Lesson Planning Template

Grade
1

Subject
Science and Technology

Strand
UNDERSTANDING LIFE SYSTEMS
Needs and Characteristics of Living Things

The Culminating Task

1) Using information from a variety of sources (including personal experience, class discussions,
videos, diagramsetc.), create two flipbooks: one on an animal of your choice and the other on a
plant of your choice, both from creek habitats. Include the following information:
-

Name of the animal/ plant

A picture, labeling major parts

A labeled picture of where they live.

What that animal/plant needs to survive

Share the flipbooks with the class and explain the difference between the animal and plant as well as
the similarities they share in the basic things they need, as living things, to survive.
2) Using information from a variety of sources (including personal experience, class discussions,
videos, diagramsetc.), create a poster consisting of two captioned images:
In one section draw a picture of your animal and plant in a polluted environment.
Write down if they are happy or sad there.
In the other section draw your plant and animal in an environment where they will
thrive.
Share your poster with the class and explain how your animal and plant feel in each picture and why.
The Essential Knowledge: The Big Ideas
Living things have basic needs (air, water, food,
and shelter) that are met from the environment.
All living things are important and should be
treated with respect.

The Curriculum Expectations

Relating Science and Technology to Society
and the Environment
Identify personal action that they themselves can
take to help maintain a healthy environment for
living things, including humans
Understanding Basic Concepts
Identify environment as the area in which
something or someone exists or lives
Describe the characteristics of a healthy
environment, including clean air and water and
nutritious food, and explain why it is important for
all living things to have a healthy environment
Describe how showing care and respect for all
living things helps to maintain a healthy
environment

The Essential Skills

Using Critical thinking, problem solving and
inferring.

Cross-Curricular Connections
Using active listening strategies, comprehension
strategies, demonstrating understanding
information and ideas, making inferences, as well
as, presentation strategies, clarity and coherence,
appropriate language and vocal skills, and using
appropriate visual aids. (Language: Oral
Communication)
Using skills of identifying the target audience for
writing; developing, classifying and organizing
ideas; writing short texts using familiar words to
convey meaning; and using simple complete
sentences (Language: Writing).
Demonstrating an understanding that it is
important to treat other people and the
environment with respect. (Social Studies:
Heritage and Identity: Our changing roles and
responsibilities)
Using elements of design in art works to
communicate ideas, messages and personal
understandings. (Visual Art)

The Essential Questions

The Learning Skills

What happens when humans dispose of their

waste in the habitats of other animals and
plants?

Responsibility

Organization

Independent Work

Collaboration x

Initiative

Self-Regulation

Why is it important to dispose of waste

appropriately?
What can we do to help the animals and plants in
Sawmill Creek?
Assessment
Diagnostic: Assessment for Learning

________________________________________________________________________________
Formative: Assessment for/as Learning

Determine through observation if students understand the concept of what an unhealthy environment
is, how it affects living things, and how we can protect it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Summative: Assessment of Learning

________________________________________________________________________________
Accommodations
Student(s) Disgraphia
Instructional
Partnering

Environmental
Strategic Seating

Assessment
Verbatim Scribing x

Assistive Technology

Oral Responses x

Graphic Organizers

Assistive Technology x

Verbal Prompting
Other:

Task Reduction

Modifications
Simplified Task
Students are given a more explicitly stated question to do the think-pair-share activity as well as the
poster activity.
Ex. How can we keep Sawmill Creek clean?
Enriched Task
Students will do an extended activity where they make a plan of action for their classroom to reduce
waste.
Resources
Interactive Story adapted from The Population Connection website.
A Clear bowl of water
Plastic toy fish
Different materials to act as pollutents. (vegetable oil, food colouring, clay, baking soda, dry leaves,
soapetc)
Plastic flim canisters. One for each student.
Labels for each canister
Large strainer
Large person shaped poster for each group.

Technology Integration
Use smart board to project interactive story parts.
Use smart board to record student responses to the think-pair- share activity.

Minds On: Establishing a positive learning environment, activating prior knowledge, setting
the context
Time Allocation: 10
Review with students what living things need to survive.
Review what an enviorment is, what constitutes a healthy environment, and how it meets the needs of
living things.
Review the protocols of how to do a think-pair-share activity.
Remind the students of the importance of asking questions.
Remind students what an inference is and model how to infer.
Remind students of their recent feildtrip to Sawmill Creek.

Action: Introducing new learning/reinforcing/extending learning, exploring and investigating,

providing practice opportunities
Time Allocation: 40
Student Groupings: Whole Class __x___
Independent _____

Small Groups __x___

Partner _x____

1. Interactive Story
Teacher presents a clear glass bowl with clean water and a plastic fish in it and asks the
students to imagin it was taken from the Sawmill Creek a very long time ago.
Each student is given a canister with a pollutant in it. As the teacher reads the story the
students put the polutants in the bowl as they are mentioned. After each addition the
teacher asks the students if they would drink this water and if it would be a good place for
the fish to live.
When all the pollutants are put in the teacher asks the students how the water could be
cleaned and uses the strainer to take out the large debris.
Have a discussion with the students about what was observed. And pose the following
critical thinking questions:
Why is it important to dispose of wast appropriately?
What can we do to help the animals in the Sawmill Creek?
2. Think-pair Share
Using the above critical thinking questions have students do a think-pair-share activity.
The teacher records the students responses, regarding the ways in which humans can
help the animals in Sawmill Creek, on chart paper.
3. Poster
In small groups students write or draw on a person shaped poster all the ways in which
they can keep the environment healthy for all living things.
Consolidation: Guiding questions, revisiting/highlighting big ideas, identifying
misconceptions, reflecting on learning
Time Allocation: 10 min
Consoludating understanding of

How human waste can make the environment unhealthy for all living things.
How each one of us plays a role in creating the problem and how we can each be part of the
solution.

Asking Question
Why do humans dispose of their waste inappropriately?
How can we clean up the Sawmill Creek?
Is it easier to clean up the creek or not have it polluted in the first place?
Reflections: successes, challenges, changes/modifications, next steps
The students enjoyed acting out the story. It really deepend their understanding of how humans
contribute to pollution.
The activity increased their skill level in thinking critically, problem solving and making real life
connections to the material covered.
Some students were having a hard time answering the critical thinking questions and generalizing the
information. More practice is needed. Some students also found it distracting when others got up
during the story to dump the pollutants into the water. Next time it might help to line up the students
in the order in which the pollutant is mentioned in the story or have the teacher pour them in.
Next steps would be to have the students activly do acts around their enviornment to make it more
healthy. For example, collect litter, sort recycling, or water plants.