Jenna OMalley

CI 442

Thematic Unit Plan: Animals and their Adaptations

TITLE: How Many Animals?

STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN LESSON:
Illinois State Board of Education Early Learning Standards for Mathematics
6.C.Ka Estimate number of objects in a set
6.C.Kb Connect numbers to quantities they represent using physical models
and representations
6.D.K Make comparisons of quantities

OBJECTIVES FOR UNIT:
The students will use the knowledge gained from discussing the different
adaptations taken on by animals in different living conditions and apply that
knowledge to math related concepts and activities. The students will first
estimate the amount of animals pictured in different ecosystems. They will
then count the animals pictured then select the correct numeral to represent
the number they counted. They will then compare the different totaled
quantities from several different sets of pictures discussing which one is
greater, which is less, and by how many.

TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
For this particular lesson within the unit the teacher will have to know how
to count up to at least 20 and compare numbers within that range as greater
than or less than.

ASSESSMENT:
During this lesson, the teacher will use informal assessment strategies to
monitor whether or not the students are able to correctly count the number
of animals pictured, select the numeral to represent said number, and
compare the number differences.

ADVANCED PREPARATION FOR THE UNIT:
For this particular lesson within the unit there are several materials needed.
The first of these materials will be laminated or plastic coated pictures of a
farm, the wild, the ocean, a home, the jungle, and the desert. The teacher will
then need to provide pictures of animals that belong in such habitats (i.e. pigs
for farm, bunnies for wild, fish for ocean, dogs for home, monkey for jungle,
and camels for desert). These pictures of the animals will need to be sticky
on the back so that they can be placed onto and moved around on the
background images. The teacher will also need numeral representations for
the students to select from to represent their counting.

SEQUENCE OF LESSON:
The teacher will start of the lesson by introducing the different pictures
explaining that each picture represents a habitat of the different animals
discussed earlier in the lesson. The background pictures will already have
the animals stuck onto the image. The teacher will model the activity first by
looking at the picture and estimating the number of animals she thinks are
pictured in the habitat (lets say the teacher guesses 9 pigs on the farm). The
teacher will then model counting the animals, removing them one by one
from the scene and counting along (lets say the teacher removed and counted
11 animals from the farm scene). The teacher will then model finding the
appropriate numeral to represent the number 11 by selecting a cut out of
11 and placing it by the selection of pig images. The teacher will then
instruct the students to complete the activity like so. Once the students have
counted and placed a number for each of the collection of animals the teacher
will then engage the students in a conversation about which habitat had the
most animals, which had the least, how many were in each, and what were
the differences between the amount of animals.

ADAPTATIONS: This activity will be good for students who are bilingual, ELL, or ESL
because there are very little words involved and instead requires counting which
can be counted with the teacher in the stances that the student lacks the number
vocabulary. For students with visual impairments the teacher can add a cotton ball
or other 3D object to make the pictures noticeable by touch that way the student can
count based off of feeling and not sight.