Observing Our Wonderful World

Transcription

1 Observing Our Wonderful World For further information contact Laura Mastrangelo Snively Elementary of Choice 1004 Snively Avenue, Winter Haven FL n PROGRAM OVERVIEW The purpose of this program is to give students the opportunity to learn about life cycles and use inquiry skills in an exciting way. To begin, the students will make observations and ask questions about the Mystery Beans. The Mystery Beans are Mexican Jumping Beans, but the students are not told what they are ahead of time. They use these Mystery Beans to perform an experiment using the scientific method. The students will use their compare and contrast skills when they learn about the differences between moths and butterflies. Next, the students will be able to witness firsthand the life cycle of butterflies by observing butterflies in a butterfly pavilion. Finally, the students will create a short Notebook software presentation about a butterfly or moth of their choice. The students will then present their presentation to the class using the SmartBoard. The student s progress will be monitored by the teacher. An OWL (Observe, Wonderings, Learned) chart will be used to assess student learning and a lab data sheet will be used to monitor the hands on lab experiment. The final presentation will be assessed by the attached rubric. This program was implemented in a 3rd grade classroom but can be adapted for second and fourth grades. The class sizes ranged from children. The classes contained many different abilities including ESOL and ESE students. One student was a non- English speaker and accommodations were made for her. She especially loved the read aloud book that was used to tell the students about the Mexican Jumping Beans because the book had a lot of Spanish words. In my lab, I have long tables but desks could work just as well. I also used the school s mobile laptop cart and my teacher laptop. I used the overhead projector and the SmartBoard for their presentations. See Materials Budget for other specific materials needed. Our school is lucky enough to have a beautiful butterfly garden that can be incorporated in this program. The Winter Haven Gardenia Club cares for the garden and is a great outside resource for information on local butterflies. n OVERALL VALUE The look on the students faces when the Mystery Beans start moving in their hands is just priceless. They come up with so many questions and possible answers to why the beans are moving. The butterfly pavilion is a hit with the students and every day the students can t wait to see what has happened. They really love this program and I love that they are excited about Science. The Notebook software is really fun and exciting for the kids. Students really use the science process skills during this program which helps them later on when they are learning the steps needed for their science fair projects in 4th grade. n LESSON PLAN TITLES Mystery Objects Moth and Butterflies n MATERIALS Materials for each lesson are listed with each lesson. Overall materials can be found on the Materials Budget page. n ABOUT THE DEVELOPER Laura Mastrangelo has a BS in Elementary Education from Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania. Since moving to Polk County in 2004, she has taught 4th, 5th, and is now the 3-5 Science Lab Teacher. She was Snively s Teacher of the Year for She loves showing her students that science is fun. H H H

2 Lesson Plan No 1: Mystery Objects n SUBJECTS COVERED Science n GRADES Two - Four n OBJECTIVES Students will use observation skills with the mystery objects. record observations and wonderings about the mystery objects. collect and analyze data. use science process skills to complete a simple lab. use a balance to find the mass of an object. n SUNSHINE STATE STANDARDS SC.3.N.1.1 Raise questions about the natural world, investigate them individually and in teams through free exploration and systemic investigations, and generate appropriate explanations based on those explorations. SC.3.N.1.3 Keep records as appropriate, such as pictorial, written, or simple charts and graphs, of investigations conducted. SC.3.N.1.5. Recognize that scientists question, discuss, and check each others evidence and explanations. SC.3.N.1.6. Infer based on observation SC.3.L.17.2 Describe how animals and plants respond to changing seasons. n MATERIALS Mexican Jumping Beans - one for each child Magnifying lenses or magnifying boxes Paper for OWL chart 2-3 heating pads Clock with second hands or timers Book - Lucas and His Loco Beans- A Bilingual Tale of the Mexican Jumping Bean Data Collection Sheet for lab 2-3 Balance Scales 4-5 Celsius Thermometers n DIRECTIONS Day 1 Give each student an OWL chart. The O stands for Observations, the W stands for wonderings or what they want to know, the L stands for Learned. This chart is set up like a KWL chart. Day 1 the students will complete the O and the W only. Review w ith student s w hat observations skills are; using your 5 senses to describe an object. Tell students that they can use 4 out of the 5 senses today. They cannot taste today, but they can listen, touch, smell and look at the object. Hand out the mystery object. DO NOT TELL THEM WHAT THE OBJECT IS YET! I don t tell them what the object is the first day!! I make them wait until I read the book on Day 2. Each child should have either a hand lens or a magnifying box to help them make observations. Have the students make at least 10 observations and write them under the O part of the OWL chart and 5 questions or wonderings under the W column. The students will be fascinated when the beans start to jump. This first lesson will take about 45 minutes. For one of the obser vations they need to find the mass of the mystery object in grams. Let them make predictions. It is fascinating listening to their ideas about what is happening. Day 2 Students will collect data about the beans after hearing the Lucas and the Loco Beans Story. First - read the story. It has a lot of Spanish words so many of my Spanish speaking students like to help me properly pronounce the words. After reading the story they will know that they are called Mexican Jumping Beans. The back of the book tells the students about the life cycle of the moth that lives in the bean. After reading the story, pass out the data sheet. Have the students measure room temperature using degrees Celsius. Next the students will leave their thermometer on the heating pad for at least 3-5 minutes and record the temperature. While they are waiting to read their thermometer on the heating pad, they will predict which will make the bean jump the most: room temperature or the warmer temperature of the heating pad.

3 Lesson Plan No 1: Mystery Objects (cont.) Students will collect data by counting how many times the bean jumps in a minute at room temperature. They will do this three times. They will then count the amount of jumps a bean makes on a heating pad for one minute. They will do this three times, but they should remove the bean from the pad in between trials. The students will then find the mean/average for both the room temperature and the heated trials. They will use the averages to compare the data. Finally, the students will analyze the data and draw a conclusion by answering the following questions: Did your jumping bean larva jump more at room temperature or warmer temperature? Why do you think that is so? If you have time, compare the results from the other students to see if all the students had the same conclusion. n EVALUATION/ ASSESSMENT For this lesson, I require that the students write at least 3 things they learned about the Mystery Beans in the L part of their OWL Chart. I also give them credit if they have at least 10 observations and 5 wonderings on their OWL chart. I also assess the lab to make sure it is completed correctly and completely. H H H

4 Lesson Plan No 1: Mystery Objects (cont.) Additional Information

5 Lesson Plan No 2: Moth and Butterflies n SUBJECTS COVERED Science n GRADES Two - Four n OBJECTIVES Students will explore the life cycles of moths and butterflies. compare and contrast moths and butterflies. use Smart Notebook software to make a short presentation about the lifecycle of either a moth or a butterfly. n SUNSHINE STATE STANDARDS SC.3.N.1.1 Raise questions about the natural world, investigate them individually and in teams through free exploration and systemic investigations, and generate appropriate explanations based on those explorations. SC.3.N.1.3 Keep records as appropriate, such as pictorial, written, or simple charts and graphs, of investigations conducted. SC.3.N.1.4 Recognize the importance of communication among scientists, SC.3.N.1.5. Rec ognize those scientists questions, discuss, and check each others evidence and explanations. SC.3.N.1.6. Infer based on observation SC.3.L.17.2 Describe how animals and plants respond to changing seasons. n MATERIALS From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman or other read aloud Computers with Smart Notebook software Camera (if available) Butterfly Pavilion or butterfly garden SmartBoard (if available) n DIRECTIONS Have the children make a butterfly journal. This can be any type of notebook. I make a small book with construction paper and lined paper. I let the kids color and paste a picture of a butterfly on the top of their journal. This journal will used with the butterfly pavilion or with a butterfly garden. The students are to make and record their observations of the butterfly life cycle. Each entry should be dated. If available have the students take pictures of the butterflies with a digital camera. These pictures can be downloaded and used in their notebook presentation later. This part will take several weeks. If you don t have the luxury of time, have the students watch a video about the life cycle of a butterfly. Ask students if they know if there is a difference between moths and butter flies. Read the book From Caterpillar to Butterfly. Ask if they noticed any differences between the life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly and the Mexican Jumping Bean Moth. Make a Venn diagram showing to compare and contrast the two insects. A good website to use to show the life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly is earthsbirthday.org/butterflies/bflys/ activitykit/2.html Below are some suggestions for your Venn diagram comparing and contrasting Butterflies and Moths. Under the Jumping Bean Moth Lays eggs on a flower or shrub Eats inside of a seed pod Wraps up in a silk cocoon Stays in Mexico it s whole life. Only lives a few days Both - Hatch from eggs, live on plants, grow wings and fly Painted Lady Butterfly Lays eggs on plants that it likes to eat like thistle Eats leaves as soon as the larva comes out The skin splits and it forms the chrysalis Lives for about 2 weeks Additional differences about Moths and Butterflies that are not in the books: Moths - Wings not attached, Nocturnal, wings flat when resting, feathered antennae. Fa t a b d o m e n, f o r m a cocoon Butterflies - Wings hooked together in flight, diumal (active in the day), wings u p r i g h t w h e n r e s t i n g, straight plain antennae, thin abdomen, form a chrysalis

6 Lesson Plan No 2: Moth and Butterflies (cont.) Notebook Software Project: The students are then put in pairs to do their final project. They are to choose either a butterfly or a moth to do a short presentation on. I model an example of a project using Notebook software. Students are to use two sources for their project. One source should be an encyclopedia (either World Book Online or an encyclopedia from the library). This is to let the students get acquainted with different sources for research. The other source can be a website of their choice (with my approval). The guidelines for the project are handed out to the student. (See attached). The rubric is used for the final assessment. *** If you would like the example Notebook project, feel free to me and I can it to you. One thing I have learned is that it is easier to give the children a list of butterflies or Moths to choose from so they don t pick these obscure butterflies that are difficult to find information on. I suggest the following moths and butterflies: Monarch Painted Lady Swallowtails Luna Moths Sphinx Moths n EVALUATION/ ASSESSMENT The Notebook presentation will be assessed using the rubric. H H H

7 Lesson Plan No 2: Moth and Butterflies (cont.) Additional Information Moth and Butterfly Presentations 1. You and your partner are to pick either a moth or a butterfly to research. You may chose one of the following butterflies or moths: Monarch, Painted Lady, Swallowtails, Luna Moths, or Sphinx Moths 2. Use either World Book On-line or an encyclopedia from the library to search for information on your topic. Take any notes in your butterfly journal. You may use another website for more information. A good site is www. kidsbutterfly.org. Make sure to write down the website address of any websites that you take notes from. 3. You are to make 3 slides using Notebook software. Try to make these slides interactive with the Smartboard like the example you were shown. 4. In your presentation you need find information for the following: a. What does it look like? b. Where do they live? c. Describe their life cycle. d. Why are they important to our planet? e. What does it eat? f. Any other interesting facts you want to tell us. 5. Insert two to three photographs or clipart pictures in you presentation. 6. Check all your spelling and grammar. 7. Be prepared to share your presentation with the class. *** All research questions must be answered in your journal/log book before you start working on the Notebook Software.

8 Lesson Plans Materials Budget Materials Budget Supplier Item DescriptiON cost Quantity Total Cost Amazon Book - Lucas and His Loco Beans $ Book - More Picture Perfect Science Lessons $ $28.75 Book - From Caterpillar to Butterfly $ $5.99 Steve Spangler Butterfly Pavilion $ $29.95 Inflatable Butterfly Cycle $ $26.96 Jumping Beans R US Box of beans $ $15.00 Walmart Heating Pads $ $60.00 Laura Mastrangelo Snively Elementary of Choice Teacher s Name School: Subtotal $ Tax if applicable Shipping if applicable $22.50 TOTAL BUDGET AMOUNT $200.00

9 Rubric Name