing

 4. Give an example of a nonliving thing

Ecosystem Poster Rubric

Names:

● Poster contains a well thought out

5 definition of an ecosystem
● Includes many pictures and labels
● Includes other examples that are
found in the ecosystem
● Includes 3-4 interesting/important
facts
● Creative

● Poster contains a definition of an

3-4 ecosystem
● Includes some pictures and labels
● Includes some other examples that
are found in the ecosystem
● Includes 1-2 interesting/important
facts
● Creative

● Poster contains a short definition of an

2 or Below ecosystem
● Includes 1 or less pictures and labels
● Includes some or no other examples
 that are found in the ecosystem
● Includes 1 or less
interesting/important facts