Embedded Files
This section of my language & literacy portfolio showcases a Science & Literacy integrate lesson in a 4th grade public classroom. Featured is the completed lesson plan, and the materials I used to teach this 4th grade class about food webs and ecosystems, alongside teaching them how to define vocabulary based on how it is used in a sentence and the surrounding sentences.
Standards
Standards
Literacy:
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
Science: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
4.LS2.1:
Develop and use models to illustrate the flow of matter through a food web/food chain beginning with sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers.
4.LS2.2.:
Using information about the roles of organisms (producers, consumers, decomposers) in an ecosystem, evaluate how those roles are interconnected in a food web, and communicate how the organisms are continuously able to meet their needs in a stable food web.
4.LS2.3:
Develop and use models to determine the effects of introducing a species to, or removing a species from, an ecosystem and how either one can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Objectives
Objectives
Language Objective- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text relevant to the technical meaning.
Using information about the roles of organisms (producers, consumers, decomposers) in an ecosystem, evaluate how those roles are interconnected in a food web.
Develop and use models to determine the effects of introducing a species to, or removing a species from, an ecosystem and how either one can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan
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Choral Read Aloud
Choral Read Aloud
Language is featured in the reading of Pass the Energy, Please!, where we determine the meaning of key vocabulary terms found in the book such as herbivore, carnivore, and chlorophyll. We will pause during the reading when we approach these words and TTW ask students questions such as,
“”what is the meaning of herbivore based on how it is used in the sentence, “The biggest of herbivores top off their chains by eating huge portions of grasses and grains.” Why is this important to know?”
In a whole group discussion, students will be able to analyze and discuss the vocabulary.
This language feature addresses the standard, 4.RI.CS.4-
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
Canva Presentation - Addressing Misconception & Vocabulary Featured in the Text
Canva Presentation - Addressing Misconception & Vocabulary Featured in the Text
Academic vocabulary and content vocabulary will be discussed during the choral reading of Pass the Energy, Please! By Barbara Shaw McKinney. Content vocabulary will also be addressed during the hands-on activity “Interconnected Ecosystem” to support student understanding of the flow of matter through a food web/food chain. This will also support other key concepts such as determining the effects of introducing a species to, or removing a species from, an ecosystem, and the roles of each organism in an ecosystem. Content Vocabulary will be supported through a word chart as well.
Activites & Materials
Activites & Materials
Ecosystem Food Web
Ecosystem Food Web
This activity requires students to be active in their learning, and apply their knowledge to connect different organisms in an ecosystem to model a food web/ chain. The students will each get an ecosystem card (name tag) and will have to read what their organism eats, and what eats them (provided on the back of each ecosystem card) to determine what they are connected to in the ecosystem. They will pass yarn from one organism to the next based on how the organisms are connected within the food web. Once the food web is made, we will remove specific organisms such as the bee(pollinator), a bear (consumer), and grass (producer) to determine the effects of removing an organism from an ecosystem and discuss how it can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Informal Assessment (Category Sort)
Informal Assessment (Category Sort)
Will be used at the end of the hands-on activity. The teacher will instruct students to place their organism card on the herbivore, carnivore, omnivore sheet in the appropriate column. If the organism card (producer, decomposer) does not apply to one of the columns, the student will place the card beside the sheet.
Formal Assessment
Formal Assessment
(Exit Ticket)
(Exit Ticket)
The student will answer using the sentence stem, “If one group, like the (producer/consumer/decomposer), was removed, then _______ would happen to the ecosystem.”
Assessment Modification- Exit Ticket
Assessment Modification- Exit Ticket
IEP & Struggling Learners// Sentence stems will be provided to support students in the writing of the exit ticket. TTW have an anchor chart displayed with key vocabulary terms they can reference. TSW fill out a Frayer model with key vocab terms they can go back and reference during the lesson.
Advanced// TSW be challenged to identify & explain all categories (producer, consumer, & decomposer) on the exit ticket.
Hands-On Activity Images
Hands-On Activity Images
Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
The Science & Literacy Integrated lesson went extremely well. Students were able to apply their academic knowledge they learned from the choral reading of Pass the Energy Please! by Barbara McKinney in the hands-on ecosystem food web activity. The foundational literacy skill implemented during the choral reading was vocabulary. The teacher stopped at tier 2 & tier 3 vocabulary terms such as ecosystem, herbivore, chlorophyll, carnivore, and omnivore when they were featured in the text. Some of the vocabulary featured in the text had the explicit meaning also featured. Some of the vocabulary featured in the text required conversation to determine the implicit meaning because the definition was not featured in the text. In a whole group discussion, students were able to analyze and discuss the vocabulary. This language feature addresses the standard, 4.RI.CS.4- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
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