EDUC 2220- Educational Technology Lesson Plan Template

Physical and Behavioral Traits of Living Things

Rachel Cox
Kindergarten/ Science

Common Core Standards:

K.LS.1: Living things have specific characteristics and traits.

K.LS.2: Living things have physical traits and behaviors, which influence their survival.

Lesson Summary:
In this lesson they will be learning about the Physical and Behavioral Traits of Living Things. During this
lesson they will be learning about exploring, observing, comparing, and describing living things in Ohio.
They will be looking at different animals, plants, and other living things in the state of Ohio. They will be
learning about the different types of animals in Ohio and what part of the state they live in.
Estimated Duration:
About 5 days of 50-minute lessons.
Commentary:
To start the lesson will be talking about what kinds of animals and plants live in Ohio. We will talk about
what makes them similar and what makes them different. We will discuss what kind of physical attributes
they have and what makes them different. The class will talk about the different types of behaviors each
living thing has and what characteristics they have.

Instructional Procedures:
Day 1: On the first day the teacher will introduce the subject. They will talk about the different kinds of
animals and plants that live in Ohio and the habitat that they live in. The teacher will also read the book
Animal Tracks by Arthur Dorros. Next, the teacher will have the kids go to centers. At centers the kids will
be doing different activities. At one of the centers the kids will go to the smartboard and they will be
matching animals to the habits that they live in. At another center the kids will have iPad and they will go to
the app “The Name Game”. With the Name Game app, it helps the kids with letter recognize and learning
animal names.
Day 2: On the second day the teacher will have the children come to the carpet and talk about what they
have been learning about so far. Then the teacher will read the book What If You Had Animal Hair!? By
Sandra Markle and Illustrated by Howard McWilliam. After they read the book the children will go to
centers. At one center the children will get on laptops and look at different zoo livestreams. They would look
at the livestreams from the Columbus Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, Cleveland Zoo, and Toledo Zoo. While they are
looking at the livestreams they would compare and contrast the different zoos and the behavioral traits or the
animals at the zoo. At another center the children will use the iPads to look at the ODNR A-Z Species
Guide. While they are looking at the guide, they will be making a compare and contrast chart about the
different animals and plants that live in Ohio.
Day 3: On the third day the teacher will have the children talk about what all they learned so far about
different living things in Ohio and their physical and behavioral traits. Next, the teacher will read the book
E-I-E-I-O: How Old MacDonald Got His Farm with a Little Help from a Hen by Judy Sierra. After they
read the children will then go to centers. On the SmartBoard the children will go to Discovery Education to
look at the different kinds of animals around the world. On the iPads the children will go to the app “The
Name Game” again to work on letter recognize and learning animal names. On the laptop the kids can sort
animals and plants physical characteristics.
Day 4: On the fourth day the teacher will read the book From Head to Toe by Eric Carle. After they read the
book the teacher will ask them about the different animals they read about. Then on the SmartBoard the kids
will sort the animals that they just read about by the different physical and biological differences. When the
children go to centers on the iPad, they will look at the app Sound Touch. On Sound Touch they can touch
the other animals to find out what sounds they make.
Day 5: On the fifth day the teacher will read the book Mama Build a Nest by Jennifer Ward and Illustrated
by Steve Jenkins. After they read the book each child will get on a laptop and go a website where they can
create their own animal farm!

Pre-Assessment:
For the Pre-Assessment the children will be in a small group setting. In this setting the teacher will give
them different animals and plants then have the do an open sort.

Scoring Guidelines:
While they are doing the open sort, the teacher will be taking notes. After the open sort is finished if
a child can sort the animals in to 3 or more categories then they have mastered the goal. If the
children go sort the animals into 1 or 2 categories, then they are progressing towards the goal. If they
can’t sort the animals into any categories, then they need more work on sorting animals by
characteristics.

Post-Assessment:
For the Post-Assessment the teacher will have the children in a large group setting. While they are the large
group setting you will basically be doing the same thing you did for the pre-assement but this time with
different plants and animals

Scoring Guidelines:
For the students that mastered the categories during the pre-assessment you’ll have them tell you
about the animals and plants and why they put them in the categories that they did. After that it will
be the same for the rest of the children, your goal is for the children to be able to sort the animals and
plants into three or more categories and be able to name similarities and differences. If they can do
that then they mastered the assignment.
Differentiated Instructional Support
For students who are gifted they can use the iPads or the Laptops to look at the OSU Planetarium.

For students who are struggling with the materials you could give them a sorting activity on the SmartBoard
where they are sorting animals by companion animals (dogs and cats) or farm animals.

Extension
 https://www.fpconservatory.org
 https://www.columbuszoo.org
 https://dawesarb.org

Homework Options and Home Connections

The children can make a habit about an animal that they studied! They can walk around their neighborhoods
and see if they can find any animals and what kind of plants live by them.

Interdisciplinary Connections
I can connect Language Arts and Social Studies to this content area. For language arts we can read different
books about animals and plants and the area that they live in. For Social Studies they can talk about if the
area they live in is city or country.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers  iPads

 Laptops
 SMART Notebook activities
 Animals pictures
 Plant pictures
 Sorting cards
 For students  SmartBoard
 iPad
 Laptop

Key Vocabulary
Animals
Plants
Similarities
Living
Characteristics
Behavior
Traits
Observations

Additional Notes