LESSON PLAN NUMBER 8

Teacher Education Candidate Supervising Teacher UWG Supervisor

Shannon Wain Sarah Jones Wanda Calhoun

School: Bowdon Elementary School Date of Implemented Lesson Plan: March 29, 2011

Block No. II Subject: Ecological Producers and Consumers Grade Level: 4

Teaching Skills Focus for This Lesson: Providing Feedback and Reinforcement, Establishing Set, Optimizing Time, Creating a Positive Climate, Maintaining Positive Behavior
Stage 1 The Desired Results
Standards / S4L1. Students will describe the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
a. Identify the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in a community.
b. Demonstrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers.
c. Predict how changes in the environment would affect a community (ecosystem) of organisms.
d. Predict effects on a population if some of the plants or animals in the community are scarce or if there are too many.
Specific Learning Objective(s) / The students will participate in an activity that demonstrates the roles and effects of producers and consumers in an ecosystem, as well as be able to explain how energy is obtained through the food web. The students will answer the question, “Is it better for a species to be overpopulated or under-populated?”
Stage 2 Assessment Evidence
Assessment Instrument
(Ex. Test, Poster, Presentation, Picture, etc.) / Students’ understandings will be assessed through a review game where the students will individually come to the front and pull a question out of a bowl of shaving cream. The will be assessed on their details and ability to communicate the subject. Every student will have the chance to pull one review question, except there will not be enough questions to go around. The last student can feel around, but there will be no card. This is an example of scarcity, and the student will be assessed on his/her understanding of this concept.
Evaluation (Grading) Instrument
(Ex. Point System, Rubric, Checklist, etc.) / The evaluation will be based on completion of activities, as the teacher will give prompts as necessary and will help the students fully grasp the topic. The teacher will be assessing understanding, but she will also be using this as a further teaching tool for the class as a whole.
Stage 3 Learning Plans
Materials / Agenda/ PowerPoint defining Introductory Vocabulary, Two teams of Students (who have been taught the three hand gestures), Outside Running Area, Chart Paper with Graph, Shaving Cream, Bowl, Review Questions (one per student, with one exception, who will not get a question) which have been lamented and cut into strips, Paper Towels, One Candy Bar.
Sequence of Teacher Actions
*Attention-Getter/Motivator
*Tie to Previous Learning
*Significant Actions to Introduce and Guide Lesson / The teacher will get the attention of the students by asking them who they thought would win in a fight… a shark or a snake, a crocodile or a lion, a bear or a wolf. She will be listening for terms such as fangs, poison, camouflage, hiding, predator, prey, ecosystem, or similar familiarity clues. The teacher will talk about how these animals do not usually cross paths with one another, and will introduce the topic of ecosystems.
The teacher will show the students the PowerPoint slides, which will include the agenda for the day, the questions that the students will be working to answer, and the standards that they will be meeting through this lesson. The terms that will be outlined in the slide show will include: producer, consumer, decomposer, ecosystem, prey, predator, population, scarcity, shelter, etc. It may also include the term “opportunity cost,” as during the game the players will have to make decisions and live with the results, and it directly correlates to the Social Studies standard. The teacher will assess the students as she teaches, so she can extend this piece of the lesson as needed.
The teacher will take the students outside to play a game that will drill in the topic of prey vs. predator, along with terms such as scarcity, opportunity cost, shelter, and population. She will begin by dividing the class in thirds, where the larger team will represent consumers and the other will represent producers. The teacher will explain the directions clearly. The two teams will face away from each other, and every person will decide for himself what resource he wants (consumer) or is (producer). If they choose water, they will cover their mouths. If they choose food, they will put their hands on their stomach, and if they choose shelter, they will make an arch above their heads. On the teacher’s mark, the teams will turn around to face each other, instantly showing their chosen resource. The consumers will race across the field and try to find their resource. Some will not get what they need and will “die” out and become a resource themselves. The lucky survivors will grab their “resource” by the hand and rush back to their side. Everyone on the “consumer” side will be a consumer for the next game. After each level, the teacher will lead the students in creating a graph, depicting the population numbers and the relationship between the producer and consumer. The teacher will allow the students to play as time allows, and will intermittently discuss the trends that are taking place as scarcity takes place. Note: the more consumers who are hunting for resources, the less likely they are to find it because they will be fighting with each other for it. However, the fewer the number of consumers, the more likely they are to get what they need and the fewer producers that will be in the next level.
The teacher will call the students into a group discussion about these inferences and patterns they can see in the chart and what it means in real life situations.
The teacher will then lead the students back to the class, where she has set out a bowl filled with cool whip/shaving cream. She will call on someone who is exhibiting good behavior to come up front and reach into the goo for a question. As each student draws out a question, the teacher will guide them in how to answer it out loud to the rest of the class. As the class plays “Touch it, Teach it,” the teacher will be assessing the student’s understanding and looking for teachable moments. The teacher will maintain positive feedback and encourage any attempts to express topic-related ideas.
Sequence of Student Actions
*Explain How Students Are Engaged During Lesson
* Explain How Students Discuss or Present Results of What They Did During the Lesson / The students will consider the advantages that one species might have over another, including a shark vs. a snake, a crocodile vs. a lion, and a bear vs. a wolf. The students will be assessed on their previous knowledge by their use of key terms such as fangs, poison, camouflage, hiding, predator, prey, ecosystem, or similar familiarity clues. The students will be introduced to the topic of ecosystems as they participate in a discussion about why these animals are not typically seen in a fight.
The students will watch a PowerPoint slide show, which will include the agenda for the day, the questions that the students will be working to answer, and the standards that they will be meeting through this lesson. The terms that will be outlined in the slide show will include: producer, consumer, decomposer, ecosystem, prey, predator, population, scarcity, shelter, etc. It may also include the term “opportunity cost,” as during the game the players will have to make decisions and live with the results, and it directly correlates to the Social Studies standard. The students will be continuously assessed throughout the presentation, and will in this way dictate how the lesson will be taught.
The students will participate in an active demonstration outside, which will solidify the concept of producers and consumers. The students will be divided into three groups, two of which will be combined into the “consumer” team. The other students will represent producers. The students will receive clear instructions…
The two teams will face away from each other, and every person will decide for himself what resource he wants (consumer) or is (producer). If they choose water, they will cover their mouths. If they choose food, they will put their hands on their stomach, and if they choose shelter, they will make an arch above their heads. On the teacher’s mark, the teams will turn around to face each other, instantly showing their chosen resource. The consumers will race across the field and try to find their resource. Some will not get what they need and will “die” out and become a resource themselves. The lucky survivors will grab their “resource” by the hand and rush back to their side. Everyone on the “consumer” side will be a consumer for the next game.
After each level, the students will participate in a discussion where they will work together to add to the population chart, and talk about the relationships between producers and consumers. The students will play as time allows, and will stop after each level to discuss the trends that are occurring as scarcity takes place. Note: the more consumers who are hunting for resources, the less likely they are to find it because they will be fighting with each other for it. However, the fewer the number of consumers, the more likely they are to get what they need and the fewer producers that will be in the next level.
The students will start a “chart chat’ about what they have observed throughout the activity, including inferences and patterns and how they can see it happening in real life.
The students will go back to the classroom, where they will participate in a review game. They will be called individually to draw out one question from a bowl of cool whip/ shaving cream. As each student draws out a question, the teacher will guide them in how to answer it out loud to the rest of the class. The questions will include the EQ of the day, and the student who recognizes the question from the PowerPoint will be awarded a candy bar. The class will continue to play the game, as an assessment, until there is only one student left to draw out a question. That student will come forward only to find that there are no more questions. The student will be prompted to feel around in the goo some more, at which point the student will be encouraged to realize that sometimes there aren’t enough resources. In real-life, the situation is dire, but either way, scarcity is when there are not enough resources to go around. The students will be encouraged to participate and to feel comfortable voicing their questions/understandings to the teacher and other classmates.
Teacher’s Lesson Closure/Wrap-Up/Transition / The teacher will wrap up the lesson with a discussion based on their review activity, and re-introducing the goal of the lesson. The teacher will discuss how the questions were harder to find as their numbers were decreased (as students pulled them out of the bowl). She will rehash scarcity, and its effects on the animal population from the game.
Adaptations for Exceptional Students (Anyone who requires modifications for their needs) / Students with exceptional needs will benefit from the lesson because the review game will be prompted as needed, and the activity itself will be done as a group so the pressure will not be on any one student. The entire lesson will demand that the students will be actively involved, but the teacher will be the one conducting the lesson so it will be adaptable to the moment-by-moment needs of the class.
Related Activities/Extensions
(What can students do when they need more than is in the lesson? Should be related to lesson.) / From the shaving cream prompt, where the questions are hidden, the learning can be extended into a lesson about camouflage, mimicry, and other survival characteristics of predators and preys. Students can individually research the topic to take their learning to another level, or they can complete a group project where they are assigned a specific characteristic to study with their group members. This all hinges on time allowance and student’s ability level.
Connections to Other Disciplines / Social Studies (scarcity, producer, consumer), Math (graphing, patterns)
M4P5. Students will represent mathematics in multiple ways.
Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas.
SS4E1 The student will use the basic economic concepts of trade, opportunity cost, specialization, voluntary exchange, productivity, and price incentives to illustrate historical events.
Describe opportunity costs and their relationship to decision-making across time (such as decisions to send expeditions to North and South America).


Essential Questions:

Is it better for a species to be overpopulated or under-populated?

Standards:

S4L1. Students will describe the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.

a. Identify the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in a community.

b. Demonstrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers.

c. Predict how changes in the environment would affect a community (ecosystem) of organisms.

d. Predict effects on a population if some of the plants or animals in the community are scarce or if there are too many.

Agenda:

1.  Introductory PowerPoint

2.  “Survival” Game

3.  Chart Chat

4.  “Touch It, Teach It!” Review Game