Lesson Plan #1

Educator/Group Names: Tamara Nolan

Grade level: 3rd

Subject: Earth Science

Date of lesson: 07/31/2017

Length of lesson: 1 hour/3days

Lesson Topic: Utilize Online Content Construction to gather, synthesize and remix information to create an online comic strip depicting a story that verifies the student’s solid understanding of the Earth’s layers and at least one material that is widely consumed by humans.

Overall Goal: (Broad action statement using non action verbs) “Students will understand that…”

The earth has layers that we cannot see, yet they affect our world in very prominent ways (magnetic field, volcanoes, earthquakes). Humans utilize many different materials from the earth.

Learner Background: (This addresses why the lesson is being taught.) Describe the students’ prior knowledge or skill related to the learning objective(s).

Students will have a varied amounts of knowledge being that this will be the first lesson taught in the unit. At the very least, students will be able to identify that the earth is round, hard and is made up of different materials. Students will have prior experience with computers and online projects.

Curricular Standards: Identify the primary state standard(s) this lesson is designed to help students attain. (If required, include the national and/or local standards as well.)

Earth’s Composition Describe Earth's structure (core, mantle, crust, tectonic plates, magnetic field) and compare different Earth materials (including rocks, and minerals) and classify each type of material based on its distinct physical properties. Describe what some of these material are used for in our daily lives, how they are obtained

Student Learning Objective(s): Identify specific and measurable learning objectives for this lesson. Use action verbs. “Students will be able to….”

Define the layers of the earth

Describe how the layers affect the surface of the earth

Describe different rocks and minerals of Earth's composition

Assessment:

Part I: Describe how you will check for student understanding during the lesson. (Formative)

Students will use the class twitter accounts to post on the hashtag #whatstuckwithmetoday at the end of each class period to describe what they learned and will post to the hashtag #lookingtolearnmore to describe what they need more clarification on, or what they are interested in

Part II: How will you ask students to demonstrate mastery of the student learning objective(s)? Attach a copy of any assessment materials you will use, along with assessment criteria/rubric. (Formative or Summative)

Final assessments will be made by evaluating the online maps created and the information pinned to each location.

Rubric:

Category Scoring Criteria Total Points Score

Creativeness

(40 points) Comic is engaging 20

and easy to follow

Creative use of information 20

and images

Comic Content

(45 points) Information integrated into the 20

story about the earth’s layers

is correct

Story contains a beginning, 20

middle, and end

Story contains at least one earth

element used by humans

Score Total Points 100

Materials/Resources: List the materials you will use in each learning activity including any technological resources.

A computer for each student

Model of the Earth with layers

Slideshow

Earth’s Layers video-Dr. Binocs Video

Smart board

Twitter account

The Lesson

Initiation:

Part I - Briefly describe how you will introduce the lesson, engage students in the lesson and connect it to previous learning. (This is intended to motivate students.)

Good Morning Class. Today we are going to be learning about the Earth that we are currently sitting on… Does anyone know what's underneath your feet?

(2 minutes for discussion)

Well the earth is very big and is very heavy. We are going to take a journey to the center of the Earth to understand what makes it so big and heavy! Who’s ready?

Great!

Part II – (This is intended to bridge to the lesson: set expectations for learning, articulate to learners what they will be learning in this lesson and why this is important).

Ok, so who knows what their home is made of? (wood, metal, brick) Why would knowing what materials your home is made out of be important to you or your parents?

Right- you need to understand where you live and how those materials will benefit you-in let's say- a storm. Or if you need to fix something- you need to know what it's made of. Right?

Well learning about the earth is the same concept. We need to know about the layers of the earth because they affect our lives in many ways

Lesson Development: Describe how you will develop the lesson: what you will do to model or guide practice and the learning activities students will be engaged in to gain the key knowledge and skills identified in the student learning objective(s). Include the questions you will ask, identify and explain the instructional grouping (whole class, small groups, pairs, individuals) for each lesson segment, and include the approximate times for each. Indicate how diversity will be included. Include reference to Bloom’s taxonomy to identify higher levels of thinking.

Pass out Earth Layer worksheet for note taking

Okay class, here is a worksheet that you need to use to take notes. Remember that your notes do not need to be in sentence form. We will have some time to explore online a little later, so just write what you find interesting or what you think is most important.”

Start Earth Layers Slide

(Moved through the slide explaining each layer. Answers questions and allow some discussion.)

Students will define, list and identify Earth’s Layers as we go through slide

Does anyone have any questions?

Please do your daily assessment on the twitter accounts now! #whatstuckwithmetoday and #lookingtolearnmore

Next day:

Review

Okay class, let's review by watching this Fun Dr Binocs video to help us review!

Okay we will begin our project today. It's really a lot of fun and give you the opportunity to be really creative and show what you know! Today you will be creating an online comic strip for your peer to review. Your comic should have to do with the earth’s layers and at least one resource that we, as humans use. There are no other requirements!

The first step in creating your comic strip is to make an outline. Remember comics do not typically have a lot of words like a story in a book. So make each word count. The computers are available if you need to find information. Here is a list of useful words that you may want to use in your story.

Lava Tectonic Plates Crust Mantle Inner Core Outer Core Magnetic Field Iron Nickle Gold Diamonds Sand

Students will spend the rest of the time locating, selecting, examining, and critiquing information for project

(I will spend the rest of the class walking around helping students)

Class is over- please take a moment to post your #whatstuckwithmetoday and #lookingtolearnmore

Day three:

Okay, now that we have compiled all the information that we need and we have really great outlines for our comic strips, we will now go online and begin creating! Please go to this website and create your own comic strip!

(I will pull up the website on the smartboard and show them around the website)

Let me know if anyone needs any help. I will be walking around. You will submit your comic strip at the end of the class!

Students will spend time organizing, assembling, and creating a comic strip to share with their peers.

Closure: Briefly describe how you will end the lesson, help students understand the purpose of the lesson, and show how it will connect to future learning. (Interact with learners to elicit evidence of student understanding of purpose(s) for learning and mastery of objectives)

Great Job Today!

I hope that you all had a lot of fun creating and constructing online! I will post the comics on our class blog so that you can show your parents after grading. We will also have some time in class tomorrow to allow everyone to take a look at everyone else's. Then we will give feedback on what we liked and what we need to improve. Thank you all for your hard work, I am looking forward to seeing what you have created.