Melanie Southard 5/29/2018

Stage 3 – Plan Learning Experiences

1. Read “Are You My Mother” by Dr. Seuss and ask students how they know their
parents are their parents. What ways can we tell the people who are in our family
apart from people who are not? Does this apply to all living things or just
humans? H
2. Introduce essential questions and understandings to the class in order to give
them a sense of where the unit is heading and what they will be exploring over
the next few weeks. W
3. Introduce the 3 unit PBEs to the class, giving an overview of each of the projects
and how they will be used to assess their learning. W
4. Students will participate in a picture walk around the classroom. Pictures will
include combinations of parents and offspring of different animals and plants.
They will note observations of what is the same of different in each parent. After
10 minutes, the class will come back for a whole group discussion about what
they noticed. E
5. Ask students what traits are to come up with a class definition. Make an anchor
chart of lists of traits they think apply to the definition the class created. E
6. Start another anchor chart categorizing the responses from 5 into different
categories. Allow discussion to naturally come to the distinction between what an
inherited trait is and what an acquired trait is (behaviors). Once we have made
this distinction, redefine our definition of traits and make a final chart of the
definitions of the different traits and examples of them. E
7. Students will get into pairs and do a hereditary sort that allows them to apply their
knowledge of inherited and learned traits. Teacher will walk around making
anecdotal records of student’s understanding E
8. Once sort is finished, the students will go back to their seat and use their green,
yellow, red, cards to assess their understanding of the content learned and they
will answer the question of the day as an exit ticket: In your own words, what is a
trait? R
9. Question of the day exit ticket: Explain 2 new things you learned today. E, R
10. Students will participate in a Think Pair Share to review content of inherited and
acquired traits. E
11. Students will be given a Venn diagram where they will exhibit their knowledge of
acquired and inherited traits as a form of other evidence into student learning. E
12. Menu Time (45 Minutes). E
13. Students will update their Popsicle sticks in the I’m Feeling Cups. E2
14. Question of the day exit ticket: Which scoot card left the biggest impression on
you and why? E, R
15. Read aloud book My Family Tree and Me by Dusan Petricic. Ask discussion
questions such as what do you know about the traits of the family members?
Which are the same? Which are different? Do you look like your own family?
How is this possible? Be sure to point out specific traits that are passed down
from parents to offspring in humans but also in plants and animals. E
16. Remind students to update GYR cards. R
17. Introduce Inheritance in Plants Poster. As a class students will brainstorm
characteristics of 2 different plants. Each of these characteristics will be
Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd.ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Melanie Southard 5/29/2018

duplicated onto strips and put into a bag. Each student will draw several cards
that will determine the traits of the flowers. They will then draw their plant and
attach a paragraph response as to why their plant looks the way that it does as
well as any acquired traits it might have obtained throughout its life. Posters will
be hung outside the classroom. E
18. Menu Time (20 Minutes) E
19. Question of the day exit ticket: Why do offspring look like their parents? How
comfortable do you feel with this material? E, R
20. Administer Quiz 1: The students will take a quiz of multiple choice and short
answer questions about traits being passed to offspring, inherited and acquired
traits and genetics in general.
21. Students will write a response in their reflection journal about how they feel they
have done as a student this week, set a goal for next week, and identify areas of
improvement they want to work on in regards to their learning. E2
22. Menu Time (30 minutes) E
23. Question of the day exit ticket: which menu activity did you like the most and
why? R
24. Remind students about the essential questions and understanding they are
currently exploring. W
25. Dog Days: Mix and Match PBE. We will go over the specific instructions to the
PBE including all excitations of the project. Mrs. Green will be a guest in the
classroom that day to describe what type of dog her family wants and be there to
answer any additional questions as the students work.
26. Students present PBE to the entire Green family in a science fair type of set up
where other students and teachers will be invited to walk around and ask
questions. R
27. Teacher will flip through a PowerPoint of different traits that have changed in
animal species due to environmental factors. Students will jot down observations
in their science journals as they try to find a connection between the pictures. H
28. Students will participate in a think pair share activity where they will be asked
about what types of things can effect traits and potentially change them either
expectedly or unexpectedly. Students will write their ideas on sticky notes and
come post them to the board. As we are sharing as a class we will be classifying
the sticky notes based on commonalities. E
29. As a whole group, we will all complete an interactive smartboard PowerPoint
that allows the students to take turns coming up and exploring in what ways
outside factors in the environment can also effect traits. E
30. Students will update GYR cards. R
31. Show 2 different video clips and talk about the inherited traits but focus more on
the acquired traits. Popeye eating spinach (youtube.com/watch?v=ny1I3kFM7iI)
where the inherited trait is Popeye’s cleft chin and the acquired trait is Popeye’s
extreme muscle when eating spinach and Scar and Mufasa from The Lion King
(youtube.com/watch?v=-8wgXRNYcPM) where Scar’s inherited traits are his
black mane and green eyes and his acquired trait is his scar. E
32. Question of the Day Exit Ticket: Name at least 3 different environmental factors
that can effect traits. E

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd.ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Melanie Southard 5/29/2018

33. Students will write a personal narrative of them as an animal, describing how
characteristics change such as diet due to interactions with the environment and
how they evolve over time. Teacher will walk around and take anecdotal records
as she conferences with students on their work. E
34. Students will update their Popsicle sticks in the “I’m feeling” cups. E2
35. Groups of 2 students will work together to do a sort of traits effected by the
environment. Once their sort is done they will make a visual representation of
their choice to illustrate how an animal of their choice traits can be effected by
environment. E
36. Question of the day exit Ticket: How well do you feel like you can identify how
environment effects traits? E, R
37. Administer Quiz 2: Students will complete a quiz comprised of multiple choice
and short answer responses. The quiz will cover environmental factors and DNA
inherited from parents.
38. Remind students of the essential questions and understandings we are working
on currently. W
39. Introduce Bear With These Changes: time capsule PBE. Explicitly go over
instructions and expectations highlighting the rubric and checklist. Students will
draft letters, have a chance to revise them, and then they will be sent to Sentara
Hospital for review by a geneticist before being put in the time capsule.
40. Remind students to update GYR cards. R
41. Students will write a response in their reflection journal about how they feel they
have done as a student this week, set a goal for next week, and identify areas of
improvement they want to work on in regards to their learning. E2
42. Read aloud the book The One and Only Me: A Book About Genes by Ariana
Killoran. Discuss points of the book about how having different traits makes you
feel. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of looking like people in your family.
Why is it important to look the same and why is it important to look different? E
43. The students will make a blog post into our “What’s on my mind this week?”
bulletin board in the classroom why traits are important. They will reflect on
personal experiences as to why looking the same as people in their community is
important and why looking different than people in their community is also
important. E
44. Students will update their Popsicle sticks in the “I’m feeling” cups. E2
45. Question of the day Exit Ticket: Describe one trait all of your family members
have. Describe some differences in traits that you have. E
46. Remind students of the essential questions and understandings we are working
on currently. W
47. Introduce “Not so Unique Society”: Video Entry PBE. Go over expectations of the
video that needs to be filmed and stress the importance that they will be sharing
these videos with their peer mentors. Go over rubric to highlight what the teacher
wants.
48. Students will share their PBEs with their peer mentor in the grade above. They
will have meaningful discussions with the help of some provided prompts in order
to access knowledge obtained throughout the unit regarding heredity and

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd.ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Melanie Southard 5/29/2018

inheritance of traits and why learning about this was significant. Teacher will walk
around taking anecdotal records of student’s discussions. R
49. Students will write a post card to an important person in their life explaining an
important part of the unit that they learned that week. R
50. Students will write a response in their reflection journal about how they feel they
have done as a student during this unit as a whole. E2

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd.ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development.