ECE 460 Content Lesson Plans

Name: Courtney Alexander

Title of Activity: How Animals Resemble Their Parents
Group size: Whole Group

Approximate time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Grade Level: 1st Grade

TEKS:
Reading
110.12- (b): (9A) - The student is expected to describe the plot (problem and solution)
and retell a story's beginning, middle, and end with attention to the sequence of events.
Science
112.12-(b): (2D) - The student is expected to record and organize data using pictures,
numbers, and words.
112.12- (b): (10C) - The student is expected to compare ways that young animals
resemble their parents.
Math
111.3- (b): (8A, B) - The student is expected to collect, sort, and organize data in up to
three categories using models/representations such as tally marks or T-charts.
Language Arts
110.12- (b): (18A) - The student is expected to write brief stories that include a
beginning, middle, and end.
ELPS:
74.4- (c): (1A) - The student is expected to use prior knowledge and experiences to
understand meanings in English.
Objectives: The child willretell the problem and solution of Is Your Mama a Llama.
The child willsequence the events of Is Your Mama a Llama by
arranging pictures in the right order and retelling the plot.
The child will record his or her observations of the similarities and
differences between an adult animal and its offspring on a Venn diagram.

The child will...write a five-six sentence story about how a baby elephant
resembles its parent.
Vocabulary: resemble, behave, limbs, Venn diagram, offspring, parent, cub, calf,
trunks, tusks
Source: http://www.bigspringisd.net/Uploads/177/misc/f266812.pdf
Materials List:
White board, dry erase marker
PowerPoint slide with teacher/mother pictures, internet connection, projector
Guarino, D. (1989). Is Your Mama a Llama? New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Picture cards with each animal in Is Your Mama a Llama on them (1 set per group). A
freebie containing these can be found at
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/FreeDownload/Is-Your-Mama-a-LlamaSort-1757415.
Lion video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKjcXWAlDpU
Venn diagram creator:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams/
Pre-printed Venn diagram of the baby elephant and its parent (1 per student)
from http://www.bigspringisd.net/Uploads/177/misc/f266812.pdf.
Notebook paper for each student and a pencil for each student.
Extra videos to use to show the resemblance between an animal and its parent
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EQKVHHVR6c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7hkwjCfgc8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDKDC_IUnOA )
These can be shown while students are working in groups/individually.
Story retelling rubric freebie:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Story-Retell-Rubric-375793
Chart paper and a marker
What Will I Be When I Grow Up PowerPoint from
http://www.bigspringisd.net/Uploads/177/misc/f266812.pdf.
Anticipatory Set:

1. The teacher asks: Has anyone ever told you that you look like your parents or your
grandparents? If so, who do you look like? What makes you look like that person? Allow
a few students to answer.
2. The teacher says: It just so happens that people say I look and act like my mother.
3. The teacher shows students side by side pictures of the teacher and her mother on a
PowerPoint slide.
4. Ask: What do you notice about us that looks the same? What do you notice that looks
different? Record the childrens answers on the board under a T-chart with the
headings Same and Different. Introduce the word resemble by saying that it is
another word that means similar to or alike. Write resemble on the board as a
reference throughout the lesson.
5. Say: Sometimes its easy to tell what the same about how two people look, but many
people also act or behave like their parents too. For example, I love to read like my
mom, I am a teacher like my mom, I walk on two legs like my mom, and I eat pizza like
my mom (from bottom to top and save the crust for the end).
6. Ask: Has anyone ever said you act like your parents? If so, how do you act like your
parents? Allow a few students to answer.
7. Say: Today, we are going to be talking about how different animals resemble (look or
act like), their parents. Baby animals are called offspring and adult animals are called
parents.
Input or Modeling:
1. Introduce the author, illustrator, and title of the book Is Your Mama a Llama by Deborah
Guarino.
2. Ask: What do you notice about the cover of the book? What animals do you see? Do
you see a mama and her baby on the cover? How do you know that the baby belongs to
the mother? Allow a couple of students to respond to each question.
3. Read the book, asking the following questions during reading:
What kind of animal will the mother be? How do you know?
Which animal is the offspring? Which animal is the parent? How do you know?
How do the young animal and the mother look the same? How are they different?
Discuss these answers with the students, pointing out the color of the animals, the
number of limbs they have, their behavior, or any other distinguishing features.
4. Ask these questions after reading the book:
What was the problem in the story? How was the problem solved?
What order did the young llama visit the animals in? Have students organize the
sequence of animals in small groups (3-5 students). If students have trouble, picture
walk through the book again to scaffold their answers.
Once the class is done, have students retell the story using the pictures as a guide.
Check for Understanding:
1. Say: Each animal resembles its mother in some ways and is different in other ways.
Young animals often look like their parents because they are the same color, or they

2.
3.

4.
5.

6.

have the same number of limbs (arms and legs)! They can also act like their parents in
the way they move, eat, or behave.
Pull up this Venn diagram creator on the internet:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams/.
Say: Together we are going to create a Venn diagram to compare how a young lion
looks and acts like its parent. On the left, we have the baby animal (type the label in), on
the right, we have the parent animal (type the label in). The section in the middle shows
how they are like each other, the parts on the side show how they are different.
Have the students watch a video showing lion cubs and their mom. Remind them to
look for ways the cubs resemble their mother (looks and actions). Watch the first 3-4
minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKjcXWAlDpU ).
Allow students to discuss their observations from the video in small groups for a couple
of minutes.
Use these guiding questions by writing them on the board: How did the
cubs resemble their mother? How did they look like their mother? How did
they act like their mother? How do they look different than their mother?
How did they act different than their mother?
Then, have students offer their observations for each part of the Venn diagram and
record them on the Venn diagram creator. If the students missed anything, make sure to
mention the observation or lead students through questioning to reach the answer.
Guided Practice:
1. Students are to participate in each discussion, giving examples of how each
animal resembles its parent.
2. During the reading of Is Your Mama a Llama, students are to make predictions
about what type of animal each animals mother is and they are to discuss how
each animal resembles its parent.
3. After the reading, students are to work productively in their small groups to
sequence the appearance of animals in Is Your Mama a Llama and retell the
story.
4. After watching the video of the lion and her cubs, students are expected to
discuss their observations in small groups and participate in the whole-group
discussion to create the Venn diagram.
Independent Practice:
1. Provide students with a Venn diagram, that calls for them to compare how a
baby elephant resembles its parent.
2. Have students work independently to fill out the diagram, noting how the baby
and adult are similar and different.
3. Allow students to use their diagram to write a short story (5-6 sentences or so)
giving three reasons the baby resembles its parent. They will write this story on a
piece of notebook paper. If students need more structure (or ideas for their
writing), allow them to use this template as a guide on chart paper:
Sentence 1- The elephant resembles its parent because it is the parents
offspring.
Sentence 2- The baby elephant and its parent both have __________.

Sentence 3- The baby elephant and its parent are both __________.
Sentence 4- The baby elephant and its parent both have __________.
Sentence 5- The baby elephant is not the same __________ as its parent.
Sentence 6- The baby elephant resembles its parent because it is the
parents offspring.
4. If they have time, students can draw a pictures for their story and color the
pictures.
5. If they finish that, students can explain and illustrate how they resemble a
family member in order to extend their learning.
Formal Assessment:
The child willretell the problem and solution of Is Your Mama a LlamaThis objective will be assessed by informal discussion, through listening to
students answers and documenting their contributions in anecdotal records.
Look for students to answer similarly to this:
1) Problem- The llama cannot find its mother and it does not really
recognize what kind of animal its mother is.
2) Solution- The llama goes around asking other animals what their
mothers are. As the llama gets to know the other animals, it realizes what
animal its mother must be.
The child willsequence the events of Is Your Mama a Llama by arranging
pictures in the right order and retelling the plotWithin this objective, the sequencing will be assessed through informal
observation, with a snapshot of each groups original order with the teachers
phone. Then, the retelling of the plot will also be assessed informally by a story
retelling rubric.
Sequencing

1:
2:
Includes 1 or Includes 3-4
2 events
events,
usually in
random
order

Characters:

1:
Refers to
characters
using
general
pronouns,
incorrect
information

2:
Refers to
characters
with
appropriate
pronouns

3:
Tells 5+
events from
the
beginning,
middle, end,
may not be
in correct
order
3:
Refers to
characters
by name

4:
Tells all
events from
the story in
the correct
order.

4:
Refers to
characters
by name
and
describes
some
aspects
about them

Details:

1:
Little to no
details in
the story

Vocabulary
List key
vocabulary:

1:
No specific
vocabulary
used from
the text

Story Map
knowledge:

1:
Can answer
1 question
about
characters/
setting/
problem/
resolution

2:
1 or 2
general
details
and/or
descriptors
used
2:
1-2 key
vocabulary
words from
the text
used

3:
1 or 2
specific
details
and/or
descriptors
used
3:
3-4 key
vocabulary
words from
the text
used

2:
Can answer
2 questions
about
characters/
setting/
problem/
resolution

3:
Can answer
3 questions
about
characters/
setting/
problem/
resolution

4:
3+ details
and
descriptors
used
4:
5+
vocabulary
words from
the text
used. May
include
quotes from
the text
4:
Can answer
4 questions
about
characters/
setting/
problem/
resolution

The child will record his or her observations of the similarities and
differences between an adult animal and its offspring on a Venn diagramThis objective will be assessed informally by the students turning in the diagram
they completed over the elephants. The teacher is looking for students to
comment on the color of the animals, the size of the animals, the number of
limbs, and other characteristics they observe from the pictures.

The child will...write a five-six sentence story about how the baby elephant
resembles its parentThe teacher will assess this objective by dissecting the students writing sample.
The focus of the assessment is not as much about the students mastery of
conventions, as it is about the student developing complete thoughts and
incorporating how the baby elephant resembles its parent.
Checklist for assessing the writing sample:

The student includes at least one way the baby elephant is different than its parent.

The student writes his or her name on the story, to show authorship.

The student gives his or her story a title.

The student incorporates at least three ways the baby elephant resembles its parent.

The student has a sense of a beginning, middle, and end of a story in his or her writing.
Example story:

*This lesson could be modified by having each student write about how a different
animal resembles its parent, so that a class book could be created with writings about
all different animals.*
Closure:
Ask: What are some ways that young animals resemble their parents? Allow a
few students to answer.
Say: Now that we know that young animals resemble their parents in the way
they look and behave, we can identify which offspring belongs with which parent.
Also, we can predict what young animals will grow up to be based on how they
resemble adult animals.
Play a review game with the What Will I Be When I Grow Up PowerPoint,
having the students choose which animal the young animal will grow up to be.
ELL Considerations:
In each part of the lesson, there are many visuals for students to refer to when
participating in discussions. The teacher will look up animal names and vocab
words in the students native language to scaffold their understanding.
The anticipatory set of the lesson requires students to tap into their background
knowledge and relate the concept to their own lives.
Throughout the lesson, small groups are formed to discuss and work on
objectives, which allows ELL students to work with peers.
Finally, the lesson will allow for ELL students to communicate their thoughts
through drawings, rather than words, if needed.
Differentiation:
The lesson is differentiated in materials by incorporating visuals, videos,
PowerPoints, and activity sheets.
The lesson is differentiated in process by having students work as a whole group,
in small groups, and individually. If students are struggling to complete the
individual task of writing their story, the teacher will scaffold them one on one.
The teacher could vary the assessment of the objectives by allowing students to
create songs, skits, or an oral presentation to show that they understand how
animals resemble their parents.
Considerations for Children with Special Needs:
For a child who has a learning disability- Allow the student extra time to complete
tasks, give feedback often, and give explicit instruction when working one on one
with him or her.
For a child with a hearing impairment- Allow the student to sit closely to the
teacher, provide an interpreter (if needed), make sure to make visual contact with
him or her when giving instructions, and provide captions for videos.
For a child with autism- Use visual aids to signal the change of activities and
provide the child with headphones to lessen the noise when working.