Jjackson Curriculumunit

Who Lives Here?
A Wetlands Habitat Unit

Juliana Jackson
ECED 5104
University of Colorado Denver
Descriptive Overview
Eagleton is an ECE-5th grade elementary school located in northwest
Denver. The school is about 96% free and reduced lunch, with a mostly
Latino student population. The school does not bus students, so all of the
children live within walking distance of the schoolsome live just across the
street.
Eagleton is located in the Villa Park neighborhood of Denver. The
population is 8758, of which 31.9% is under 18 years old. The average
household income is $31,156, and almost 30% of the families live in
poverty. About 43% of the adults in the neighborhood have less than a 12th
grade education. The neighborhood is well-connected to downtown and
other parts of the city via public transportation and bike/pedestrian paths.
There are three creeks and multiple parks in the neighborhood. (source:
http://denvermetrodata.org/neighborhood/villa-park)
Our classroom is a 1/2 split classroom, with students ranging from 6 to 9
years old. There are 26 children altogether: 14 girls and 12 boys. We are an
ELA-E classroom, so all the students speak English at home with their
families. We have two boys who are considered to be transitioning from
Spanish to Englishalthough they are two of the most fluent English
speakers in the room! Many of our students have a Hispanic heritage and
many of them visit Mexico regularly.
The class is set up so that we have a meeting area in the front, with a
Promethean board dominating the wall space at the front of the room. The
rest of the room is filled with tables that are clustered together so that four
or six students sit together. The morning is spent doing literacy and writing.
After lunch, we have an afternoon meeting, English Language Development,
math, science/social studies (for a half hour), and then specials. We use NoNonsense Nurturing as our method for classroom management. My mentor
teacher and I are joined by a para for most of the day so that our teacher to
student ratio is 1:9. Intervention teachers and special education teachers
pull a few of our students out for focused small-group work in the mornings.
We have two students who receive special education services, one of
whom has an IEP. We do not have any identified Gifted and Talented
students, but there are a few that we suspect fall under that category. Our
students read at incredibly varied levels, ranging from a DRA level 6 to a 24.
Writing is similarly varied. All of our students show great curiosity about the
world around them, regardless of their reading and writing levels.
One of the most important factors in our students lives is poverty. In
a school and neighborhood where many students are in poverty, our job is
partly to overcome the negative effects of poverty and stress on the brain.
Students who come from poverty are often more impulsive and have a
difficult time with executive functioning. One of my goals in creating this
unit (and instructing these children overall) is to give them tools to enrich
their brains. In order to do that, I will use methods and content that are
likely to get high interest from the kids.
Topic: Wetlands Habitat

My mentor teacher suggested that I do my unit on habitats, since that is a
unit coming up in our science curriculum. We have a wetlands habitat in a
park near the school, which would be a great place to observe different
animal habitats in real life. Our students seem particularly interested in the
natural world that they see around us. I see them engage the most in units
that allow them to observe and interact with plants and animals with which
they are familiar. Since they reacted well to a map unit that I created,
during which they were presented with clues and the mystery was unveiled
throughout the course of the unit, I thought that a habitat unit could be
presented similarly: I would build a walk-in mystery habitat in a large box,
such as a refrigerator box, and through our research, the students would be
able to deduce what animals might live there.
Planning Web
Goals for Learners

How Children Learn Best . . .
1. Self-directed explorations
1. Critical thinking and problem-solving
2. Curiosity and joy
2. Feeling comfortable making mistakes
Testing
and re-testing hypotheses
3. Conscientiousness 3.
(care
for themselves,
others, and the space around them)
4. Hands-on,
authentic
experiences
4. Perseverance (continuing
in the face
of
challenge)
5. Self-sufficiency
5. Having an authentic audience
Guiding
Principles for
Curriculum Unit
Pre-Assessment
Know
Habitats are where animals live
Habitats can protect animals
Animals can make habitats
Some are in water, some on land,
some in trees
Some habitats hide animals
Some are in tunnels and caves
Habitats help animals survive longer
Animals get food from their habitats
Want to know
How are habitats built?
How do animals live in habitats?
What materials do different animals
need?
How do animals lay eggs in their
habitats?
What kinds of different habitats are
there?
How do habitats stay up?
How do habitats help animals survive
the winter?
What happens when another animal
tries to mess with the habitat?
Do all animals make habitats?
How long do habitats last?
It sounds as if my students know what habitats are in general, where they

can exists, and how some animals use habitats. Some students seem to be
confused about how a habitat is different from a home, and they would like
to know more about how animals build them and use them.
Categorizing Questions
Categorizing questions can help teachers decide what to do next

when facilitating the project. Project questions can be sorted into
categories, and teachers can use these categories in deciding the
most productive next steps in the project. P77 from Becoming Young
Thinkers
The questions I have come up with are the following:
1 What are the parts of a habitat?
a The kids seem to know a lot about habitats, but they seem to
have a misconception that a habitat is simply a home for an
animal. Ill want them to learn that many things make up a
habitat---and many different animals can live in one habitat.
2 How do animals use their habitats?
a In this question, well tackle what animals need from their
habitats, using the wetlands we visit as a concrete habitat to
study.
Designing Instruction
One instructional strategy that I used was learning through drama. I

came upon this strategy fairly randomly: I picked a guided reading book for
one of my reading groups that happened to be a play and happened to
feature animals that could be found in the wetlands. After these students
had practiced and performed the play in front of the whole class, using our
giant wetlands diorama as a set piece, other students expressed interest in
performing plays, especially wetlands plays. Hendrix, Eick, and Shannon
(2012) write that creative drama such as improvisation, play-writing and
performing, and role-playing is a social constructivist method to create
meaning and develop an understanding of science between teachers and
students, which is exactly why I embraced the strategyit was an
instructionally sound practice and it was student-driven (p. 824). I wrote
one official wetland play for my guided reading group (with their input and
help) that they performed for the class. Other students made up their own
performances on the topic that they practiced on the playground and
showed to the class, which allowed me to see which information and
concepts they found important to include.
One instructional strategy that I intentionally included was giving
authentic assignments. My main assessment for this unit was a studentcreated wetlands guidebook. Although I dictated what components it had
(two sentences, including information on how the animal relies on its
habitat, a picture with color), this book was meaningful to the class because
I bound it to make it a real book and made copies for each student. There
was an authentic audience for their worktheir classmates! DeFauw and
Saad (2014) wrote about a similar project in which ninth-graders used the
writing process to create pictures books for elementary school students.
They write that authentic writing activities provide valid experiences that
connect classroom and real-world literacy events includingespecially
having a reader for their writing (p. 102). Although my students did not take
their writing to another class, every one of their classmates got a copy of
their writing to take home and read. As a result, all of my students had 26
authentic readers of their work.
Additionally, I wanted to incorporate some field work or service
project into this unit, since I believe that hands-on learning is an important
instructional strategy. My original field trip to Bluff Lake fell through, so
instead I planned on an afternoon walk to the nearby Paco Sanchez Park to
pick up trash and litter, as well as to observe plants and animals. This took
place after the students had learning about what animals rely on wetland
habitats and how wetlands can be threatened by pollution and litter. I
viewed this as a service learning opportunity for my students. Pritchard
(2012) defines service-learning as a community service project that is
integrated into academic curriculum (p. 8). Before we went to clean up the
wetlands area, I reviewed with my class the reasons why it is important to
protect the wetlands (they reasoned that because so many animals live
there and depend on the wetlands to survive, we should protect it). Actually
going to Paco Sanchez Park and seeing how much trash there was to pick
up really drove the point home for my students when we reflected on our
experience there.
References
DeFauw, D., & Saad, K. (2014). Creating science picture books for an
authentic audience. Science Activities: Classroom Projects and
Curriculum Ideas, 51(4), 101-115. Retrieved from Taylor and Francis
Online.
Hendrix, R., Eick, C., & Shannon, D. (n.d.). The Integration of Creative
Drama in an Inquiry-Based Elementary Program: The Effect on
Student Attitude and Conceptual Learning.Journal of Science Teacher
Education, 823-846.
Pritchard, I. (2002). Community service and service learning in America. In
A. Furco (Ed.),Service-learning: The essence of the pedagogy.
Greenwich, CT: Information Age Pub.
Differentiation
I will differentiate for two particular kids in our class who receive special
education services. I have conferenced with my mentor teacher and with
the special education teacher who pulls them both out for reading and
writing instruction. Both are behind grade level in reading and writing and
are making slower progress than usual, so they will need help in those
areas. F has trouble with abstract knowledge and memory, although she
can remember procedures and has a good memory for experiences that she
has had. She is often confused during lessons and answers randomly to
questions instead of thinking through an answer that would make sense.
She often raises her hand to say non sequiturs. Her social skills are great;
she is one of the most helpful students in the class and is always kind to her
classmates. I.P., on the other hand, is one of the sharpest kids in our class.
He gets frustrated when other students dont understand concepts and
often expresses a dislike of school and other kids. If quizzed orally, he can
answer almost any question put to him (and even if he doesnt know, hell
try to talk his way out of it, often effectively and amusingly). He just needs
help with reading and writing, and he needs to be encouraged to say the
sounds slowly as he writes them; his first instinct is to find a teacher to
scribe for him, when he is able to write more and more every day.
Assessment
Students showed their learning by creating a class guidebook to the

wetlands habitat that we hung next to our wetland habitat model. They
worked independently to write and draw about one animal that lives in the
wetlands, identifying how the animal relies on non-animal parts habitat to
survive. Most of the students included this information in their wetlands
guidebook page, although a couple of the students identified parts of the
habitat that were animals (that is, they wrote that their animal uses the
wetlands to hunt smaller wetland animals). Just a couple of students did not
include information about how their animal relies on the wetlands at all.
Unit Timeline
Lesson Title
Parts of a Habitat
Reading Jigsaw
Who Lives Here?
Sorting Animal Attributes
Wetlands Play (Yellow
Group)
Animals Using Habitats
Threatened Wetlands
Creating a Guidebook,
part 1
Creating a Guidebook,
part 2
Guidebook Presentation
Field Trip: Paco Sanchez
Park
Content Area
Science
Reading
Science
Math
Guided Reading/Drama
Date Implemented
2/9/15
2/11/15
2/23/15
2/24
2/25, 2/27
Physical
Social Studies
Art
3/2
3/3
3/12
Writing
3/16
Celebration
3/27
4/10
Note: Timing this unit was very difficult, since we only have a half hour for
science every day, and even that gets eaten up by other things. This unit
took two months from the beginning to the end, and looking back, I wish Id
been able to condense it into a shorter period of time.
Reflection on Learning
Although I had planned the trajectory of this unit all the way through,
our time set aside for science is so unreliable that it took the class two
months to make it through all of these activities, and so it felt piecemeal
and haphazard in some ways. I tried to weave in my essential questions and
especially my main Life Science standard, Students will understand how
animals rely on the non-animal parts of their habitat) throughout those two
monthseven outside of my planned lessons. This helped create the sense
that we were studying the topic deeply, since it insinuated itself into our
everyday discussions, even when the official lessons were spaced far apart.
By the time we actually went to the wetland habitat in Paco Sanchez Park,
just down the street from Eagleton, the students had a wide range of
knowledge about the wetlands, from the kinds of animals that we might see
to the ways that the wetlands might need our protection.
I felt, at times, that my lessons were not rigorous enough, although
my mentor teacher and I know that by the time we do science at the end of
the day, most of our students are burned out. Because of this, we
consciously make science more fun and less taxing for students, so that
they get a break. As a result, much of the unit was based on my asking easy
questions that involved identifying or recalling information. Sometimes I
asked students to explain how animals used their habitats, as well, but
there was no real opportunity for students to grapple with questions that
have no easy answer. Perhaps that isnt age-appropriate, or perhaps it just
isnt appropriate for our classroom at the end of the day.
In the end, almost all the students were able to articulate how their
wetland animal used elements of its habitat to survive by writing that
information in their wetlands guidebook page. Some students did write
about their animals using the wetlands to hunt prey, which did not address
how animals rely on the non-animal parts of their habitat. I did not make
those students re-do their pages, but in the future I can use the other pages
in the guidebook that did describe how animals rely on the non-animal parts
of the habitat to clarify that concept.
While I was teaching this unit, I differentiated for F and I.P. far less
than I had thought I would need to. A great deal of the work we did required
little to no reading and writing. Because I.P. has no problems thinking about
and discussing concepts, he needed my help less than I thought he might.
The two times we did research that required independent reading,
especially when the students were independently reading about their own
wetland animal, I helped both F and I.P. with the reading. F needed far more
adjustments than I.P. In the end, she drew her wetland animal for our
guidebook (a frog) but accomplished no writingshe has more difficulty
understanding what has been read aloud to her than I.P. does, and I believe
that she had a hard time comprehending the reading enough to write
sentences using the information. I quizzed her orally about how the frog
might use its habitat, and with some guiding questions, she was able to
answer.
If I were going to teach this same unit again, I would find a way to use
my giant wetlands habitat diorama more strategically. It was a great tool to
help students visualize the wetlands, especially at the beginning of the unit,
but I asked the students to interact with it surprisingly little. The student did
enjoy using it as a set piece when performing plays set in the wetlands (one
of my guided reading groups performed a wetlands play, and after that,
various other groups of children made up and performed their own plays
about the wetlands). Also, if I were to teach this unit again, I would go to
the wetlands more often, especially knowing that there is a wetlands area
so close to our school. I think that the students would have benefitted from
the more authentic, hands-on experience of actually being in the wetlands
and observing animals interacting with their habitat.
Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program

Intern Lesson Planning
Lesson: Who Lives Here? Introduction

Standards: Life Science: Organisms depend on their habitats non-animal parts to
satisfy their needs.
Purpose: To introduce the mystery that the kids will solve throughout the unit:
Who lives in this habitat?
Goal for Learners: Critical thinking and curiosity
Learning Principles: Children learn best from having hands-on experiences.
Learning Objective: Students will identify the non-animal parts of a wetlands
habitat.
Setting: The meeting area carpet. Students should sit with their Peanut Butter
Jelly partners.
Materials: Wetlands diorama, Flipchart of tree map
Activity Procedure
Students come to the carpet and sit with their peanut butter jelly
partners.
Katie will bring out the habitat representation. I will explain that our
goal is to figure out what kinds of animals live there and what they
need to survive in this habitat. Say that animals depend on the nonliving parts of the habitat.
Ask students to turn and talk to their partners about the living and
non-living parts of the habitat that they see.
Write their ideas in the tree map, sorted into two categories: living
and non-living.
Explain that these are parts of a wetlands habitat. Read Wetland by

Shelia Rivera and ask students to put their thumbs up when they hear
something that they can see in the habitat representation!
Differentiation: Ill keep an eye on I.P. and F to prompt them and to clarify for
them.
Assessment: My assessment this time will be to listen to students as they talk
and watch to see who puts their thumb up during the book.
Extensions: Prompt students to think about how animals might use these parts of
the habitat.
Intern Reflection and Self-Evaluation

(Elementary Education lesson plans)
Date: 2/9/15
Lesson: Who Lives Here?
How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am planning for my next
lesson, what worked well that I would utilize in the future?
I am so glad that I had a physical representation of a wetlands
habitat for the students to refer to. They spent a great deal of time
examining it to see what they could add to our tree map. I also made
the flipchart ahead of time, which was immensely helpful to have
prepared. In the future, Ill definitely make sure I have all of my
graphic organizers ready beforehand.
In my introduction, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?

In my introduction, I posed the question, What are the parts of the
habitat that you see? Which ones are alive and which ones are not
alive? This prompted a lot of debate about some parts of the habitat
that were ambiguousfor example, dead leaves and grasses help some
animals survive, but should they be categorized as living (since they
were part of a plant) or nonliving (since they are now dead)? I think that
asking students to think through a question with no obvious answer was
helpful to them as they learn to think critical and back up their answers
with reasons!
During the activity/lesson, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?
Our students love read-alouds. This may be because some of them
are not able to access more complex texts on their own, but they are still
eager to learn about topics. When I read Wetland, every child was
engaged with his or her eyes on the book. I brought several books on the
wetlands and on habitats from the public library, and students are
already asking if I will read those ones to them, too. In the future, I will
know that they enjoy researching topics through read-aloud books.
During the closure, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?
Unfortunately, because we have a half hour maximum for science,
we had to cut off the lesson before we had a chance to debrief. In the
future, I will work on watching the clock so that I have time to wrap up.
During clean-up, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?

There was no clean-up, since we didnt get anything out (except the
book, which I put on our recently-read shelf).
Regarding the transition to the next activity, what worked that I will utilize in future
lessons?
I gave very specific instructions about the transition. It can be a
little messy, since my mentor teacher and I sometimes have different
visions about what the directions should be, but it all went according to
plan this time! I told the students that when we handed them their
homework folder, their job was to get up, put up their chair, get their
backpack, and line up to go home. I quizzed a couple of students on the
sequence, and it was a smooth transition. I think that repetition really
helps my students remember what to do, so in the future I will continue
to ask a few students to tell back what I asked them to do.
What classroom management strategies worked well that I will utilize again?
It amazes me how No Nonsense Nurturing works, especially
positive narration. When I notice a student doing the wrong thing, I pick
a couple of kids who are doing the right thing and I narrate what they are
doing. It works like a charm, especially when they are interested in the
topic.
What aspects of differentiation worked well? How do I know?
I didnt end up doing much differentiation in this lesson. I.P.s oral
expression and comprehension is downright impressive, even though he
has difficulty reading and writing, and so it turned out that he didnt
need me at all. F was also able to identify a part of the wetlandshe has
an easier time when she is able to interact with something concrete, like
my wetland diorama. Im not sure that she would be able to categorize
the parts of a wetland habitat into living and non-living categories on her
own.
How did the assessment(s) help me to understand what my students know and are
able to do? How did the assessment help me to plan for future instruction?
I watched for thumbs-up while I was doing the read-aloud, and it
looked like almost every kid was able to identify a part of the wetlands
habitat that we discussed. It wasnt a very thorough assessment, but it
gave me a general sense of whether or not students knew parts of a
wetland habitat. They did, so I know that I can move on to teaching how
animals might use the parts of a habitat.
What worked in this lesson? What might I try differently next time?
I think that the read-aloud and asking students to discuss the parts
that they saw really worked. They enjoyed the spontaneous debate about
what constitutes a non-living part of the habitat. Next time, I would like
them to try more rigorous academic work, such as reading or writing.
I am now thinking that my focus for my next lesson will be:
Designing a lesson with more rigor for the students.

Lesson: Wetlands Jigsaw

Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.2
Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of
specific paragraphs within the text.
Purpose: To build knowledge about wetland habitats.
Goal for Learners: Self-sufficiency
Learning Principles: Feeling comfortable making mistakes
Learning Objective: I can identify the main idea and important details in a
chapter from a non-fiction book and record them in a tree map.
Setting: On the carpet, then moving to desks with partners
Materials: photocopies of book pages from the book Wetland Animals, tree
map branches
Activity Procedure
Students will come to the meeting area with their Peanut Butter Jelly
partners and sit in their assigned spots.
I will explain that now that weve learned a little bit about what a
wetland habitat looks like, were going to learn more about what kinds
of animals live there. One way that scientists find out more about the
world is by research.
Ask students if they know what research is. Explain if they dont know.
Say that theres only one copy of the book, so we have to read in
partners. This is called a Jigsaweveryone gets a piece and reads it
to find out the main idea and the most important detail so they can
tell everyone else. At the end well fit all the pieces together by telling
the whole class what you found out in your reading.
Explain that every peanut butter and jelly pair will get a chapter from
the book. Their job is to read it togetherlike buddy readingand
find out the main idea and important details. Everyone will have a
different chapter, so its really important that they be able to tell the
rest of the class what they read about.
Model reading through a chapter and writing the main idea on a tree
map branch. Pretend to get stuck and ask the class what strategies I
can use to help.
Dismiss pairs to find a quiet bubble spot where they wont talk to
other groups or play around. Katie and I will circulate and help kids
that are stuck.
When kids seem to be finishing up, call everyone back to the meeting
area. Quickly jot down main ideas and details in a tree map.
Differentiation: I plan to give F and I.P. chapters with the simplest text. In
addition, I will read them the texts aloud or ask their peanut butter jelly
partners to read aloud to them.
Assessment: Ill assess students by listening in on their partner-reading
and by the main idea and details they come up with.
Extensions: If students finish early, they will write a summary on the back
in their own words and draw a picture to illustrate.

Date: 2/11/15
Lesson: Wetlands Jigsaw
How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am

planning for my next lesson, what worked well that I would
utilize in the future?
Before the lesson actually started, I read through all of the jigsaw
chapters again and placed them in a rough order based on difficulty so
that I could hand them to the students I felt could handle it. I also
double-checked that I had copies of the tree map. Being organized
really helps me with the flow of the lesson. When I taught middle
schoolers, I always made sure I had my stacks of copies lined up in the
order that I would need them.
In my introduction, I explained why we were doing this particular
activity, which was to split up the research work because our book was too
long.
During the activity/lesson, what worked that I will utilize in future

lessons?
I will definitely model all the time in future lessons. Modeling the
jigsaw and writing the main idea and details in a branch of the tree map
definitely made it smoother when the students started to work on their own.
Every single kid knew what to do.
I think that it worked really well to have students present on what
each pair found out from the jigsaw. We had to come back to this part after
a round of Daily 5 (independent reading and writing work), but students
were eager to recap their reading and listen to others.

I gave clear directions about how to come to the meeting area and
where to put their finished tree map branches.
Regarding the transition to the next activity, what worked that I
will utilize in future lessons?
The transition went very smoothly. They were already at the carpet so
we could dismiss them to their independent reading and writing activities.
What classroom management strategies worked well that I will
utilize again?
I used positive narration, which always works well. I also helped a
couple of partners work out their problems with each other or decide to
work independently before anything went really wrongIll definitely
continue keeping an eye out for impending disasters and heading them off.
Both F and I. worked well with their partners. I came around and
nudged them both to listen to their partners read. I saw them both actively
engaged in discussing the main idea and details with their partners,
although I did have to direct F back on topic (she often gets confused and
goes in a direction that is way off base).
How did the assessment(s) help me to understand what my

students know and are able to do? How did the assessment help
me to plan for future instruction?
When I looked at the tree map branches, I noticed that almost every
pair was able to correctly identify the main idea and some details that
supported the main idea. I also noticed that, except for one group, everyone
copied directly from the chapter. That helps me know that I should work on
paraphrasing and telling it in their own words in the future.
There were a couple of peanut butter jelly partners that did not work
well together. Next time I might do a mini-lesson, or at least give some tips
about how to handle disagreements with partners. Ill also change a couple
of the groups around, now that I know some kids dont like each other very
much.
Personally, Ill be working on helping groups work together amicably.
The next lesson will help us clarify the animals that live in the wetlands
habitat. Well use it as a starting point for our big project, the wetlands
guidebook.
Student Work Samples

Lesson: Wetland Animals

Standards:
Life Science: Organisms depend on their habitats non-animal parts to
satisfy their needs.
Writing: With guidance and support from adults, recall information
from experiences or gather information from provided sources to

answer a question.
Purpose: To brainstorm animals that students can pick to study more in-depth.
Goal for Learners: Critical thinking and curiosity
Learning Principles: Self-directed explorations (this lesson is setting them up for
this)
Learning Objective: I can identify animals that live in a wetland habitat.
Setting: The meeting area, whole group. Students will sit with their peanut butter
jelly partners.
Materials: Wetlands, chart paper
Activity Procedure:
1. Explain that now that we know a little bit more about the wetlands, we are
going to make a list of all the animals we can think of that live in the
wetlands that we might want to know more about.
2. Read the book, stopping every so often to ask what animals we can add to
our list.
3. When the book is done, ask students to turn and talk to their partners about
any other animals weve read about in our wetlands books or other animals
that theyve seen in wetland areas in their neighborhoods.
Differentiation: Keep an eye on F and I.P.. I.P. should be able to follow well if he
doesnt have to do any readinghes a sharp kidbut F tends to get lost in
discussions and loses the thread of conversation.
Assessment: To get dismissed to go to specials, everyone has to tell me one
animal that lives in the wetlands!
Extensions: Ask students to talk about other animals theyve read about in the
books I left for independent reading or that theyve noticed in wetlands in their
own neighborhoods.

Date: 2/23/15
Lesson: Who Lives Here?
How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am planning for

my next lesson, what worked well that I would utilize in the future?
The main thing I did when preparing was to read all of the wetland
habitat books I could get in our school library (there were few of these) and
from the public library. That way, I had a sense of what kinds of animals to get
students talking about outside of the lesson. For example, one of my guided
reading groups read a play about some squirrels, a pika, and an acorn
woodpeckerall animals that might show up in certain kinds of wetlands.
Because I had done my research, I was able to point that out to my reading
group, and they used that information to help them when we made our list. I
worked to build my students background knowledge even outside of the
lessons.
I explained why we were doing this activity (so that when each kid started
researching his or her own animal for our guidebook to the wetlands, we would
know what animals we could pick). I try to never start a lesson without putting it in
context for the kids, so that they understand why we are doing it.

lessons?
It feels too easy, but our students love to talk about things they already
know about. It was terrific to see them sharing information with each other: 29
brains are smarter than one, after all! Every kid had something to say to his or her
partner about the kinds of wetland animals they already knew about from books or
from visiting streams and ponds, and every kid also raised his or her hand to
contribute to our list. They are so engaged when they feel like they have the
knowledge to contribute to a discussion!
As I closed this lesson, I asked each student to name one animal that lives in
the wetlands in order to be dismissed. This built up their confidence, since they
knew so many by this point! I also asked them to start thinking about what animal
they might want to pick for their project, which got them thinking ahead to the
next step.

We didnt get any materials out, so there was no clean-up.
Regarding the transition to the next activity, what worked that I will
utilize in future lessons?
The next activity was lining up for specials, so I dismissed them one by one
by calling on them to tell me a wetlands animal. That helped lining up be more
orderly than usual, and I will definitely use it again.
What classroom management strategies worked well that I will utilize
again?
As always, narrating a couple of kids who were doing the right thing helped
them remember how to behave in the meeting area. There were no real behavior
problems, just kids who got too enthusiastic.
They didnt need any differentiation for this lesson. They both participated
successfully in creating our list and were both able to identify a wetlands animal
before they lined up.
How did the assessment(s) help me to understand what my students
know and are able to do? How did the assessment help me to plan for
future instruction?
It allowed me to figure out not only which animals my students remember
from our readings, but also which animals kids are excited to learn more about. For
example, one of my students was very enthusiastic about adding a Florida panther
to our list, which he had read about in his jigsaw chapter from the last lesson. Now
I know that I should assign him the Florida panther to research!
This lesson worked so well because all the students were able to contribute
and were able to learn something newtogether, we created a list that no single
student (or teacher!) would have come up with. Next time, Id like to push them
with some more rigorous critical thinking questions.
Id like to move towards asking higher levels of questioning now that they
have a good foundation of knowledge.

Lesson: Sorting Animals Based on Attributes

Standards: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.G.A.1: Reason with shapes and their attributes
Purpose: To think further about the kinds of animals that live in different wetlands
and to get the first-graders thinking about what attributes are.
Goal for Learners: Critical thinking and problem-solving
Learning Principles: Self-directed explorations
Learning Objective: I can sort wetland animals based on their attributes.
Setting: Meeting area, desks
Materials: Animal cards, sorting worksheets, extra scissors
Activity Procedure
1. Bring students to the meeting area, sitting with their peanut butter jelly
partners. Talk about the word Attribute. What attributes do people have?
Shapes? Animals?
2. Model how to make up a rule and write it at the top of the paper.
3. Ask students to think of a rule that they could use. Turn and talk with peanut
butter jelly partner. Share out a few ideas so that kids who are struggling
can use them.
4. Students go back to their seats and cut out their animal pictures. They
should then write their rule at the top of their paper and sort their animal
pictures accordingly. When they have shown a teacher, they can glue them
down.
5. Debrief: Sit in a circle. Students share what their rule was and one animal
that fit the rule and one that didnt.
Differentiation: Teachers can scribe for F and I.P. (although I.P. should be
encouraged to say it slowly while he writeshe can do it, it just takes him a long
time).
Assessment: The final product of the sorted animal pictures will be the
assessment.
Extensions: Students can do a second rule with more restrictions such as Lives
in the water, no gills.

Date: 2/24/15
Lesson: Sorting Attributes

I had to do a lot of preparation for this lesson! I found and resized
pictures of wetland animals online and inserted them into a Word document so
that my students would have pictures wetland animals that we had already
talked about to sort. I was tempted to cut out the pictures for them, but I am
learning to trust them to do it correctly and to allow a certain amount of chaos
in the classroom. So, as I am planning for future lessons, I will try to not be a
control freak about tasks that kids can easily do.
In my introduction, I drew on examples that the kids were familiar with: one
of Ss attributes is that he has short hair. One of Es attributes is that she has
glasses to see. Then we talked about some attributes of the different wetland
animals we are studying, such as how alligators eat other animals, while squirrels
dont eat other animals. This allowed students to understand how I was asking
them to choose attributes and sort the animals based on that attribute rule.
lessons?
It was a little chaotic, as I had expected. Luckily, most students understood
the directions. Some of them copied the example rule but sorted correctly (this is
not worrying; I provided examples so that students who really needed could use
them).
We dont have time to debrief very muchour day is so tightly packed. I
was glad that I specifically saved time for it. I liked sitting in a circle and letting
each child share their attribute and one animal that fit the rule. It gave them a
chance to share one of their successes.
I set a timer on the Promethean board and students cleaned up in that time.
It worked well.
I dismissed them to line up for specials based on attributes of their t-shirts.
This helped reinforce the lesson, and they loved it.
again?
I monitored the classroom carefully during independent work time. The
students saw me lookingno student got off task!

F and I.P. had to do the thinking on this one, but by scribing for them, I took
away the stress of writing. After they told me their attribute rules, I wrote them
down, and both I.P. and F sorted their animals correctly according to their
respective rules.
future instruction?
I noticed that almost every student was able to sort according to attributes.
Well target the two students who had trouble so that when the first-graders start
sorting shapes in geometry, theyll have cleared up their misconceptions.
Asking students to come up with their own attribute rules helped them take
ownership of the task and helped them explore attributes that they were
interested in.
Next time, I will focus on letting the students have even more control of
their learning.
Student Work Samples

Lesson: Guided Reading: Wetlands Play

Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6
Identify who is telling the story at various
points in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.10
With prompting and support, read prose and
poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.

Purpose: To present a play that shows the rest of the class how wetland animals
use their habitat.
Goal for Learners: Curiosity, self-sufficiency, student-driven learning
Learning Principles: Having an authentic audience
Learning Objective: I can read with fluency and expression, I can identify how
animals use their wetland habitats
Setting: At my guided reading table, moving to outside (weather permitting) or
the workroom (with my Yellow group for guided reading)
Materials: copies of play, blanket for cocoon prop and butterfly wings
Activity Procedure
1. Since the students saw me writing the play earlier in the week and joined
in to help write it, the parts are already assigned. I will show them the
finished script and explain how to identify their lines (it will say the
characters name with a colon after) and which parts to read. Students
will find and highlight their lines to help cue them.
2. Explain some words they may have difficulty with: thought, chrysalis,
liquid, believe. Write them on a whiteboard and practice reading them
together, getting our mouths ready for the word.
3. Explain that we are practicing reading with fluency and expression, just
like the character would talk.
4. Practice reading through the play 2-3 times outside or in the workroom
(Well probably make it through once and then continue the lesson the
next day).
5. Add simple actions and rehearse one more time.
6. Discuss the ways that the characters in the play use their habitat and
ask Yellow group to lead a discussion about it with the whole class after
they finish performing the play.
7. Perform for the whole class in the meeting area and have brief whole
class discussion about how the characters in the play use their habitat.
Differentiation: F and I are not included in this guided reading group.
Assessment: Ill watch the play and the discussion that Yellow group leads.
Extensions: None.
Date: 2/27/15
Lesson: Wetlands Play

I was very transparent with my reading group about my preparations,
including the fact that I was writing a play just for them. They saw my notebook
with the partially-written play in it and insisted on helping me figure out the
characters and the rest of the events. This was useful in an indirect way: it really
piqued their interest and got their buy-in for the activity.
They were so excited to read the play that there was hardly an introduction
or maybe it was that their introduction to it was a few days ago?
lessons?
I think that having an authentic audience (their class) for their play helped
motivate this group to work hard to master reading their lines with fluency.
Having the reading group lead the whole group discussion was fabulous and
really helped them feel a sense of ownership over the work.
I asked the performers to meet me in the back to tidy up my guided reading
table before they moved on to their next Daily 5 activity.
The rest of the class started on the next round of Daily 5 as normal. We
dismissed them by activity that they planned to do.
again?
My reading groups are slightly less formal than whole-group. When students
got off task (one student in particular tends to go on tangents), I gently reminded
them that we were about to perform in front of their classmates and they needed
to be prepared!

This wasnt applicable for this lesson.
future instruction?
One student tripped up on some multi-syllabic words when he read them.
His reading comprehension is above grade-level, but now I know to work with him
on fluently reading multi-syllabic words. Another student read pretty woodenly no
matter how many times I modelled for himIll need to think about how to teach
him to read with expression.
The thing that really worked in this lesson was the high student interest and
buy-in. I would love to incorporate more student-driven learning. One thing I would
try differently would be to add pictures when I write text for students. The lack of
visuals made reading more difficult than usualthey are used to having those
cues still.
Incorporating more movement into my lessons.

Lesson: Magic Rocks: Animals Using Habitats

Standards: This does not fit any PE standards, but it does require students to use
their whole bodies for a variety of movements.
Purpose: To review how wetland animals use their habitats with a different
learning style.
Goal for Learners: Conscientiousness, joy
Learning Principles: Students learn best through hands-on learning
Learning Objective: I can act out how animals use their habitat.
Setting: Starting in the meeting area (whole group), moving throughout the whole
room
Materials: Our bodies and our imaginations!
Activity Procedure
1. In the meeting area, review the rules of Magic Rocks: No going on or
under furniture, no touching other students, no talking above a whisper.
We do this to make sure everyone stays safe and has fun.
2. Play Magic Rocks (teacher calls out Magic rocks! and students curl up
into magic rocks. Teacher calls out Magic rocks turn into. And names
something for the students to act out), using animals from the wetlands.
Some examples might be: a Florida panther drinking water by a stream
in the wetlands, an acorn woodpecker pecking holes in a tree to nest in,
a swan building a nest out of reeds.
3. Debrief: Which animal was your favorite to act out and why? How did
these animals use their habitats?
Differentiation: NoneF and I.P. shouldnt need any differentiation for this
activity.
Assessment: I will assess the students knowledge from their answers to my
debrief questions.
Extensions: None.

Date: 3/2/15
Lesson: Magic Rocks

I prepared by thinking ahead about the specific animals and actions
that I would call outalthough I did make up some of the best ones on the
spot. I was glad to have the ones Id already prepared, though.
In my introduction, I reiterated the rules and asked students to repeat them
back to me so they absolutely knew how to play safely.
lessons?
They loved acting out all of the animals that we have learned about. I think
this is a great game for them to review information. Going over information
multiple times in multiple different ways that encompass several learning styles is
an important step in helping students remember information.
I loved hearing the students enthusiastically tell me about their favorite
animals to act out and why. I think that it left the students feeling joyful and
enthused about learning.
There was no clean-up.
I dismissed students by the color of their shirt, which helped make lining up
for specials more orderly and less chaotic than when they all rush to get their
things at once.
again?
I warned students at the beginning of the game that if they broke the rules,
they would have to sit out for two minutes, and I followed through with that
consequence. Following through is essential, and it is something that I am actively
working on.

There was none for this activity.
future instruction?
By asking the students to tell back to me what animals they acted out and
how they used their habitat, I was able to see that most students were able to
describe how wetland animals use their habitats. A couple of students mixed up
the animals, which I think is mostly because we did a lot!
Incorporating movement and games worked well. We set aside so little time
for games that I am afraid we are making teaching harder than it has to be. There
is no reason kids cant learn while they play! Next time, I might include a writing
component like an exit slip.
My next lesson is our celebration. My focus will be on fostering a sense of pride
and joy in the book we have created.

Lesson: Googling Wetland Animals
Standards: From http://www.cde.state.co.us/edtech/standardsforstudents:

Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems and
operations. Students: A. understand and use technology systems.
Purpose: To begin creating our wetlands guidebook, which will show what we
have learned about the wetlands.
Goal for Learners: Perseverance
Learning Principles: Hands-on, authentic experiences and feeling comfortable
making mistakes
Learning Objective: I can use Google Images to find a picture and draw a
wetland animal freehand.
Setting: The carpet, then at desks, whole group.
Materials: iPads, white paper
Prep: Donna/Katie put out iPads and blank paper, write students animal
assignments on slips of paper
Activity Procedure
1. Start at the carpet. Show the example guidebook entry and explain that
today we will start drawing our animals. Look at my drawingneat, halfpage, color, background.
2. Explain that I want to show them how to find pictures of their animals on
Google so that they can draw it correctly. Ipads are for GOOGLING THE
ANIMAL ONLY! If I see them doing anything else, they will not be allowed to
use the iPad.
3. Model opening Safari, navigating to Google Image, and searching an animal.
4. I will call them up to get their slip of paper with their animal written on it.
When they have their paper, they will go to their desk and begin. Katie and
Donna will monitor to make sure theyre doing it right. Remind students that
the name of their animal is spelled on their slip of paper!
5. Students select one image to use as a reference and draw a pencil sketch.
When a teacher approves it, they can add color.
6. At the end, circle up. Every student will display their work and say the one
thing they are most proud of.
Differentiation: Help F navigate the iPad, and possibly help her draw the outline.
Her handwriting is not very good, so she may have trouble with the fine motor
skills needed for drawing.
Assessment: Completed drawing.
Extensions: Students can add background details.

Date: 3/12/15
Lesson: Guidebook

Having the iPads and blank paper already at their tables made getting
started a lot easier!
Having an example of what a finished product should look likeit captured
their attention and gave them a model of what they should accomplish.

lessons?
They always benefit from modeling. I will continue to model processes for
them.
We did not have time for a closure! In the future, Ill try to make sure we
have time to share successes and things the students are proud of.
I gave clear directions about the steps that the students needed to take, and
I asked students to repeat back the directions.
I dismissed students to lunch by table, choosing the quietest tables first.
This made an orderly transitionor at least, as orderly as it ever is.
again?
To keep the chaos under control, I asked students to stay in their seats and
raise their hands if they needed help. If students got up to find me, Katie, or
Donna, we reminded them that we were only helping kids who were sitting at their
desks. This helped!

Neither F nor I.P. needed help navigating to Google or searching their
animals. I helped F draw an outline of her frog, and she added the color herself.

future instruction?
I was able to assess which students were able to sketch carefully and which
students might need guidance on careful, neat drawing using small lines.
Every single student used the technology appropriately. In the future, I
might teach the students how to put the iPads away themselves so that the
teachers arent spending a lot of time on cleaning up after them.
My next lesson will be the reading and writing part of this project. My
personal focus will be on assessment.

Lesson: Researching Wetland Animals

Standards:
Science: Organisms depend on their habitats non-animal parts to satisfy
their needs.
Reading: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to
describe its key ideas.

Writing: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8 Recall information from experiences or gather
information from provided sources to answer a question.

Purpose: To add text to our wetlands guidebook so that we can inform our readers
about the animals that live in the wetlands and how they use their habitat.
Goal for Learners: Critical thinking, perseverance
Learning Principles: Self-directed explorations and hands-on experiences
Learning Objective: I can use information that I read to write about a wetland
animal.
Setting: In the meeting area (whole group) and then at desks.
Materials: Animal fact sheets, guidebook pages, example page
Activity Procedure
1. Students come to the meeting area. Show my example and ask students
to describe what weve done so far (looked up our animal and drawn it
carefully, added color, added details in the background). Ask what we
still need to do (add text).
2. Ask students what they notice about my writing (possible answers: neat
handwriting, two sentences, about my animal, gives facts, starts with a
capital letter, ends with a period).
3. Show students the structure that I used: A _______ lives in the wetlands. It
uses _____________ to ____________.
4. When I hand out their fact sheets, they will go to their desks and read to
research their animal. I will ask them to figure out how their animal uses
parts of the wetlands habitat to survive.
5. Teachers circulate and conference with students about their writing. The
sentence stems A _______ lives in the wetlands. It uses _____________ to
____________ will be on the board for the students to reference.
6. At the end, circle up and share out one fact that each student learned
about their animal (it doesnt have to be the one that they wrote on their
guidebook page).
Differentiation: Teachers can read the fact sheets to F and I and scribe for them
if they are really getting frustrated. Teachers will first encourage them to use the
sentence stems to write their sentences.
Assessment: I will look at their completed guidebook pages to assess whether or
not they were able to write about how their animal used their habitat, if they used
complete sentences, and if they used capital letters and punctuation.
Extensions: Students who finish early can go back and add another fact or two
about their animals to their guidebook page.

Date: 3/16/15
Lesson: Guidebook

I wrote an animal fact sheet with 3-4 facts for each childs animal. They
are not yet at the stage where they can go online and sort through online
research material, because most of them cannot read the information on
websites. Instead, I made sure that each child was able to access information
at his or her own reading level, or close to it.
I think that showing my example helped them visualize what they were
about to work on and got them excited to create their own. In the future, Ill be
sure to show what the finished product could look like.
lessons?
It was really useful to have sentence stems to help the few kids who often
have difficulty writing sentences that make sense.
We often dont leave time for sharing at the end of lessons; I think that this
helps students learn from each other, clear up misconceptions, and take pride in
their work. Ill continue to do this more.
I gave clear directions about where finished pages and fact sheets should go
and how students should line up for specials.
I dismissed kids to line up for specials by their grade and gender.

again?
In whole group, I narrated kids who were doing the right thing, and I only
called on kids that were sitting criss-cross with their voices offthis encouraged
students who were not sitting the right way to fix it! Ill continue to do this. They sit
the right way when they want add to the conversation, and they almost always do!
Is. did really well with the sentence stems. He often gets overwhelmed when
he has to write a lot, and having the sentence stems took a lot of the pressure off.
He wrote almost-perfect sentences! I scribed for F because she was having a hard
day and was on the verge of shutting down entirely. At least this way, she did the
thinking.
future instruction?
I was able to assess which students identified at least one way that their
animal used part of the habitat, as well as which students need help with their
writing conventions, such as capital letters and punctuation.
I think that having personalized fact sheets to read work for them, although
it was a lot of work for me. Next time I try researching and writing, I might break it
up into two different lessonsthis was a lot for them to do at once, although they
handled it with aplomb!
I have not focused much on my goal for learners that is
Conscientiousness, so I think that I will try to work that into my next lesson.
Student Work Sample

Lesson: Threatened Wetlands

Standards: CSS Civics: Responsible community members advocate for their ideas
Purpose: To prepare for our trip to the wetland habitat in Paco Sanchez Park, and
so that students can advocate for wetland habitats in their neighborhood.
Goal for Learners: Conscientiousness, problem-solving
Learning Principles:
Learning Objective: I can identify things that threaten wetlands and brainstorm
solutions to help.
Setting: The meeting area (whole group)
Materials: iPads, URL, Threatened Wetlands book (with stickies to mark excerpts
to read)
Activity Procedure
1. Explain that weve learned so much about the animals that use the
wetlands to survive, but that wetlands all over the world are being
threatened. Were going to read Threatened Wetlands to find out more,
and then play a game to help us learn how to help the wetlands.
2. Read excerpts on trash, bulldozing, and chemical pollution. Ask the
students to turn and tell their partner about one way they now know that
the wetlands are being threatened. Share out as a class.
3. Show students the game on the computer:
http://www.scienceworld.ca/sites/default/files/flash/games/engagingscience/index.ht
ml
4. Hand out iPads and help students navigate to game. Students will play
the game for 5-10 minutes.
5. Katie and Donna collect iPads while students turn and talk about how
they would solve the problems threatening the wetlands. Share out as a
whole group.
Differentiation: Teachers will help F and I navigate to the game. They shouldnt
need much more helpthere is not a reading or writing component to this lesson.
Assessment: To line up, every student has to tell me how they would help the
threatened wetlands.
Extensions: None.

Date: 3/23/15
Lesson: Threatened Wetlands

I looked at lots of different wetlands websites and games to find exactly
what I was looking for (and what I hoped existed): a game that would teach
students what kinds of activities threaten the wetlands and how to clean them
up.
I think that the students were hooked by the idea that there is a problem in
the wetlands. They love solving problems.
lessons?
The game provided an interactive element that kept the students engaged.
They said things such as, Oh no! Theres too much trash to get rid of! I thought
that that demonstrated a growing understanding of the problems facing the
wetlands (at least in the game). This would be a good way to keep them interested
in topics in the future.
The students had some really good ideas about how to protect and advocate
for the wetlands. The turn and talk helped them generate and clarify ideas before
saying them in front of the whole class and also helped more kids participate
successfully in the whole-group discussion.
Having three teachers in the room is so helpful: Donna and Katie collected
and put away the iPads while I monitored the conversations. By the time the lesson
was over, everything was already cleaned up!
This was part of the assessment: I dismissed kids to line up for specials one
by one, by asking them how they would help the wetlands. This made it very
orderly.
again?
I was very clear in my instructions and started them all with When I say
go. This gave students a clear cue to start doing what I asked.
F and I were both successful in playing the game. Teachers helped them
type in the URL to get there, and once on the website, they had little trouble
navigating the game itself, which did not require reading or writing.
future instruction?
Even though some kids repeated their classmates strategies for protecting
the wetlands, every kid was able to identify at least one way to help the wetlands.
I think that the game worked beautifully and helped facilitate a great
discussion because the students were able to access information about the
threatened wetlands in a variety of ways. The kids were in the meeting area for a
long time, thoughnext time, I might have them move back to their desks for an
activity and then back to the meeting area to discuss, just to get them moving
around more.
Incorporating more movement, since that was lacking in this lesson.

Lesson: Celebration
Standards: No standards apply
Purpose: To celebrate the guidebook we made and all the knowledge we collected
as a class
Goal for Learners: Curiosity and Joy
Learning Principles: Children learn best when they have an authentic audience
Learning Objective: I can give kind and positive feedback to my classmates.
Setting: The meeting area, whole group
Materials: The Wetlands Guidebook by Ms. Grahams Class
Activity Procedure
1. With everyone in the meeting area, display the finished bound copy of The
Wetlands Guidebook. Explain that today we are going to read it so that the
whole class can learn about each kids animal.
2. Read the book out loud.
3. Turn and talk: what is one thing you learned from reading the whole book?
Pick a few kids to share out with the whole group.
4. Circle up and go through the book page by page and allow students a
chance to give a star (something they liked about the page) for each
page. We sometimes do a star and a wish, but this time we will just do a
star. The teacher models by going first and pointing out something about
the first pageA used a lot of bright, vivid colors.
5. Hand out a copy of the book to each student to take home.
Differentiation: I should have no problem with this task. F will sit next to me,
where I can help her think of a star if she needs guidance.
Assessment: I will assess students by listening to them giving positive feedback to
their classmates.
Extensions: None.

Date: 4/10/15
Lesson: Guidebook Presentation

My preparation was making all the copies of the book and looking at the
first page to decide what to say when modelling giving a star.
My introduction was displaying the book for the students to look at and
reiterating that 27 brains are better than 1each person did one animal, and now
we have collected all this information in one book. Starting out by recognizing the
classs accomplishment put them in a positive emotional state for the lesson!
During the activity/lesson, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?
I use turn and talks quite a bit before I ask students to share out with the
whole group because it allows students to generate ideas and participate more
successfully. It worked well this time, and I will use it again in the future.
In the closure, I explained that each student would get their own copy of the
book to take home and read. Ending with a surprise like that created a happy buzz
in the classroom.
There was no clean-up.
Regarding the transition to the next activity, what worked that I will utilize
in future lessons?
I prefer to dismiss students one by one, so I explained that I would hand out
the books and once they got their books students would put up their chair, put their
book in their backpack, get their things, and line up for specials. The class watched
as the first couple of kids did it perfectly so that they had a model for what to do. I
will definitely have kids model again in the future.
again?
I narrated students who were doing the right thing. I will continue to use
positive narration, as it is effective.

As it turns out, F didnt need any differentiation at all! I was prepared to
whisper ideas to her, but she listened to her classmates giving feedback and was
able to do it herself after a few turns.
How did the assessment(s) help me to understand what my students know
and are able to do? How did the assessment help me to plan for future
instruction?
There were just a couple of kids who didnt raise their hand to give feedback
RV and NO. Ill keep my eye on them next time the class gives peer feedback and
give them some extra help.
Every kid was excited to see his or her work bound in a real bookthere was
a real sense of accomplishment and pride. The feedback part did take a long time,
so Ill limit the number of kids that I allow to comment on each page or part; one
would have been sufficient.

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Who Lives Here?

A Wetlands Habitat Unit

Topic: Wetlands Habitat

Goals for Learners

2. Curiosity and joy

2. Feeling comfortable making mistakes

5. Having an authentic audience

It sounds as if my students know what habitats are in general, where they

Categorizing questions can help teachers decide what to do next

One instructional strategy that I used was learning through drama. I

Students showed their learning by creating a class guidebook to the

Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program

Lesson: Who Lives Here? Introduction

Explain that these are parts of a wetlands habitat. Read Wetland by

Intern Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Lesson: Who Lives Here?

In my introduction, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?

During clean-up, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?

Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program

Lesson: Wetlands Jigsaw

Intern Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Lesson: Wetlands Jigsaw

How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am

During the activity/lesson, what worked that I will utilize in future

During clean-up, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?

How did the assessment(s) help me to understand what my

Student Work Samples

Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program

Lesson: Wetland Animals

from experiences or gather information from provided sources to

Intern Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Lesson: Who Lives Here?

How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am planning for

During the activity/lesson, what worked that I will utilize in future

During clean-up, what worked that I will utilize in future lessons?

Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program

Lesson: Sorting Animals Based on Attributes

Intern Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Lesson: Sorting Attributes

How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am planning for

What aspects of differentiation worked well? How do I know?

Student Work Samples

Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program

Lesson: Guided Reading: Wetlands Play

Identify who is telling the story at various

With prompting and support, read prose and

poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.

Lesson: Wetlands Play

How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am planning for

What aspects of differentiation worked well? How do I know?

Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program

Lesson: Magic Rocks: Animals Using Habitats

Intern Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Lesson: Magic Rocks

How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am planning for

What aspects of differentiation worked well? How do I know?

Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program

Lesson: Googling Wetland Animals

Standards: From http://www.cde.state.co.us/edtech/standardsforstudents:

Intern Reflection and Self-Evaluation

How was my preparation for this lesson useful? As I am planning for

During the activity/lesson, what worked that I will utilize in future