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- 1. Pollination 1 Science Lesson Plan Description Title of Lesson: Pollination with no Bees? Date: September 16, 2014 Grade: 2 Lesson Duration: 35 mins (+/- 5 mins) 1. Standards Next Generation Science Standards 2-LS2-2. Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants. * MP.5 Use appropriate tools strategically. (2-LS2-1) MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (2-LS2-1) Common Core State Standards Connections W.2.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations). (2-LS2-1) W.2.8 SC.2.1. 5 SC.2.2. 5 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. (2-LS2-1) Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools Academic Standards Demonstrate the ability to work with a team but still reach and communicate ones own conclusions. Draw pictures and write brief descriptions that correctly portray key features of an object.
- 2. Pollination 2 2. Resources What specialist or resource people did you contact? For this lesson, I did not need to contact any specialists. I used the resources found in the classroom to help facilitate the information in this lesson. What resources did you use to plan your lesson? Apple for Everyone by Jill Esbaum This was a book that the students read the previous day; therefore I used this book as a reference during the lesson. http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/bees-dying.html This website was used for an article speaking about how bees were dying. I used this article as a read aloud tool. www.google.com I used google to find images of color in blossoms. 3. Content Curricular Context/ Rationale (Science: Pollination) Life Cycles (Apple Unit) For the whole month of September, the student will be learning about apples and the life cycles of plants. Learning about apples and pollination is a great way to introduce science into the students lives. Quite often a students favorite fruit is the apple. Therefore creating a whole unit of the apple life cycle created an even better connection to the students real lives and interests.
- 3. Pollination 3 The students will be completing a simulation of what life would be like without bees. The students will be split in half, half will be bees, and half will be trees. The bees will visit each tree, and when they do, they give them a flower. The students already know that the flowers turn into apples, therefore the more flowers a tree has, the more apples it could produce. Gradually, the number of bee will reduce to simulate the bees dying. These students will become trees in the simulation, creating more trees, but fewer bees. Eventually, there will only bee one be left, and fifteen tree, with only one apple each. Audience There are sixteen students in a private catholic school setting. There are equal amounts of boys to girls, eight each. There is one student who is on the autism spectrum. All students are either on grade level or above. There are at least three students who are above grade level. There are four students who are of African American descent, one female and three males. There is one student of Hispanic descent. The other eleven students are Caucasian. 4. Goals Essential Questions, and Objectives Lesson Goals To have the students simulate what life would be like as a tree if there were no more bees left to pollinate To have the students visualize and reflect on how losing bees can affect us as humans To have the students use their prior knowledge to create conclusions and solutions to a problem Essential Questions Overarching
- 4. Pollination 4 Why is it important to learn about apples? Why are bees dying? Why are bees important for our lives? What can we learn about the environment around us from apples? Topical How can use representations the life cycle of an apple using pictures? How can we use our knowledge of pollination to make a guess at what like would be like without bees? Instructional Objectives SWBAT accurately represent the life cycle of an apple in a picture SWBAT work with their table mates to draw an accurate representation of the life cycle of an apple SWBAT use the knowledge from the day before to guide their thoughts towards learning the life cycles of the apple. SWBAT create a hypothesis and complete an activity that will help the students understand why the decline in bees is bad for apples, as well as us. 5. Materials & Tools - Bee worksheet - Blossoms, paper form - Bees to fly around, paper form - Poster, rough draft - Crayons
- 5. Pollination 5 - Markers 6. Engagement Each student is involved in this lesson, and have to think about what is happening around them, during the entire activity. The students will be using the real- world connection from the article and book that they read in previous lessons, as well as this lesson. The students were also very interested in the representation of the trees and blossoms. The students were the ones making the choice of who received the blossoms. By showing the student a real-life simulation, the students were able to understand the problem much better than if they were just reading an article. 7. Instructional Procedures a. Prior Knowledge Assessment: Yesterday, we started to talk about how bees were dying off. Today we are going to do an activity that helps us see what life would be like if bees keep dying off at the rate they currently are. Can anyone remind me what needs to happen to pollen on a flower in order to make an apple? (3 min) b. Introductory Motivating Activity The Catch: So, before we get started, can someone remind me of what we thought would happen if there were no more bees? (Wait for response) I am going to spilt everyone up, and half of you are going to be bees and half of you are going to be trees. When a bee pollinates a tree, they leave a flower. Remind me again what happens to a flower when it is pollinated? (They make an apple). (5 min) c. Teach and Model: So each bee is going to visit each tree, and when the bee visits the tree, they are going to leave a flower for the tree. We are going to continue this for about 10 mins) you should only give
- 6. Pollination 6 one of your blossoms to each tree. Try not to repeat trees since this will make it easier to see how many apples each tree will have. (Take one bee out and turn it into a tree you start with 64 apples, you end with 15. This shows how the decrease in bees decreases the amount of fruit produced. Ask for a student volunteer to be a tree, and demonstrate how we are going to pass a blossom to the other person, keeping it calm) (2 mins) d. Guided Practice and Scaffolding Activities: Does anyone have any questions as to how we are going to complete this experiment? Now is the time ask (Answer any questions)? (Between each round, count how many blossoms were given out, and note the numbers on the board and how the numbers are changing. This is important for the students to see, to show the decrease in how many apples could be made? (7 Min) e. Independent Practice: Can everyone please take out their worksheets that we worked on yesterday from their orange folders, and then answer the two questions on the back You have about 8 minutes to finish. Even if you do not finish, you need to turn it in, and we are going to work on our posters to hang up for the school to see. (10 min) f. Closure: By raising their hand, can someone read one answer they put down for the questions we just did? (Call on two or three hands, so they can share opinions of what they think are good answers) Tomorrow, we are going to continue to review pollination. (7 min) If the students finish this activity before time is up, they can work with their poster groups to complete the posters they have been working on for several days.
- 7. Pollination 7 8. Differentiation The students who are trees and the students who are bees are picked with random name sticks. This allows the students to partner and interact with all types of learners, since all students are completing a group activity, which involves the whole class. When the students were done with their worksheet, they were asked to turn in the assignment, and then read a science book. These books were also on the topic of pollination and the apple life cycle. This allows those students who needed more time to complete the necessary reflection, and also allow those students who are more advanced to complete their work in a timely manner, and stay on topic while they were reading. I expected those students who are higher-level learners to have a detailed reflection with facts listed. Everyone was expected to put down a thoughtful answer, but some students had no need to put a long explanation, just say what they were thinking. 9. Assessment of Student Learning The students will be assessed on their ability to reflect on the activity that we complete. The students will also be assessed on content of their answers on the worksheet that I have created for them. This reflection is key to understanding the problem that exists with bees. Many of the responses should be meaningful and emphasize a solution that is plausible. If the students write down an explanation that does not relate to the reading or the topics discussed in class, they did not follow what was asked of them. By having the students reflect on the activity we completed on bees, it helps for them to realize that, even though bees can hurt us, they are very important to our lives. They create and help nurture many of the natural things we need in our lives to survive.
- 8. Pollination 8 + - Thoughtfulness Student expresses their thoughts with detail, and with ideas talked about in class. Student does not use any ideas that we spoke of in class, and does not use much detail Reflectiveness Student uses the experiment completed to create a conclusion Students does not mention the experiment completed in class Rationale Student gives ideas that could happen in real life, and could actually be completed by them. The student does not give an example that could actually happen in todays world. Neatness The student completes this assignment in a neat and readable fashion. The students work is not neat and hard to read. 10. Reflection a. The Lesson: I would rate this lesson as successful. The students were having trouble understand the process of pollination and did not understand why we needed to have bees around. By having the students complete this experiment themselves, and keep track of how many blossoms were in each round, the students were able to see the process, as well as the impact bees have in the world. The students were able to see how bees dying impacts our lives. The students were also able to create conclusion and hypothesis on what happened in our experiment. This lesson was very effective because the students not only enjoyed themselves, but they had a much better understanding of how bees are dying and how they impact our everyday lives. The students completed several activities during this lesson. The students first brainstormed as a group, then they worked as a class, interacted with each other, and then individually, to write conclusions of the activity completed. The pacing of the lesson was appropriate for all types of learners. b. My Students: Before the lesson began, I told the students what the purpose of this lesson was. The students knew that we were going to learn and represent how pollination happens, and how we can continue the cycle. The students were asked to retell the information that they have read from previous apple books, and I related it to the lesson they were going to do today. The students were able to relate the
- 9. Pollination 9 knowledge they already had from the books to the new information from the online article. The students truly enjoyed this lesson, and were very upset when we were done with the lesson. The students were able to retain the new information represented in the lesson, because the next day, they recalled the information, as well as the purpose of the lesson. I cut out blossoms for the bees to hand to the trees, colored in and all. This was very helpful to the students because they were able to see how many blossoms were on the trees. If we were to pretend there were blossoms, then the students could not have had that same connection as they did by actually seeing the blossoms. The students were very excited to complete the lesson, because of how I described it. I, myself, was excited to see how the lesson was going to go, and that energy was transferred to the students. That energy from the students made the lesson go very well. c. Self-reflection: Because there was so much energy in the lesson, the students were a little to out of control at times. Because of this, it was hard to give directions and other things. If I were to do this again, I would explain more of my expectation to the students including, how I want them to act while I am giving directions, and what they are expected to do when they are competing the experiment. From what I can perceive, I think the students enjoyed the interactions they had in the experiment, and how they were able to complete the reflection as soon as they were done with their experiments. This lesson was very moving for many of the students. I needed more time to complete this lesson, even though the pacing for the student was good, I wish I had more time to complete the whole experiment. I also needed to complete a better note-taking process. The overall lesson was successful. d. Teaching Philosophy: The students were assessed in several different ways, instead of a test or quiz. This belief is something I feel is very important to the way the classroom works. Also, the students were given questions that were open, allowing for them to choose what they feel in the right way to answer the questions. Additionally, before I prepared this lesson, I conducted research in order to insure
- 10. Pollination 10 that I had the correct information on bees and how they were dying. I believe that expanding your knowledge will help you become a better educator. Therefore, when the students had questions about the way bees were dying; I was able to answer those questions without any hesitation. This helped the students understand better and also helped the lesson move along well. e. Other Stakeholders: Because I used a site created to inform others on the topic of bees, and the article was not given to the students, the parents were more than happy to look up the information on their own. There are several other websites that are informative on the topic of bees, but the one that I found was child appropriate and clearly stated the information. I knew that I needed to find more information on bees and the problem they are facing today. I also knew I needed to find the information that was stated in a child friendly manner. Knowing that I needed to find that information, I narrowed my search down by reading any articles that I found. This process was very helpful for me. I asked the students how they felt about the lesson, as well as the other teacher in the room, and they all thought that the lesson was fun and informative. I made sure to take notes on how the students felt, so I could use the feedback for the next time I teach this lesson. f. New Action Plan: Next time, when I teach this lesson, I would want to plan more ways to keep track of the information that the students were taking in. There was no way to have the students write down the amounts of blossoms each round. That is something that I feel is important to have stated somewhere in their notes. Also, something that I would do differently next time is having more time to complete the experiment. During this lesson, the students were rushed through the lesson, and did not get a chance to reflect each time they ended a round. Lastly, I wish that I had clearly stated the expectations better before the lesson started. This would have made the lesson much smoother and less crazy.
- 11. Pollination 11
- 13. Pollination 13 Bee NO MOREBEES!?! What would the world be like with no bees? We are going to take the time and investigate what our lives would be like if all the bees were gone. What do you think your life would be like if there were no more bees? _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________
- 14. Pollination 14 _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What would happen to all the plants that need bees to help them make fruit? _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What happened to the apples in our activity, from the beginning to the end? _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________
- 15. Pollination 15 What is something we can do to help keep the bees stay alive? _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________