Grade Level: Kindergarten

Lesson Developer:  Richelle Malysa.

Lesson Plan Title:  Critter Color Craze

Concept / Topic To Teach: Science (Strand 2: History and Nature of Science along with Strand 4: Life Sciences)

Standards Addressed:

Concept 4:  Communication

Communicate results of investigations.

PO 1.  Communicate observations with pictographs, pictures, models, and/or words.

PO 2.  Communicate with other groups to describe the results of an investigation.

Concept 3:  Organisms and Environments

Understand the relationships among various organisms and their environment.

PO 1.  Identify some plants and animals that exist in the local environment.

PO 2.  Identify that plants and animals need the following to grow and survive:

•             food

•             water

•             air

•             space

 

General Goal(s):  The goal of this lesson is to see how well kindergartens can grasp the concept of how a plant or critter looks.  Then, after giving the students information, seeing  how they see that specific plant or animal now that they know more about it.

Specific Objectives: To the kindergartens to be creative and express themselves, along with working with others, and having fun learning. By the end of this lesson they should know what the three things from the Sonoran Desert that they are given to draw look like and new information about each.  To teach them about what they really look like and know something interesting about each thing that they did not know before.

Required Materials:

Student -paper, colored pencils, crayons, markers, and a pencil.  

Teacher- access to the internet, to show more pictures, and the website created to show them information about wildlife and plants in the Sonoran Desert.  Also a type of projector to show all of this on the board for them to see.

Anticipatory Set (Lead-In): Before the students are given  all of the fun new information about the Sonoran Toad, Harvester Ant, and the Teddy bear Cholla Cactus they should start off with a blank sheet of paper and have them draw and color what they think each thing is and how it looks to them.   This will give an idea idea of what they already know in general about cacti, ants, and toads. They will use crayons, colored pencils, or markers to color this.

Step-By-Step Procedures:

Step 1: First start with the lead in then after start with one of the three to learn about. (Sonoran Toad, Harvester Ant, Teddy bear Cholla Cactus) Make sure to keep these links opened for this activity!

Step 2: Then show the power point slide in class, the one made of the Sonoran Desert, and have it on the projector.  Go through the slide and all of the information making it fun and easy for them to grasp. 

Step 3: Then the teacher will go on the internet and show the students more pictures of the critter that is being talked about -look on the internet and have some already picked out so that the pictures are pre-screened for inappropriate information first

Step 4: Ask them questions about that critter and see if they understand what it really looks like now. 

Step 5: Repeat the lead in, hand out a sheet of blank paper and have them draw that critter again and color it correctly this time using the right colored pencils or crayons or markers. 

Step 6: After that they will get with a partner and share their picture and one new fact that they learned about the critter.

Plan For Independent Practice: After they finish the step by step procedures have them fill out the forms that are created that were on each power point slide to see if they were paying attention and really learned something new about the Sonoran Desert critters.  They will do this silently at their desks, while the teacher is around to help them if they need it.  Reading each question out loud before will make sure the students understand the question better.

- Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set):  Having the students share with the whole class at the end of the lesson something new they learned that day about the critter.  This informs the class and lets the teacher know if they learned something and still remember it.

- Assessment Based On Objectives:  To see how well the students understood each critter by comparing their first picture, before the lesson, to the picture after the lesson.  To see if the picture changed any or if the students used the right colors.

- Adaptations (For Students With Learning Disabilities):  Have paper with a toad, ant, and cactus already on it so that they just have to color it in instead of drawing the actual critter. 

- Extensions (For Gifted Students):  This will be over a 3 day class period, one new critter a day so that they take it all in and really learn about each one.  For students with learning disabilities they will have 2 class periods for each critter to understand it better, so 6 days all together and probably 3 weeks all together, maybe less time if they grasp it faster.  For the gifted students have them write a story book about one of the three critters.  (This would be just adding one or two sentences about that critter)

- Possible Connections To Other Subjects:  It involves arts and crafts and lets them express themselves in that way. It can connect to reading, by reading the forms along with the teacher as it is being read out loud to the students.  Also it can connect to writing/ English because they are writing a new fact about the critter that they just learned.