Developmental Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidate: Stephanie Canning, Kathleen Graul, Erica Zimmerman Date:

Group Size: 20 Allotted Time: 45 Grade Level: 3rd grade

Subject or Topic: Lesson 1: What is an invasive species

Common Core/PA Standards:
4.5.3.B
Define the term pest and identify various plants and animals that humans may call pests.

Learning Targets/Objectives:
The 3rd grade students will identify the characteristics of a pest by creating their own pest.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. Red light, yellow light, green light 1. Number of red, yellow, and green
check for understanding “lights”
2. Turn and Talk 2. Listening in on conversations for
3. Draw a Pest understanding
…. 3. Drawing the pest and listing three
reasons why it is a pest.
…
Assessment Scale:
3. ___ Two Sentences about the pest
___ includes at least 3 characteristics of the pest they drew
___ drew a pest that fits the characteristics discussed

Subject Matter/Content:
Prerequisites:
● What a bug is?
● Understanding characteristics of organisms
Key Vocabulary:
● Pest: a destructive insect or other animal that attacks crops, food, livestock
● Characteristic: a feature or quality belonging typically to a person, place or thing and
serving to identify it
● Rodents:a gnawing mammal of an order that includes rats, mice, squirrels, hamsters,
porcupines, and distinguished by strong constantly growing incisors and no canine
teeth.
● Insects: a small arthropod animal that has six legs and generally one or two pairs of
wings
 ● Organism: an individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form
● Mite: any of numerous small acarid arachnids that often infest animals, plants, and
stored foods and include important disease vectors
Content/Facts:
● Pest
○ Characteristics
○ Definition
○ Examples

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
● The teacher will introduce the lesson by telling the students that they are going to be learning
about pests and invasive species, specifically what makes them a pest
● The teacher will then ask the class what they know about pests
○ KWL Chart:
■ Teacher will ask the students what they already know about pests, prompt
them to answer questions about what pests look like, what they do, and why
they are called pests
■ Teacher will fill in the What we know column on the KWL chart while the
students give information, once the column has at least five bullet points move
on to the What we want to learn column of the chart
■ Teacher will ask students something they are curious about or what they
would like to know about pests that they don’t already know, fill in the column
until it has at least 5 bullet points/ questions in it

Development/Teaching Approaches
● Teacher will then display the three anchor charts on the board, one about insects/ mites,
rodents/animals/birds and plants.
● Teacher will have students work in groups (their four table members)
● Teacher will then pass out the cut-up strips of paper with the individual characteristics on them,
3 per group. Vary the characteristics (example: don’t hand one group all plant characteristics
hand out two animal characteristics and one plant characteristic)
● After handing out all of the characteristics the teacher will have two extra characteristics to
model the skill
● The teacher will model problem solving on which chart they think their two characteristics
would go on by reading the characteristic out loud and then thinking aloud before placing it on
the correct anchor chart
○ Example: Use the characteristic “Has a thorax that includes three pairs of legs and two
pairs of wings”
 ○ Read the characteristic out loud and say: “Let’s look at this characteristic one part at a
time. I’m not sure exactly what a thorax is but it sounds familiar so let’s look at the
second part ‘has three pairs of legs’ well I know that animals usually do not have that
many legs so I don’t think it could go on that chart. I know that insects and birds have
legs as well but birds only have 2 legs meaning they only have one pair so I don’t think
it could go on that chart and plants have no legs so it definitely doesn’t go there. The
last part says ‘has two pairs of wings’ that means that we are only left with birds and
insects because they are the only things with legs and wings but birds only have one
set of wings and one pair of legs so it must go on the insect chart!
○ Place characteristic on chart
● Repeat the process for the second characteristic
● The teacher will then ask the students to read their characteristics carefully and to start
thinking about which pest they would go with, have them discuss the characteristics with their
group
● The teacher will walk around listening to conversations while prompting students by asking
questions like; why do you think that would go on that chart? and how do you know that does
not belong on that chart instead?
● After giving students a few minutes to talk the teacher will hand out sticky tack to each group
and ask them to place just one of the characteristics up on the chart they think that it
corresponds with
● After each group has placed their first characteristics on the charts have a class discussion
with each group on why they placed each characteristic where they did and if the class agrees
on the placement of each one
○ If the class is not in agreement and believes the characteristic belongs on a different
chart move it to the other chart
● After discussing each characteristic look at the answer key and make sure that all of the
characteristics are actually correctly placed and if not give an explanation on why the wrongly
placed characteristic would be a better fit on another chart
● Teacher will then have each group go up to place the last two of their characteristics up on the
chart or chart(s) they believe they go on
● Once all of the characteristics have been placed the teacher will then read the charts and the
characteristics aloud pausing to ask students why they placed a specific characteristic on a
certain chart
● Check the answer key again to ensure that all the information is placed correctly, take the time
to explain why the specific characteristic(s) would be a better fit on another chart if any are
placed incorrectly
● The teacher will then ask three students to hand a sheet of red, yellow, and green paper out to
each student
● When everyone has the sheets of paper the teacher will explain that when asked students will
either hold up a green piece of paper, signalling that they understand the concept and are not
confused, a yellow piece of paper signalling that the concept somewhat makes sense but they
are not fully understanding it, or a red piece of paper signalling that they are confused and
don’t understand
● The teacher will then ask if students know what a pest is and what the characteristics of a pest
are, take note of how many green, yellow, and red papers are held up.
○ If there a lot of greens move on to the activity, if there are some/ a lot of reds and
yellows take time to ask the students what they are confused on and clarify any
misconceptions
● The teacher will then explain to the students that now that they know the specific types of pests
and their characteristics that they will now work on drawing their own type of pest together
● The class will then make a pest together, voting on which type they would like to create by
raising their hands and taking a class vote on which pest they would like to create
● Have students brainstorm and write them on the board at least three characteristics the pest
needs in order to draw the new pest. (example, an animal/bird would need a big beak in order
to damage the crops in a field.)
● The teacher will draw the pest on the board and write the three things the pest does to the
environment while describing what he/or she is drawing along the way and why.
● Have the students turn and talk at their tables to come up with two sentences they would use
to describe the pest that you just drew
○ The teacher will walk around listening to conversations to check for comprehension
● Call on 3-5 students to help write the two sentences and then write two descriptive sentences
using the characteristics on the board beneath the pest based on what the students have come
up with
● The teacher will then explain that each student will then draw their own pest and write two
sentences describing it just like they did together on the board in their science notebooks
● Allow them to use classroom colored pencils, markers and crayons
● Check for understanding by having students hold up their red, yellow, or green light again to
ensure that each student understands the activity.
● Clear up any confusion the students may have.
● Students will take out their science notebooks and flip to the page that says “Create a Pest”
● Allow students to use markers, crayons and colored pencils to complete the activity
● They will create their own pest and provide three things the pest does to the environment and
write two sentences.
● Teacher will give ample time for the students to work
● Teacher will go around with a checklist to check the students’ work
 ● Teacher will choose 3-5 students (who got 3/3 or went above and beyond while completing the
project) to present their drawings and to explain why they drew what they did and to read their
two sentences aloud to the class
Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
● After 3-5 students have gotten to share refer back to the KWL chart
● The teacher will read aloud the questions and comments under the W (what we want to know)
column of the chart
● The teacher will then ask the students whether or not they have answered those questions
now that the lesson is over
● Call on students
● The teacher will write the responses in the last column L (what we have learned)
● The teacher will ask if the students have learned anything else from the lesson and will add
those responses to the column as well
● After the teacher is done filling out the chart they will then read through the chart as a review of
how the class began the lesson and what they learned at the end of the lesson
● The teacher will close the lesson by telling the class that now that they know more about pests
they are going to use that information to help them in learning about invasive species the next
day

Accommodations/Differentiation:
For student J.D with a visual impairment ensure that she is seated at the front of the classroom
and that the characteristics for her group are printed in large bold font.

Materials/Resources:
● Science Notebooks
● Colored Pencils
● Crayons
● Markers
● Sticky tack
● 20 red, yellow, and green half-sheets of construction paper
● Characteristics for the anchor charts cut into strips of paper (enough for each group to have 3
characteristics plus two extra for the teacher to model)
● KWL chart
● 4 anchor charts:
○ Insects/mites
○ Animals/ Rodents
○ Birds
○ Plants
http://psep.cce.cornell.edu/Tutorials/core-tutorial/module12/index.aspx
This website explains the characteristics of the various pests.
http://sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kc_classification_main.htm
This website includes characteristics of different living things and presents it in a child-friendly manner.

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels

Remediation Plan (if applicable):

If students get 2 or fewer check marks on the rubric the students will be placed into a small
group to work specifically with the teacher. In the small group the teacher will work with the
students to review the characteristics of a pest and to revise their create a pest worksheet.

Personal Reflection Questions

Was my lesson as long as I anticipated it being?
Was there anything in my lesson that wasn’t clear/that the students struggled with?

Additional reflection/thoughts
Insect and Mite Characteristics:
Have three body parts; the head, thorax, and abdomen.
Examples include mosquitoes, fleas, termites, aphids and beetles.
They feed on and transmit diseases to humans.
Have antennae.
Have a thorax that includes three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings.
Go through a metamorphosis before they are fully developed.
Typically very small in size, less than 3 inches.
The largest group of pests.

Animal/Rodent Characteristics:
Have a backbone.
Examples include raccoons, deer, mice and rats.
Have hair or fur.
Damage human crops and eat a lot of stored grains in barns.

Bird Characteristics:
Lay eggs.
Have wings, feathers, and a beak.
Attack crops and plants and eat them away.
Typically travel in great flocks.
Examples include pigeons and seagulls.

Plant Characteristics:
Include many different types including weeds and grasses.
Grows from a seed.
Can cause skin irritation and allergies.
Examples include poison ivy and ragweed.
Example Anchor Charts: