SIOP LESSON PLAN

Grace Winterle

18 November 2020

SUBJECT: ​Life Science

UNIT FOCUS:​ The Ocean

Lesson # ​1 Length of the Lesson ​1 day

STANDARD(S): ​3.1.3.A1: ​Describe characteristics of living things that help to identify and
classify them.

3.1.3.C2: ​Describe animal characteristics that are necessary for survival.

LESSON TOPIC: ​Living Things and the Environment

OBJECTIVES:​ ​write on board

Language​ Students will:
● Recite new vocabulary words and their definitions.
● Learn vocabulary by writing and listening.

Content​ Students will:

● Identify the different organisms that live in the ocean.
● Investigate how organisms live in a Marine ecosystem.

KEY VOCABULARY: ​Marine ecosystem, ecosystem, aquatic, organism

MATERIALS: ​poster paper, marker, index cards, crayons, colored pencils, plants and animals
handout, science notebooks

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PREPARATION:
1. Display a powerpoint with the vocabulary words (​Marine ecosystem, ecosystem,
aquatic, organism​) and a picture that corresponds to the word. Each slide will have a
vocabulary word, the definition, and a picture of the word.
2. Ask students to bring in index cards to make vocabulary words for each term presented
on the powerpoint.

MOTIVATION:
● Post, read, and explain the content and language objectives for the lesson out loud to the
class.
 ● *Pointing to the board* Teacher will say, “Let us all look at our language objectives for
today’s lesson. Students will be able to recite new vocabulary words and their definitions
and learn vocabulary by writing and listening. Now, let us take a look at our content
objectives for today’s lesson. Students will be able to identify the different organisms that
live in the ocean and investigate how organisms live in a Marine ecosystem.”
● Explain each objective in detail to give the students an idea of what they will be doing in
the lesson.

Warm up/Building Background:

● Before beginning the lesson, the teacher will ask students to talk with their shoulder
partners to think about animals that live in the ocean. The teacher will ask each group of
students to write down on a piece of paper five animals they think live in the ocean.
Then, the teacher will ask each group to share their responses with the whole class. If a
group says an animal that another group wrote down, the students will write the animals
and a tally mark next to that animal on the board. After each group has presented their
animals, the teacher will tally up the animals and see which animals were the most
popular.
● Expand the topic by having students work in groups of two or three to think and discuss
the following questions:
○ How do you think plants and animals survive in the ocean?
○ Where do we usually see oceans located?
○ What types of things do you think you would see in an ocean?
○ What type of environment do you think the ocean is?
● The teacher will have each group share their answers with the whole class. Write down
some of the answers on a poster in the front of the classroom.
● The teacher will tell the students that they are going to learn about the Marine ecosystem
in the ocean and about the plants and animals that live in the ocean. Keep the poster at the
front of the room the whole lesson because we will come back to it at the end of the
lesson.
● The teacher will introduce each key vocabulary word for the lesson. The teacher will
explain that with every word that is presented on the board, the student is going to copy
the word and its definition onto an index card. The teacher will model how to create an
index card by writing the word on one side of the index card and the definition on the
other. For each vocabulary word, show the definition and a picture that symbolizes the
word. Encourage the students to use colored pencils or crayons to draw a picture on the
index card that symbolizes the word.

PRESENTATION:
● The teacher will ask students to turn to the section in their science textbooks titled “The
Ocean.” The students will take turns reading the section. The teacher will check for
 comprehension throughout the sections and address any unknown or confusing words.
Also, when the students come across a vocabulary word, the teacher will define the word
and have students repeat the definition out loud.

PRACTICE/APPLICATION:
● The teacher will display pictures and information of the plants and animals discussed in
the chapter on the board. The teacher will give the students a handout that has each plant
and animal on it. The teacher will ask students to fill in the handout while the information
is being taught and presented on the board. Explain to the students that in a Marine
ecosystem there are various plants and animals that live there, and that there are different
ways that these animals and plants survive. The teacher will also explain the
characteristics of plants and animals that help them to survive in the Marine ecosystem.
● Ask students simple content-based questions such as “What are the characteristics of a
blue whale?” and “What is the name of the ecosystem where fish and seaweed live?”
Have them think of the answers independently, and then, have students share with the
class.
● Next, the teacher will show a short video that teaches students how organisms survive in
the Marine ecosystem. The students will fill in their handouts with the information from
the video.

REVIEW/ASSESSMENT:
● The teacher will place students into groups of five. The teacher will give students a set of
directions for the assignment. The directions for this assignment are:
○ Each group will have five minutes to review and quiz one another on the
vocabulary words using their index cards.
○ Once the five minutes is up, students will be asked to take out their science
notebooks and colored pencils or crayons.
○ Next, the teacher will post a prompt on the board that says “How do plants and
animals survive in a Marine Ecosystem? There are many ways that plants and
animals can survive in this ecosystem, but pick one way. Draw a picture and write
3-4 sentences explaining your answer. Be as specific as possible. Bonus points for
using vocabulary words!”
○ You will have ten minutes to complete this activity.
○ Once you are finished, go back to your seat and I will check your science
notebooks during break.
● Once all students return back to their seats, the teacher will bring the students attention
back to the board where the poster paper is posted. The teacher will go over the students'
answers from the beginning of class that are written on the poster. The teacher will ask
the same questions from the beginning of the lesson and students will give their answers
 based on the information learned in class. The teacher will show how the answers
changed from the beginning to the end of the lesson.
● The teacher will then ask students “From what we learned today, can you think of
anything that you know that we have not talked about today?” Take a minute to think
about the questions, and then we will share with the class. Then, the teacher will call on
students to give their responses to this question.
● The teacher will review the objectives from the lesson. The teacher will say, “Let’s see if
we met our language objectives for today’s lesson. Students will be able to recite new
vocabulary words and their definitions and learn vocabulary by writing and listening.
Now, let us see if we met our content objectives for today’s lesson. Students will be able
to identify the different organisms that live in the ocean and investigate how organisms
live in a Marine ecosystem.” The teacher will discuss if we met the objectives or not and
how/why.

Learning Strategies:

1. Think-Pair-Share:​ In this lesson, students were asked questions, they talked about their

thoughts and ideas with their shoulder partners, and then, students shared their answers

with the whole class. This strategy is effective for the classroom because it allows

students to think about their answers to the questions individually, and then share their

answers to the whole class. I used this learning strategy in my lesson because I think it is

important for students to share their own thoughts and ideas with their peers and then

share with the whole class. This is also effective because it allows for students to hear

every person's opinions and ideas.

2. ​Cooperative Learning:​ In this lesson, students were paired in groups to quiz each other

on the vocabulary words presented in the lesson. Cooperative learning is an effective

learning strategy because it urges students to work in teams to support and motivate each

other to complete an activity. I used this strategy in my lesson because throughout my

lecture, I wanted students to have a break where they could go to a center and work with

their peers. In a lesson for third grade students, children should not be lectured the entire
 time. Instead, they should have breaks, such as group centers, where they interact with

peers.

3. Questioning:​ In this lesson, I used questioning several different times to evoke responses

from my students. I generated questions that I asked before, during, and after my lesson. I

used this strategy in my lesson because it is effective to ask questions throughout a

lesson. By asking questions, you are constantly keeping students thinking about what

they are learning. Also, I used a higher-level question in my lesson that made children

think more critically. This is effective because it motivates children to think deeper than

the normal questions asked in a lesson.