Peixoto,+Maria-920FinPro

Maria R. Peixoto Grades 5/6 ESL Unit: Ecosystems Summary: The current 5th grade requirement for life science is the study of ecosystems. I chose this topic because I am not satisfied with the current STC unit and the way it is presented. Also, since I have sixth graders I feel the need to change the curriculum a bit. Having a 5/6 split level ESL classroom, it is important for my students to get out in the real world and explore their surroundings using their five senses. Especially fifth and sixth graders who are new to this country and curious about their new world. Hopefully this unit will arouse their curiosity a little more as they learn relationships between living and nonliving elements in their new environment and become interested in ways they can help save the environment and the organisms in it. To build on their growing interests in their environment the students will be given opportunities to investigate relationships between living things and better understand what needs to be done to reach acceptable solutions to environmental changes. The content standards I will be addressing are: **Standard 1:** Students understand the processes of scientific investigation and design,conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations. (1.a, 1.b, 1.c, 1.d, 1.e, 1.f, 1.g, 1.h, 1.i) **Standard 3:** Life Science: Students know and understand the characteristics and structure of living things, the process of life, and how living things interact with each other and their environment. (3.1.a, 3.1.b, 3.1.c, 3.1.d, 3.1.e, 3.2.a,3.2.b, 3.2.c, 3.2.d, 3.2.e) **Standard 5:** Students know an understand interrelationships among science, technology, and human activity and how they can effect the world. (5.a, 5.b, 5.c, 5.d) **Standard 6:** Students understand that science involves a particular way of knowing and understand common connections among scientific disciplines. (6.a, 6.b, 6.c, 6.d, 6.e, 6.f) The tools from this course that I will be integrating into this unit are: New Alerts, classroom blogging, earth.google.com and general web searching using techniques learned in this course. Each day a student will check for a news alert and print a copy if there is an alert. I will read the article and explain what it is saying in a way that will make it easier for them to understand. The classroom blogs will be used in place of journals for the students to talk about what they learned or experienced that day in science class. General web searching will be used for students to log on and learn more about an animal or organism that they learned about on a field trip experience. News Alerts and classroom blogs will have been set up prior to this unit. Differentiated instruction will be implemented in all lessons in the form of tiered activities, repetition, partner talks, flexible grouping, modeling, and teaching to all the intelligences. Science Leveled Readers with Audio will be implemented.

__[|Earth's Ecosystems (3)]__ || __[|Earth's Ecosystems (3) Practice]__ || __[|Earth's Ecosystems (3) Answers]__ || __[|Changes in Ecosystems (4)]__ || __[|Changes in Ecosystems (4) Practice]__ || __[|Changes in Ecosystems (4) Answers]__ || __[|Ecosystems (4)]__ || __[|Ecosystems (4) Practice]__ || __[|Ecosystems (4) Answers]__ || __[|Ecosystem Changes (4)]__ || __[|Ecosystem Changes (4) Practice]__ || __[|Ecosystem Changes (4) Answers]__ || __[|Pond Life (4)]__ || __[|Pond Life (4) Practice]__ || __[|Pond Life (4) Answers]__ || __[|How Ecosystems Change (5)]__ || __[|How Ecosystems Change (5) Practice]__ || __[|How Ecosystems Change (5) Answers]__ || __[|Inside Ecosystems (5)]__ || __[|Inside Ecosystems (5) Practice]__ || __[|Inside Ecosystems (5) Answers]__ || __[|Interactions In Ecosystems (5)]__ || __[|Interactions in Ecosystems (5) Practice]__ || __[|Interactions In Ecosystems (5) Answers]__ || __[|Life in an Ecosystem (5)]__ || __[|Life in an Ecosystem (5) Practice]__ || __[|Life in an Ecosystem (5) Answers]__ || __[|Biomes (6)]__ || __[|Biomes (6) Practice]__ || __[|Biomes (6) Answers]__ || __[|Ecosystems (6)]__ || Unit Goals: From this unit the students will develop an interest in investigating ecosystems and also develop an understanding of the concept that an ecosystem is a community of organisms and its interaction with its environment. They will also learn that organisms in an ecosystem have dependent and interdependent relationships and that natural and human-made events can disturb an ecosystem. The unit will instill a sensitivity toward living things and an understanding that human behavior can positively or negatively affect them. The students will reach these goals by conducting, recording and organizing observations. They will search for more information on the computer about ecosystems and pollution and communicate the information through writing, drawing, and discussion. From applying the previously learned information the students will be able to analyze a problem and suggest solutions. Lesson #1 What is an Ecosystem Introduction/Pre-Activity: Introduce, read and discuss ‘news alert’ of the Blackstone River to students The students will be shown an illustration of a riverbank environment (pg.11 STC/Ecosystems). The students will be asked the different kinds of relationships they see in the picture. The teacher will ask the students some questions to elicit responses. the living things? Goals: This lesson will focus the students’ attention on the topic of ecosystems and will serve as a pre-unit assessment of their knowledge and questions related to ecosystems. Activity: A chart paper titled; How Living Things Depend On Each Other: What We Know Now. Students will respond and teacher will record their ideas on the chart paper. The illustration of the riverbank will be available for students to refer to. A second chart paper titled; How Living Things Depend On Each Other: What We Would Like to Find Out. Students will share any questions they would like answered during the unit on ecosystems and ideas will be recorded on the chart paper. Both charts will be posted during the course of the unit for students to add ideas to. At this time the students will be introduced to the word ecosystems and its definition of an __ecosystem__ (a community of organisms and its interaction with its environment) and will write the word and definition in their science notebooks. Referring back to their responses from the charts will connect their ideas to ecosystems and how much students know about the topic. Writing Assignment: Students will be writing about something they learned in science in their classroom blog. More capable students will choose one relationship they see in the riverbank environment and write a story about how each of the living things depend on the other. Extension: At any time students are able to use the computer to search for answers to questions posed on the chart paper. Students will go on a field trip on the Blackstone Valley Explorer. On this field trip the students will discover the river’s ecosystem as they learn about the river’s industrialized past and its present restoration. Assessment: The students will be assessed by their participation and responses to the charts. Lesson #2: Where Are We? Introduction: Read article from ‘news alert’ and discuss. The students will be going on a Save The Bay Field Experience. For this lesson the students will be introduced to the Narragansett Bay and its relation to the Blackstone River. Goals: The students will be able to read and use a map to answer questions. The students will become aware that the Blackstone River flows into the Narragansett Bay. The activity will prepare students for their field trip. Activity: Given a copy of the watershed map of Narragansett Bay,(SAVEBAY.ORG) the students will answer the following questions: Adaptations: Students will be able to use Google Maps to help with questions as well as the original watershed map from the Save The Bay web site. Students may work in groups for this activity. Writing Assignment: Students will write the definition of __watershed__ (an area of land where water drains into an individual stream, river, lake, bay or other body of water) in their science journals. Students will respond on the classroom blog about what they learned in science class. Students will be writing the answers to the questions about the map. Extension: Students will add more questions or details to the charts. Assessment: Groups will be evaluated on how well they were able to use the map or maps to answer the questions. Lesson #3:Field Trip to Save the Bay Center at Fields Point in Providence. Introduction: The students will visit a waterfront site with a living classroom in a “green” building. Students will tour the building and be exposed to design features that conserve energy and help protect the land. They will also take part in a classroom laboratory that includes microscopes for in-depth studies of plankton marine plants and animals. The students will also board an education vessel and visit the shoreline with a rocky shore, salt marsh and an ongoing salt marsh restoration site. Goals: Students will be able to: Activities: The students will get on the bus to the Save The Bay Center In Providence RI. The students will participate in a tour of the green building and may partake in some scavenger hunts during the outdoor site tour. While outdoors the students will be led on a walk through the salt marsh to learn about its many functions. They will observe and experience the zonation in vegetation due to tide levels, tide channels, different kinds of grasses and a huge variety of animals that make their homes their. They will also search among the rocks on the rocky shore for signs of life, and explore tidal pools to learn how plants and animals survive in this tough environment. The students will board the education vessel where they will collect their own plankton samples and return to the lab to examine the samples under microscopes and identify the species of plankton. Also students will check a lobster trap and learn basic navigation and water quality testing, which may include sampling the Pawtuxet River where it enters the Bay. Writing Assignments: Back in the classroom the students will write the definitions of habitat, plankton, food web, adaptation and salt marsh in their science journals. The students will write about their field trip experience on the classroom blog. Adaptations: Lower level students can draw pictures of what they liked and learned from the field trip experience. Extension: Students will practice vocabulary with games. Step 1-3 [|__Frayer Model for Vocabulary__] Step 4: [|__Vocabulary Bingo__] Step 4 - 5: [|__Picture Puzzle Vocabulary Practice__] Step 3-4: [|__PowerPoint Partners Game Vocabulary Review__] Steps 1, 2, 4: [|__Ecosystems Quizlet__] Step 6: [|__Science Notebook__] || Students add new information on charts. Assessment: Students will be assessed on their classroom blogs and drawings. Lessons #4-6: Interview an Animal Introduction: During the field trip to the Save The Bay Center the students will learn about many new and interesting creatures. Working in groups of two or three, students will design an interview with an animal that lives in the Bay. Students will then present their interviews to the class. Goal: Students will be able to choose an animal and conduct a research using various resources. Activity: Working in groups of two or three, the students choose an animal that lives in Narragansett Bay. Using information learned from the field trip, readings, and internet searches, the students will design an “interview” with their creature. One student will play the part of the creature and the other(s) will be the questioner. The interview should include questions about: Interviews can be performed live in front of the class, using some internet sites for a talk show sound effect. Assessment: A rubric will be used to assess the research and interview. 3 CAPABLE 2 DEVELOPING 1 BEGINNING Lesson #7: A River Ran Wild (a lesson on river use) Introduction: Students will listen to the story, __A River Ran Wild__ by Lynne Cherry. This story traces the history of the Nashua River Valley. The life of this valley is traced from its early Native American inhabitants through its near destruction by industrialization to its present revival. The story reflects the people’s view of the environment determines how resources are used. The message reflected from the story is that when people are willing to fight pollution, restoration is possible. Goal: Students will learn things that are harmful to waterways and ways to preserve the waterways for generations to come. Activities: The teacher will read aloud __A River Ran Wild__ by Lynne Cherry. After reading the story and a short discussion about it the students will assemble a booklet by reading the booklet pages, numbering the circle on each page according to the order the events occurred in the book. On each page the students will use crayons to add details that show what the river looked like at the time described in the text. They will then cut apart the pages and glue the pages in order. ( Booklet found in the April/May 2003 edition of //Teacher’s Helper)// Assessment: Did students number and glue pictures in sequential order to the story? Are the details drawn in a way that shows the river at the time described in the text? Extensions: Play vocabulary games on the computer. Read news alert for Blackstone River Writing Assignment: Students will write what they learned about the Blackstone River in their blogs. Lesson #8: Fred the Fish Introduction: Without water, life would be impossible. We use it in many ways - for drinking, bathing, recreation, farming, and manufacturing. We depend on a continuous supply of clean water, yet each time we use it we change it-sometimes by polluting it. Goal: The students will learn that their actions and the actions of others can effect the lives of animals and humans. Activity: Introduce Fred the Fish to the class.(fish shape out of sponge) Tell the students that Fred has grown up in a protected stream in a nature preserve, but he is about to leave the preserve and journey downstream. The class has been invited to share in his adventure. Each student will have a numbered jar or film canister containing a “pollutant”. As the teacher reads the script, those with the appropriate numbered containers should dump them into Fred’s bowl on cue. After each addition, ask the following questions to the class: Fred the Fish Script lives Fred the Fish. HOW IS FRED? Fred has lived in this stretch of the river all his life. But now he is going on an adventure and travel downstream. (Pour #1 into Fred’s jar.) HOW IS FRED? (clean water) Extension: Working in groups, each group will be given a large piece of drawing paper that has already had a connecting river drawn on each group’s paper. Each group will be given a scenario to illustrate on their paper. They must also determine the amount of pollution caused by their business. On a separate piece of paper draw a picturesque wetland that connects to the river. Each group will present their illustration and findings to the class. Each group will be given a prop to represent their pollution (bleach bottle, popcorn boxes, soda cans....) each successive group gets their own prop plus the prop(s) from the previous group(s) while they are presenting. Everything flows down river! After each group has presented, hang the interconnecting wetland up next to the polluted river. Students will see what the consequences of this pollution could be. Ask each group questions about the effects their pollution might have on the community. River Use Scenario Mighty Mike’s Gas Station and Auto Repair You are the owners of Mighty Mike’s Gas Station. Your business is located on the banks of the Blackstone River. You have not had your underground gas tanks checked recently. One of your tanks is leaking approximately one gallon per day. You also have cars stored on your property that are leaking fluid such as oil and antifreeze. When it rains these fluids wash down the back of your property into the river. As a group illustrate your business on the banks of the Blackstone River. Determine how many gallons of gas you are leaking into the ground each week, month and year. River Use Scenario Blackstone River Amusement Park You are the owners of the Blackstone River Amusement Park. Thousands of people come everyday to ride your rides, et popcorn and cotton candy, drink soda, and enjoy themselves. Unfortunately many people do not use the trash cans when they are done eating. Often the popcorn boxes and soda cups end up on the ground. Your cleanup crew tries to pick up but many of these items blow around and end up in the river. “Save the Bay” estimates that approximately 10 Popcorn boxes, 15 soda cans and 4 cotton candy wrappers end up in the river each day. As a group illustrate your business on the banks of the Blackstone River and determine how many boxes of popcorn end up polluting the river each week, month, and year. River Use Scenario Shady Grove Housing Development You are the developer of Shady Grove, a new housing development on the banks of the Blackstone River. When a few of the properties were being built, the septic tanks were not installed properly. Now there is sewage leaking into the groundwater that leads to the river. You have estimated that it is only about two gallons of sewage per day that leaks into the groundwater. If you have the tanks checked a fine could be imposed so you decide to leave the problem alone and not tell anyone. As a group illustrate your housing development on the banks of the Blackstone River and determine approximately how many gallons of sewage flow into the river each week, month, and year. River Use Scenario Tucker’s Family Farm You are the family operator of Tucker’s Farm, which is located on the banks of the Blackstone River. Your farm has been in your family for over 100 years. You produce much of the local produce for your community. In order to make your land more productive you use fertilizer and pesticides on your fields. When it rains these chemicals run off into the river at a rate of approximately one-gallon per week. This causes the native plants and algae to grow at an increased rate and chokes off the oxygen in the water. You also use the water from the river to irrigate your fields. This also has an impact on the local plants and wildlife. As a group illustrate your farm on the banks of the Blackstone River and determine approximately how many gallons of chemicals flow into the river from your farm each month and year. Assessment: Presentation of scenarios. A rubric will be used to assess the river use scenario project. 3 CAPABLE 2 DEVELOPING drawings whereas others show penciled sketches. 1 BEGINNING Writing Assignment: Add details to the charts of what we learned during unit and review. Write in classroom blogs what they learned about ecosystems. . Culminating Unit Activity: Plan a picnic/celebration on the banks of the Blackstone River near the Slater Mill, Pawtucket RI. Type in the content of your page here.
 * Identify the living things in this environment.
 * How do the plants depend on the animals?
 * How do the animals depend on the plants?
 * How do the animals depend on each other?
 * Which of these living things need others in order to survive?
 * Identify the nonliving things in this environment. What part do they play in the lives of
 * What might be going on that you cannot see?
 * 1) Explain what this map shows.
 * 1) Locate and label the following:
 * Your School
 * Nearest body of water to your school
 * Blackstone River
 * Pawtuxet River
 * Taunton River
 * 1) Where do the largest rivers entering the Bay come from?
 * 1) Trace the path of water from your school to the Bay.
 * 1) What direction would you travel from the school to the Bay?
 * Describe green building features and what they do
 * Explain how pollutants from the land affect the Bay
 * Define a habitat
 * Describe what a rocky shore is
 * Describe what an adaptation is
 * Identify several plants and animals that live on the rocky shore
 * Explain what a salt marsh is
 * Understand the functions of a salt marsh and why it is important to the Bay
 * List several creatures that depend on salt marshes
 * Describe what plankton are
 * Distinguish between phytoplankton and zooplankton
 * Describe the basic food chain for the Bay
 * Habitat where the creature lives
 * Adaptations the creature has
 * What it eats
 * Predators
 * Physical description
 * Life cycle
 * How it eats
 * Human impact
 * Threats to its survival, etc.
 * The child looks at the audience while speaking.
 * The child speaks clearly.
 * The information is presented in clear, straightforward way.
 * The child makes some eye contact with the audience.
 * Most of the presentation is audible.
 * The information can be understood, but the order may not always be logical.
 * The child rarely looks at the audience while speaking.
 * The child speaks too softly or too indistinctly to be understood.
 * The information presented may be confusing.
 * Would you boat on the river?
 * Would you swim in the river?
 * Would you drink from the river?
 * 1) Imagine a clean river as it meanders through a protected wilderness area. In this river
 * 1) Fred swims into farm country. He passes a freshly plowed riverbank . It begins to rain and some soil erodes into the river. (Dump #2 into Fred’s jar.) HOW IS FRED? (soil & leaves)
 * 1) Fred nears a suburban housing development. Some fertilizer from the farms and the lawns washed into the river a while back. (Place #3 in Fred’s jar.) The fertilizer made the plants in the river grow very fast and thick. Eventually the river couldn’t furnish them with all the nutrients they needed, and so they died and are starting to decay. Their decomposition is using up some of Fred’s oxygen. HOW IS FRED? (brown sugar to simulate fertilizer)
 * 1) Fred swims under a highway bridge. Some cars traveling across it are leaking oil. The rain is washing the oil into the river below. (Pour#4 into Fred’s jar.) HOW IS FRED? (pancake syrup or molasses to simulate oil)
 * 1) During a recent cold spell, ice formed on the bridge. Trucks spread salt on the road to prevent accidents. The rain is now washing salty slush in the river. (Put #5 in Fred’s jar.) HOW IS FRED? (salt)
 * 1) Fred swims past the city park. Some picnickers didn’t throw their trash in the garbage can. The wind is blowing it into the river. (Sprinkle #6 into Fred’s jar.) HOW IS FRED? (punched paper dots to simulate litter)
 * 1) Several factories are located down river from the city. Although regulations limit the amount of pollution the factories are allowed to dump in the river, the factory owners don’t always abide by them. (Pour #7 into Fred’s jar.) HOW IS FRED? (dish detergent or bubble soap mixed with water)
 * 1) The city’s waste water treatment plant is also located along this stretch of the river. The pollution regulations aren’t as strict as they should be. Also a section of the plant has broken down, (Put #8 into Fred’s jar.) HOW IS FRED? (coffee grounds mixed with a little water to simulate sewage)
 * 1) Finally, Fred swims past a hazardous waste dump located on the bank next to the river. Rusty barrels of toxic chemicals are leaking. The rain is washing these poisons into the river, (Sprinkle #9 into Fred’s jar.) HOW IS FRED? (bright colored Jello, powdered fruit drink, or turmeric to simulate toxic waste)
 * The pictures and findings give important information about the subject.
 * The drawing was constructed with care.
 * The artwork is vivid and clearly explains the findings.
 * Children required some assistance to complete the project.
 * The picture and findings provide some information about the subject.
 * The illustrations may be incomplete. Some parts of the picture have colorful
 * Colors may not always be used appropriately.
 * Children required continual assistance to complete the project.
 * The pictures and/or findings may not be clear, legible, or pertinent.
 * The artwork may be sketchy or incomplete.
 * Colors may be inappropriate for the illustration.