Springfield College

Lesson Plan Template

Teacher: Date:
Subject: Grade Level:
Title of Lesson: Lesson Length:
Overview of the Lesson
Lesson Summary: (Brief Explanation)
This lesson is the beginning of a science unit talking about living and non
living things. In this lesson, students will be able to distinguish between things
that are alive and not alive. The students will have to determine if the picture
given is alive or not alive based on the characteristics that were talked about
at the start of group instruction.

Massachusetts Framework Standards:

PreK-LS2-1(MA). Use evidence from animals and plants to define several

characteristics of living things that distinguish them from non-living things

Lesson Objectives: The students will be able to..

Understand the difference between something that is living and not living. The
studens will know what makes something alive and what makes something not
alive. They will be able to use their knowledge and apply it to a sorting activity
involving pictures of living and non living things. Living and non living is a
very new concept for these students so the prompt level will probably vary
between the students in the group instruction. They will need a gesture or
partial prompt to initially get them to sort the pictures, but eventually I will
fade until they can do it independently.

Materials/Equipment to be Used in Teaching the Lesson:

Calendar with the month of April in it (at the beginning of each group, the
students find the month and the date)
Visual schedule of what comes first, second, etc in group instruction
Token board one of the students (she is earning a token about every 3 minutes
for sitting nicely at group, once she earns all of her tokens, she can choose to
stay at group or leave)
The definition of Alive on a big piece of paper that everyone in the group is
able to see, and I am able to refer back to during group instruction
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Lesson Plan Template
Laminated sheet with the word alive on it and a small picture of a cat as a
reference- underneath that are three Velcro pieces that also have a pictures of
living things.
Laminated sheet with the word non-living on it, with a picture of desk as a
reference- underneath that are three Velcro pieces that also have pictures of
non living things
*There will be pictures of real living things (ex. dog) and animated living things
(ex dog) to help the students discriminate between things that are real and
living vs not real and living

Enduring Understandings:
Big Ideas: The students will understand that There are living and no
living things in the world
Concepts: Things are classified as living based on certain
characteristics

Essential Questions:

Content
Factual Content:

Vocabulary: alive (interchangeable with living), not alive

Tier 1: alive, not alive

Tier 2: living

Tier 3:

Critical Thinking Skills (Reading, Writing, Speech, Listening)

Listen to the directions being stated (ie. Is a dog alive or not alive?) and
follow through, possibly needing a prompt.
Recite back to me if the picture I am showing them is living or non living
Discuss as a group what makes something alive or not alive

Assessments (Performance Tasks/Tests/Quizzes Formative/Summative,

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Lesson Plan Template
Informal/Formal)
Collect data as to how independently the students can follow a direction that
has discrimination (ie. Point to the picture of the word alive)
*This lesson can be a challenge for group instruction because of the different
levels of ability including academically, verbally, gross motor skills, and social
skills.

Action/Instructional Procedures

Procedures: For each procedure, list the teacher or student actions (with accommodations and
modifications) as well as the anticipated amount of time it will take to accomplish each task.

Anticipatory Set: (hook) Have the students greet each other at the table, working on eye
contact and audible speech between the students.

Step One: Have the students get our their monthly calendar and work on finding the
month and date, using as few prompts as possible

Step Two: Check the weather outside and have the student report to the class what they
saw by giving them a field of three options to choose from (ex sunny, windy, rainy)

Step Three: Introduce the word of the week (Alive) and have the students practice
pointing to the word and reciting it back to me

Step Four: Begin the activity by having students take turns putting the correct picture
under either Alive or Not alive, trying to get the students to do it as independently as
possible

All other steps: After the activity, the students complete sentence fill ins as part of their
data collection

Closure: Have the students turn to each other and say goodbye. Two of the students may
require verbal prompts and partial prompts to get them to turn to their classmates.

Homework/Extension Activities: This lesson would be the start of a unit about life cycles/
living and non living things. From there I would introduce a flower and how it is living
even though it does not walk or talk. Once the students understood the concept of a
flower having life, I would move on to life cycles, and discuss how all living things have
a life cycle. We would then complete a flower life cycle activity and talk about the
differences between the life cycle of a flower vs the life cycle of a person or animal
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Lesson Plan Template

Reflection on Lesson

a. The Lesson Plan:

b. Teaching Skills:

c. The Students: