Biology Common Lesson Plan NAME _________Katie Morehouse________________DATE____04/22/14_____ 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: Chapter Review Hand-out Chapter 22 TEST

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- 3rd 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 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 - The teacher will ask the student what pollution is; provide examples of pollution, and solutions to fixing it. - The teacher and student will review the chapter learning objectives found on page 264 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 for unit - Use review sheet to review before the test (10 minutes)

Check for Understanding As the teacher reads the questions, repeat questions the student may not have understood. Guided Practice/Independent Practice - The student will complete Chapter 22 Test Closure (Finish) The teacher will correct the test and give the student his results. The student knew 2 out of 10 or 20% Words to Know during the pre-discussion. Words to Know Student Response Condense I dont know Evaporate I dont know Greenhouse Effect The earth gets too hot Nitrates I dont know Nitrogen-fixing I dont know Pollution Garbage, chemicals Evaporation I dont know Condensation I dont know Precipitation I dont know Accumulation/Transpiration I dont know The students total score was a 34/36 or 94% on the Chapter 22 Test He got a 100% on the vocabulary portion of the test. 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 ReflectionBefore we began the test J and I reviewed the chapter material with him because it was a four day weekend before the exam. I read aloud the test questions and possible answers for each question. I waited for the student to respond to the question before moving onto the following one. After we finished the test I graded it right away. I felt overjoyed for J because he only missed two questions out of 36 on this test! It was the best reward to see him smile because he is the one who put in the work to learn the material and he is the one who earned his grades throughout the unit. There are some things I would definitely change and others I would like to just add in to this unit. Overall I feel this exam went smoothly and J appeared to make personal connection with the material from relating it to farming and vehicles throughout the

unit. This I believe helped him on the test. I learned that creating personal connections motivates the students to learn and keeps them interested throughout lessons. The science experiments helped make the abstract ideas more concrete for this level of learner.