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LONG FORM LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Name: Animal Movement Date: Fall 2013


Content Area(s) Science Grade(s): K5
Lesson Domain(s) /
Content
Cognitive & Language
Learning Goal(s)/
Standard(s)

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.

Frog

Cricket

Fish

Cricket

Fish

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