Catipillar Food Instructional Plan

Here is an lesson being taught next week.
Instructional Plan
Title: Finding Caterpillar Food
Grade: 3rd
Content Area: Science
Time: 1 Week
21st Century Skills: Behave cooperatively as a member of a team, calculate & measure for information and application, behave in a responsible manner without supervision
Technology Standards:

EALR 1 – Integration
Students use technology within all content areas to collaborate, communicate, generate innovative ideas, investigate and solve problems.

1.1: Innovate: Demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge and develop innovative products and processes using technology.


Content Standards:
EALR 4: Life Science. Big Idea: Structures and Functions of Living Organisms
Goals: By the end of this lesson, the students will be able to identify the different types of food a caterpillar eats.
Activities:
1. Teacher asks students to get with their science partners and bring their caterpillars to their desks.
2. A variety of foods will by handed out to each student to observe what kinds of foods caterpillars eat.
3. Each day of one week, the students will introduce their caterpillars to a new type of food (crackers, carrots, lettuce, cheese, chicken).
4. Using the discovery learning model, the teacher and students will first experiment by placing the food in front of the caterpillars. Then observe what happens. Then reflect on their findings in their science journals.
5. By using the Discovery Learning Loop, the students will discover what types of foods caterpillars eat. They will be asked to confirm this by finding two resources that agree with their findings.
6. Assessment will be based on the students’ journal entries and their overall participation in the lesson.

Online Safety Reminder

As a reminder, students are to use online resources according to school rules. Miss Molenda will provide the students with besites that they are allowed to visit, and the students will say on these websites. A guide to online safety can be found at the following address: http://www.safekids.com/

Lesson 1: Caterpillar Lable

Dear Students,

Our caterpillars are here and your first step is to watch them. Let them crawl around your desks and watch how they walk and what they do. Then, I want you to be looking for body parts that we can name on the caterpillars. Draw a diagram of what you see on your caterpillar and use your caterpillar books to try labeling the parts. Find the head and legs to begin with and then move on to other body parts. Work with your partner and share your diagram with other students. If you and your partner would prefer, you may use clay to shape your caterpillar and then orally give me the body parts you identify. So, get to work and have fun!

Sincerely,

Miss Molenda

Message to Parents

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Miss Molenda's Butterfly blog! This Spring, we will be recieving catterpilars that we will hatch into butterflies for our science unit. The learning model used will be Discovery learning which can be looked over more here. A graphic can be found here. The discovery learning model will be used for this unit because it enables your student to observe and reflect on the concepts they discover throughout the unit. More examples and information on discovery learning can be found here. I hope you and your child enjoy discussing this science unit these next few months, and please feel free to call or email with questions! Let's get hatching!

Please fill out the Permission to Blog Letter with your child. Here is an extra copy:

Permission to Blog Letter
Dear Families,
From now to the end of the year, Miss Molenda’s class will be learning about caterpillars and how they become butterflies. Students will be using personal Weblogs to post their discoveries and reflections on the internet.
A Weblog, or blog, is a special type of Web page that can be created and easily updated using a Web browser. Each new entry has its own date stamp Each entry has a comments section where visitors to the blog may leave comments for the author.
How it works
Each week, Miss Molenda will post a lesson on her own blog. She will discuss this lesson with the students and they will work on it. They will then create a post at the end of the week discussing their lesson outcome and reflecting on what they learned. The students will be graded on their lesson outcome as well as their post.
Security
This blogging project is designed to minimize risk to your child. The only personally identifying information included in the blog will be their first name. There will be no mention of our school name or our location.
Permission
Before your child may start posting to their blog, we are asking for you and your child to discuss and sign the following form. Please return to Miss Molenda.
Blogging Terms and Conditions:
Students using blogs are expected ot act safely by keeping personal information out of their posts. You agree to not post or give out your family name, password, username, email address, home address, school name, or other information that could help someone locate or contact you in person.
Students using blogs agree to not share their username or password with anyone besides their teachers and guardians. You agree never to log on as another student.
Students using blogs are expect to treat blog spaces as classroom spaces. Speech that is inappropriate is unacceptable.
If you receive a comment that is not respectful or makes you uncomfortable, tell a teacher or a guardian right away. Do not respond to the comment.
Students who are using blogs my not download any software or click adds on their space. They are to visit only the websites Miss Molenda approves.
Students who do not abide by these terms and conditions may lose their opportunity to take part on this project.

I have read and understood these blogging terms and conditions. I agree to uphold them.

Student Signature: __________________________________Date:____________
Guardian Signature:__________________________________Date:____________
Source: Will Richardson, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

Spring Is Coming!

Beginning in the Spring, Mrs. Smedley's 1st and 2nd grade combo class will be receiving butterfly eggs! Miss Molenda will be adding to this blog to track the students' learning about butterflies. The unit begins in April!