**The photograph above is an example of a student's Go Green poster created during the independent practice portion of my lesson.
Brittany Schenkel
1st grade science
April 19, 2013
1. Essential Questions: What can we do to help save the environment?
How can we conserve our own resources?
2. Vocabulary:
§ Reduce- to make the amount of something smaller
§ Reuse- to use something again
§ Recycle- to make something new out of a thing that has been used before
3. Skills:
§ Conserve
§ Connect
§ Create
4. Objectives: As a result of this lesson plan, the students will be able to;
§ Realize what they can do to reduce, reuse, and recycle in their own lives.
§ Differentiate between what is garbage and what can be reused or recycled.
§ Create unique ways to protect our planet.
5. New York State Standards:
NY State Elementary Science Standards (K-4):
Standard 6: Interconnectedness-Common Themes
Key Idea 2: Models are simplified representations of objects, structures, or systems, used in analysis, explanation, or design.
• use different types of models, such as graphs, sketches, diagrams, and maps, to represent various aspects of the real world
Key Idea 6: In order to arrive at the best solution that meets criteria within constraints, it is often necessary to make trade-offs.
• choose the best alternative of a set of solutions under given constraints
• explain the criteria used in selecting a solution orally and in writing
Standard 7: Interdisciplinary problem solving
Key Idea 1: The knowledge and skills of mathematics, science, and technology are used together to make informed decisions and solve problems, especially those relating to issues of science/technology/society, consumer decision making, design, and inquiry into phenomena.
• analyze science/technology/society problems and issues that affect their home, school, or community, and carry out a remedial course of action
Key Idea 2: Solving interdisciplinary problems involves a variety of skills and strategies, including effective work habits; gathering and processing information; generating and analyzing ideas; realizing ideas; making connections among the common themes of mathematics, science, and technology; and presenting results.
• work effectively
• gather and process information
• generate and analyze ideas
• observe common themes
• realize ideas
• present results
ELA Common Core Standards:
Speaking and Listening-Grade 1
1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
b. Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
c. Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion
2. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
3. Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood.
4. Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.
6. Pre-Assessment: The students have previously been introduced to the idea of recycling and have heard of the words reduce, reuse and recycle in a previous lesson given two days prior. They have prior knowledge in different ways to recycle (separating newspapers, bottles, cans, etc.) and have been taught that when recycling, we are doing something to save our planet.
7. Lesson Presentation:
Set- Induction- Before beginning the lesson, I will call the students over to the rug by table, beginning with the Red table because Monday is their rug day. Then I will say that I am looking for the quietest table to follow and call the students by table. Once we are ready, I will ask the students to think of the read aloud from Wednesday on recycling while I begin to pull out several objects from my bag (a newspaper, a t-shirt, a mason jar, a box of tissues, etc.).
Procedure- I will then proceed to ask the students if these items can be recycled like Ben and his friends did in the story from Wednesday. To begin this discussion, I will have the students turn to talk to one another and then we will come back as a group. I will ask a few students to share their answers and then move on. I will continue to explain to them that yes, these items CAN all be reused or recycled and today we are going to be learning how to protect our environment by cutting down on waste in our own lives. I will explain to the class that I will be reading them a few pages from the book Recycling in order to go over what it means to reduce, reuse or recycle. I will show the students how I recycled an old t-shirt and turned it into a tank top, simply by cutting it and braiding the sleeves, something that I was going to throw away but turned it into another thing I can wear! I will then ask them to think about what they can do to cut down on waste and I will ask a few students to share their answers. Then I will explain to them that they are going to be making a GO GREEN! poster using one of the objects that I pulled out of my bag in the beginning of the lesson. They will be drawing and explaining on the poster how this object can be reused, recycled or reduced. Then I will send them back to their seats where they will see a few of the objects I pulled out of my bag at their table, along with a piece of blank paper at each seat. For the students who finish early, I have a follow-up activity where the students will be creating their own Three R’s student booklet.
Closure- I will choose a few students to share their posters with the class on the Elmo. We will discuss different ways for each object to be either reused or recycled.
8. Follow-up Activity: The follow up activity will be a student booklet for the students to make that requires them to draw and write what they can do to reduce, reuse and recycle in their own lives.
9. Assessment: The students will be assessed based off of their participation in today’s class discussion, their poster and the completed booklet.
10. Differentiation: This lesson incorporates a mixture of hands-on activities, artwork, visuals and creativity in order to support different learning styles. The students will see a model of the activity prior to creating their own poster, in order to see what is expected of them. The ESL students in the class will receive extra scaffolding during the independent practice and I will have the poster I created clipped onto the easel so the students can reference back to it when creating their own.
11. Materials and Resources:
§ Elmo
§ Student booklet outline
§ Recycling by Neil Morris
§ Crayons
§ Pencils
§ Plain paper
§ Smartboard
§ Empty water bottles/ various recyclables
§ Newspaper
§ Mason Jar
§ Box of tissues
§ T-shirts
§ Bag
§ Easel
§ Markers
§ Learningpage.com
grading rubric
This is the rubric that was used to assess the students. It is based off a 1-4 scale, with 4 being the highest. The students are familiar with this system and it is used for most assignments in the class.
Click below to go directly to my lesson reflection.