Maura Clark, Kathleen Hogan, Michelle Pitzl, and Traci Zorzi

November 14, 2005

Education 140 – Presentation

1. Purpose/objectives:
The purpose of this lesson is to 1) review students’ previous knowledge of the
term habitat, 2) introduce the four types of habitats which are desert, rain forest, forest,
and tundra, 3) explain characteristics of each type of habitat, and 4) have students be able
to associate different kinds of animals with their appropriate habitat.

2. Grade level appropriate for this lesson:

2nd grade

3. Outline of planned procedures:

Materials: smart podium, chalkboard, power point, pictures of animals (enough
for each student), cards with names of habitats, paper, pencils, crayons.

Steps involved:
1. The word habitat will be up on the projector on the smart podium.
Students will be asked what a habitat is and the teacher will write down
their responses. If students do not have any answers, the teacher will ask
prompting questions such as “Is a habitat a place where animals live?” and
“What needs to be in a habitat?”
2. The teacher will then go to board. The words desert, rainforest, forest,
and tundra will be written on the board in 3 different sections.
3. The teacher will then ask the students for characteristics of a desert. If
the students are struggling the teacher will ask prompting questions such
as “Is a desert dry? If it’s dry does that mean it gets much rain?”
Student’s responses will be recorded on the board. This way the students
can come up with their own definitions of the terms.
4. The teacher will then discuss each of the habitats in the same way and
ask prompting questions when necessary.
5. The teacher will then put up a power point presentation. This power
point will have the definitions of each of the habitats along with a
landscape picture of each habitat.
6. The teacher will then explain the next activity. Each student will get a
picture of an animal. The names of each habitat will be placed at
different tables in the room. The students will need to find the correct
habitat for their animal.
7. While the students are trying to find their correct habitat, the teacher
will walk around to make sure all students understand where the
correct
place is for their particular animal.
8. Once all the students are settled into their correct habitat, the teacher
will tell the students to discuss in their groups about what animal they are
and why they belong in that habitat.
 9. Once the students have finished discussing in their groups, the teacher
will go around to each group asking students what they discussed in their
groups (what animals they are and why they belong in that habitat). The
teacher can also ask students to describe their habitat such as, what kind of
weather it has, etc.
10. Students will then be instructed to go back to their seats and take out
their crayons and a pencil. The teacher will pass out paper to each student.
The teacher will tell the students to think about which habitat their favorite
is and write 3-4 sentences about why it is their favorite. After students
write about the habitat they chose they can draw a picture of the habitat.

4. Teacher’s role:
 Prompt students’ thoughts with questioning
-What are some characteristics of a rainforest?
-What animals can live in the tundra?
-Do you know why camels have humps on their backs?
-What is the difference between a forest and a rainforest?
 Initiate student discussions
 Facilitate group activity, making sure everyone is on task and in the
correct place
 Modeling student activity
 Assess students in the activity and collect students drawing/writing as
assessments

5. Student’s role:
 Discuss as a whole class and small groups
-Some may have difficulty differentiating between forest and rainforest
-Should understand that some animals will be able to live in more than one
environment
 Answer teacher’s prompting questions
 Take part in activity
 Complete drawing
 Writing assignment explaining what their favorite habitat is and why
 Ability to reason
 Be able to connect animals that have the ability to live in the same
environment they live in

6. Scientific content:
a. Terms and definitions:
 Habitat – A place where an animal finds the things it needs to live. In its
habitat this animal finds water.
 Desert – An environment that gets little rain. Only a few kinds of plants
and animals live in the desert
 Rainforest – An environment where rain falls almost every day. Many
kinds of plants live in a rain forest.
  Forest – An environment that gets enough rain and warmth for many trees
to grow.
 Tundra – A place with a cold and windy environment with no trees. The
land is covered with ice and snow most of the year.

b. References:
 Textbook: Used for background and also for students to follow along
during discussions. Also supplied definitions for each habitat.
Harcourt School Publishers. Science. Chicago: Harcourt Inc, 2002
 Google Images: Used to find pictures in power point and also for pictures
students used in activity.
 Pamphlets and handouts from Project WILD
 Text book from Project WILD
 High school Science Text book (due to the fact that a second grade text is
geared towards a second grader, it would be beneficial to use a higher
level text to gain more accurate information)

c. Rationale for use of terms:

These terms were used to distinguish between different habitats and to
increase students’ knowledge about the topic of land habitats.

7. Visual aids:
 Power point (definitions of terms and landscape pictures of habitats)
 Smart podium (definition of habitat)
 Chalk board (to write terms on with notes from student discussion)
 Pictures (for student activity)

8. Motivation:
Students will be motivated to learn about land habitats because the activity done
with the pictures of animals is very hands-on. All students are given a picture so they can
all participate in the activity. The students will also find the activity about their favorite
habitat engaging. It makes them think in a different way and they can express their new
knowledge about land habitats through their drawing and writing. Students can use the
knowledge they have gained and use it towards investigating new knowledge and to
make connections to other information. For example, they can take the knowledge about
Tundra’s and go on to learn more about tundra’s by exploring the Artic and the difference
between the two. Another example is to have students use their knowledge about
rainforests to explore the differences in temperate and tropical rainforests. One other
motivational activity that can be used is to plan a trip to the zoo where students need to
use the knowledge they have gained through this lesson to place different animals in one
of the four habitats. This will motivate students to familiarize themselves with the
different habitats so they will be able to place the new animals they see in the correct
places.

9. Learning styles:
  Visual learners: power point, chalkboard, and pictures helped these
students to learn and understand the content of this lesson
 Audio learners: class discussion, group discussion, and teacher talk
throughout helped these students to understand the content of this lesson
 Kinesthetic learners: hands-on activity, getting into groups, and
drawing/writing activity helped these learners to understand the content
in this lesson

10. Assessment:
The teacher will assess student learning in two ways. First the teacher will go
around the classroom during the activity with the pictures making sure and checking off
that each student understands what they are doing. Teacher will asses students ability to
link animals to their habitat by collecting their writing/drawing to make sure each student
wrote and drew things in a logical sense. A logical response would be for the student to
explain that a polar bear should be placed in the tundra because polar bears live where it
is cold and it is cold in the tundra. If a student wrote they liked the tundra because it is
warm, for example, and drew the tundra and made it look like a forest, the teacher would
of course know the student did not understand the content of the lesson and needs a
review of the lesson. Or, because some of the habitats may be similar to one another, you
can hold a student/teacher conference where the student explains what made them decide
that a certain animal should be placed in the specific habitat. This will give teachers a
better understanding of the students’ train of thought and what made them choose to place
the animal in that habitat. Another way to assess the students was explained in the
motivational part of the plan. Teachers can assess students by planning a trip to the zoo.
Teachers will ask students to name five different animals than the ones they discussed in
class. Students will then need to find the best habitat for each animal and explain why
they chose to place that animal in the chosen habitat.