LONG FORM LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Name: April Barry Date: 3/21/16

Content Area(s) Science: Fish Grade(s): K4

Rationale/Context - The students lessons on science items are integrated into their curriculum.
Answer the following questions relative to the
content of this lesson:
- For this week their science focus is on Fish.
What previous experiences have children had? - Last week Monday, the students heard the story Rainbow Fish.
What are childrens interests?
How might each childs cultural and linguistic
background influence understanding?
What do children already know and/or believe?
What can children do?
What are evident gaps in students
knowledge/skills?
**Kostelnick p. 77 Teachers as Information
Gatherers
Lesson Domain(s) Cognitive and General Knowledge: Scientific Thinking
The 6 Domains of learning are listed in
WMELS, and in Kostelnick p. 245
Learning Goal(s)/ C.EL.1 Uses observation to gather information: discriminate properties of
Standard(s) nature, using a variety of senses (part to whole, living/non-living, weather,
(Found in Common Core Standards for
English Language Arts and Math Documents, etc.)
WMELS, Science Next Generation Science
& Social Studies)

Instructional Objectives The students will be able to create their own fish with knowing the various
Observable /noticeable /evident behaviors
that can be seen and /or heard (See
parts that make up a fish.
Kostelnick, pp. 78-79, Sample Lessons
Appendix A, and WMELS descriptors)

Assessment/Evaluation Looking for the students to create a fish with knowing the various parts of a
(Specific Criteria/Look Fors, linked to
objectives) Include information re: how you
fish (head, body, tail, fins, gill, eyes, nose, mouth, and scales).
will keep track of this information/where it
will be recorded. (Kostelnick, Chapter 7
Assessment, Sample lessons (Evaluations)
While the teacher is walking around, the teacher will ask students questions
Appendix A, WMELS descriptors) about their fish to come to an understanding of how they created it.

Content Science: Fish

(Concepts & Academic Language Focus)
Information can be found in Kostelnick p. 79,
Terms: tail, fin, scales, gills, mouth, eyes
WMELS, Curricular Resources in schools Ideas: breathing, swimming, drawing scales, fish vs non-fish
and resources on Moodle for Academic
language)
Instructional Strategies -Scaffolding (taking them from what they know through what is a fish
May include but are not limited to: Task
Analysis, Scaffolding, Behavior Reflections,
during the lesson).
Paraphrase, Modeling, Effective Praise, -Modeling during the lesson (with the matching of the parts and the sorting)
Telling, Explaining, Questioning, and Turn
&Talk/Pair Share.(Kostelnick pp. 46 - 55)
-Group sharing at the end of the lesson
-Questioning
-Checking in (thumbs up/down)
 Questions -(level 1) What part of the fish is this? (labeling)
Connected to lesson goals, knowledge of
students; linked to content and objectives
-(level 3) How is a fish put together? (construct)
(Kostelnick pp 53-54) Other questions:
-How do fish swim?
-How do fish breathe?
-Where do fish live?
-What are the parts of a fish?
-Is a whale and a dolphin a fish? Why or Why not?
-

Materials -smartboard
DAP Consider content, context, what you
know about the students and what we have
-blue paper
learned in class. -cut out pieces of fish
-crayons/markers
-glue sticks
-Book: Whats It Like to Be a Fish? By Wendy Pfeffer (used as a resource
and was borrowed from the Alverno Library using Switch)

Instruction Procedures Time (est.) Segment

 (w/Time - Total & by section ) ~2-3min Introduction:
Introduction
- Let the students know that this weeks science theme is fish.
Demonstration
Participation
Practice -Ask the students to quietly raise their hands if they know
Kostelnick, chapter 3 Figures 3.3, 3.5 & pp. what a fish is. Then call on a few students to hear their
77-81
thoughts. (This includes how they move, what parts make up
a fish, where they live, and anything else that comes up that
would be related to fish).

-Depending on how the above conversation goes will depend

on the next talking points.
-where fish live? Most answers will be water but would
want more specific; ocean, lake, pond, river, fish
tank/aquarium, fish bowl.
-fish movement? Show and have students move like a
fish (two ways: 1. using one hand/arm and 2. Using both
hands together).

~5-8min Demonstration:
-View various types of fishes and point out the main parts of
the fish for the students to know what they are.

-Show pictures of fishes and non-fishes to be able to show

that not everything that swims where the fishes swim are fish.

-Go over the main parts of a fish (head, body, tail, fins, eyes,
gill, and scales) by doing a matching slide.

~8-10min Participation:
-Have another slide for matching and point to the various
parts of the fish for the students to say as a group what the
parts are and the teacher moves the words into the correct
spots.

-Sorting activity: What is a fish and what is not a fish.

Demonstrate 1 fish and 1 non-fish. Then call students up one
by one to choose a fish or non-fish and put it in the right
column.

~10-15min Practice:
-creating a fish (go over the whole activity so they know what
they are doing directions below)

-Everyone will get one piece of blue paper, one head, one
body, and one tail to start. (Students get to choose the head,
bod and tail from a selection on the table).

-Students are to put the paper and fish pieces down at their
table spot and then they are to grab their crayon boxes for the
glue sticks. They can use the crayons to color their fish once
its glued down but they can also use markers; as their marker
 Closure
(Summarize or even better, have students
help summarize, the lessons learning,
connect to objectives, foreshadow next day)
Student Accommodations
(Modifications to support students who are
challenged to understand the content or have
an advanced understanding.
Kostelnick pp. 80-81 simplifications &
extensions
Self-Reflection
How well did my lesson support students
understanding relative to the objectives?
What worked, did not work? What
adjustments might be made in the future?
Kostelnick, p. 81-82
-When students are done, they will all sit on the carpet, quietly, with their
pictures face down.
- (if time allows) we will look at finding the fish in the picture.
-All students will take their pictures and find the carpet edge (standing).
When they are told to by the teacher, everyone will turn their pictures
around to show their fishes to teach other.
Mario: He will be assisted by Mrs. Lee (HCA) or another adult to glue his
fish down in the way he wants his fish to look. When it comes to the
closure and sharing the pictures, Mario will be assisted by Mrs. Lee or
another adult to be able to show his picture by holding it for him.
Any other accommodations or modifications will be made as needed for any
other students.
I feel that my lesson supported the students understanding to complete the
objective. The objective was The students will be able to create their own
fish with knowing the various parts that make up a fish. There was quite a
bit covered in the lesson but it was in a logical order. I also took time to
explain concepts that the students seemed to not understand. Throughout
the lesson, knowing that some concepts would be hard, I did ask for thumbs
up or thumbs down so I could know whether I had to explain things
differently. This came in handy when I had a slide of fish pictures and a
slide of non-fish pictures before moving onto a sorting slide. This of course
came after going over what made a fish a fish, so it helped looking at the
slide of fish for them to see why they were fish. When it came to the slide
of non-fish, there were a few comments about a whale and a dolphin being a
fish. I asked if they have seen various pictures of a whale or a dolphin or
even if they have seen them in person. It was a mixed response of those that
have seen to those that havent seen a picture or them in person. I referred
back to the slide that talked about the gills and how I explained how fish
breathe in order to explain that whales and dolphins do not have gills. I
then when to explain that whales and dolphins have a hole on the top of
their head and that they come up to the surface of the water to breathe in air
(the same air that we breathe). Some did look a little surprised but I
explained that they do need to breathe but that they cannot breathe like fish
but need the air to come in and out of the hole on the top of their head.
After that, they seemed to understand it more on why a whale or dolphin are
not considered a fish. When it came to creating their fish activity, I told
them that they had to get one of the three heads, one of the three bodies, and
one of the three tails, and that I would walk around and put fins down at the
table for them to share in creating their fish. I also went over the parts that
had to be included in the fish while they created them; otherwise it was
pretty open to their interpretation. It was interesting to see how they created
their fish and that no two fishes were alike; even though they worked at
their tables and could have looked at each others. With the amount of
information I ended up talking about, I feel this could have been split into
two lessons. Although the students did seem to be following along and
understanding the information. I just think that it could have been split into
two days and they could have done the fish in stages. For example, putting
the head, body, and fin on at the end of day one. Then putting everything
else on the fish on day two after going over more information. But then
again, would their fish have turned out the way that they did and what about
the students that were absent on day one. Those students would have lost
out on that information and might have been lost on what was going on
during day two. I guess it would depend on the class and each individual
student on either it could be a one day thing or split into two days. It would
have been interesting to see Mario put his fish together and what it would
have looked like but he was absent that day. Overall I was please at how
well they did during the activities on the smartboard and creating their fish.