NGSS: K-LS1-1a: Analyzing and Interpreting Data: Use observations to describe patterns in the natural world in order to answer scientific questions. CCSS: W.K.7: Participate in shared research and writing projects. Instructional Objectives
Students will identify the way animals move and the body parts used to move by observing animals, their body parts and their movements. Assessment (Criteria/Look Fors)
Science notebooks and observations while students are observing animals
Academic Language Focus
Observation, Body parts, Legs, Wings, Tail, Fins Questions
What do you know about how animals move? How do fish move? How do snails move? How do you know that? How do birds move? Do birds move more than one way? How do frogs move? Frogs and fish both live in the water but do frogs have fins? Whats one animal you observed today and how did it move? What did you notice anything that was the same about the animals we observed today? What did you notice anything thing that was different about the animals we observed today? Can you think of another animal that moves like one your observed today? Do you have any other questions about the animals, their ways of moving or the body parts they use to move?
Instructional Strategies
Sensory Engagement Modeling and Demonstrating Questioning Materials
Animal Action Song Speakers Animals (crickets & fish) Science notebooks Dry erase board & marker Pencils Crayons Bell Labels for animals Time (Total & Specific) Total Time: 30 minutes Introduction: 5 minutes Demonstration: 5 minutes Participation/Practice: 15 minutes Closure: 5 Instruction Procedures Introduction Demonstration Participation Practice Introduction: Activate prior learning about animal movement. Ask how animals move. Play Animal Action Song on the rug Tell students that they are scientists and will be looking at animals and observing how they move. Briefly talk about what observations means o When we make observations, we use our senses. o Today were going to use our sense of sight to make observations of animals. Explain that the students will be recording their observations, how the animal is moving, and what body parts its using to move.
Demonstration: Model an example of how to make the observation on large paper o Use class pet, Smiley the Frog, as an example Think aloud o First thing I need to do is write the name of the animal I am observing. I can use this label to help me. Write the name of the animal on the top saying the letters out loud o F-R-O-G, frog Think aloud o I can see that the legs on this frog are making it move. o I wonder if there is something else that helps make this frog move. o I know that frogs sometimes live in the water so I wonder if they move the same way fish do? o Now I am going to draw a picture of the frog in my science notebook and circle the part of the body that makes it move. Tell students that you have created stations with different animals to observe. Tell students that when they hear the bell (ring the bell) that the students will stop, listen, and look at the teacher. Practice this procedure. Hand out Science notebooks and pencils o Just like I did, you are going to write your observations in your own science notebook! Split students into groups and have them move to tables. Tell students to write their names on their notebooks Explain that they need to do is write the name of the animal in their science notebooks. They need to watch the animal closely to see how it moves. Then they need to draw a picture of the animal and circle the body part that makes it move. Remove covers from animals
Participation/Practice: Assign Students to small groups and tell each group which animal they will observe first and how they will walk to the area in which they will observe their first animal. Remind them that they will draw the animal and record how it moved and what body part the animal used to move. After about 5 minutes (or until students are finished making observations) give each group direction for moving to the next animal they will observe Continue until students have observed and recorded information and have had enough time to observe and recorded information about the animals. Recover animals Have students share what they noticed and recorded about the animals they observed. Ask students to name an animal and talk about how it moved and what body parts it used to move in that way. Have students talk to their neighbor about what is the same and what is different about the animals they observed. Ask student to share similarities and differences they noticed Ask students if they can think of any other animals, not observed today, that move similarly to one they did observe. Ask students if they have any questions you have about the animals, their ways of moving or the body parts they use to move? Closure Today we looked at the way animals move and the body parts used to move. We made observations of animals, their body parts and their movements. We learned that some animals move in different ways and some animals move in similar ways. We made connections to the animals we observed today in the classroom and animals we see in our homes and outside. Student Accommodations
Allow students to work together if theyre having trouble making observations in their science book.
Self Reflection
After teaching this lesson I couldnt help but fall in love with teaching all over again. This lesson engaged the students on a level that I had never seen with these two groups of students. I did have the opportunity to teach this lesson twice, to both of the kindergarten classes, and having the opportunity to teach the same thing twice really forced me do to a very quick self reflection of what went well and what needed to be adjusted. Knowing the students I was going to be working with I knew going into the lesson that it was going to be important to make sure they did not see the animals they were observing before they knew what they were going to be doing because it would be a huge distraction so I made to keep all of the containers covered with plastic bags until after they kids were back to their spots at the tables. Using the Animal Action Song was great in getting the kids up and moving and helped to really get them in the right mindset before moving into the lesson. I was happily surprised to discover that most of the kids already knew the song from when they were in K4 so I didnt need to do as much introduction for the song as I thought I would. In introducing the lesson I made a point of telling the kids that they were scientists because I want them to start thinking of themselves in different roles they may not have considered before. Some of the students seemed to be a little unsure of how they could be scientists as kids but as I explained what they would be doing, they
all got onboard with the idea and were excited to participate. After introducing the activity and making sure that the students all knew what was going to be expected of their time at the tables I dismissed the students from the carpet area. This transition did seem a bit more hectic than Id prefer because the kids were so excited to get to their spot to see what kind of animals they would be working with. To help make this move along better I would have dismissed students by tables instead of letting the entire group go at once. It was so fun to see the kids reactions as I took the bags of the animal containers. The groups that had the fish first were usually very excited and the groups that had the crickets seemed to be a mix of excited and grossed out. The all of the students remained fully engaged throughout the entire lesson. They all seemed to really enjoy the activity and as I went around to the tables and asked each group questions about what they were seeing I found many of the students really looking at the animals and asking questions to try to find out more information from me. I rephrased these questions back to the students in a way that they would hopefully find a way to answer their question on their own. For example the student asked: How many legs does a cricket have? And I responded: How could you find out how many legs a cricket has? The student told me she could count the legs sand she did. The first time she told me that she counted five legs so I tried to encourage her to recount by saying that scientists check their observations more than once so it was good to count again. She did and found that there were four legs. I decided that when it was time to switch to the next animal I was going to move the animals instead of having the kids move. I made this choice for a couple of reasons, there is not a lot of space between the tables so I was concerned that switching the tables would cause unnecessary transition problems, and also because my time for teaching this lesson was limited so I wanted to make sure I was able to get as much in during the time that I did have available. This activity was wonderful in really getting the students to work in a hands-on approach to expand their learning from the week on animal movement. It was even more engaging than I had anticipated and, as my CT told me after I finished teaching, the animals really did the teaching for me. They were the ones that kept the students attention and really drew them into the activity. This lesson could have very easily be expanded to include more animals or having more a discussion about how the students have seen other animals move but because of time limitations that was not possible today.