Daily Lesson Plan
Your Name: Janeva Rae Mammina Grade Level: Third Date: November 8th, 2010
CT: Karla Pavey School: Lewton Elementary School
Overall lesson topic/title: The Lorax and Ways to Go Green
Grade Level Content Expectation(s):
R.CM.03.01 connect personal knowledge, experiences, and understanding of the world to
themes and perspectives in text through oral and written responses.
R.CM.03.04 apply significant knowledge from grade-level science, social studies, and
mathematics texts.
Develop Objectives that are specific to your interpretive discussion:
- Performance: Students are expected to be able to make text-to-world connections by understanding that this book’s issues are applicable in the real-life setting.
- Conditions: Students will collaboratively create a list of ways they could potentially ‘go green’ on their own.
- Criterion: Students will be able to apply these new ideas outside of classroom.
Materials & supplies needed: I will bring in my own copy of The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss and a plush ‘Lorax‘ that the children can take turns holding. I will also use a large sheet of paper and marker to compile a list of the student’s various ideas of how they can help the environment. I will bring in enough copies of my Ways to Go Green for each student to take home.
Miss M’s Easy List of Ways You Can Go Green!
Recycle. Ask your parents to purchase products that are made from recycled materials. Wrap presents in newspaper, comics are cute! Take a quicker shower. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth. Collect rainwater in buckets to give to your indoor plants. Ask your parents to change your lightbulbs to energy-efficient ones. Turn off the lights when you walk out of a room. Reuse water bottles, or get one like Ms. Pavey has so you can use it over and over. Try to get fruits and veggies from local farmers. Donate and shop at places like Goodwill. Bring reusable bags to the grocery store. Eat less meat, animals should be our friends! Use both sides of your paper. Don’t waste food at lunch, try to eat it all or get less food so you don’t end up throwing a bunch away.
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event:
BEFORE READING:
- Introduction to the lesson
To begin, I will clearly explain to my students what my behavior expectations are while I teach this lesson. I will share with them my ‘norms for discussion’ which include: attention from all students, sitting ‘criss-cross applesauce’ on the carpet, raising their hand if they have a question, being respectful to me and their peers, and positively contributing their thoughts, opinions, and ideas.
I will then talk a little bit about why I would appreciate them to be engaged and involved during my lesson. I will explain to them that I am on my way to becoming a teacher and that by participating this lesson, they are also aiding me in learning how to become a teacher. I think that by putting some of the responsibility on the children, they will be eager to help me. This is a form of intrinsic motivation. I will also do my best to keep them engaged by asking them questions and involving them as active learners.
Before reading to them, I will first lead a discussion focusing on what ‘going green’ is- making the world a better, more environmentally-friendly place for all of us to enjoy. If they don’t understand this broad definition, I will explain to them that it includes easy ways to help make the world a cleaner and happier place for everyone, including plants and animals. This discussion will give me further insight and comprehension of their background knowledge concerning my lesson, it will also provide me with some idea of their knowledge of science.
The introduction should take about ten minutes, maybe even longer if we have an extensive and interactive discussion.
OUTLINE OF KEY EVENTS FOLLOWING YOUR INTRODUCTION:
At certain points in the text I will say the following:
Can you think of times when people cut down many trees?
What does this remind you of?
Have you ever seen water or air pollution?
Can you remember seeing anything like this in real life?
By asking the students questions, it will help to make them more engaged in the text and involved in the lesson. Participation is key in active learning. I will also use different ‘voices’ for the characters, which the students should enjoy.
I have done a couple practice runs reading this book aloud, it took me ten minutes; this doesn’t include my planned questions to the students during the reading. I have four questions to discuss with the students, I’m guessing that each of them will be explored for about two or three minutes. Altogether, I am guessing that this stage will last at least twenty minutes.
Once I have finished the read-aloud, I will question the students what they think will happen if the seed is planted and also what the result could be if it doesn’t get planted.
I will check if my class understands what endangered and extinct means. If they don’t, I will explain to them that endangered is when an animal or plant is very rare and that extinct is when an animal or plant used to be found in the environment, but now it is all gone. I will tell them that creatures in this book could potentially become endangered and extinct due to the Once-ler’s greediness and over-use of the resources. This is also a fundamental idea from science.
Next, I will see if they can make text-to-world connections by asking if they can think of any plants or animals that they know are endangered or extinct. If they can’t think of any, I will give examples like: dinosaurs, bald eagles, chimpanzees, and tigers.
After that, I will tell them that by ‘going green’ they can help to clean up the world and save some animals, because animals can’t survive as will in a polluted environment.
At this point, I will title a large sheet of paper on the easel, ‘Ways Ms. Pavey’s Class can GO GREEN!’. I will ask students to give me some of their ideas as I write them down, so everyone can see. If a student says something that I don’t consider ‘Going Green’, I will say, ‘Good thought, but I think that this (give an example) will work better.‘ Once they have exhausted their ideas, I will include some that they could have forgotten or not thought of:
Recycle. Ask your parents to purchase products that are
made from recycled materials. Wrap presents in newspaper,
comics are cute! Take a quicker shower. Turn off the water
while brushing your teeth. Collect rainwater in buckets to
give to your indoor plants. Ask your parents to change your
lightbulbs to energy-efficient ones. Turn off the lights when
you walk out of a room. Reuse water bottles, or get one like
Ms. Pavey has so you can use it over and over. Try to get
fruits and veggies from local farmers, there are farmers
markets all over the area. Donate and shop at places like
GoodWill. Bring reusable bags to the grocery store. Eat
less meat, animals should be our friends! Use both sides of
your paper. Don’t waste food at lunch, try to eat it all or get
less food so you don’t end up throwing a bunch away.
I anticipate creating the compiled list and sharing my ideas of going green will take about five minutes.
CLOSING SUMMARY FOR THE LESSON:
I will hand out a typed list of the above ideas that I have come up with for each student to bring home and share with their family. I will ask the children if they do any of the above at home already. If they do, I will praise them. Then I will ask each student if they think they could put into practice some of our ideas to Go Green.
To summarize, I will tell the class that even though they’re young, they can make a huge impact on the world- they are our future. If they can learn to be environmentally conscious, they can make the world a better place. To make another text-to-world connection, I will again stress that issues that are presented in The Lorax are based on real-world problems, it’s important that they comprehend this. I will then ask them if they have any questions or comments to contribute to the group.
I have deliberately chosen to have a quick reflection with them. I realize that my lesson has taken a longer time and do not want to lose their attention. I plan on this part to only take one or two minutes.
POST-ASSESSMENT:
The next time I come to class, I will ask the students if they have implemented any of our ideas to Go Green in their home. I will praise them if they have. If they haven’t, I will continue to encourage them to do so.
This will be at a later date and will most likely turn into a few of the students sharing stories. This could take about five minutes.
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