Tiered unit (Differentiated by Readiness)

Name and student number: Chrisovalanto Demetriou

2095573
Unit Overview
Curriculum Area
Science
Year level 1
Content
Science Understanding
Descriptor
Physical Sciences

Learner

Light and sound are produced by a range of sources and can

be sensed (ACSSU020)
1 gifted student with high level thinking skills

differences/disab

1 ESL student

ilities in your

2 student with reading difficulty

class
Achievement

As a result of engaging with the lesson, the students will describe

standard ACARA

objects and events that they encounter in their everyday lives, and

or SACE

the effects of interacting with materials and objects.

objective
Learning

Students will understand that our ears have a key role in our

objectives

everyday lives.

know, understand

Students will know that sound travels from the source to the ear.

and do

Students will be able to identify how sound is transmitted.

Essential

Our are ears essential to our everyday lives?

Questions

What would we do without our ears?

open ended - the

How does sound enter our ears?

Big Idea
Pre-Assessment

The pre assessment task before this lesson will be a work sheet

Readiness Task

filled with different pictures of objects/things that make sound and

attached as

that dont make sound. Children will be asked to circle what

Appendices

objects/things make sound. This will help me collect data about

childrens understanding that different sounds come from different
living and non-living things/objects. The second part of the pre
assessment is to draw a picture of how sound enters our ears.
Children will be put into readiness groups according to their
answers. This pre assessment task will help me distinguish what

level of readiness each student is on. If students have no idea what

makes sounds then I know I need more work to do. Other students
may have clever answers and understand beyond their year level as
to what makes sound, for example, the brick wall provided in the
image on its own does not make any sound but if you bang it with a
stick or even your hands then it comes sound. For students that
struggle in class when it comes to understanding concepts and have
trouble with reading and writing, before the unit starts I will
introduce them to the new vocabulary. Students will then be able to
create a visual dictionary using ICT to have throughout the unit.
Overview of unit
lesson 1
Scary Sounds

lesson 2
Sound Search
lesson 3
Good Vibrations
lesson 4
Travelling Tales

lesson 5
2 vs 1

lesson 6
All together

To capture students interest and find out what they think they know about
how sound is produced by a range of sources and can be sensed.
To elicit students questions about light and sound.

To provide students with hands-on, shared experiences of things that

produce sound.
To provide students with hands-on, shared experiences of how vibrations
cause sound, this can be sensed.
To support students to represent and explain their understanding of how
sound is produced and can be sensed, and to introduce current scientific
views.

To support students to plan and conduct an investigation of why two ears

are better than one.

To provide opportunities for students to represent what they know about

how sound is produced by a range of sources and can be sensed, and to
reflect on their learning during the unit.

Lesson Plan
Curriculum Area
Learning objective

Science
Year Level 1
Students will understand that our ears have a key role in our everyday

(from Unit Overview)

lives.

for this particular

Students will know that sound travels from the source to the ear.

lesson

Students will be able to identify how sound is transmitted.

Essential questions for

How does sound travel to our ears?

this lesson

What would we do without our ears?

Lesson number from

4 of 6

unit plan sequence

Suggested content or

Length of lesson 45 minutes

Walk into the classroom wearing ear buds and huge ear
muffs to block any sound reaching your ears. Sit in front of
the students and ask them how they are. As you will not be
able to hear them gesture to your ears and signal that you
cannot hear- ask students why? Have a small fun discussion
over this.
Review the classroom word wall from the previous lessons
and ask:
- What have we learnt about sound so far?
- How do you make sound (cause vibration)?
- How do you stop something from making sound (stop
vibration)

Get students to close their eyes and play the musical

triangle 3 times- first time softly, second time medium and
third time really loud. Get them to open their eyes and
discuss what they heard and have a discussion about how
sound enters our ears. For a sound to be heard, it must
reach our ears with enough energy to make the internal ear
pieces vibrate- elaborate on this to help students make
some sort of understanding.
Ask the students to go back to their desk and in their
science book to draw a picture of themselves listening to a
musical triangle and showing how the sound of the triangle
reached their ears.

outline of lesson
Using the information
from your preassessment task design a
lesson based on different
levels of readiness.

Readiness tasks to be
attached as appendices.

Activity: Students will work in pairs to create a paper cup noise

device using 1 piece of string and 2 foam cups. Students will be given
1 pair of ear plugs each to investigate what happens when you wear
ear plugs and talk through the sound device. Students will then
present their device and their findings to the class.
Tier 1: Students will cut their string and be given 2 foam cups but no
instructions only a picture of the final product and they need to work
out how to put it together to make it work. Followed by ear plug
experiment.
Question to think about: What approach would you use to create this
sound device without any instructions?

Tier 2: Students will have the opportunity to cut a piece of string as

long as they like and with the 2 foam cups and instructions (appendix)
will work together to create a sound device. Followed by ear plug
experiment.
Tier 3: Students will cut their string be given two foam cups, written
instructions and step by step visuals to assists learners with reading
difficulties, student with ESL will be provided with instructions in Greek
to accommodate language barrier. Followed by ear plug experiment.

Debrief (whole class)

Students present their sound device- did it work? Did it not
work? Why/why not?
Ask students to look back at their two drawings that they did at
the start of the lesson. Ask students if they want to make any
changes to their pictures to show their new understanding of
how sound travels through our ears.

Check for

Presentation of sound device and findings to the class.

understanding

Changes to their first picture at the end of the lesson

i.e. exit card

Walking around and seeing how students are going

Visual, verbal, tactile

End of lesson discussion

For learners with reading difficulties material will be supplied in written

and technological

form and through visuals.

supports

For the student with ESL instructions will be in English and Greek .

Instructional

Mixture of both approaches will be used- teacher directed and student

approaches

driven.

Resources or

Pre assessment sheet

supplementary

Instructions for each tier

materials

Foam cups
String
Ear plugs for each student

Classroom

Tables need to be moved out of the way to create a safe and fun

environment

working environment for all the students.

what have you had to

change to meet

student needs
Lesson reflections (to

What worked? What didnt? Why/Why not? What could I change next

be done on completion of

time?

lesson in professional
exp.)

Explanatory notes
How have you linked the theory of differentiation to your lesson unit and
plan? Use the readings to support your answer.
I have linked the theory of differentiation into my unit and lesson plan, as
it has become very clear that by doing so then I am catering for all the
different types of learners in the classroom. Tomlinson 2004 suggests that,
students learn better if tasks are a close match to their skills and
understanding of a topic, meaning their readiness level. I have designed
the unit and lesson plan around each students readiness level, creating
modifications for a deeper learning experience for all. In the book written
by Jane Jarvis (2013), Differentiating learning experiences for diverse
students, readiness is defined by Tomlison (2000) as a students
existing knowledge and skills in relation to the task demands. Following
this quote I religiously created my readiness/ pre assessment task in
relation to what I wanted the students to know by the end of the
lesson/unit. I then modified the activity into 3 different tiers, so that all
students with all diverse academic needs and learning styles will master
and achieve the same KUDs. Jane Jarvis also states in her paper that
differentiation can be considered the component of inclusion specifically
to classroom practises (Jarvis, 2013). Therefore, I successfully wanted to
create the 3 tiers with the same outcomes just different activities so that
students are more likely to feel included and have a sense of belonging in
the classroom instead of feeling left out, bored and not smart. In my class
there is a students with ESL (Greek) for this student not being able to read
English or clearly comprehend instructions will be difficult and he will most
likely feel left out and not learn anything. By creating instructions in
English and Greek for him I am including him and he is learning. For the
girl with giftedness, simple step by step instructions is too easy therefore,
a picture of the finishing product will make her more interested as to how
to put it together. Children with reading difficulties will feel lost and not
interested having to read, comprehend and then follow instructions thus I
have provided images to help give both of them that pathway to success.
How are you catering for the varying levels of readiness?
All students are being catered for throughout the lesson and the unit plan.
For the particular lesson above, 3 tiers have been designed in order for
students to be paired and grouped appropriately to their readiness level.
In my classroom there is one student with ESL, 2 students with reading
difficulties and 1 gifted student. Amongst the students, there are students
who struggle and students who excel in their work beyond their level, and
then students who are just at on an average level for their age. The three
tiers consist of the same activity Activity: Students will work in pairs to
create a paper cup noise device using 1 piece of string and 2 foam
cups., but all three tiers have varying levels of instructions to assist
children. Tier 1, students will not be given instructions but will be given an
A4 image of the finishing product- they have to work out how to put it

together to make it work, if students are struggling with this clues will be
given to them along the way. Tier 2, students are given basic instructions
and will work with their partner to create the sound device. Tiers 3,
students in this group have trouble reading and understanding therefore,
instructions will be given to them along with visuals for every step. The
student with ESL will be given the same instructions but with Greek
underneath for further understanding and effective participation.
Pre Assessment Task

Circle the objects/things that

make sound you can hear

Draw a picture of how sound

enters our ears

Tier 1:

Tier 2:
Make your sound device!
What you'll need:

2 paper cups

A sharp pencil

String

Instructions:
1. Cut a long piece of string, you can experiment with different lengths but perhaps 20 metres is
a good place to start.

2. Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup.

3. Thread the string through each cup and tie knots at each end to stop it pulling through the cup

4. Move into position with you and a friend holding the cups at a distance that makes the string
tight (making sure the string isn't touching anything else).

5. One person talks into the cup while the other puts the cup to their ear and listens, can you
hear each other? Now experiment with the ear plugs!

Tier 3:
Step 1
Get your materials ready.
1 piece of string
2 plastic cups
1 sharpened pencil

Step 2
Using the pencil poke a small hole
in each cup.

Step 3
Pass the string through the hole and
into the bottom of one can or cup.

Step 4
Tie a knot in the end of the string
that is inside the cup.

Step 5
Pull the string so its tight
between the two cups

Now experiment to see if it works!

Tier 3 (translated for ESL Greek)
Step 1

Get your materials ready.

1 piece of string
2 plastic cups
1 sharpened pencil

Step 2

2
1

Using the pencil poke a small

hole in each cup.

Step 3
Pass the string through
the hole and into the bottom
of the cup.

Step 4
.
Tie a knot in the end of the string
that is inside the cup.

Step 5
.
Pull the string so its tight
between the two cups

References:
Tomlinson, Carol Ann 2004, 'The how to's of planning lessons differentiated by readiness',
in Tomlinson, Carol A, How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms,
2nd edn, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Va, pp.
45-51.
Jarvis, Jane 2013, 'Differentiating learning experiences for diverse students', in Hudson,
Peter (ed.), Learning to teach in the primary school, Cambridge University Press,
Port Melbourne, Vic., pp. 52-70.
Differentiating learning experiences for diverse students.pdf