Philadelphia Standards

1.Literacy Objectives Week1 Cause and Effect & Story Structure Week2- Cause and Effect & Graphic Organizers

National Science Ed. Standards

2. Science Weeks1&2- Life cycles of organisms, Characteristics of organisms and abilities necessary to do science inquiry (predict, observe, classify, record)

Curriculum Materials 1. Literacy will become a major part of our two week unit, students will have exposure and will both fiction and non-fiction text samples 2. Introduce Vocabulary based on literature & or content as well as word wall and weekly words relating to the unit. 3. Graphic organizers and interactive science experiments will be used to guide student understanding. 4. poems, songs and short clips to illustrate life cycle.

Teaching Methods 1. Read Aloud to guide lessons 2. Guided and Cooperative writing 3. Reading and Writing workshop 4. Inquiry based science investigation 5. Talk moves to guide learning 6. Appropriate adaptations and or modifications as necessary for students with diverse learning needs. 7. Partner, group work and whole class work.

Knowledge of Student and Content

1. My current 1st grade students, although they have resources available to them, some will never really experience life outside of the city. 2. It is important that they see and learn about what other children their age are doing as a chore in more rural areas. 3. Some students may have visited a farm but Im certain that most students wont know the process for taking care of an egg or its life cycle 3. Ask: What types of animals lay eggs 4. Discuss what makes some of them unique/ chart answers. 5. Use literacy to teach something meaningful & relatable!

Theories of Teaching & Learning 1. Reading and Writing Workshop (Calkins) 2. Make connections between prior knowledge and new knowledge (VanDe Walle) Educational Beliefs
1. Students will practice collaborative practices with classmates. 2. Learning what is required to care for eggs can guide students to understand responsibility and never-ending relationship between us and the world. 3. Students wont know theyre learning, but rather having fun! 4.Effective learning occurs when there are engaging and authentic tasks with increased interactions among the students. Students will learn to care and feed chicks (real live lessons)

3. Using authentic learning tasks: construct meaning by connecting new information to old, recognize value of knowledge, connect what is learned in school to outside of school (Vaughn ) 4. Leading students to talk through understanding content and listening to each other (Johnson)