Science Through Journaling

Name: Adrienne Woolbright Date: 10/17/11 Grade Level/Subject: Third/ Ecosystems, Literature, Prairie Prerequisite Knowledge: Must have knowledge of what is present in a prairie including plants and animals and how these can affect human life on the prairie. Approximate Time: Ten 30 minute classes (15 minutes of reading time followed by 15 minutes of journaling) Student Objectives/Student Outcomes: Students should be able to explain how their views of life on the prairie changed after reading Little House on the Prairie. They should be able to make predications and revise those predictions creating a conclusion upon reading the book. They should also be able to question the science behind why weather and plants affect how people live on the prairie in comparison to how we live currently.

WIDA Language Objectives Level 3 (Developing): Listening: Match literal meanings of oral descriptions or oral reading to illustrations, Reading: Use context clues and illustrations to determine meaning of words/phrases
Content Standards (Common Core): K-12 W R.9 CC.K-12.W.R.9 Research to Build and Present Knowledge: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research K-12 W R.10 CC.K-12.W.R.10 Range of Writing: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences Illinois State Standards for Science

11.A.2a Formulate questions on a specific science topic and choose the steps needed to answer the questions.
Materials/Resources/Technology: Little House on the Prairie, Journaling paper, pencil Implementation: Day 1

Opening of lesson: (Objectives, hook, behavior expectations) The instructor will explain to the students they are going to begin reading Little House on the Prairie to further their exploration of the prairie. Students will have already learned about plants and animals present in the prairie and will now move onto learning about life on the prairie. Students will be given journaling paper to keep a diary as if they were living on the

prairie themselves. First, students will make predications as to how their current lives will be different from their lives living on the prairie. They will write about food, clothing, shelter, and danger they may come across. They will then write three questions they would like to find out after reading the book. They will need to think about weather on the prairie, plants and animals they will encounter. Students should create at least two science based questions.
Day 2-8

Day 9

Day 10

Procedures: Each day the teacher will either read a section of the book aloud or copy sections of the book for students to read to themselves. After reading students will be encouraged to ask questions about what they read to either their neighbor or the teacher. These questions should be science driven such as how prairie fires affected where people could live or how they got their food, what did they eat ect. They will then write a journal/ diary about what they read that day as if they themselves were living on the prairie. Think about weather, animals and plants they would eat, since there is no electricity what time did you go to bed? Summary/Closing: After the students have read all the passages from the book the teacher assigned/ read aloud and completed their diaries, they will go back to their initial predications about life on the prairie. They will talk about these predications and how they were either right or wrong. They will then revise these predications to reflect what they learned about the prairie from reading and discussing the book in class. The teacher will be asking students how life has changed given new inventions such as electricity or stoves? How did people eat if there werent Walmarts to buy your meat and milk from? How did they stay warm without heat? If these issues are not addressed in their journals they will verbally need to explain their thinking about these ideas given what theyve learned. Student Assessment: Once students have finished their journal they will take their entries and create a book. In front will be their initial predications, followed by their journaling, and then their revised conclusions. They will be graded on their revised conclusions and how well these conclusions match information given from the text.

I designed this lesson to look like a science experiment, in my eyes. First students make predictions, or hypothesis, then they actually read the story while would be like carrying out the experiment and finally they revise their predications or hypothesis. Like stated in Chapter 5, students take prior knowledge and build new knowledge. If this process is completed with reading, they will understand it better when correlated to science. The world hypothesis may mean nothing to the students but when the teacher explains that it is just like predicting in reading, they may comprehend it better.