Biology Common Lesson Plan NAME _________Katie Morehouse________________DATE____04/02/14_____ Activity Name: The Cycles of Life Unit Grade Level

of children: 10th Grade; Developmental Level- 1st to 4th Major Concepts to be covered: Water Cycle, Oxygen & Carbon Dioxide Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle, Pollution Solutions, Greenhouse Effect. Materials, Resources and Technology needed for the lesson: Class Book Chapter 22 Charts: Evaporation and Weather Water Cycle Worksheet

Rationale: J has a cognitive disability with an IQ of 50. His zone of proximal development is around a 1st- 2nd grade level. For this reason Biology is being done at the fourth grade level. His Individualized Education Plan highlights needs in phonemic awareness, sight word recognition, and fluency. These directly affect his reading comprehension because if you cannot read a word correctly, you will be unable to understand the meaning of that word. For this reason the teacher reads aloud the chapter materials and questions on assignments. According to NICHCY immediately providing feedback helps the students make a connection between their answers, behaviors, or questions and the information. Adequate time is given to J to work on assignments in class so that he can have immediate feedback for questions and reinforcement for correct answers. Many of the abstract concepts in Biology take longer for J to understand and extra time is given for review to help reach mastery of key concepts. According to NICHCY students with intellectual disabilities learn best when instruction involves concrete, observable information rather than the abstract. For each chapter the teacher utilizes videos, figures, and images to help make many of the ideas more concrete for the student. To create personal connections to the material in this chapter, the teacher relates the life cycles to how they affect life on the farm. Js post-secondary goal is to work on his family farm so this information will be beneficial for his future career as a farmer. Objectives: Standards-National and/or State- Third Grade Nature of Science- Indicator 2: Apply the skills necessary to conduct scientific investigations - Fourth Grade Physical Science- Indicator 1: Describe structures and properties of and changes in matter. o 4. P.1.3 Students are able to differentiate between the states of matter caused by changes in temperature using water. - Fourth Grade Earth Science- Indicator 1: Analyze the various structures and process of the Earth Systems. o 4. E.1.1. Students are able to describe the basic stages of the water cycle

o The student will create a model of the water cycle Observable Objectives- The student will o Explain the water cycle verbally o Create a model of the water cycle o Chart the weather each day during the course of the unit. o Explain the importance of the oxygen and carbon-dioxide cycle o Describe how bacteria change nitrogen into nitrates for other organisms o List at least two pollution causes o List at least two pollution solutions Assessment: Pre-Assessment is a verbal assessment of the vocabulary on the first day of the unit. This gives the teacher an idea of how much the student knows prior to beginning the chapter and allows for the student to practice his conversational skills by asking and answering questions. Charts for the weather and evaporation level Chapter worksheets Completing labs and discussing them Chapter Review worksheet Chapter Test

Procedure:
Teaching Strategies: - One-on-One instruction - Verbal praise for staying on-task and engaged in the lesson - Immediate feedback - The teacher reads aloud the material to aid with comprehension - Images, Figures, and Videos to make abstract concepts more concrete Anticipatory Set - The student will chart the weather - The student will chart the water level Input For this unit the student will need to have prior knowledge of ways to describe weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy/snowy) which help make connections to key terms in the water cycle. The student needs to previously know the process of photosynthesis which plays a large role in the oxygen and carbon dioxide cycles. For the nitrogen cycle the student needs to previously know that the digestive system is the breaking down of food and the process that plants use to get nutrients. Students need to previously know that pollution is bad for the environment. Model - Review Learning Objectives (page 264) - Watch The Water Cycle Rap

The teacher reads aloud The Water Cycle Section Chapter 22 (page 266) Watch NASA: The Water Cycle o Ask Comprehension Questions Check for Understanding As the teacher and student read page 266, the teacher will pause to ask comprehension questions. o Water is in what all the time? (movement) o What is it called when water warms up enough to turn into a gas? (evaporate) o Where does the water go? (the sky) o When water vapor turns back into a liquid it does what? (condenses) o What does the temperature have to be like for it to snow or sleet? (very cold) o Where does the rain, snow, or sleet go? (some into the soil and some runs off into lakes and rivers that leads to the sea) o Why do you think its important to keep lake, river, and sea water clean? (any water that has been contaminated is still recycled into the cycle and that comes back to plant and animal life) Guided Practice/Independent Practice - The student needs to cut out the words that go into the water cycle diagram. - The student pastes the words to the correct place that they belong on the diagram. - The student explains to the teacher the water cycle diagram. Closure (Finish) The teacher will review the learning objectives and terms with the student. Modifications for special needs or cultural differences: This unit is designed for a student with a cognitive disability. Adequate time is given in class to work on assignments to provide immediate feedback for questions. Videos, images, and figures are utilized to make abstract ideas more concrete. Written material is read aloud because Js listening comprehension level is higher than his reading level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Complete after the lesson is taught. Analyze the learning experience ReflectionFor this lesson I learned that is very beneficial for the teacher to read aloud the chapters to J. He successfully answered 6 out of 7 of the comprehension questions during reading. J completed and explained the water cycle diagram correctly. One thing that did not go as smoothly as planned was the videos did not load at first. It was helpful that my cooperating teacher was able to figure that out while we moved on to next part in the lesson and were able to watch it at the end of class. However, in future situations I learned that I should have videos loaded and ready to go before class begins. J did not have a difficult time with the video not working, but other students possibly could.