Hatcher 1

SIOP Lesson Plan REVISED

6th Grade Life Science
Walker Upper Elementary School
Jessica Hatcher
4 May 2018

Context​: Fourth block sixth grade life science. Approximately 22 students. Four of the students
are ELLs. One has tested out of language acquisition services. The others are all low to
intermediate proficiency and are enrolled in the English acquisition language arts class. I also
know that many of the other students in the class have other learning difficulties, though I do not
know the specifics.

VSOL Life Science Objectives​:

LS12: The student will investigate and understand that organisms reproduce and transmit
genetic information to new generations. Key concepts include:
c) genotypes and phenotypes

Content Objectives​:
SWBAT
● Understand that while we receive genetic traits from both of our parents, one trait will be
dominant over the other.
● Know the definition of the word heredity is the passing of traits to offspring
● Know the definition of the word allele is a pair of genes that can be dominant or
recessive
● Know examples of inherited traits
● Connect their knowledge of inherited traits to themselves and their peers

In student language: (to be written on the whiteboard)

● I can identify traits and explain how they are passed down from one generation to
another.
● I can identify my own personal traits and explain why they are different from my
classmates.
● I can tell that some traits show up more often than others.

Language Objectives​:
SWBAT
● Identify unknown words in a short text.
● Produce main ideas based on a short text.
● State main ideas of classroom conversations.

Assessments​:
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● Dry erase brain dump and gallery walk​ (​diagnostic​): In order to activate prior
knowledge and build background for this lesson, I will ask the students to write down
everything that they know about the word “Trait.” I will give them the hint to think about
genetics. I will also instruct them that if they cannot think of anything related to word trait,
to write what they know about genetics instead. By walking around and reading what
they are writing it will give me a good feel for their genetics knowledge base.
● Comprehension Questions on Text​ (​formative​): After their second read of the heredity
text the students will answer four comprehension questions:
○ What is heredity?
○ List seven examples of inherited traits.
○ What is an allele?
○ List two different kinds of alleles.
These questions will tell me whether or not they understood the passage, particularly
with regards to these key vocabulary words.
● Name Tent Exchange​ (​formative​): This learning game involves the students first
identifying two examples of their own inherited traits. Once they have identified these
traits they introduce themselves to a peer, saying their name and their two traits. After
both students have introduced themselves they will exchange name tents and proceed
to introduce themselves to another peer, not as themselves, but as the name and traits
of the name tent that they now hold. This game requires the students to do several
things at once: they must be able to connect their understanding of traits to themselves
and their peers and they must be able to listen to and remember what their peers traits
are. At the conclusion of the game we will all circle up and each person will introduce
themselves to the entire group as the name tent they are holding.
● Exit Ticket (Formative)
At the end of the class I will pass out post-it notes and have the students write a
three/two/one: three things they learn, two connections they made to past material, and
one question that they still have. This will give me an idea of the progress the students
have made towards the objectives and how I would need to proceed to meet those
objectives.

Materials​:
- Heavy paper (for name tents)
- Markers (thick enough that they can be read from afar)
- Example Name Tents for myself and Ms. Power
- White boards laid out on the tables
- Dry erase markers to write with
- Short text on heredity (copy for each student)
- Highlighters for every student.
- ELMO document camera
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- Hand out with comprehension questions:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iKBbbHESr-0Et-17eT1G0Kk9EdbxaJoz7R0exnP
mKFc/edit?usp=sharing
- Post it notes for exit tickets.

Instruction​:

Beginning Room Arrangement​:

Students will sit at their assigned seats.
My name will be written on the board.
The learning target will be written on the board.

1. Make Name Tents (3 mins)

➢ When the students come into the room I will ask them to make name tents by tri folding a
piece of paper and writing their name (the name that they would like to be called) in thick
marker on both sides.
➢ I will show the students the example name tent to ensure that they understand.
➢ I will give the students a three minute time limit for this task.

2. Establish Expectations (3 mins)

➢ Given that I am a guest in this classroom and that I do not normally work with all of these
students I will begin by establishing my expectations.
➢ “I know that you know me as a tutor from UVA, but what you might not know is that I also
love teaching, and Ms. Power has been kind enough to let me teach you guys a really
fun and interesting topic today”
➢ “I have planned a very fun and exciting lesson for you guys today, but in order to do
everything that we need to do, I have certain expectations for your behavior”
- Behave in a self controlled way. We will be moving around the classroom. To do
this you need to be focused and polite and safe. If I ask that you move silently,
please do so. If I ask that you discuss something with a partner, please do so.
- Please listen to and follow instructions.
- If you have a question at any point, please raise your hand and either I or Ms.
Power will come help you.

3. Establish learning target (3 mins)

➢ “Today we are going to be exploring a part of genetics called heredity. Before I learned
about heredity I used to wonder why my hair is the color that it is, or why I’m as tall as I
am. What makes me, me? Once I learned about heredity I learned the answers to those
questions.”
➢ Our learning target for today is…
➢ I will read the learning target aloud.
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➢ Then we will choral read the learning target.

➢ “In order to meet this target today we will be doing a lot of different things. We will
brainstorm ideas, share ideas with each other, read a very short text, and, at the end of
class, we will play a really fun listening game”

4. Brain dump and gallery walk (10-15 minutes)

➢ “To get started today I want you to use the dry erase markers to divide up the white
boards so that everyone has a large space on them.”
➢ I will ask the students to help me pass out whiteboards and markers.
➢ “I know that you have been exploring genetics in class. Before spring break I saw that
you did a webquest on genetics. Yesterday I saw you do the genetics coloring page and
cut out flash cards.”
➢ “I want you to write the word “Trait” on the whiteboard.”
➢ “I would like you to now write everything that you know about traits on the whiteboard. If
you’re a little confused or unsure about what a trait is, than I’ll give you a hint: think
genetics”
➢ “Now, this is an independent task, so you should be at a voice level 0. If you have any
questions, please silently raise your hand.”
➢ I will give the students a second to get started, then I will circulate the room and see
what they are writing. If there is a large amount of confusion (over 30%), than I will
pause the students and instruct them to write what they remember about genetics.
➢ I will continue to circulate until I see that the students have all written something. Once
they are beginning to stir with boredom I will move on.
➢ I will instruct the students that, in a moment but not yet, I will ask them to silently stand
up, and, staying at a voice level 0, move around the room and read what their
classmates have written on their whiteboards. I will demonstrate the flow of movement
through the classroom.
➢ I will ask the students to pay particular attention to things that their classmates have
written that they did not think of themselves.
➢ The students will move clockwise around the classroom, reading each other’s writing
and then return to their seats.
➢ I will give positive verbal feedback to the students, thanking them for moving around so
nicely and politely.
➢ When they return to their seats I will ask them to take another minute and add any new
ideas to their whiteboard space.
➢ I will continue to circulate.
➢ After a few minutes I will ask the students to turn to the person sitting next to them and
share what they have written about.
➢ I will continue to circulate.
➢ After the students have had a few minutes to talk with their partners I will ask if anyone
would like to share with the whole class. If students are hesitant or the air is dead I will
call on students based on what I read on their boards.
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➢ I will give verbal feedback to the students, thanking them for sharing their ideas.
➢ I will ask the students to help me put away the whiteboards and the markers.

5. Read text on heredity (20-25 minutes)

➢ I will pass out the short text on heredity and highlighters.
➢ I will open up the projector and turn on the document camera and arrange the text so
that the students can see it. The text will be blank with no highlights.
➢ I will then model how I want the students to read the text.
➢ “Now that we’ve thought about and talked about what traits are, we are going to read a
short text on them. These two pages come from one of Ms. Power’s science books.”
➢ “Now, I am an English teacher, and sometimes I encounter words, particularly science
words, that I don’t understand the first time that I read them. When this happens, I like to
highlight those words so that I can go back to them and figure them out.”
➢ “For example, I read this text and the first think I thought was, hmm, heredity, not quite
sure what that means in this context. It’s similar to other words I know, like inheritance. It
looks important, I mean, it’s the title and it’s bolded in the first paragraph, so I’m going to
highlight it and come back to it so that I make sure that I understand it.” And I would
highlight the word on screen so that the students could see it.
“What I want you to do right now is read over the text. When you read, I want you to
focus on identifying words that you don’t know, or are confused by, or just want to make
sure that you really understand what they mean in this context. Highlight these words
and keep reading.”
➢ “What questions do you have about what we are about to do?”
➢ Once I have fielded questions I will give the students time to read. During this time I will
circulate and watch for hands. I will know that most of the students are done reading
when they begin to stir restlessly. I will ask early finishers to begin to try and figure out
what the unknown words mean in the text.
➢ At this point I will pay particular attention to the ELLs, watching their reading closely and
checking to see how many unknown words they are identifying.
➢ Once the students have finished reading I will ask them to turn and talk to a partner and
try to figure out the meaning of their unknown words.
➢ Depending on how those conversations go, I may ask partners to group up and share
their unknown words with each other.
➢ I will then ask the students to 1, 2, 3, Pause, to bring their attention back to the whole
class discussion.
➢ I will then ask the students to share some of their unknown words with me and what
meanings they found.
➢ Once we have gone through a good number of unknown words, particularly hitting
heredity and allele, I will ask the students to read the text again. This time trying to
understand what it says.
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➢ I will pass out the handouts with comprehension questions and ask that the students
answer the questions when they are done re-reading the passage.
➢ When the students are done re-reading and have answered the questions I will ask them
to turn them in. I will glance over these as I read them.
➢ I will give the students verbal feedback, thanking them for their dedicated hard work.
➢ I will briefly go over the answers to the questions:
○ Heredity is the passing of traits from parents to offspring/children
○ Some examples of traits are hair color, eye color, skin type, height, hemophilia,
color blindness, shape of nose, hair line, rolling tongue, face shape, attached
earlobe.
○ An allele is a each gene in a pair of genes.
○ There are two types of alleles: dominant and recessive.

6. Name tag exchange (15-25 minutes)

➢ Now comes the fun game part of the lesson! I asked you to make name tents because
we are going to play a listening game called name tent exchange.
➢ I will ask the students to think of two genetic traits that they have.
➢ I will demonstrate how to play the game with Ms. Power:
○ I will introduce myself to Ms. Power: “Hi, my name is Ms. Hatcher. I have blue
eyes and red hair.”
○ Ms. Power will introduce herself to me: “Hi, my name is Ms. Power, I have… (two
traits).”
○ Then we will swap name tents.
○ Then I will go introduce myself to a student: “Hi, my name is Ms. Power, I have
(two traits).”
○ And Ms. Power will introduce herself to another student: “Hi, my name is Ms.
Hatcher, I have blue eyes and red hair.”
○ I will explain that at the end of the game we will all introduce ourselves to the
whole class as the name tent that we are currently holding and the real person
will confirm or deny whether or not we got it right, so the students need to listen
very carefully and try to remember as best they can.
➢ I will ask the students if they have any questions and I will answer them.
➢ I will remind the students of expectations.
○ As they move around they need to be polite and respectful and safe.
○ I will remind the students that there are classrooms on three sides, and so we
need to make sure that we don’t talk so loudly that we can be heard through the
walls.
➢ We will play the game. At the end, we will stand in a circle and the students will
introduce “themselves” and confirm whether or not the traits are correct.
➢ I will verbally give feedback, thanking the students for listening to one another.

7. Closure (3 minutes)
➢ I will ask the students to return to their assigned seats.
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➢ We will revisit the learning target. I will ask the students if they feel that they met it.
➢ I will pass out post it notes and ask the students to list three things that they learned, 2
connections that they have, and 1 question that they still have.
➢ The students will fill out the exit ticket.
➢ I will thank the students for their performance over the course of the lesson.
➢ “Thank you for letting me share this really interesting topic with you today! It has been so
delightful to have the opportunity to be your teacher today!”
➢ I will then turn over instruction to Ms. Power.

Changes made in revision​:

I revised the language objectives.
I added an exit ticket.
I added a document camera so that I could more effectively model the reading strategy.

Reflection​:
For the most part I am very, very happy with the way that this lesson went. The students were
engaged, I had no behavior management issue, and Ms. Power was very happy with the way
that it went.

That being said, there were a few minor changes that I made. As I was leaving, Ms. Power had
the students write an exit ticket. Upon revision I realized that a written product where the
students explicitly reflect on their learning was missing from the lesson. Therefore I decided to
add a three/two/one exit ticket.

I also added a document camera to model the reading strategy. When I used the model on the
slides the students became so focused on highlighting all of the words that I highlighted that
they didn’t really use the strategy or listen to the model.

One thing that came up in my peer review with Michelle was the use of language objectives. I
made a deliberate decision not to have the students read them or read them aloud. I made this
decision because of the group of students that I was teaching. With the exception of the ELLs in
the classroom, I have never spent time with these students in their English classroom. I do not
know what their attitude towards reading and writing are and, given my experience with sixth
grade English at Walker last year, I was worried that the words “read” and “write” might actually
be triggering to the students and cause them to shut down. So I stand by this decision. If I knew
the students better than I would probably read the objectives aloud. I would also definitely read
the objectives aloud if this were an ELL-only classroom.