Courtney Murphy

Jacki McLaughlin

Unit Topic or Theme: Science/ Coral Reefs

Grade: 2

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Lesson Topic or Theme: Coral Reefs

Lesson Objectives:

The students will be able to:

  • Explore a website that deepens their knowledge on coral reefs
  • Recognize that animals in the coral reef work in partnerships
  • Understand the negative effects of pollution to coral reefs and the animals that live there

Instructional Technique:

  • This lesson will start by the teacher conducting a whole-class lesson on the coral reefs. We will then move to a computer lab where there are enough computers for the students to work in partnerships. In partnerships, the students will work on the coral reef website that will allow them to further investigate about coral reefs. When the students have completed the website, we will reconvene as a whole-class to discuss what they discovered.

Instructional Materials:

  • Cole, Joanna, The Magic School Bus Takes a Dive: A Book About Coral Reefs, Scholastic, New York, 1998.
  • (worksheet for website)

Theoretical Perspective:

  • This lesson is important for the students to learn because not only are they being able to learn about coral reefs and about animals that live there, but they are also learning about important environmental issues. The students will be able to read about and see the harmful effects of pollution to coral reefs through the book and through available websites.

ISTE Standards:

  • 2. Use a variety of media and technology resources for directed and independent learning activities.
  • 5. Work cooperatively and collaboratively with peers, family members, and others when using technology in the classroom.

Curriculum Frameworks:

Science and Technology: Life Sciences

  • 8. Identify the ways in which an organism’s habitat provides for its basic needs (plants require air, water, nutrients, and light; animals require food, water, air, and shelter).

Health

  • 13.2 Describe how business, industry, and individuals can work cooperatively to solve ecological health problems, such as conserving natural resources and decreasing pollution.

Procedure:

  1. The teacher will begin this lesson by announcing to the students that a new unit of study will be introduced today on coral reefs.
  2. The teacher will introduce this unit by showing the students a KWL chart that was prepared.
  3. The teacher will engage the students by asking them to help him/her fill in the chart by thinking about everything they already know about coral reefs and what they want to know about coral reefs.
  4. After the first two sections of chart is completed the teacher will begin the study on coral reefs by reading The Magic School Bus Takes a Dive: A Book About Coral Reefs.
  5. After reading the book, the teacher will briefly discuss with the students what the book was about.
  6. Then, the teacher will introduce the website about coral reefs and put the students in partners. (The class will move from the classroom to a computer lab).
  7. The students will work in partnerships on this website while the teacher walks around observing and assisting students who need help.
  8. When the students have completed the work on the website, they will reconvene back in the classroom to discuss what new things they learned from the website.

Adaptations:

To adapt this lesson for all learners there are a variety of things that the teacher can do. For students who need extra help and support the teacher would partner them with a student who does not have as much difficulty. Also, the teacher will be walking around helping any group that needs it. For students who may need more of a challenge and are above and beyond the other students, they could work independently on the website project. Again, the teacher will be available for help.

Evaluation:

This lesson is rather difficult to evaluate because all the students will be working on the same thing at the same time and it would be difficult for the teacher to know what every student is doing. For this reason, we have created a worksheet that the students will be responsible for completing after they have done the website so the teacher will know what the students learned through this process. The worksheet will simply ask the students to write two new things that they learned from the website. This way, the students will be given the opportunity to reflect upon the project and the teacher will have a good sense of how successful the website project was for his/her students.