Amanda Vanlerberg
Lesson Plan
*This lesson may be covered over a couple of days depending on the students. I would do this lesson
before our Winter Wonder field trip to Old Growth Forest. There would be subsequent lessons in various
curricular areas that reinforce the concepts and a final project that will demonstrate their understanding. I
would document the process with photos/notes
Curricular Area(s) [Link] Big Ideas (UNDERSTAND)
Kindergarten Science ● Daily and seasonal changes affect all living
Kindergarten English Language Arts things
Kindergarten Arts Education ● Curiosity and wonder lead us to new
discoveries about ourselves and the world
around us
● Stories and other t exts can be shared through
pictures and words
● People connect to others and share ideas
through the arts
Curricular Competencies (DO) Content (KNOW)
● Demonstrate curiosity and a sense of wonder ● Living things make changes to accommodate
about the world daily and seasonal cycles
● Ask simple questions about familiar objects and ● Seasonal changes
events ● Weather changes
● Experience and interpret the local environment ● First Peoples knowledge of seasonal changes
● Recognize First Peoples stories (including oral ● Reading strategies
and written narratives), songs, and art, as ways ● Oral language strategies
to share knowledge ● Personal and collective responsibility
● Discuss observations associated with creating, experiencing, or
● Share observations and ideas orally sharing in a safe learning environment
● Use sources of information and prior knowledge ● Processes, materials, movements,
to make meaning technologies, tools and techniques to support
● Use developmentally appropriate reading, arts activities
listening, and viewing strategies to make
meaning
● Use personal experience and knowledge to
connect to stories and other texts to make
meaning
● Exchange ideas and perspectives to build
shared understanding
● Use language to identify, create, and share
ideas, feelings, opinions, and preferences
● Create artistic works collaboratively and as an
individual, using ideas inspired by imagination,
inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play
Core Competencies [Link]
Communication
● Connect and engage with others
● Acquire, interpret, and present information
Thinking
● Creative
○ Generating ideas
○ Developing ideas
● Critical
○ Question and investigate
Personal and Social
● Personal Awareness and Responsibility
○ Self-regulation
● Social Responsibility
○ Contributing to community and caring for the environment
○ Solving problems in peaceful ways
○ Valuing diversity
○ Building Relationships
First Peoples Principles of Learning [Link]
● Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on
reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place)
● Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story
● Learning involves patience and time
Inquiry Questions
● How do local animals survive in the winter?
○ How do they stay warm?
○ How do they find food?
Objectives
● I can understand that seasonal changes affect local animals
● I can understand that during the winter months local animals hibernate, migrate or adapt to survive
● I can contribute to class discussions, communicating my ideas and respecting the ideas of others
● I can contribute positively to the classroom environment by being a respectful listener
● I can create and contribute to show my understanding
Assessment
● Monitor students for understanding
● Monitor contributions to class/partner (oral) discussions
● Observe and monitor play time after the story/discussion
Materials/Resources
●
● Winter Dance by Marion Dane Bauer (there are other books that can be used for this lesson to introduce
the same concept - this one works well as they are local animals)
● [Link] * this link is just in case you haven’t read the story - not
for the class to use/see
● Animal pictures/visuals
● Loose parts, animal puppets, peg doll animals, animal dress-ups
● Art/craft supplies
Student Success Strategies/Differentiation
● Allow for flexible seating during read aloud
● Use voice amplifier (microphone) - would not use this technology
● Proximity to teacher
● Allow for think time
● AB partner share before whole group share
● Have books/pictures/photocopied animals for visual support
● Could be done with a partner (teacher can choose partners if needed)
● Visuals of the animals to be placed around the room
● Movement/brain breaks/outside time
Introduction
Accessing Prior Knowledge
● Connect to the First Peoples knowledge of seasons as introduced by the Indignious Support Teacher
(reminder of the medicine wheel on the carpet)
● Discussion on what we know about the seasonal/weather changes in the winter (what we
see/hear/smell/taste/feel) Would not start with a discussion but we would go outside to the forest area
and use our senses to explore seasonal changes and then discuss what we could
see/hear/smell/taste/feel
● Connection to the Christmas/Winter festival as celebrating the seasons is a wonderful way to connect to
the wonders of nature
● Introduce a song that connects to winter or animals
Instruction/Learning Engagement
● Think-Pair-Share - create a list visual list (pictures) of local animals (animals we know, have seen or heard
about)
● Introduce book
○ Before reading - make predictions (AB partner talk)
○ During reading - questions/inferences
○ After reading - connections/new understandings
● Revisit the list of local animals and see if students would like to add any other animals to the list (they
may notice some from the book that are not on the list yet)
● Introduce/reinforce vocabulary (migrate, hibernate, adapt) - make connections (ex. we studied bats
and know they hibernate, most students know bears hibernate or geese fly south…) and discuss
particular adaptations they know about
● Students can then use materials (loose parts, puppets, peg doll animals, dress-ups, art/craft supplies etc.)
in the classroom to demonstrate their understanding through play
Closure
● If students have something they wish to share about their new learning they can do that (might want to
share a puppet show or a small skit/play or a drawing etc.)
● Remind students of the upcoming Winter Wonder field trip to Old Growth Forest
● Students will have the opportunity to investigate this topic further and create a class mural that will
visually demonstrate what local animals do to survive in the winter. They will also work as a group to
create a project that will be shared with an audience (big buddy class, parents, next door class...) to
demonstrate their learning and understanding
Next Steps
● We will revisit the book (could be used as an interactive read aloud) to reinforce vocabulary/recall
important information from the story, stretch our thinking
● Winter Wonder field trip to Old Growth Forest
● Oral storytelling about seasonal changes with Indigenous Support Teacher or Elder (if available)
● Think about what animal they will add to the mural/decide what medium will be used to create their
chosen animals
● Group project using any artistic medium/expression