Student- Caylie Larkin

Title Animals of the Sonoran Desert Habitat Lesson Area- Science

Grade Levels- 1st Grade Description of Group- 23 Students
Goal
LS1.A: Structure and Function
- All organisms have external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see,
hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food,
water and air. Plants also have different parts that help them survive and grow.
LS3.B: Variation of Traits
- Individuals of the same kind of plant or animal are recognizable as similar but can also vary in many
ways.
Content Objective
- Given vocabulary instruction in the form of a cognitive content dictionary, a read aloud, and sentence
frames, students will describe the Sonoran Desert habitat, including the climate, water, ground, plants,
and animals, as measured by participation in a class discussion and co-creation of a pictorial input
chart. Students will represent the features of the Sonoran Desert habitat visually, as measured by the
completion of a tear art habitat.
Language Objective
- Given vocabulary instruction in the form of a cognitive content dictionary, a read aloud, and sentence
frames, students will orally explain what a habitat is, why living things live in habitats to which they
are particularly suited, how desert animals have adapted to their desert habitats. Students will also
state the characteristics of a desert habitat, using complete sentences and academic vocabulary.
- Vocabulary
o Camouflage, carnivore, herbivores, nocturnal, omnivore, scavengers.
- Frames
o A habitat is ______.
o The climate of the desert is _____.
o The desert has ____, _____, and ____.
o _____ is adapted to live in the desert habitat because ____.
o I included ___, ___, and ____ in my tear art.
Formative Assessment
- Students will listen to a read aloud about deserts and I will assess their understanding by asking
discussion questions and listening to student responses.
o Ask: Describe the weather and temperature of the Sonoran Desert (dry, hot, not much rain).
Do many plants and animals live in the desert? Why not? If you were to give someone
directions on how to prepare to spend time in the desert, what would you tell him or her to
take for supplies? How do animals find shelter in the desert? How is the Saguaro cactus
adapted to live in the desert? How are animals in the desert adapted to living there? Which
animal that you heard about is nocturnal; what does that mean?
o Ask students to think of a question to ask their partner.
- Students will participate in the creation of a pictorial input chart and I will listen to students partner
discussions of what will fill in the chart.
- Students will create tear art and I will ask them to explain the paper features that they included in the
art.
Summative Assessment
- Students will orally share answers to fill in the pictorial input chart. I will look for students to provide
answers including details from the read aloud and discussion. Students will create a piece of tear art
that represents the Sonoran Desert habitat. I will look for students to be able to describe the various
features of the desert included in their art.
Materials/preparation
- Slideshow of Sonoran Desert images.
- Construction paper for tear art
- 5x5 pieces of black construction paper
- glue sticks and glue bottles
The Lesson
Introduction (at the rug- 50 minutes)
KWL chart
- Ask students if they have ever been to a desert before and what they already know about deserts? Fill
in the K portion of the chart.
- Ask students what they are wondering about the desert. Fill in the W portion of the chart.
Cognitive Content Dictionary
- Introduce content vocabulary with a cognitive content dictionary.
o Write the word and ask students to give a thumbs-up if they have heard the word before.
o Ask students to make a prediction of the meaning (partners).
o Tell students the final meaning and ask them to use the word in a sentence.
Read Aloud with visual slideshow
- Ask students to define the word habitat (place that has food, water, and shelter for the animals and
plants that live there). Ask students to define the word adapt.
- Tell students that deserts are located in many different regions of the world, but today they are going
to hear about a particular desert that is located in the northwestern part of Mexico and the
southwestern part of the United States in parts of the states of Arizona and California (point to the
map). Tell the students that the particular desert located here is called the Sonoran Desert.
- Follow the read aloud and slide progression in the Core knowledge text.
Discussion
- Describe the weather and temperature of the Sonoran Desert (dry, hot, not much rain). Do many
plants and animals live in the desert? Why not? If you were to give someone directions on how to
prepare to spend time in the desert, what would you tell him or her to take for supplies? How do
animals find shelter in the desert? How is the Saguaro cactus adapted to live in the desert? How are
animals in the desert adapted to living there? Which animal that you heard about is nocturnal; what
does that mean?
- Ask students to think of a question to ask their partner.
Habitat Chart
- Review the information already inputted on the chart.
- Elicit students to share what they know and learned about the various categories (ground, climate,
water, plants, animals).
Explain the task
- Tell students that they will create a piece of art representing the Sonoran Desert by tearing and gluing
construction paper. Students will include the various aspects of the desert habitat into the art.
- Model the task.
Expectations
- Set behavioral expectations and write the directions on the board. Have a student repeat the directions
to the class and have partners share with each other.
Explore (20 minutes)
 - Circulate as students create the tear art. Ask the students to explain what features they are
incorporating.
- REINFORCE
Summary (10 minutes on the rug)
(Bring students to the carpet)
- Have the students put their art on their tables and come to the carpet.
- Model a gallery walk.
- Gallery walk and after ask students what they noticed and what desert features they saw in the art.
Modifications
ELL
- Use of sentence frames (appropriate for language level) to facilitate academic language and
conversations.
- Chart as a visual support.
- Peer-collaboration and strategic partnership.
- Content is related to a familiar item.
- Students have choice in the text they select and can select a text in their primary language.

Language supports and sentence frames will be provided to support students in reaching the language
objective. Sentence frames will be modeled and students will have opportunities to practice using the frames
with a partner.
- Vocabulary: Explicitly teach key academic vocabulary to support an understanding of the content
objective and facilitate discussion. Vocabulary will be introduced using multiple representations: state
the word, echo in choral voice, display on a cognitive content dictionary.
o Camouflage, carnivore, herbivores, nocturnal, omnivore, scavengers.
- Frames
o A habitat is ______.
o The climate of the desert is _____.
o The desert has ____, _____, and ____.
o _____ is adapted to live in the desert habitat because ____.
o I included ___, ___, and ____ in my tear art.
IEP/504
- Collaboration with partners and peer role models.
- Use of sentence frames (appropriate for language level) to facilitate academic language and
conversations.
- Chart as a visual support
- Students have choice in the text they select and can select a text in their primary language.
Source: Core Knowledge Foundation