Level II - Teacher Ed Lesson Plan Template (UED Courses)

Teacher (Candidate): Miss Morgan Grade-Level: Lesson Date: Feb. 20-23

Fourth Grade 2024
Title of Lesson: Science Cooperating Teacher: Miss Butler

Core Components

Subject, Content Area, or Topic

4.3 - The student will investigate and understand that organisms, including humans, interact with one
another and with the nonliving components in the ecosystem.
Key ideas include…
A. interrelationships exist in populations, communities, and ecosystems;
B. food webs show the flow of energy within an ecosystem;
C. changes in an organism’s niche and habitat may occur at various stages in its life cycle; and
D. classification can be used to identify organisms.

Student Population: 25

Learning Objectives
I can understand the parts of a food chain- producer, consumer, decomposer
Virginia Standard(s) of Learning (SOL)
VDOE Technology Standards
English Language Proficiency Standards (WIDA Standards)

Materials/Resources

Exit ticket
Food web video
Organism Sort
Food web Diagram
High Yield Instructional Strategies Used (Marzano, 2001)
Check if Used Strategy Return
* Identifying Similarities & Differences 45%
* Summarizing & Note Taking 34%
Reinforcing Efforts & Providing Recognition 29%
Homework & Practice 28%
* Nonlinguistic Representations 27%
* Cooperative Learning 23%
Setting Goals & Providing Feedback 23%
Generating & Testing Hypothesis 23%
* Questions, Cues, & Advanced Organizers 22%
Does your instructional input & modeling yield the positive returns you want for your students?
Check if Used Strategy Return
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning 95%
* Practice by Doing 75%
* Discussion 50%
* Demonstration 30%
* Audio Visual 20%
Reading 10%
Lecture 05%

Day 1 science: Tuesday, Feb. 20th 2024 Process Components

*Anticipatory Set
TTW ask the students to TURN and TALK with their desk buddy over the following question
- What are the parts of a Food Chain?
- Can there be more than on in an ecosystem?
TTW call on students to share their responses
*State the Objectives (grade-level terms)
I can understand the parts of a food chain- producer consumer, decomposer
*Instructional Input, Modeling, or Procedures
TTW review with students the following
- Producer
- Consumer
- Decomposer
TTW also ask students to give an example of each
TTW ask a student to come to the board to create a food chain
TTW gather students attention- FLAT TIRE
TTW play the Food Webs YouTube video
TCW discuss the video
*Check for Understanding
TTW ask students to put their thumb up if they feel confident when determining theme, thumbs
in the middle for need more practice, and thumbs down for I need it explained a different way.

*Guided Practice
TTW pass out the Food webs and energy flow ws with questions
TTW place the document under the visualizer
TCW complete it
TTW ask the following questions concerning the food webs diagram:
- What is at the beginning of every food chain/food web?
- What would happen to the food web if the rabbits simply disappeared?
- What organisms share the same type of food?
- What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
TTW instruct students to place it in their HW folder as a study resource for the Unit quiz and
test coming up.
 *Independent Practice
TTW pass out the Organisms in the Food Chain Sort for students to complete
TTW display her example for students to know what goes in each column.
(Each column should start with a word on the top, the description in the middle, and a picture
on the bottom.)
TTW place a timer for the duration of the activity
TSW place the completed sort in the orange basket
Assessment
Food chain sort

*Closure
TTW give the students an ECOSYSTEM EXIT ticket for them to complete and turn in to the
orange basket

The ecosystem exit ticket will provide the teacher with data to create an activity that all students
will benefit from.
Differentiation Strategies (e.g. enrichment, accommodations, remediation, learning style, multi-
cultural).
Modeling
Direct Instruction
Visual/auditory
Classroom Management Strategies (To ensure a positive learning environment).
Phrases like Flat Tire will be used to gather students’ attention.
Students will be reminded during instructional time; all eyes and ears will be pointed towards the
teacher.
Timer displayed on board will help students manage time.
TTW clearly communicate expectations for behavior during center activities.
TTW address any behavior concerns promptly and consistently.

*Denotes Madeline Hunter lesson plan elements.

Lesson Reflection
 Turn and talk is a favorite anticipatory set for my students. It is a great way to start a

lesson; it gets all students involved. Turn and talk is a strategy that has been proven to be

effective; in a traditional classroom setting the teacher asks a question and one student answers.

When turn and talk is used and every student has an opportunity to speak upon the question

asked it has shown to improve the learning for each student (Turn and Talk: An Evidence-Based

Practice Teacher’s Guide). The ecosystems unit is repetitive concerning certain aspects,

therefore, I wanted to incorporate many differentiated activities and instructional delivery.

During the instructional input I started off by asking students to give examples of food chain

before dove into food webs. I displayed a food web video for my students to watch. I then,

during guided practice, displayed a food web diagram the class and I analyzed. This was a great

way to get students to look and illustration and classify what they represented. The video and

diagram went over the same information, yet it was just delivered in different ways. For some of

my students the videos help them grasp content while others benefit from looking at a diagram in

front of them. This applies to INTASC standards 7(b), “The teacher plans how to achieve each

student’s learning goals, choosing appropriate strategies and accommodations, resources, and

materials to differentiate instruction for individuals and groups of learners.” As the lesson

continued, I wanted to connect both illustrations with written notes. I gave the students a food

chain organizer which required them to match a word with the correct description and

illustration. The students did well completing the organizer. To end the lesson, I wanted to create

an ecosystem exit ticket that was a review of the following terms: population, community,

organism, and ecosystem. This was a review of the previous days and what was learned. Data

analysis is important; it allows the teacher to develop lessons and activities that target student

needs. Based on the exit ticket data, I identified many students were getting community and
population confused. The next day I used a puzzle piece activity that required students to

assemble a puzzle in a group. The pieces given created four mini puzzles. Each puzzle has

information concerning one term. The terms used were the ones given on the exit ticker. Students

loved the activity and worked well in groups. Groups were also created based on data analysis of

the exit tickets. As I walked around, I heard my students working well together explaining the

reasoning behind puzzle pieces; it made my teacher heart happy to know the puzzles were

successful.

Work Cited
CCSSO, Council of Chief State School Officers. InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and

Learning Progressions for Teaching 1.0 April 2013.

https://ccsso.org/sites/default/files/2017-

12/2013_INTASC_Learning_Progressions_for_Teachers.pdf

Stewart, A. and Swanson, E. 2019. Turn an Talk: And Evidence-Based Practice Teacher’s

Guide. The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk.

https://meadowscenter.org/wp-

content/uploads/2022/04/TurnAndTalk_TeacherGuide1.pdf