Integrated Unit Plan

Caitlin Adams
EED 412-01
Professor Musso

Table of Contents:

KWL Chart

Page 3

Curriculum Web

Page 4

Introduction

Page 5-8

Rationale

Page 5

Objective

Page 5

Activities

Page 6-9

Authentic Assessment Criteria

Reflection

Page 9-11
Page 11

Part 2: Introduction

Length of time: 4 weeks, Grade: Kindergarten

Rationale: My purpose for teaching this unit is to begin to get the students on a
path to thinking about why the seasons are cyclic and what causes them.
Although this is not the main objective of this unit, because it would be
developmentally inappropriate, I believe that teaching them some of the effects of
the changes of season will begin them to question why they do actually change.
This knowledge and curiosity will better prepare them for curriculum in upper
elementary that teaches them that the seasons change because of the rotation of
the earth around the sun and its position to it. My purpose for this unit is to teach
them about some of the natural effects of the seasons change, specifically in
regards to the transitions that occur in the Autumn as a result of the temperature
change. Some of these changes include: the changing of color in the leaves, the

falling of the leaves from the trees, and the migration of various animals.
Objective: Some of the main overarching objectives within this unit include,
discovering the natural byproducts of this particular change of season and where
they come from; i.e. leaves, twigs, pollen, spikey balls, pinecones, acorns, etc.
Another main idea is the various effects due to this change of season, such as the
changing of the leaves, the falling of the leaves, the hibernation of certain
animals, the migration of certain animals, and how these things affect our lives as
well as out environment. Finally, the students will learn the importance of the
harvest and why it is so influential in the lives of farmers.

Activities:
o Language/Literacy:

Together the students and teacher will discuss what rhymes are and where
they can be found in writing. Once the children understand that rhyming
is when two words have the same ending sound, they will read a poem
about the growth of pumpkins aloud with the teacher. After they have read
it together several times over, together they will locate the individual
rhymes that are present within the poem. Using puzzle pieces with the
rhyming words on each size the students will put together both sizes of the
puzzle. This will be chosen to introduce the new literacy skill of rhyming,
while also allowing the poem to describe the growth of a pumpkin;
highlighting that they are picked in the Autumn before the next seasonal
transition to winter when it is too cold for them to survive.
o Mathematics/Science/Technology:
To begin this activity, the teacher will describe to the students what acorns
are and what their use is in nature. The teacher will be sure to describe
why they fall from the trees every Autumn, signifying the important role
the season change plays on them. Then the teacher will ask that each
student, using a painting of a tree that they have already created, match the
printed number with the same number of acorns. This will demonstrate if
the child has one to one correspondence and can recognize that a printed
number has a specific value. It will also introduce the idea of natural
byproducts that are produced as a result of season change.
o Physical:
Together as a whole class, each student will grab one of the edges of a
parachute. They will practice together its movement, that way if it is
unfamiliar to some students they will feel comfortable participating in the

activity. After everyone understands how the game is played, the teacher
will place the parachute on the ground and place a layer of leaves on top
of it. The class will then pick up the parachute and play with it as they had
done before, now mimicking the act of how leaves fall in the Autumn.
Once everyone has participated in the activity several times, the class will
have a whole group discussion about why it is that the leaves fall every
Autumn and how it is a natural reaction of the season change. This
activity addresses the gross motor skills that are needed to physically
move the parachute up and down, while also beginning to address why it
is that the leaves fall every Autumn as a natural reaction to the season
change.
o Music/Movement:
While music is playing that mimics the sound of gusting wind, the
children will be asked to pretend that they are the falling leaves and move
like they are travelling through the wind (within a confined space so they
dont bump into each other). After they have explored with the movement
and music aspect of this activity, the whole class will sit together at the
carpet and each child will share what their journey was a leaf was like;
answering questions like Where did you go?, What did you see?, etc.
This will help them work many of their gross motor skills while also
allowing them to use their knowledge about why leaves fall in the Autumn
to help them generate a story of their own.
o Creative Play:
During centers, a sensory table will be set up with the natural byproducts
that are associated with Autumn. Some things that will be included in the

table will be, crushed leaves, whole leaves, twigs, pinecones, and other
natural byproducts that present no threat of injury. This center will be
open for all the children to explore at their own leisure. It will allow them
to observe the natural byproducts of the Autumn first hand and discover
their importance. The teacher will be sure to interact with every child who
goes to the sensory table, asking them different questions to assess their
knowledge of these byproducts. For instance, Do you remember where
this comes from?, What causes this to fall from the trees?, etc.
o Social/Emotional:
During centers, one of the dramatic play options that will be introduced is
imitating how a farmer selling his crops to a storeowner or customer. This
interaction and play will allow children to understand the significance of
why farmers experience their harvest in the Autumn. During this play the
teacher can ask the children questions like, Why are you [the farmer]
selling your crops?, Why is so important that you sell all of these crops
during the Autumn rather than another season?, etc.

Part 3: Authentic Assessment Criteria

1. Popsicle Sticks- This technique for formative assessment is not only useful but
can be used during various whole group activities. It is used effectively by having
the teacher draw a popsicle stick from a cup that has a students name on it. Once
the stick is chosen with a students name, the teacher then asks that particular
student a basic question regarding their understanding of what was taught. For
instance, John, can you remind us why butterflies leaves us up north in the Fall?

would be a basic question that we could gauge his understanding of what we

taught him about butterflies migrating. You can ask the students the same
question and see if they build their knowledge off of one another or ask them
different questions regarding the same topic to see what it is they got from the
activity itself. It seems a more effective tool in a formal whole group lesson
rather than an informal center activity, so I would incorporate it into my
Math/Science/Technology and Language/Literacy activities.
2. Teacher Observation Form- This kind of assessment is best utilized when the
teacher is not directly involved in the learning itself, but just observes the childs
interaction with materials and asks them questions regarding what they know.
The teacher uses a form with various empty boxes, one for each student, as the
children interact with their various centers the teacher observes their actions,
statements and interactions with peers. The teacher can ask questions about what
the student is doing, experiencing, or a specific question about the materials in
regards to the Fall unit as a whole. These answers, in regards to the students
understanding of the topic, should be recorded and reviewed to help the student in
future lessons. Since this is more effective in a more hands-off setting I would
incorporate this into my Creative Play and Social/Emotional activities.
3. Teacher Checklist- This form of assessment can involve either a whole group
lesson or a center-based activity. It focuses on the teacher filling out a checklist
for each student that assesses their ability to perform specific objectives of the
activity. For instance the checklist may include things like student can firmly
hold a medium size foam ball in one hand, student can roll a medium size foam
ball with one hand, etc. If a student can perform these objectives within the

activity then they get a checked off, if cannot then they do not. This gives the
teacher an idea of the things that her whole class needs to work on versus a select
few students. I would incorporate this form of assessment into both my
Music/Movement activity and my Physical activity. This is because they present
both a center and a whole class lesson, but they are also individual enough for the
teacher to assess the stories the students tell as well as their gross and fine motor
abilities.
4. Think/Pair/Share- This form of assessment allows the teacher to listen in on the
students understanding of a topic completely informally without the child
knowing that they are being assessed. In this model, the student speaks
informally to a partner either answering a specific question or discussing what
they know about a topic specifically. During these discussions, the teacher floats
around to the partners listening to their input with one another. As she does so she
mentally notes who understands the information that she has presented previously
and who has not. This type of assessment can be used in whole group lessons that
incorporate individual peer discussion. I would use it within my
Music/Movement activity before they shared out their stories, to gauge their
knowledge of the changing of the leaves.
5. Thumbs Up/Down/Middle- This formative assessment asks the students to tell the
teacher if they understand what is going on within the lesson. If they understand
they put their thumb up, if they dont they put their thumb down, and if they kind
of understand they put their thumb in the middle. This basic assessment can be
used across any kind of lesson either whole group or center-based. Therefore I
believe I could incorporate this kind of assessment into all of my activities.

Part 4: Reflection
The preparation of this unit has really opened my eyes to the difficulty of
developing multiple activities that address various skills in regards to the same topic. I
struggled at first to connect the activities in a meaningful way in regards to the theme of
Fall. It was difficult for me to find a thread to string these activities together, a
commonality of what I would be teaching and wanted the students to learn. However,
once I got going there was no stopping the flow of creative ideas. You can tell from my
curriculum web there were so many ideas that were left unexplored, but they all had
potential to be something great. This project got me to think and understand that every
idea you have may, in fact, be a great one; however, even some magnificent ideas dont
have a place in a unit because of the information you intend the students to learn. It really
forced my to harness all of my creative activity ideas into things that can be tangible and
meaningful learning experiences for the topic at hand. Thinking from a holistic
perspective of a unit theme is very different from looking at an individual lesson plan and
I am grateful to have had this experience before I headed into Student Teaching next
semester. I believe that it will help me see the underlying themes within various lessons
in my actual placement classrooms and explore how I can use themes in a similar way in
my own future classroom. I also believe exploring some of the ways you can assess an
early childhood classroom was eye opening to me as well. Much of the assessment that
you see in early childhood is based on teacher observation and anecdotal notes. Finding
unique ways to incorporate the children into this kind of assessment was challenging but
also allowed me to see just how effective formative assessment can be. Simple things

like, picking a popsicle stick with a childs name on it and asking them a question or
having a small group discussion about a topic with the children can be easy ways to
involve them in their own assessment without just having the teacher observe without
interacting. Overall, I believe that this assignment really helped me see how various
elements of different lessons are woven together to make a full unit based on a theme. I
have had the capability to explore these things individually in other classes but was never
able to make my own unit based on a theme specifically geared towards early childhood.
It has made me realize that this kind of learning is not solely made for the young child but
can be expanded into the upper elementary setting as well. It is definitely a skill I will be
exploring further and using as I begin my career as a professional.