Lesson Plan: Soil Introduction Kara Streppa, Sarah Weinstein and Anna Smith Day 1 Approximate Grade Level:
3rd grade Approximate Time Frame: 50-60 minutes Pre/Post Knowledge/Skills Most students have encountered soil in their everyday lives by playing outside on the playground or seeing the soil in their yards. Students have not yet been formally taught about soil so their prerequisite knowledge is limited to what they know on their own. After the introduction lesson, students will be familiar with what soil is made of and what it is used for. The brief introduction lesson is designed to prepare them for the inquiry portion during day 2. Student Objectives - Students will describe what they already know about soil to the class - Students will articulate ideas about what they want to learn about soil in the upcoming days as scientists. - Students will independently read a book on soil to gather information and summarize what they learned from the book. ELL Objectives - The student objectives above were thoughtfully designed to also meet the needs of the English Language Learners in our class. We will provide a vocabulary list with each book of words that may be unfamiliar to students. - English learners can o Give information requested from oral or written directions. Illinois State Standards: 11A. Know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of scientific inquiry 11.A.1f: Compare observations of individual and group results 11.A.2b: Collect data for investigations using scientific process skills including observing, estimating and measuring Materials White Board Dry-Erase Marker (2 colors) Soil book by Christin Ditchfield Lesson Implementation Subject Areas: Science
Opening of Lesson (15 minutes) - Call the students to the carpet. Explain to the students that we are going to learn about soil. Tell students, We are going to begin by finding out what you already know about soil. Scientists think about what they already know before studying a topic or new experiment. We are going to act as scientists over the next few days to become experts on soil. Turn to your partner to discuss what you already know and then we will discuss it as a whole class. Give students about 3 minutes to Think, Pair, Share with their partners. Gather student ideas to fill out the Know section of the K-W-L chart on a large flip chart. After finding out what students know off the top of their head, pass around a bag of soil to the whole class, having them feel the bag and study it (but not actually open it and touch it). Have them describe what they notice from the soil in the bag and write their thoughts on the flip chart under the Know section of the K-W-L chart. Procedures- 30 minutes -Say to students, Now that we have found out what you already know about soil. Lets think about what we want to learn about soil. Turn to your partner and share what questions you have about soil. Then we will discuss as a whole class and fill out the W section of the K-W-L chart. Give students 3 minutes to Think, Pair, Share with partners. Take a variety of student responses to fill out the W section of the flip chart. Say to students, After Scientists determine what they want to know about their topic, they often go back and read a variety of resources to begin learning. They do this before going out into the field to examine it themselves. We are going to take that next step as scientists by reading Soil by Christin Ditchfield and other books similar to this. Split class into groups of 4 and pass out a book to each group. Have each group come up with two to three ideas that they learned from the books. Once each group has finished reading their designated book, gather the class back at the carpet to fill out what they can in the Learn section of the K-W-L chart. Closing (7 minutes) -Say to students, Scientists cant learn all their information and come up with conclusions from books. Science is always changing and they need to gather their own information in order to make conclusions about the topic. We are going to further our investigation on soil by taking a mini field trip tomorrow to gather and examine a variety of soils. Please wear outside clothes that are okay to get dirty. When you go home today, observe the soil that is in and around your house. Come prepared to be soil scientists tomorrow! How is this lesson an example of modeling? Students are engaged in scientific modeling in this lesson by working together to create a K-W-L chart. They are using their prior knowledge to create a model of what they already know, what they want to know, and what they have learned through reading books. This introduction lesson is just the beginning of a unit, which will provide students with multiple opportunities to create and learn from their own models. In this lesson, the students are tapping into their knowledge to create a model of what they
already know, what they want to know, and what they learn. The learn section of this model will be added to throughout the unit so the students have a visual model of what they are learning throughout the unit. The other sections of the chart will guide the students through the unit, as they will be referring back to questions that they wanted to be answered.