KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate: Alyssa Sedor & Erin Orth__

Date: 4/10/15

Cooperating Teacher:

Coop. Initials

Group Size:

25

Subject or Topic:

Allotted Time 25 Min Grade Level

Pollution

Section

STANDARD:
4.5.3.C
Identify different types of pollution and their sources
S4.B.3.3.5
Describe the effects of pollution (e.g., litter) in the community.
I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
1. The third grade students will define pollution by participating
in a classroom discussion.
2. The third grade students will demonstrate and explain the
impact of pollution by completing the pollution simulation
activity
II. Instructional Materials
Noise Pollution Video
Pollution Guided Notes Sheet (See attached)
Five Tennis Balls
Kahoot Quiz Link (https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=6bf3dd99-ed62-4a43-8e461ba4e94f7527)
25 iPads
III. Subject Matter/Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea, outline of
additional content)
A. Prerequisite skills
1. Ability to follow directions.
2. To participate and work efficiently in small and large groups.
B. Key Vocabulary
1. Pollution: the process of making land, water, air or other parts
of the environment dirty and unsafe or unsuitable to use.
2. Environment: where a person, plant, or animal lives

3. Biodegradable: decays through the actions of living organisms

4. Non-biodegradable: does not decay through the actions of
living organisms
5. Littering: the act of not disposing of waste properly
6. Conservation: the prevention of waste
C. Big Idea
1. Pollution negatively effects every part of the environment
D. Additional content
1. How to reduce the impact of pollution
IV. Implementation
A. Introduction
1. Teacher will explain to the students that they are going to go on
an imagination walk.
2. Teacher will instruct all the students to close their eyes.
3. Teacher will begin imagination walk.
a. Students are walking through a park.
b. They notice there is trash scattered across the ground.
c. Teacher will play Noise Pollution video (loudly) (link
attached).
d. Teacher will tell the students that the air smells bad.
4. Teacher will end imagination walk.
5. Teacher will ask students how they felt on their walk.
a. Did they enjoy themselves?
b. Would they want to go back?
c. What didnt they like about it?
B. Development
1. The teacher will introduce the Pollution Unit by asking the
class how they would define pollution
2. The students will share their own definitions of pollution
3. The teacher will write the students definitions on the board
4. The teacher will hand out guided note sheets to the class (see
attached)
5. The teacher will go through the guided note sheet, writing the
missing words on the board, and explaining the information
and concepts
6. The students will fill in the missing words on their guided
notes sheet
7. The teacher will explain that pollution effects all members of
an ecosystem, including plants, animals, and humans
8. The teacher will explain that the students are going to
participate in an activity to demonstrate the impact of pollution
9. The teacher will divide the students into five groups (human,
plants, fish, plant-eating animals, higher-food chain animals)
and have the five groups form a large circle in the classroom

10. The teacher will divide the circle in half using tape, explaining
that one half represents land and one half represents water
11. The teacher will hand each member of the human group a
tennis ball
12. The teacher will explain that each tennis ball represents a
pollutant, such as car exhaust, garbage, or pesticides
13. The teacher will instruct the students to place their tennis balls
somewhere within the circle
14. The teacher will ask the students from the plant group pick
up a tennis ball
15. The teacher will explain that this represents how plants are
effected by pollution in the environment
16. The teacher will then ask the plant-eating animal group and
fish group to eat a member of the plant group by linking
arms with someone on the appropriate side of the circle
a. Students in the fish group will be on the water half.
Students in the plant-eating animal group will be on
the land half
17. The teacher will explain that this represents how animals are
effect both by living in polluted areas and eating plants from
polluted regions
18. The teacher will instruct members of the higher-food chain
animal to enter the circle and link arms with a member of the
plant group fish group or plant-eating animal group
19. The teacher will ask students to look around the circle and
answer questions about the activity so far
a. Who created the pollution?
b. What happened to the members of the environment
after the land and water was polluted?
c. Is there a group that seems unaffected by pollution?
d. Is that group truly unaffected?
20. The teacher will instruct the humans to re-enter the circle and
link arms with anyone else inside the circle
21. The teacher will ask the students to reflect on the activity and
facilitate a discussion about the sources and impact of pollution
a. Who is truly affected by pollution?
b. What could cause this pollution?
c. What can we do, locally and globally, to reduce
pollution?
22. The students will answer the questions orally in a discussion
setting
23. The teacher will open the Kahoot quiz (see attached link)
24. The teacher will give each student an iPad and explain how to
log onto the site
25. The teacher will go through the Kahoot quiz and review
responses after each questions

26. Students will respond independently to the quiz questions

27. The teacher will take note of questions that students struggle
most with and students that seem to have difficulty
comprehending the questions
C. Closure
1. The teacher will explain that throughout the week the students
will learn more about the different types of pollution and the
causes, effects, and potential solutions to the issue
2. The teacher will ask the students to write down something that
they wish to learn about pollution during the course of the
week
3. The teacher will collect the notes and write some of the most
relevant questions on chart paper
a. This chart will hang in the classroom and be referenced
throughout the unit, when a question is answered
D. Accommodations/Differentiation
1. Guided notes and detailed instructions will be provided to all
students
2. To accommodate, Johnny, a student who is blind, materials will
be provided in braille and tactilely. During the Kahoot quiz,
the teacher will read the question aloud. An instructional aid
may use hand-over-hand guidance to help Johnny select the
appropriate response on the iPad.
E. Assessment/Evaluation Plan
1. Formative
b. The teacher will collect data on the Kahoot quiz, as an informal
assessment to identify struggling students prior to the start of the unit
2. Summative
a. Science notebooks will be turned in at the end of the unit
V. Reflective Response
A. How can this lesson be improved?
B. Were the students able to understand and discuss the simulation activity? (exDid they understand what the tennis balls represented?)
VI. Resources (in APA format)
Noise Pollution Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LomQYGKcEXg
Pollution Activity Reference- http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lessonplans/protecting-our-planet.cfm