1

Emily Strupp
Integrative Unit Lesson 1: How High Can You Build a Tower?
To be taught: 3/23/2015
Lesson Plan
Objective:
Students will be able to name at least one reason why structures stand up and one reason why
they fall down.
Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics
and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify
ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.6 Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 1
Language standards 1 and 3 here for specific expectations.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1.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).
S.K-2.A.2.1.1: Understand that making a change to an investigation may change the outcome(s) of the investigation.
S.K-2.A.2.1.2: Describe outcomes of an investigation.

Materials and Preparation:

13 large brown envelopes
400 dry spaghetti noodles
12 marshmallows
1 roll masking tape
1 ball of breakable string
graphic organizers (1 per student)
pencils
chart paper and marker
rules poster
assessment exit slips
Classroom arrangement and management issues:
During the introduction, I will ask all students to turn their chairs to face me. During the
active investigation, students will be standing around 11-13 desks (2 or 3 students each) that are
spread out across the room. I will walk around while they work in groups and attend to any
issues that arise with regard to working in a small group. During the second part of the lesson,
students will walk slowly around the room, observing and making notes. During the third part,
students will gather on the carpet and I will sit in a chair facing them. I anticipate that the most
likely management issues will be related to working cooperatively with group members. In order

to preemptively reduce such issues, I will carefully create groups for optimal cooperation. If
students are not working well within their teams and this causes a great disruption of learning, I
will momentarily intervene and redirect students. I will have a private conversation with one or
two students if necessary. If there are no great disturbances, I will not intervene, as I would like
students to evaluate their own strengths as a team after we are finished.
I will address students as architects during the lesson, which is in keeping with the
way I address them during math (mathematicians) and science (geologists), in order to get them
into the mindset for creativity and construction. I will tell students I expect them to respect one
another during group work, following the rule that one person should talk at a time and that
everyone should be heard. These expectations will be established for group work prior to this
lesson.

Plan
Introduction, the hook [5 minutes]
Before we get started, I will announce groups and have students sit at tables with their
assigned groups. I will give students 2 minutes to brainstorm a name for their teams, and I will
call on groups and make a list on the smartboard of the names they give. I will then tell students
that we will be starting off our new unit by working in teams to see who can build the tallest
tower. I will call on students to share a few suggested rules for working in groups, guiding them
toward: Be nice, listen to others when they are speaking, and everyone participates as a
few key rules.
Body of the Lesson [43 minutes]
Before handing out any materials, I will explain the rules of the activity while pointing to
the rule poster, which will include illustrations. While I state and explain the rules, I will hold up
materials and walk across one side of the room so that all students can see them. I will answer
any questions that students have about the activity. I will call on a few students to repeat the
rules to ensure that I have explained them clearly enough, and I will encourage students to look
up at the poster if they forget any rules during the activity. When all instructions are clear, I will
hand out materials in envelopes, telling students not to remove materials from the envelope until
I say go! When all materials are distributed, I will tell students they have 18 minutes to work,
say go! and start the timer.
For the next 20 minutes, students will work in groups to create the tallest possible tower that will
hold a marshmallow on the top. When the timer goes off, all work must stop and students must
not be holding up their tower. If marshmallows are not already atop the towers, groups must
place a marshmallow on. I will go around the room with a yardstick or tape measure and measure
all standing towers, asking students to help with the reading. I will record each height on the
board.

After all towers are measured, I will tell students they are going to go on a gallery walk, acting
like they are in a museum and taking notes. Each group will have a chance to tell the rest of the
class about how they build their tower Students will look at each groups tower but not touch any
materials, and they will take written and drawn notes on the following aspects:
What materials did the most successful tower use? What does it look like?
What materials did the standing up towers use? What do they look like?
What materials did the falling down towers use? What do they look like?
What is something the most successful towers have in common?
What is something the least successful towers have in common?
Debrief, closure [15 minutes]
I will gather students on the carpet with their graphic organizers to discuss the activity itself and
the observations they made during the gallery walk. Students will then fill out short exit slips
about things their groups did well (in the realm of group work skills) and things that could be
improved for next time.
Assessment of goals/objectives listed above:
I will listen for evidence of this understanding as I walk around during the building phase,
making note of ideas students give in their groups. I will also ask students to share ideas about
what made structures stand or fall (or stand taller than others) during our debrief. Each student
will be responsible for independently writing or drawing at least one thing they notice about the
most successful and the least successful towers on his or her graphic organizer.
Anticipating students responses and my possible responses:
Management issues:
I anticipate that a few students may have difficulty working cooperatively in groups on a task
that is so new. I have decided to have them work in groups of only 2 or 3 in order to ensure all
students can fully participate. If students become frustrated or begin arguing, I will walk over
and give gentle reminders about the rules and the real purpose of the activity (to learn things as
we go, and to learn to work as a team). I intend to head off most of these issues beforehand by
discussing guidelines for group work and making sure students do understand the goals of the
assignment. There are two students in particular who often have difficulty working in groups,
and I will both put them in separate groups and keep an eye on them during the activity.
Response to content of the lesson:
As this activity will come near the very beginning of the unit, I do not anticipate that students
will understand exactly what they need to do to succeed. I would like to find out what their ideas
are both during and after the activity. I want students to demonstrate both 1) how they think
about built structures at the beginning of the lesson and 2) how well they can reflect on the

activity afterward. I am hopeful that students will be able to use the observation skills we have
been practicing in science to contribute insightful ideas to the debriefing discussion.
Accommodations:
For students who may find the material too challenging
For students who struggle with writing, either because they are ELLs or because they also
struggle to read for various reasons, I will provide differentiated graphic organizers so that they
can still fully express their ideas. I will also ask verbal questions, specifically calling on these
students to share so that their classmates and I can hear their thoughts even if they cannot all be
written down. Graphic organizers for these students will involve some fill-in-the-blank and will
ask them to draw pictures rather than writing full sentences. During the instructions, I will be
sure to speak slowly and accompany my words with visuals (either on the smartboard or with
physical materials) to better communicate the assignment to my ELL students.
For students who may need greater challenge and/or finish early
If a group somehow finishes the tower-building segment before time is up, I will encourage them
to analyze their work and have a group discussion. I will ask them to think about what the best
and worst parts of their tower are, why it worked, and how else they could build it if they did the
activity again. Throughout the lesson, I will ask open-ended questions to allow for higher-level
thinking, especially by members of the class who may be more capable of such analysis.
Students will be encouraged to share their interpretations and ideas at several points throughout
the lesson and in writing on the graphic organizer.