Maria Bischel

[Field partner: Sierra Savin]

EDT 473 B: Dr. Leafgren
4/18/18
LESSON STUDY
*Note: Some of the sections may be almost identical to my field partner’s, since we wrote some parts
together. However, even these sections will have small differences or additions depending on what I
changed as I completed it individually.

1. TITLE OF THE LESSON

Living Things at the Zoo

2. THE TWO SELECTED CONTENT AREAS

Science and Reading/Writing

3. CONTEXT
A. Kindergarten
B. Describe some pertinent aspects:
Students in the class focus a lot on project based learning. This applies to the district as a whole.
We like seeing this because it is more hands on and students are thinking for themselves with some
guidance. Since they focus on project based learning, we wanted to do investigation centers where the
students would be doing some research as part of the lesson.

The students in the class are amazing. I did not think that kindergarten would be as academic as it
is. They constantly impress me, not just on what they learn, but how they act. They really seem to care
about each other and I do get a sense of community in the classroom. The classroom management used
in the class works super well for the students. There are even two different plans in place for two
students who have more behavioral needs. Both of these were well thought out, and therefore are very
effective.

There are some pretty high level students in the classroom. One in particular has a second grade
reading level and has been identified as gifted in reading. As a way to accommodate instruction for her
level, she leaves the class during reading to join a second grade class that does reading instruction at
the same time. On the opposite end of the scale, we have some students that are struggling with reading
and are learning to use pictures to help them to read a page. They are in kindergarten so this is
expected. I think the fact that they are able to do this is great. During the lesson where students were to
put information they found into a graphic organizer, at least one student, not being able to really write
out the information, used pictures in each box instead.

C. Description of the lesson connection to student’s prior experience:

A few weeks into our field experience, we learned that our class would be going on a field trip to
the zoo towards the very end of the semester. We found out later, that the trip was actually going to be
on our very last day in field. We thought that it was going to be a great experience to have as we finish
our work with these students. Because of this we decide we wanted to do a lesson that related to this
trip. Our students (as many young children are) were also quite interested in animals. So, we thought
teaching a lesson related to living things (especially animals) would be relevant to them, and therefore
be engaging as well.
 Not only, though, did our lesson relate to the future trip the students were going to do (though this
trip was what gave us our initial idea for the lesson). It also related to a lot of prior projects the students
had worked on. As we mentioned above, the class focuses on project based learning. Through this
project based learning, they had already studied different habitats (creating a habitat) and studied the
characteristics and needs of plants (planting a variety of seeds). This was very relevant to our lesson
because the main focus of our lesson was on living things and what they have in common. Living
things include both animals and plants, which were at the center of these two prior projects. We think
that because the students now knew more about both plants and animals- as a result of those two prior
projects- they were then more able to analyze them and identify what they had in common. If this prior
knowledge had not been there, it would have been much harder to teach our lesson. We would have to
teach this base knowledge as well. Looking at the lesson we chose, we could really see that it followed
in logical sequence from what they had studied in the past. It helped us see that it was a logical and
relevant lesson to teach them at that time. In addition, from the amount of time both we and the
students spent during the lesson referring to these prior projects, books or topics, we could see it was
closely connected.

4. DESCRIPTION OF THE OBJECTIVES/STANDARDS OF THE INTEGRATED LESSON:

A. Standards Used:
W.K.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a
favorite author and express opinions about them).

Science:
Grade Band Theme: Observations of the Environment
Strand: Life Science (LS)
Topic: Physical and Behavioral Traits of Living Things
Content Statement: Living things are different from nonliving things.

B. Enduring understandings as related to the standards:

The main overarching idea of the science standard that I want my students to take away from this
lesson is that living things are different than non-living things, and these living things have aspects in
common. I want them to realize that it is only by identifying these commonalties between living things
that we can group them and give them this name. If I would explain or summarize this to a student (or
have him summarize it for me) it would sound more like: “living things are the same in certain ways;
this is what makes them different from non-living things.” The student would not be expected to list
what the commonalties are between living things. Though this would be preferable to know, it falls
more so into the outer range of “things worth being familiar with” (Understanding By Design, Wiggins
and McTighe). There are many aspects related to this core goal- this enduring understanding- such as
the ones we focused on in our assessment:
• Plants and animals are both living things
• Animals get food from outside of themselves and plants make their own food
• Living things are almost everywhere
• Living things grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and require energy
However, though we wanted our student to learn these things (which is why we assessed them on this
knowledge), these things are not enduring understandings but either things that “important to know” or
at least “worth being familiar with” (Understanding By Design, Wiggins and McTighe).

The enduring understanding related to the writing standard get a little more interesting. Initially,
when thinking about this lesson study, I was confused about the difference between enduring
understandings and qualities of experience. After some clarification, I do now understand why they are
different things. Enduring understandings are big overarching ideas or questions student are exploring,
the results of which, they will take with them and revisit. Qualities of experience are aspects of student
learning see, live through and engage in. However, similar to how a square is also a rectangle, in this
case I believe the enduring understandings of the writing standard includes the qualities of experience
we focused on in this lesson. The most basic enduring understanding of the writing standard in this
lesson is that we must know or learn (research) about a topic before in order to have evidence to
support our discussion of it. In addition to this, though, another overarching idea related to this
standard (in the way I envision it utilized) is that we need to work together to produce our research, and
this means we have to act in certain respectful and mindful ways or exhibit social skills; we must be
aware of others and ourselves. Finally, since we are researching, the enduing understanding I would
like my student to take with them is: if you are curious about something, ask questions about it and
research; we can only discover new things if we are willing to follow our interests and search for
answers. This will help them to be lifelong learners. As you can see, these enduring understandings are
not explicitly part of the writing standard; they are the writing standard as I envision it in this scenario:
integrated with investigation (Science) and stretching research and group co-operation to a much
higher level.

C. How the two contents are integrated:

Since we decided to include Science in our lesson, in an inquiry-based way, it seemed only logical
to also include a reading and writing standard. When engaging in inquiry-based science I have found
that it is beneficial to introduce the topic with a picture book. It is an interesting way to engage your
student on the topic, and often helps them see it in more relevant way then a textbook would present
the information. Following this idea, then, we used a read-aloud to introduce the topic, naturally
integrating reading into the lesson (for Kindergarteners, this is reading comprehension). Following this
reading and discussion, we then released the student to work on the central goal of the lesson, where
they engaged in inquiry-based learning. Through this inquiry (as well as the book), the science
standard was addressed as each group of students used resources to learn and answer questions about
their living thing. However, as those who work to integrate contents can easily see, disciplines cannot
be learned in strict isolation. In order for the student to research and keep track of what they were
researching, they had to write. In this scenario, it was slightly different because many kindergarteners
are not yet able to write full words. They are in the stage in which they notice letters and sounds, and
apply it somewhat, but not fully. Because of this, though they did “write” as they researched, they also
used pictures as part of this “writing” to explain their findings. Even if the research they recorded did
not quite have words on it (though there were quite a few that did) they were still learning the basics of
researching. In addition to this they were practicing their writing skills. In order to even create a
cohesive lesson like this, or any lesson, it seems pretty clear to me that you have to use a combination
of disciplines. The struggle then, for those who might try to integrate their lessons, is not finding our
how to do it. The hardest part is just being aware of this fact, and then figuring out how to assess
students’ knowledge on each of the areas, so we can know how they will be best supported. We do
integration anyway, we just have to realize it and take advantage of this fact.

5. QUALITIES OF EXPERIENCE (Individual):

1) In what ways does this lesson capitalize on students’ natural curiosity giving them
opportunity for discovery and surprise?
The question above is one that William Ayers’ says, “helps me move along in my teaching” (To
Teach, pg. 4). I also agree that it is a valuable quality for our students to experience. Ayers explains
how this aspect of learning will address the important issues of students’ motivation and self-esteem
that teachers often worry about (To Teach, pg. 104). This makes a lot of sense to me. I feel that when
we base learning on the inquiry methods this quality suggests, it allows students to answer their own
questions. Since these questions are important to the students they are motivated to answer them; in
addition, since they are encouraged enough to peruse them, they are able to develop a healthy self-
esteem.
However, one of the difficulties to achieving this quality of experience is to actually foster
curiosity- and not just say it is happening. This means, on a certain level, we teachers have to give our
students enough control to make decisions about their learning. Jalango provides us with some input
from an elementary school teacher, Bob Strachota which perfectly illustrates our role in this situation:
“ I had started trying, as often as I could, to wonder with children what to do about the problem, to
have them share in the responsibility of creating a solution instead of telling them what to do”
(Strachota, pg. 9; in Jalango, pg. 68). This doesn’t mean we leave them to their own devices; teachers
are still key to this process. However, our job is to to recognize students’ interest and to see the value
in their thousands of curious questions. We need to be patient, receptive, and then guide them to find
the answers.
My reasons for addressing this quality of experience are related to both my students in the field
placement (kindergarten), as well as my younger brother Mark (third grade). In field, I really feel that
my host teacher works to address and allow students’ to express their interests. However, all too often,
it seems that the students simply copy the model she sets. For example, when they do journal writing,
the sentences they write are usually very similar and often identical to the example given a few
minutes before. However, our teacher also uses project-based learning, which can be a great
opportunity to foster curiosity. I am curious to see, during the two-week field, how the students are
allowed to direct their learning during their current project. I believe that this extended time will allow
us to see more student driven learning that we might not see otherwise.
I also wish my brother Mark could have opportunities like this- opportunities to exercise his
curiosity more in school. He is such a bright kid, constantly asking questions; however, he complains
that he is board in school saying things like, “the math is too easy.” I see so much promise in his young
exuberance for life as well as in the students at my placement. What I hope is that they are all given a
chance to grow and not loose that spark. In turn, this leads me to try to foster this in my own
classroom. I realize, as Ian Bogost discovered, that we must learn to, “work with the grass on it’s own
terms rather than [our own]” (Play Anything, pg. 16). We need to guide students to set the terms of
their learning- but still allow them to retain ownership of it. Only then can they truly experience the
joy- the fun- of, “finding something new in a familiar situation” (Play Anything, pg. 6).

2) Are there opportunities for the students to share their knowledge in partnership with the
teacher?
This idea, that it is important for students to share their knowledge along with the teacher, comes
from my own experience, as well as from the book Black Ants and Buddhists. Mary Cowhey tells us in
this book that, “I seek to be a learner in my own classroom and forge a student-teacher partnership in
this project of education” (Cowhey, pg. 167). I believe that students share knowledge in different
ways, that this partnership is complex. One of these ways is through these young children’s startling
observations and innocent wisdom. A commonly used phrase is, “from the mouth of babes.” By this
we mean that children are able to see and express some truth or reality that we adults couldn’t quite
express. Maybe we didn’t realize it, or maybe we just didn’t have the guts- the candor- to say it. Mary
Cowhey encouraged this in her classroom when what she was wearing (darker colors than usual)
brought about a discussion (Cowhey, pg. 167). She shared her vulnerability about being nervous to talk
to her son’s principal and her students shared with her the colors they liked to wear and what they
mean to them: ‘“In India, we wear white for a funeral”’ said Krish (Cowhey, pg. 168). By addressing
her students’ comments and by allowing them to share their input, Mary and her class learned more
about each other, and they learned that it is alright to share experiences and be vulnerable.
 This example also shows how students not only share wisdom, but also share their knowledge
about themselves and their experiences, knowledge that we as teachers would never know unless we
give them the opportunity to share it. Ayers writes, “The greatest source of knowledge about the
student remains the student herself” (Ayers, pg. 54). When we provide these opportunities for the
students, we help combat the practice of creating deficit narratives about our students because of the
knowledge they might not have. I saw this in the student I tutored at field. For one of my lessons with
him, we have been creating a flip-book (writing and drawing pictures) about things he likes. He
surprised me with knowledge about different superheroes that even I didn’t know about. Creating the
book was a great experience, he was so excited to do it; in the course of it I learned more about what
he liked and what was important to my student.
As one can see in both my example and the one from Cowhey’s book, these opportunities for
students to share don’t happen automatically; they happen because a teacher made students feel
comfortable and welcome in sharing what they know. As teachers we need to realize that sometimes
we need to stop controlling and predicting and take the risk of deviating from some set plan (Brené
Brown, TedTalk on The Power of Vulnerability). We need to critique our lessons to make sure that we
are in the “middle”, but not “in the way” (Jalongo, pg. 69).

3) In what ways does this lesson prompt academically productive work?

This is another question from Ayers work that I felt is important to ask. Ayers says, “Much of the
“work” of school is not work at all- it is make-work or busy-work, meaningless stuff to occupy our
time. Everyone is eager for the day to end, for the term to end, for the year to end” (Ayers, pg. 104).
Especially as teachers, we cannot view school this way. We need to be sure that the lessons we prepare
are valuable to the students. They need to be valuable by being meaningful to the students because they
are relevant and by allowing the students know that they are actually learning valuable information. I
don’t think that, as teachers, we ever set out to do otherwise- we do aim for our students to accomplish
academically productive work. However, I think that it is easy for us to lose this focus. We can easily
end up falling into the same routine, never asking ourselves if students are actually benefiting from our
lessons. When our students just provide the answers or results we already have predicted as competent,
we must ask if those results we hope for so much actually show academically productive work.
Guiding our students to achieve productive learning is one of the reason we are teachers. Remembering
this, we need to fully resist, “the condescending assumption that the early childhood teacher’s role
consists of “keeping little hands busy” rather than facilitating learning” (Jalongo, pg. 67).
This reminds me of my own experience in some classes. Too often I came away from my classes
asking, “What did I learn? What did I get out of that?”. I don’t want my students to have to wonder
about that same thing. I want them to feel that they accomplished something, that they learned valuable
information or skills that furthered their knowledge. As Lilian G. Katz says, I want them to “[Know]
the satisfaction that can come from overcoming obstacles and setbacks and solving problems” (Katz,
pg. 2). Perhaps we will not always be aware of this learning and satisfaction every single day in our
classrooms, because the process of learning, of overcoming obstacles and solving problems, is often a
gradual one. However, we must be sure that it is happening, that we are seeing it often. Every morning
at my field placement the teacher starts with a morning meeting (which I have often been teaching); we
read the morning message, sing the phonics song, segment words and read sight words as a class. I
sometimes wonder though, how helpful is this to the children? Some of them seem very distracted and
get little out of it. I definitely think that morning meeting can be a valuable time to come together as a
classroom community, however, my focus during that time would be more so to learn about each other
and not just “things of value” but “how to be” (Moore, pg. 2). If I were to make this time more
academically productive, and not just a routine that happens every day, I would connect it more to the
students lives and to the rest of their work during they day. Weave that learning in the morning
together with the learning the rest of the day so that students can actually see the product of their
learning and feel the satisfaction that that they have achieved some academic goal because of what
they learned. By doing this we will have answered the question, “why do we have to learn this?” even
before the students voice it.

6. DESCRIPTION/NARRATIVE OF LESSON– WHAT YOU PLANNED AND HOW IT

WENT.
Our students, unsurprisingly, really like animals. They have a pet fish and were excited about the
future field trip to the zoo. Because of this, we thought teaching a lesson related to animals would be a
great way to acknowledge our students interests. After glancing at the Science standards, we decided to
broaden our lesson to focus on living things, with an emphasis on animals you might see at the zoo.
We then planned out, in a general way, what our lesson would look like and how it would work; you
can see this planning and general lesson format below. After planning, we were ready to give our
student the pre-test (required by Dr. Schroers portion of the assignment) that can be seen below. We
gave the test to them in small group or individual format two days before we taught our lesson; this
way we could modify any part of our lesson depending on the results of the assessment. The last
question on the test was a form of interest inventory, asking them about an animal they would love to
see at the zoo. In addition, on the same day, during the same time we were pulling student aside to take
the pre-test, the student were working on “Journals,” a form of opinion writing and drawing that our
host teacher has them do almost every day. Today, in order to relate it to the lesson and pre-test we
were doing, our teacher had thoughtfully suggested they write their journals on something they would
like to see at the zoo. This got our student thinking about the topic of our lesson. This additional
student work, along with the final question on the assessment, helped us to design and form the groups
for the investigation. This was the start of our efforts to implement the first quality of experience we
chose to foster: capitalizing on students’ natural curiosity giving them opportunities for discovery and
surprise.
Two days later we were ready to teach our lesson. We had the student gather on the rug, and our
host teacher sat in the back of the room, giving us the chance to teach without any assistance. We
started off the lesson by connecting the main focus (“What do living things have in common?”) to
things they had learned about previously. We talked about the habitat project they had done as well as
the study they had done when planting seeds. In order to make the pre-test more relevant we also
talked about that in relation to what we hoped to learn. Next we introduced the book, and helped them
connect it to the zoo trip they were going to be doing in May; we asked them what they noticed about
the book (the cover had zoo animals all over it). So far, the lesson was going quite well. The students
were engaged and well behaved- despite the fact that there was a lot of commotion in the hall (our
classroom doesn’t have a door).
Despite the fact that the next portion of the lesson we had planned was to introduce the vocabulary,
this didn’t happen. I forgot, and just started reading the book. Almost halfway through the book, I
realized that I had forgotten to go over the vocabulary words for the text. I had even printed up pictures
to use, and they were just sitting there next to me, utterly disregarded. This was really frustrating to me
and caused me to be a little flustered for the rest of the lesson. I stopped reading and tried to introduce
the words once I remembered, but as I was doing it I realized it just wouldn’t work. It was disrupting
the flow of the story, and the kids were confused. Though it bothered me, I decided it would be best to
skip them and just keep reading. I then tried to keep reading. However, at this point, a kid from the
classroom next door (who we could hear crying in the hall at the start of the lesson) started a full-
blown screaming fit. Because my students couldn’t here what I was reading, I stopped and said, “We
are just going to pause for a minute.” This situation, I think, was one I dealt with much better than the
previous vocabulary omission. We just sat calmly, and when we started up again, I genuinely thanked
the kids for being so calm and unflustered even though our learning was interrupted.
Even with all this confusion, I think that the book reading was beneficial. The book we had chosen
to introduce our lesson, Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth by Nicola Davies, was perfect for our
lesson. It touched on almost every aspect of our pre-test; in other words, it included not only the
enduring understanding we hoped the students would take away from the lesson, but also the “things to
know” and the “things to be familiar with (Understanding By Design, Wiggins and McTighe).
Beforehand, in preparation for our lesson, I had marked the pages that would be best to stop on to
discuss these topics. There was a lot to talk about, so there were quite a few places to stop and
questions to ask. They included: (each bullet is a different page; the portion in parenthesis are possible
clarifications)
• Can you name some different living things? Other than animals? Other than plants? (There are
many different kinds of living things.)
• Can you name different places or environments where living things are found? (Living things
are found in different places and almost everywhere in the world. Each place may have
somewhat different living things.)
• What food or energy does a plant use? Does it have to find food or can it make its own? What
about animals? (Living things need energy to grow.)
• Can you give me examples of things that were once-living? What are bones? (Dead things were
once living.)
• (Living things respond to changes in their environment.)
• What do you think all living things have in common? (They: respond to the environment or
move, grow, reproduce and need energy or food.)
In addition stopping to discuss these things, we also stopped at different times when students had their
hands raised and wanted to contribute. Thinking about how many times we stopped and the different
interruptions we had, it may seem that this took too long. However, though I might not normally plan
to stop this much as I read a book, it really worked in this situation. Stopping and giving the students a
chance to share their thoughts through discussion was actually what allowed them to stay focused and
interested. It was, once again as chance for them to “allow student to exercise their natural curiosity.”
After we finished the book, we had a closing discussion and briefly went over the things we had
learned from the book.
Finally, we reached the heart of our lesson, the student investigation. Before we started them off,
we talked about a few things we wanted them to look for as they researched their animal: what the
animal eats, where the animal lives, and anything else they wanted to learn about their animal. We then
wrote these research purposes on the whiteboard. After we gave them a graphic organizer to use to
write down their findings, we divided them into their groups. These groups were based on the interest
inventory of what animal they like at the zoo. Because we could only do five animals (there were five
groups: elephant, snake, lion, monkey and bat) some students did not have the exact animal they
wanted; however they were still excited because they were learning about animals. In this way we
were again able to foster student exercising their natural curiosity. At each of the different tables we
had laid out two or thee different books (appropriately leveled). We made sure that there was one
strong reader at each table to help them read these books; we also marked pages that might be relevant
(especially for books with more pages). In addition to this, one of use also came around to each group
and showed them a video about their animal. Using these resources, the students learned about their
animal. We came around to each table as they worked to ask what they had discovered and put forth
guiding questions. For the most part the group worked well together. However, there was one group
that was a little dysfunctional. They didn’t want to share a certain book, but both wanted to read it at
the same time. It was a little rough, but by the end of the lesson, and after some suggestions from
myself, I could see they had worked it out somewhat. Overall though, this group work allowed
students to engage in the second of our qualities of experience: developing social skills. Like that one
group, the students learned about the enduring understanding of the need to work together.
 Our final part of the lesson, as we had planned it, was to have the students present what they had
learned. However, being guest teachers in that classroom, we couldn’t spend the entire day on the
lesson. We knew that we probably wouldn’t have times for this section, and we did not. However, if
we had taught this lesson as teachers of our own classroom, this presentation would have been the
culmination of our project.
I think that despite the struggles I had during this lesson, it really was a positive experience. Our
host teacher- who was observing us and taking notes as we taught- also agreed that there were a lot of
positive aspects. One positive was being able to actually exercise a something I think is crucial:
showing students that I really care for them. Though I certainly expected the students to be quiet at
certain times or do what I asked, I definitely showed them I cared by talking to them kindly and
listening to what they had to say. For example, one student was having a behavioral issue during the
read aloud; I was able to got down to his level and talk one-on-one without calling him out in front of
the class. My teacher is always empathetic and caring to her students, so it was refreshing to be able to
follow her lead, and not struggle against an abrasive environment.
I really learned a lot from teaching this lesson. Right after the lesson was finished, I felt slightly
frustrated; I knew that it could have been better, and after spending so much time working on it, I was
disappointed. Later, though, after talking about how it went with my field partner and host teacher, I
realized something. It didn’t matter really how I felt about the lesson. The lesson wasn’t for me; it was
for my students. Realizing this, I thought about how the students experienced it. They were engaged
and I do believe they enjoyed it. I truly believe they were able to exercise the two qualities of
experience we talked about in a meaningful way. In addition, from their discussion (and later their
post-test results) I could really tell that they were growing in their knowledge of the topic. I truly think,
from the growth we saw on the post assessment, and from just talking to the students and observing
their responses, they retained the different enduring understanding. They truly learned that that living
things are different than non-living things, and these living things have aspects in common They
learned the need to work together to produce research to support their discussions. Finally they
experienced the excitement of being able to ask questions and research about something they are
interested in; I also think that this experience will help them to do them same in the future. For my
students, it was a successful lesson, so I realized it was for me as well. Thinking about this lesson was
impactful because it has helped me realize that I must be flexible when something doesn’t go as I
planned. It has also helped me remember that my goal is to make the lesson effective from the kids’
perspective.

~~ General Lesson Format and Brainstorming (: ~~~

Qualities of Experience We are Focusing on:

1) In what ways does this lesson capitalize on students’ natural curiosity giving them opportunity
for discovery and surprise?
2) In what ways does this lesson allow students to develop social skills?

Pre/Post Test Questions

Directions: Circle yes or no.
1. If a thing is dead, it was once living.
2. Animal and plants are both living things.
3. Living things grow.
4. Living things can actively respond to changes in their environment.
5. Living things reproduce.
6. Living things require energy.
7. Animals get food from outside of themselves.
 8. Plants make their own food.
Directions: Respond with one or two words.
9. Name three different types of places where animals are found.
10. Name two animals that live in different places. Then list the places they live in?
11. Tell me what animal you most want to see at the zoo! Draw it!

Elaboration on what certain question are addressing

( 1. Living things include anything that is alive or has ever been alive.)
( 2. There are different kinds of living things. (plants and animals))
(4. Living things respond to stimuli. (focus on easy to observe responses)
( 3-6. Living things have specific characteristics and traits.)
( 9. Living things are found almost everywhere in the world.)
( 10. There are somewhat different kinds in different places.)
What does it mean to be living?

Lesson Structure
Part 1: Introduction
Intro the Lesson (Living things, in connection to Zoo)
• Connect to pre-test and pre-knowledge (habitats and plants)
Intro the book
• Point out that cover had zoo animals
o =Connection to Zoo theme (and upcoming trip)
Vocabulary
• Will use in lesson and with book
• INSERT VOCAB

Part 2: Book and Discussion

Book reading with Discussion and Questions
• Give Guiding Question: What does it mean to be living?
• Prompting questions: (during and after)
o Think of what you will see at the zoo!
o Are there living things there besides animals?
o Name some different kinds of living things.
o Can you tell me some things all living things have in common?
o What does it mean to be living?
Discussion of book and what we learned

Questions addressed:
o If a thing is dead, it was once living.
o Animal and plants are both living things.
o Living things grow.
o Living things can actively respond to changes in their environment.
o Living things reproduce.
o Living things require energy.
Prompting questions: Where do living things get their energy from?
 Questions addressed:
o Animals get food from outside of themselves.
o Plants make their own food.

Part 3: Investigating Different Living Things

• Get into groups of living thing you are learning more about.
• Narrow down to 3-4 groups (decide groups, high kids is leader of group)
• Use books and websites to learn more about that animal
• Use graphic organizer to answer questions:
o Where do they live?
o What is the place like where they live?
o What kind of food do they need?
o Any other things you want to know.
o Tell us what makes your animal a living thing.

Questions addressed:
• Name three different types of places where animals are found.
• Name two animals that live in different places. Then list the places they live in?
• Tell me what animal you most want to see at the zoo! Draw it!

Part 5: Present Your Living Thing to the Class (Possible future follow up)
• Why do you like the living thing you picked?
• What did you learn about it and the environment it lives in?
Standards Addressed:
Writing:
W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts
that name what is being written about and supply some information about the topic.

W.K.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a
favorite author and express opinions about them).

Science:
Grade Band Theme: Observations of the Environment
Strand: Life Science (LS)
Topic: Physical and Behavioral Traits of Living Things
Content Statement: Living things are different from nonliving things.
Resources:
http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/2012/03/a-science-mini-unit-living-and-non-living.html
http://www.zooborns.typepad.com/zooborns/cincinnati-zoo/
http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohios-Learning-
Standards/Science/ScienceStandards.pdf.aspx
http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/English-Language-Art/English-
Language-Arts-Standards/ELA-Learning-Standards-2017.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/dap