Brittany Granquist

Reporting on Animals of Lakes, Ponds, and Marshes

Date: 8 October 2010

Grade Level/Subject: 4th grade/Science, Language Arts,

Prerequisite Knowledge: Students will have to be able to recognize cause and effect situations (in
both directions) and have prior exposure to such situations. Students must also have experience
working collaboratively with classmates toward a common goal. They must know appropriate
ways to discuss and respond to their classmates.

Approximate Time: 4 instructional periods

Language Objectives:
 Students will be able to describe the meaning of the following vocabulary words: animal,
length, weight, color, offspring, number, food, shelter, predator, other.
 Students will be able to address existence or non-existence of cognates.
 Students will be able to utilize knowledge of complete sentences to write journals in
proper formatting.

Student Objectives/Student Outcomes:

 Students will be able to use their prior knowledge to make predictions about their
assigned animals.
 Students will be able to conduct research and collect information about their assigned
animals, including its size, colors, food, predators, shelter, classification, and attributes
that enhance survival skills.
 Students will be able to take measurements in order to create a life-size replica of their
animal.
 Students will be able to use reasoning skills and data from their research to share their
findings and justify their reasons for placing their animal in its correct home on the
environment mural.
 Students will be able to work collaboratively to compare animals and make decisions
regarding their animal’s place within the environment’s food chain.

Content Standards:
State Goal 11. Understand the processes of scientific inquiry and technological design to
investigate questions, conduct experiments and solve problems.
A. Know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of scientific inquiry.
2b. Collect data for investigations using scientific process skills
including observing, estimating, and measuring.
2e. Report and display the results of individual and group
 investigations.
State Goal 12: Understand the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnections of the life,
physical and earth/space sciences.
A. Know and apply concepts that explain how living things function, adapt and change.
2a. Describe simple life cycles of plants and animals and the
similarities and differences in their offspring.
B. Know and apply concepts that describe how living things interact with each other and
with their environment.
2a. Describe relationships among various organisms in their environments (e.g.,
predator/prey, parasite/host, food chains, food webs).
2b. Identify physical features of plants and animals that help them live in different
environments (e.g., specialized teeth for eating certain foods, thorns for
protection, insulation for cold temperature).

Materials/Resources/Technology:
 Mural of environment
 Library books and information packets
 Construction paper (large and small pieces)
 Journaling questions:
1. What do you already know about this animal?
2. What do you think the animal eats?
3. How do you think the animal keeps itself safe?
4. Where do you think the animal lives?
5. What animal do you think eats this animal?
6. Have you seen this animal before? Where? What did you observe about it?
 Research notes worksheet/chart
 Research assignments for students

Implementation:

Time
Opening of lesson:
Day 1: 45 minutes (Extends into Procedures)
1. In order to begin the lesson, I will introduce to students the large (pre-
made) mural of the lakes, ponds, and saltwater marshes environment. I
will initiate a conversation about the environment, and ask students what
they already know about the environment. In order to do this I will tell
students that we are going to be studying lakes, ponds, and saltwater
marshes. I will ask: “Who has been to any of these places? What kinds of
animals did you see at these places? What kinds of plants? As you can
see, this is a giant mural of the environment we are going to study. I made
 the background, but you all are going to do some research and fill in this
mural – so that we can see the type of wildlife prevalent in this
environment.

Procedures:
1. I will tell students that they will be researching their own animals that
can be found in this environment. At this point, I will pass out the slips of
paper telling students the science career they will be assuming to study a
specific animal. The slip will also include a list of tasks/questions the students
will have to research and be able to complete/answer.
2. Students will then take the next 15-20 minutes to journal about their
experience with this animal and prediction about this animal. I will put
questions for the journal entry on the board: What do you know about this
animal? What would you like to know? Why?
3. The last 15 minutes of class, students will start working on their first task:
creating replica of their animal, built to scale, to turn in. They will use
construction paper to create a 2-D product that will fit into the mural and
appear accurately scaled in relation to the landmarks and other wildlife.
Students can use the mural, or the help of their classmates to help them
do this. They will look in library books and information packets that I
will provide to find the actual dimensions of the animal, and be sure to
mention this in their presentation.
Day 2: 45 minutes
1. The second day will start by having students finish their replicas.
Students will be able to work in groups and discuss their animals.
2. Before freeing students to do their research, the teacher will have to
model proper note taking skills. He/she will use a brief article about an
animal and ask students to help her decide what parts of the article are
important enough to take notes on.
3. The rest of class, students will be given time to research their animals
using the provided questions for guidance. Students will research and
take notes on the “Research Notes” handout provided for them.
Day 3: 45-50 minutes
1. This day will be spent completing the mural and on presentations.
Students will individually come to the mural with their animal replicas
and place them on the mural. After placing them on the mural, the
teacher will ask the students, “Why did you decide to put your animal
where you did?” “How do you know it belongs there?” The teacher
will then prompt the student to use the knowledge he/she gained from
research.
2. After the student places their animal on the mural, they will then tell
their classmates about the knowledge they have gained using their
research notes as a guide. The research notes worksheet will be
compiled into a class booklet.
Day 4: 20-30 minutes
1. The last day will be spent studying the food chains present in the
lakes, ponds and marshes environment. Students will be divided into
groups based on their animal (so that all groups are composed of
similar animals). The groups will be instructed to get into an order that
resembles the food chain.
2. Before groups are given time to discuss and arrange themselves, the
instructor will discuss what a food chain is. He/she will ask students
what they know about food chains and then describe that food chains
help us understand what animals eat what animals and what animals
get eaten by what animals.
3. Students will have time to discuss among their groups where they
belong.
4. After students think they are aligned in the most accurate way
possible, students will share their food chain, and why they arranged
in that manner. They will explain the process behind their thinking.
5. The teacher will then present obstacles: What might happen if a
certain animal faced a significant increase or drop in population? How
would this affect other animals in the food chain?
Summary/Closing:

6. To close the lesson, students will be given the opportunity to journal

about the mural and the food chain activity, given an open topic.
7. Since journaling will be a large part of assessment for this overall
until, students will have journals and will turn to a new page to write
the date and the prompt: What was the most important piece of
knowledge you took away from mural activity? The food chain
activity? What would you still like to know?
8. These journals will be interactive, and the teacher will take the time to
write responses to students. Responses could ask more questions for
students to respond to, or provide suggestions for books or other
resources to help them gain the knowledge they desire to have.

Student Assessment:

Students will be assessed on the completion and thoughtfulness of their

journals, their contribution to the mural, the completion of their “Research
Notes” handout, their presentation and information included, and their
contribution to the food chain assignment.