Developmental Lesson Plan

All equal
Teacher Candidate: Nicole Tener, Devyn Grube, Leslie Montero Date: 9/21/18

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

Subject or Topic: Environment and Ecology: Lesson 3

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:
Students will be able to identify the main ecosystem in Pennsylvania by observing living and
nonliving things in the school grounds.
The students will be able to name the four seasons and their characteristics by collecting
different tree leaves and stamping them on clay.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. The students will give a thumbs up 1. The teacher will take anecdotal notes about
when they have collected all the what each student found/collected.
materials to observe living and non 2. Create flashcards with living and nonliving
living things. things and their environments.
2. The students will differentiate living
and non living things in their
environment with an inquiry worksheet.

Assessment Scale:
5 - All correct
3-4 - Some or half correct
2 and below - None correct
Subject Matter/Content:
Prerequisites: The students know the difference between nonliving and living organisms in the
Pennsylvania ecosystem.
The students will know about each of the four seasons that occur in Pennsylvania’s
ecosystem; summer, spring, fall, winter.

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
● Eastern Hemlock: A coniferous tree native to Northern America. The state tree of
Pennsylvania
● Oak: A tree that bears acorns as fruit, and typically has lobed deciduous leaves
● Evergreen: a tree that doesn't shed its leaves in the winter, but stays green all
year
● Spruce: a tree that contains 4 sided needles, cones, and soft wood
● Maple: a tree that contains wood with sap
● Seasons: Four divisions of the year; spring, summer, autumn, winter marked by
particular weather patterns.

Content/Facts:
● Types of trees
● Living and non-living things

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
● *The teacher will decorate each part of the room as a different season; winter, spring,
summer, and fall*
● *Teacher will place clay/model magic at each table*
● Teacher: “Good morning! As you can see, the room is decorated a little differently.
Please go to the section of the room that is your favorite season”.
● Teacher: “Please do not touch the clay, we will be using that later”.
● *Students will walk to a section*
● Once the students have chosen their favorite season, the teacher will ask each student
why it is their favorite season.
● After this discussion, teacher: “Please return to your seats, we will be watching a short
video on the four seasons”.
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iisj2kTZIFs
 ● After the video, teacher: “We will be learning about the four seasons that occur in
Pennsylvania’s ecosystem and how each season affects our ecosystem”
● Teacher will ask, “Does anyone know what season we are in right now?”
● Teacher will look for the students to say fall.
● Teacher: “Very good! Who can tell me what happens in the fall?”
● Teacher will look for student to say that the trees lose their leaves.
● Teacher: Great! We are going to go outside and explore the different leaves today, but
first we must do some research”.

Development/Teaching Approaches
● Teacher will have pictures of each of the following trees and their leaves/needles in a
flashcard form for each table; oak, maple, evergreen, and spruce.
● Teacher: “Please watch this short video of the several most common trees in
Pennsylvania, pay close attention to the types of leaves on each tree”.
● *Teacher plays video*
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_NTF4JCd8Y
● As the video is playing, the teacher will put on of the following puts at each table.
○ Common Trees of Pennsylvania by: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
○ Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins
○ Life in the Woodlands by Roseanne Hooper
○ Where would I be in the Evergreen tree by: Jennifer Blomgren
● Once the video is over, the teacher will tell the students to fill out their flashcards as a
group.
● Teacher: “Now that we have seen some of the trees that make up our ecosystem, please
use the following books to identify what tree and its leaves are on the front of each
flashcard, write the correct name of the tree on the back of the flashcard”.
● Teacher: “You will have 15 minutes to complete this”. *Teacher will set timer*
● Teacher will give students a five minute warning.
● After 15 minutes, *Teacher claps hands to get students attention*
● Teacher: “Please place your flashcards in the ziplock bag that is on your table, make
sure your names are on the bag, I will be collecting them”.
● Teacher: “At this time, I would like everyone to get their coats on and line up at the door”.
● As students go out the door the teacher will hand each student a brown paper bag,
inside each plastic bag is an inquiry sheet and a magnifying glass.
● Once all the students are outside, teacher: “We will be using these paper bags to collect
different types of leaves you may find”.
● Teacher: “Inside the bag you will find an inquiry sheet you must fill out while collecting
leaves”.
● Teacher: “Use the magnifying glass in attempts to identify each leaf”.
● *The teacher will show students where their boundaries are*
 ● Teacher: “You cannot go past that tree and you must stay inside this curb”.

● Teacher will take anecdotal notes in a notebook while the students observe the trees
and collect leaves.
● *Teacher will give students a two minute warning before going inside*
● After two minutes, *Teacher will blow a whistle to get student’s attention*
● Teacher: “Please bring your bags, inquiry sheets, and magnifying glasses and line up at
the door”.
● Teacher: “Once we get inside, please grab a tray and head back to your desks”.
● After students are seated, teacher: “Please dump out the items in your bag onto your
tray”.
● *Teacher will hangout a worksheet*
● Teacher: “At this time, please identify your leaves and determine which tree it belongs to
on your worksheet”.
● The students will act like investigators, using their magnifying glasses to determine what
tree each leaf they found belongs to using a dichotomous key.
○ (Aronson, S. (1997). Trees : Trees identified by leaf, bark & seed (Fandex family
field guides ; 47). New York, NY: Workman Pub.)
● Teacher: “You may use your flashcards or informational books to refer back to”.
● Teacher: “You may also use the clay/model magic at this time to make leaf imprints, this
will allow you to see the small details on each leaf better.
● *Teacher gives an example of the leaf imprints in the clay*
● Teacher: “Once you have completed your worksheet, please put it in the ‘turn in’ basket”.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
● *Teacher will collect all of the inquiry sheets*
● Teacher: “At this time, please grab an Ipad and open the Seesaw App”.
● Teacher: “I would like each one of you to post at least one picture of your clay leaf
imprints with a caption of which tree it belongs to”.
● *Teacher will make sure all students posted*
● Teacher will conclude by displaying some of the clay leaf imprints posted by the students
on the SMART board.

Accommodations/Differentiation:
● Student J’s 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 discussion with the group
members.
● Teacher will make sure that student J is able to fill out his inquiry sheet.
● Teacher will make sure student J is on task and helping his group members.
● Teacher will make sure student J is on task while outside, teacher may walk with him.
● Teacher will make sure student J is on task while using the clay.
 Materials/Resources:
● Clay/Model Magic
● Magnifying glass
● Brown Paper Bags
● Ziplock Bags
● Inquiry worksheet for the students (22)
● Worksheet (22)
● Flashcards
● Collection of books about each of the trees for research
● Ipads
Resources:
Aronson, S. (1997). Trees : Trees identified by leaf, bark & seed (Fandex family field guides ; 47).
New York, NY: Workman Pub.
Blomgren, J., & Gabriel, A. (2004). Where would I be in an evergreen tree?Seattle, WA:
Sasquatch Books.
Hooper, R. (2000). Life in the woodlands. Princeton, NJ: Two-Can Pub.
National Geographic Society. (1985). A Tree through the Seasons.
Robbins, K. (1998). Autumn leaves. New York: Scholastic Press.
Zim, H. S., Martin, A. C., Barlowe, D., & Barlowe, S. (1991). Trees: A guide to familiar
American trees: 143 species in color. New York: Golden Press.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_NTF4JCd8Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iisj2kTZIFs

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels
● 19 out of 22 students showed proficient work on their inquiry sheets
● 22 out of 22 students posted their clay leaf imprints onto the Seesaw App

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
Flashcards
 Outdoor Inquiry Sheet
Name:

1. What color leaves do you see?

2. What do you notice about the leaves?

3. What do you notice about the trees?

4. Do all the trees have the same kind of leaves?

5. Below, draw a picture of a leaf you see