Abby Salm, Eric Trinh, Erica Barr

Lesson Plan
Grade/Subject: 1
Unit: Needs of Animals and Plants/Patterns/Dramatic Movement
Lesson Duration: 45 mins
OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES
General Learning Outcomes:
1. Develop an awareness of the body and voice as tools of communication.
2. Describe some common living things, and identify needs of those living things.
Specific Learning Outcomes:
1. Observe and study the animal kingdom, the size, shape, and weight of animals, and
the ways they move and react to their environment (animal mime).
2. Students will observe, describe, and compare living things.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Identify the movement and sound characteristics of elephants, snakes, lions, and
eagles.
2. Demonstrate the ability to embody the characteristics of the specified animals.
3. Accurately interact with each other in a manner typical of the animals specified.

ASSESSMENTS
Observations:
Key Questions:
Do students listen to and follow
How would the weight of an elephant impact how it
instruction?
moves?
Why would considering this be important
Do they work well in partners? In
groups?
Do snakes have arms or legs? How would this impact
Watching for accuracy in movement
how they move?
and gestures
Instead of arms eagles have something special, what
o Height of body (e.g. snakes
are they? How does this affect how they move?
are low to the ground,
Lions need to catch prey in the wild. Do you think
elephants on all fours,
they have to run fast or slow?
eagles have wings),
Lions also have pads on their feet. If they are trying to
manner with which the
catch food, why is this important?
body moves (speed,
weight, flight, etc.)
Listening for accurate oral descriptions
o Correct sounds (e.g.
growling, trumpeting,
hissing, etc.)
Volume, accuracy
o Accurately describing the
characteristics of the
animals
Formative Assessments:
Group/student discussion
Observation for accuracy of movements/gestures for each specific animal
Observation for sounds for each specific animal
Exit slips

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

Resource #1: Alberta Program of Studies
Resource #2: Davies, A. (2011). Evidence of Learning. In Making classroom assessment work
(3rd ed., p. 45). Bloomington, Indiana: Solution Tree Press.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Computer

Abby Salm, Eric Trinh, Erica Barr

Images of the specified animals
24 Post-it notes

PROCEDURE
Introduction (3 min.):
Hook/Attention Grabber: Teacher starts the lesson dressed in a safari outfit. Rainforest music plays in the
background as the teacher takes the students on a safari.
Assessment of Prior Knowledge: Ask: What are some animals that you know? (remembering to wait). Through
this conversation, the teacher will formatively assess the students and, based on student responses, the teacher will
adapt the lesson to the needs of the students. For example, if the majority of the students havent heard of a snake and
are not responding well during the class discussion, the teacher would plan to spend more time learning the snakes
characteristics later on in that class.
Expectations for Learning and Behaviour: Students will be engaged in discussion and attentive to instruction.
Transition to Body: Teacher begins to reveal first animal (elephant).

Body (35 min.):

Learning Activity:
1. The teacher reveals the picture of the elephant to the class.
2. Students are asked what sound they think an elephant makes.
3. The students listen to an audio clip of an elephant trumpeting.
4. Students are asked to turn to their elbow partner and re-enact the sound.
5. The activity is repeated except with half of the class (one half re-enacting before the other).
6. The entire class re-enacts the sound together.
7. Students are asked how they think an elephant moves.
8. The students are shown a video clip of an elephant walking.
9. Students are asked to turn to their elbow partner and re-enact the movement, standing by their desks.
10. The activity is repeated except with half of the class (one half re-enacting before the other).
11. The entire class re-enacts the movement together.
12. The teacher transitions to the snake.
13. Activity is repeated with each animal (snake, elephant, eagle, and lion).
Assessments/Differentiation:
1. Observation of how students re-enact the sound and movements of each animal. These observations will be
used as formative assessment to guide the teacher in adjusting further lessons to accommodate student
learning. For example, if the students seem to be struggling with embodying the elephant, the teacher could
plan to adjust the review that is planned for the next lesson to focus on enacting the elephant characteristics.
2. Students slowly build their confidence in acting in front of peers through scaffolding from partners, to groups,
to the entire class. The teacher will observe the students level of confidence while they are performing in
front of their peers and if they notice some students that are still uncomfortable with this, they can implement
other measures to accommodate those students.
Key Guiding Questions:
1. When students are being asked to make predictions about how animals move, students would be asked:
a. How would the weight of an elephant impact how it moves?
b. Why would considering this be important
c. Do snakes have arms or legs? How would this impact how they move?
d. Instead of arms eagles have something special, what are they? How does this affect how they move?
e. Lions need to catch prey in the wild. Do you think they have to run fast or slow?
f. Lions also have pads on their feet. If they are trying to catch food, why is this important?
i. These questions are important to help students compare and describe animals as it pertains
to the outcomes outlined above.

Closure (2 min.):
Consolidation/Assessment of Learning:
1. Ask: Which animals did we learn about today?
2. Waits for and listens/responds to feedback.
3. Say: Thats right, we learned about how elephants, snakes, lions, and eagles move and speak. [Pointing to
each animal as they are mentioned.]
4. Exit Slip: Each student must re-enact the sound and movement of one animal they learned about before
they can leave as well as provide a star and a wish on a sticky note. The star is something that the students
learned and the wish is a question or concern the students had with the lesson. The stars will provide insight

Abby Salm, Eric Trinh, Erica Barr

as to which parts of the lesson were particularly resonant or engaging to the students and the wishes can be
addressed either individually or collectively as a class if there are common concerns.
Transition To Next Lesson: Say: Next class, were going to be learning about patterns and how you can make one
with the animals you learned about today.

*A 5-minute buffer is left for the lesson.