Integrated Science Unit: Living vs. Non-Living​

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LESSON ONE

Gold Standards:

• GOLD Standard 11a: Demonstrates positive approaches to learning: Attends and engages

• GOLD Standard 11c: Demonstrates positive approaches to learning: Solves Problems

• GOLD Standard 13: Uses classification skills

• GOLD Standard 24: Uses scientific inquiry skills

• GOLD Standard 25: Demonstrates knowledge of the characteristics of living things

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Rationale: This activity will allow the children to learn about living and non-living things through thinking about what makes something be alive. It will also allow them develop their critical thinking skills. This lesson is based on the project approach – an approach that allow children to “engage in working in groups on projects that incorporate a variety of disciplines” (Chaille 72). By allowing the children to all work together on what makes something living, the children are bouncing ideas off of one another to discover what makes something be alive.

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Materials:

• White Poster

• “What’s Alive?” Book

• Marker

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Procedure:

 

Before: To begin the activity, I will ask the children to join me on the carpet. I start our conversation by asking what they know about living things. When the children tell me something they know, I will record their responses on the white poster. I will ask the children to think of something living (a kitten, for example). We will then go down the list of what makes something alive in relation to the kitten. If it fits, we will put a check mark. If it does not fit, we will cross it out. I will explain that this process will help us narrow down exactly what makes something be alive. I will prompt the children to think about things other than animals.

 

During: After we complete this activity, we will read the book What’s Alive? by Kathleen ______. As I read the book, I will allow the children to respond with their thoughts on the topics the page mentioned. I will prompt the children to think about what is living and nonliving as we continue throughout the book. When the book is over, I will ask the children to think about things that are living and nonliving in our classroom. I will make sure to point out the fish and the plants.

 

After: To close out this activity, I will explain what we will be doing when we meet again (Wednesday). I will talk to the children and explain that we will be looking through magazines looking for living and non-living things. I will tell them that we will be cutting out the living and non-living things and sorting them on a chart. We will also be going outside to the Friendship Garden and the nature trail to take pictures on the iPads of living and non-living things. We will then print the pictures and sort them as well.

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LESSON TWO

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GOLD Standards:

• GOLD Standard 11a: Demonstrates positive approaches to learning: Attends and engages

• GOLD Standard 11c: Demonstrates positive approaches to learning: Solves Problems

• GOLD Standard 13: Uses classification skills

• GOLD Standard 24: Uses scientific inquiry skills

• GOLD Standard 25: Demonstrates knowledge of the characteristics of living thing

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Rationale: This activity will allow the children to learn about living and non-living things through thinking about what makes something be alive. It will also allow them develop their critical thinking skills. This lesson is based on the project approach – an approach that allow children to “engage in working in groups on projects that incorporate a variety of disciplines” (Chaille 72). By allowing the children to all work together on what makes something living, the children are bouncing ideas off of one another to discover what makes something be alive.

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Materials:

• Poster

• Living and Non Living Cards

 

Procedure:

 

Before: I will pull the children out into the hall in two groups of 7 and one group of 8. These groups will be premade. I will do a quick review of what makes something living by reviewing the chart that we made on Monday. I will explain to the children that I have cards with pictures on them, and that we are going to go through, one by one, and decide which items are living and non-living. I will tell the children that they will all get a turn to identify at least 2 items.

 

During: I will fan out a few cards for the children (one by one) to pick from. When they pick a card, I will ask “What is this?” I will make sure that the learners know what they are looking at before they decide if they are non-living or living. For example, when the dinosaur stuffed animal is chosen, I will make sure the learners are evaluating the fact that it is a stuffed animal rather than a dinosaur. I will be videoing this part of the unit.

 

After: As the learners identify the items as living or non-living, I will ask them to place them on the appropriate side of the poster. When all of the items are on the poster, we will talk about what makes each item fall under that category. I will prompt the children to think deeper about each item – I will prompt questions about each item. For example, when we are looking at the rubber ducky, I will ask the children “What if this were a duck swimming around in the pond instead of a rubber ducky in the bathtub? Would it still be non-living?” I will respond to the learners in the appropriate way at this point.

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LESSON THREE - 5E MODEL

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Engage (Focus) to initiate the learning tasks by accessing prior knowledge and learning experiences and mentally engaging students in the concept, process, or skill to be explored.
 

• Get the Attention: “Alright friends. We are going to finish up our Living and Non-Living lessons today!  But! We are going to do this with some art! So, during Small Group time this morning, I am going to call you out into the hallway with me to do the first part of the artwork. Then, during Center time this afternoon, we will finish by painting.”

• Burning Question: “What are you going to paint? Is it living or non-living? What do you think will happen to the glue/salt when we paint it?”

• Materials to Show: When I call the students into the hallway, I will give them a pre-labeled sheet of water color paper. I will also have a bottle of glue per child. I will have salt during this time as well. During the painting portion of this lesson, I will have one pallet of watercolor paint per child. There will also be cups of water spread out on the table.
   

Explore (Explore) to provide a common base of experience within which students identify and develop current concepts, processes or skills. Students use ‘active’ learning to manipulate materials or explore the environment.
 

• Get Students Involved: The students will have the opportunity to place their own glue dots on the watercolor paper. I will instruct them to make the dots small and far apart – I learned from past experience that this will help the glue to dry faster and not seep through the paper. The children will have the chance to pour the salt onto their glue dots enough to cover them completely. They will then have the opportunity to paint what they want to paint the way that they want to paint it.

• Try out some ideas about the burning question: When I ask the learners what they think will happen when we begin to paint, I will record their predictions are we will test them out during the painting portion.

• Help them make observations: I will have the learners record if their predictions come true or not.
   

Explain (Reflect) to provide opportunities for learners to develop explanations of concepts that they have been exploring. Students must verbalize conceptual understanding, demonstrate skills, and attach formal labels and definitions to new ideas.
 

• During the painting time, I will help the children to create colors that may not be on their pallet. I will teach them how to make orange, green, and purple. This will get the learners the experience is making their own colors. I will also teach them how to lighten and darken colors to come up with different shades.

• Out of nature, the learners will talk to each other while at the tables. They will share with each other about what they are painting and compare the size of their dots with one another.

• “I see how you made your object with these colors; why did you chose to do it that way? Could there be another way to make the same thing? How would you go about doing that?

 

Elaborate-Extend (Apply) to develop in learners deeper and broader understanding and practice, applying newly acquired skills and behaviors to new or practical situations.

 

• While the learners are at the tables, I will encourage them to discuss with one another about what they think will happen and about their individual paintings. I will prompts them to find things that they think in common, and things that they think differently on. I will prompt this discussion to take place during both times of art creating.

 

Evaluate to assess students’ understanding and abilities so that they can demonstrate what they ‘know and can do.’ Students are provided frequent opportunities for formative assessment, applying new learning, and teacher feedback.

 

• Collect Evidence – I will take pictures of the children’s paintings that they create. I will also write down their responses to the following two questions: What are you going to paint? Is it living or non-living? This form of assessment will allow me to see which students have a better understanding on living and non-living things.

• The children will have the opportunity to upload their creations to SeeSaw and show their parents what they have worked on in school.

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Rubric:

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Reference:

Chaille, Christine M. Integrating Math and Science in Early Childhood Classrooms through Big Ideas.
           Pearson Education: 2016. Print

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Unit Reflections:

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            During the making of the chart for the first lesson, the learners were a little more talkative than I expected. They were shouting out their ideas, so I reminded them that I would only be calling on the learners who were sitting nicely and quietly in their squares. This method words well for these learners because it uses positive reinforcement when they are doing what is expected of them. While I read the book, the learners were very quiet. This let me know that they were very engaged and interested. This lesson was effective for learner engagement and learner inquiry. It also supported student interactions because it allowed the children to bounce ideas off of one another. For the third lesson, the learners were very engaged. They were curious about what would happen to the salt and the glue. For the most part, the learner listened to “make small dots, not close together.” If they accidentally made a big dot, they asked me what would happen. When we poured the salt on the dots, they asked me how long it would take to dry and what would happen when we painted it. I took this opportunity to ask the learners to make predictions. Multiple children in different groups predicted that the salt would make the paint change colors.

            The elements in lesson one worked well within Mrs. Collins family. As I read the book, the children were responsive and curious about living things. When I would ask them randomly throughout the days if something was living or non-living, multiple children would respond with “No – because it doesn’t do one of the four things that make something living” or “Yes – because it does all four things that make something living.” The children were able to remember what we discussed during the first lesson through the final lesson/activity. The third lesson went just as well. The learners were curious as to what would happen to the glue and salt when we began painting. Some of the learners had a hard time only painting one thing. Before they picked up the paint brush, I asked and recorded what they were painting and if they think it is living or non-living. Because I did think, it was more accurate of an evaluation. The learners then painted what they wanted to. Some learners painted exactly what they said they were going to, while others included more items or painted completely different things.

            For the first lesson, I had an adequate amount of time to discuss with the children and read the book. I had all of the materials with me when the lesson began, and I was able to access them throughout the lesson easily. Because this was a read aloud type of lesson, there was participation from the learners; I was able to include all students because I read to them while they were in their squares on the carpet. When the children would blurt out in the middle of the story, I would keep reading. When I reached a stopping point (i.e. the end of the page), I would say “____, I heard you had a comment. Is there something you wanted to add?” and I would remind that child to raise their hand when they have something to add. During the third lesson, I ran into a small issue with materials. I had planned to complete the whole lesson in the hallway on tables outside of the kindergarten classrooms. Once all of the children had put glue and salt on their pages, I had them laid out on the tables to dry. Another kindergarten teacher walked out and told me that I was going to have to move my stuff elsewhere because she needed the tables in 10 minutes. Luckily, the learners in Mrs. Collins family had already walked to Chinese. I then moved all of the materials into the classroom to finish drying. After lunch and naptime, I pulled the children to paint their creations on one of the three tables in Mrs. Collins room.

            The second lesson was the lesson I chose to record. I set my laptop up behind the children so that they would not be as distracted by what was going on. I introduced the activity and I explained why my laptop was set up. For the first little bit, the learners looked at the camera and made faced or danced.  I let them continue for a little bit to get their distraction out of the way. Then, we got focused on the lesson. I loved the way that it turned out. Though the camera could not see exactly what the children’s cards were or where they were placing them, I narrated what was taking place. The children were actively engaged in the task at hand, and they rarely looked back at the camera/laptop. The only thing that I would change about the way I did this lesson would be the location of the chart. I had the chart on the floor in front of me and the children so that they could see it easily. I did not think about the fact that the chart could possibly be moved if the learners get a little squirmy. If I were to repeat this lesson, I would find a small table to place the chart on and either have the children standing the whole time, or allow them to get up to place their card on the chart on the table.