Lesson Title: The Frieze; A Forest Lesson Number: 1

Session 1: Wednesday at 10:15am for 30 minutes

Session 2: Thursday at 12:00pm (during SMART time) for 60 minutes

Session 3: Friday at 1:30pm for 75 minutes

STANDARD: CCG: K.3 Scientific Inquiry: Science explores the natural world through observation.

BMK: K.3S.2 Make observations about the natural world.

Literacy Focus: W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to

compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing

about and supply some information about the topic. Previous Assessment used to inform Lesson Objective: Students extensively

studied trees as their science unit in the fall. They learned the parts of a tree, how

trees produce oxygen, and made observations about the different kinds of leafs.

LESSON OBJECTIVE: Given a whole group discussion about what kinds of things you would see in the forest

as well as a nature walk to observe trees, the student will be able to describe plants

and animals found in the forest, as evidenced by the student:

• Painting one realistic animal for the frieze

• Drawing an accurate representation of at least one tree in their science notebook

• Actively participating in making landforms and plants for the frieze

Blooms Level: Create/Synthesis

ADAPTATIONS: Addressing Learning Styles:

Auditory: Whole group discussions and brainstorm, directions given verbally Visual: Nature walk, pictures of forested areas displayed Tactile/Kinesthetic: Nature walk, painting, cutting, crumpling, twisting, and gluing

parts for the frieze, assembling the frieze Sociological: Whole group discussions and brainstorm, group work

Structure of Lessons – Lessons start with us at the carpet discussing the day’s goal

and giving directions. Students then break out into group work to achieve the goal. At

the end of our work session, we reconvene at the carpet to discuss our

accomplishments and observations. Prerequisite Skills:

• Students have previously studied trees extensively, so have a solid background

knowledge of the subject

• Students know the appropriate way to work together in groups

• Students know how to complete an entry in their science notebooks

• Students are familiar with watercolor paints

ESOL:

• There are no ELL students in this class, but if there were, I would make sure to

speak slowly and model all directions.

TAG:

• There are no designated TAG students in this class, but a TAG student would be

expected to label the parts of the tree in their science notebooks

Special Needs:

• CP, AW, and NG need to be in smaller groups or split up when possible to help

ensure directions are followed

• MN, AW, NG, CP, and JC need frequent check-ins to maintain progress

Extension Activities:

• During session 2, students will be pulled in small groups for SMART and word

work with MT

• Students may draw a picture of the frieze to record it’s current appearance

• Students may read for their reading logs

Cultural Considerations:

• Students may not be familiar with what kinds of animals or plants you see in nature

MATERIALS: Teacher:

• If You Want to See a Caribou by

Phyllis Root

• White board

• Dry erase markers

• Stapler

• Cleared bulletin board

• Permanent marker

• Scissors

Use of Technology:

• IPad • Camera

Student:

• Science notebooks

• Pencils

• Colored pencils

• Scissors

• Water color

• Cups of water

• Watercolor paper

• Painted paper (dark green, light green,

brown, & blue)

• Butcher paper (blue, brown, grey, green)

• Paint brushes

• Leaf stencils

ANTICIPATORY SET:

• Read-aloud “Caribou”

• “What kinds of things do you see when you go walking in the forest?”

• List ideas on the white board, discussing them as they are presented. If

students mention things outside of the forest, or from a different type of forest like

a jungle, gently redirect group.

• “Today we are going to begin a new adventure. Many of you noticed that the

frieze from our lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch storyline has been taken down. This is

because we are going to start a new storyline in the forest! This week we are

going to work on making all the parts for our new frieze.”

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES: Input:

• Session 1

o “The first thing we need to do to make our frieze is to get a really good idea of

what plants might look like in our forest. We are going to be scientists and go

on a nature walk. On this nature walk we will observe trees and other plants

that we might see in the forest.”

o Review how to be a scientist:

§ They look at stuff

§ They draw what they see

§ They label parts

o Review behavior expectations for the nature walk:

§ Walk in a line

§ Stay near adults, listening for any directions

§ Leave things where they are, do not take anything out of nature

§ Find a spot to sit and observe

• Session 2 (This is a small group activity that students will be pulled aside to do

in order to ensure quality work, the remainder of the class will be either with their

SMART reader or my MT doing word work.)

o “We are going to make animals for our frieze today. Refresh my memory,

what kinds of animals would you see in the forest?”

§ Deer, bears, wolves, coyotes, bunnies, birds, butterflies, squirrels,

snakes, fish, etc.

o “Well to make our animals, we are going to watercolor them. Each of you are

going to make one animal for our frieze, and just like our drawings in our

science notebooks, we want to make the animals as realistic as we can,

because these animals are going to go up on our frieze. So if I was painting a

bear, what color would I paint it?”

o “Since these animals are going up on our frieze, we will be cutting them out,

so you do not need to paint a background for them, just the animal.”

• Session 3

o “We have been discussing what plants and animals you might see in the

forest over the past couple of days, we went on a nature walk to observed

some plants and how they are shaped, and we also made some beautiful

animals that you would see in the forest, today we are going to make the

forest based on our observations.”

o “Before we start making our forest though, lets plan out where we want

everything to go in our frieze. I’m drawing a rectangle on the board to

represent the bulletin board where our frieze will be displayed. Lets list out the

things we want to see in our forest, then we will discuss where they should

go.”

o “To help you visualize an actual forest, since our nature walk was really just in

a thicket or group of trees, I have some pictures to show you. I want you to

look at the pictures and just think about what different things you see that you

would like to put in our forest.”

o Show students multiple pictures from a Google image search of “forest with

river” on IPad

o Brainstorm: Call on students to name one thing they saw that they want in

our forest and make a list on the white board

o Once you have a decent list, work your way through the items drawing them

into the rectangle one at a time. Ask where something should go, then vote

on the most popular ideas

Output:

• Session 1

o Go on a nature walk splitting into three smaller groups so that the students

can be looking at different areas of the forest to get different perspectives

• Session 2

o Call students who have the most work done over to the table first to

watercolor their animal

o The remainder of the students are doing word work at the carpet with MT or

with their SMART reader

• Session 3

o Break into small groups to make all the landforms and plants for the frieze

using butcher paper and painted paper in the 3D technique

o As students make things staple them up on the bulletin board according the

plan, elicit student help as appropriate

• Multiple intelligence(s) Addressed through Activity:

X Linguistic Logical/Mathematical X Intrapersonal

X Spatial X Bodily Kinesthetic X Naturalist

Musical X Interpersonal Existentialist

CLOSURE: Ask: “Does our forest represent what you would find in a real forest around here in

Oregon?”

Tell: “I believe we did a fantastic job of creating a forest filled with plants and animals

that you would really see if you went walking in the forest near here.”

Celebrate: “Everyone did a wonderful job being scientist this week. We did a lot of

observing what plants look like in the forest and recreating that on our frieze, we also

created beautiful animals to live in our forest that are the same types of animals you

would find in a local forest.”

Record: Take a picture of the frieze at it’s beginning stage. Note if students did each of

the three items listed in the lesson objective

REFLECTION: What worked?

So much of this lesson depended on where the students took it. I planned the

theme of the frieze (a forest), but how it ended up looking and how true to real life it

turned out to be, was completely up to my students. My planning included things like

accessing their prior knowledge, providing visual references, and an emphasis on how

scientists make and record their observations with the end goal of having a frieze that

was as realistic as we could

make. The reason behind

wanting a realistic looking

frieze beyond the fact that

making observations about the

natural world is a part of the

kindergarten standards, was to

help students make the

connection between the story

The Lorax and what happens

in the real world.

This was a very

interactive lesson that had my students excitedly expressing their ideas. Giving the

students the opportunity to go out into nature to observe what they would be recreating

enabled the students to feel like they were being scientist out in the field. Then while

creating the parts of the frieze there was a consistent hum of conversation happening

regarding the best way to go about making things, and what size they should be. This

was a very chaotic looking time in the classroom, but in reality everyone was busy doing

something to make the frieze!

For kindergarteners, it is key to give them the opportunity to move around and

engage in hands on learning whenever possible. This lesson was all about hands on

activities, and with that, there was 100% engagement all the time. Any student who was

not actively making something for the frieze was working with me to put it up on the

board.

What didn’t work? The only off task behaviors were during the nature walk when we came across

some trash out in the woods. Some boys wanted to play with it, but were redirected

away from the trash to focus on the plants.

The first session was the most challenging one of the three, because it had been

a while since this group was asked to think like scientists. They did a great job during

our whole group discussion of describing how trees might look different, but once we

were out on our nature walk they all started drawing rectangles with cloud shapes at the

top. My MT and I discussed with our groups out in the woods how the trees really

looked versus what they were drawing, and students started over to produce much

more accurate looking trees. The third group

that was with the educational assistant (EA)

were not redirected in their work, and so

produced trees that were not realistic to

what we were observing, which were pine

trees.

What would you change? The next time that I do something like

this I would change a couple of things. I

would pre survey where I was taking the

students to ensure that there were no safety hazards and that students would be able to

really look at what I want them to. I was following my MT’s directions on where to take

the students for this observation, and where she had me go was not ideal to what I

wanted students to observe. The other thing I would change is that I would make sure

we were observing the same kind of tree that we were to make for the frieze. The only

reason we did not do this for this lesson, was that the leafy trees did not have leaves on

them yet.

What learning will you take with you to inform your future teaching? In the future, when I have other adults supervising groups, I need to be more

clear on how much direction they can give students in order to set a standard

expectation for all of the students. As a teacher you spend so much time focusing on

giving students good directions that (I

feel) we often underestimate how much

direction an adult needs as well. This is

something I would like to work on for my

future teaching, making sure that I

either have the time to verbally give

enough directions to adult volunteers,

or have written directions prepared

ahead of time.