The fourth step in planning a unit plan is to research and decide on the necessary materials and resources that create engagement through anticipatory sets and help to develop confidence as competent users of technology.
Part 1: Materials, Resources, and Technology
Complete the “Materials, Resources, and Technology” sections of the “Science Unit Plan.” Include appropriate and relevant materials, resources, and technology that successfully:
- Support students in chosen content, development of relevant skills, and encourage student engagement.
- Support diverse student needs and learning advancement.
The details of the “Science Unit Plan” will continue to be fully developed and revised throughout the duration of the course, culminating in a complete unit plan due in Topic 5.
Part 2: Reflection
In 250-500 words, summarize and reflect on how planning for materials, resources, and technology can create engagement and motivation during a lesson. How can you utilize informational resources to engage students and help develop their confidence as competent users of technology? How will you evaluate curriculum materials, school/district resources, student data to make sure you are using appropriate and relevant materials?
Support your reflection with at least two scholarly resources.
Science Unit Plan
Grade: 2nd Grade
Unit Theme: Healthy Lifestyle
Week 1 | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
Lesson Title, Brief Summary, and Rationale
(fill in during Topic 1) |
The Body
The human body consists of several parts that work together to support life. The body is made up of the head, hands, trunk, and legs. The head contains the brain that controls all body activities. The hands are used for touching and holding objects while the legs are used for locomotion. The trunk contains organs such as the heart, liver, and lungs. People need food, water, and air to survive. |
Fitness
Fitness refers to the state in which the body operates in ideal ways. Physical fitness involves taking good care of the body by eating a healthy and balanced diet consisting of proteins, vitamins, and carbohydrates. It is unhealthy to take excess fats and carbohydrates because they can make the body fat. Eating excess fats and sugars causes obesity and diabetes. People need to engage in physical exercises to stay healthy. |
Motor Skills
Motor skills refer to the activities in which people use their muscles for motion in order to accomplish specific tasks. All activities that people engage in involve motor skills (van der Fels et al., 2015) Examples of motor skills include: writing, walking, and jumping. People need to exercise in order to improve the efficiency of their motor skills. |
Hygiene
Hygiene refers to the general body cleanliness. People should take a bath at least once in a day in order to keep the skin clean. People should also brush their teeth after every meal to protect the mouth from disease-causing microorganisms. It is important to wash clothes and keep them in a clean environment. People must wash their hands before eating, and after visiting the toilet to avoid infections. |
Taking Care of the Environment
The environment refers to things that surround us. It is important to take care of the environment. We should water plants and take care of animals. All wastes and dirt should be thrown in the dust bin. Throwing wastes in the environment is called pollution. Air pollution causes respiratory diseases such as asthma. |
State-Specific Standards
(fill in during Topic 1) |
Students are expected to know different parts of the human body and their functions | Students should be able to competently classify different types of foods and their uses. Students should also be able to understand healthy eating habits and explain different ways of keeping fit (Florida Department of Education, 2019). | Students should be able to demonstrate their understanding of motor skills and explain factors that improve or deteriorate motor skills (FDE, 2019). | Students should competently demonstrate their understanding of hygiene, and how it applies in the day-to-day activities (FDE, 2019). | Students should competently demonstrate their understanding of how to care for the environment including plants and animals, and understand the implications of pollution (FDE, 2019). |
Learning Objectives
(fill in during Topic 1) |
–To learn different parts of the body and name them
-To general functions of different body parts |
-To learn different types of foods and their uses in the body.
-To understand the harm of eating excess fats and sugars. -To understand different ways of keeping the body physically fit. |
-To define and demonstrate motor skills
-To understand the relationship between physical fitness and motor skills -To describe factors that hinder and boost motor skills |
–To define the meaning of hygiene and how to maintain cleanliness
-To learn the consequences of poor hygiene |
–To learn different ways of taking care of the environment
-To understand the meaning and effects of pollution |
Vocabulary
(fill in during Topic 1) |
Head, Trunk, hands, limbs, legs, organs | Physical fitness, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, obesity, diabetes | Motor skills, muscles, movement, physical activity | Hygiene, dirt, microorganisms | Environment, plants, animals, pollution, diseases |
Instructional Strategy
(fill in during Topic 2) |
Reciprocal teaching, drawing, and writing (Tate, 2015). | Brainstorming, reciprocal teaching, Role play, and audiovisual equipment (Tate, 2015). | Similes and metaphors, games, and Role play (Tate, 2015). | Brainstorming, reciprocal reaching, and short videos with illustrations (Tate, 2015). | Brainstorming, reciprocal teaching, videos, and storytelling (Tate, 2015). |
Summary of Instruction and Activities for the Lesson
(fill in during Topic 2) |
Summary
Can you ask your friends the name and functions of their body parts? All body parts have a definite function and work together in coordination to accomplish different activities. Activities Students will discuss and show different parts of the body and state their functions. They will then draw and name the body |
Summary
Fitness is the condition in which all the body parts especially muscles are healthy and work effectively. What do can you do to keep fit? We can stay fit by exercising and eating healthy foods. Activities Students will demonstrate some of the activities that they usually engage in to keep fit |
Summary
Motor skills determine the degree to which we can accurately accomplish different tasks. When sit and walk with our backs straight like vertical lines, we will experience no back complications, which makes us physically fit. Activities Students will demonstrate and play short games that reflect effective motor skills. |
Summary
Hygiene refers to bodily and environmental cleanliness. Can you ask your friend to name some behaviors that improve hygiene? Activities Students will discuss and describe different actions that contribute to general body and environmental hygiene. They will also watch videos that illustrate poor and good hygiene. |
Summary
Care for the environment means keeping the environment clean, tidy, and improving its productivity. In what ways do you care for your school and home environment? Activities Students will name different methods that they have cared for the environment and discuss ways of conserving the environment. They will then tell stories both positive and negative related to care for the environment. |
Differentiation and Accommodations
(fill in during Topic 3) You have talked about the activities that you will use with the students. I want you to add the headings in yellow each day. You have to be very specific in your planning in this section. Use the link below to further your understanding Differentiation https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/18-teacher-tested-strategies-differentiated-instruction Accommodations smartkidswithld.org/getting-help/the-abcs-of-ieps/examples-of-accommodations-modifications/ |
Below grade level
Above grade level ELL and or Special Need students Instructors are tasked with the responsibility of meeting the standards of their respective districts and states. By using differentiated learning and instructional strategies, teachers can effectively meet the needs of all students and support them to exceed the established standards and expectations. The primary objective of differentiated learning is attained by choosing relevant teaching methods to meet each individual student’s needs. |
Any learner is expected to demonstrate considerable variation in their learning characteristics and behaviors. As such, when a group incorporates students that have learning disabilities or deficiencies, the amount of variations in learning is significantly increased (Blaz, 2016). | Providing diverse learning characteristics that are showcased by students in the contemporary learning environment make it essential for instructors to implement a broad range of activities within their classroom environments. As classes get more culturally diverse, it becomes more imperative to design differentiated instructional models. Differentiated instruction is necessary for virtually all general education classes. | Differentiated learning will be comprised of efforts of instructors channeled towards responding to variances among students in the classroom environment. In situations where the teacher reaches out to individuals or small groups to vary their teaching to establish the best learning experience possible, such instructors are offering differentiated teaching. | Differentiated learning will be met in levels such as content, processes, products, as well as learning environment. Contents refer to what the learners require to gain knowledge or how the student will gain access to informative data (Blaz, 2016). |
Materials, Resources, and Technology
(fill in during Topic 4) |
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Formative Assessment
(fill in during Topic 5) |
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Summative Assessment
(fill in during Topic 5) |
Reflection Topic 1:
While preparing the unit plan, I had ensured that I introduce different concepts within each lesson so that students can have a broad understanding of the topic covered in each lesson, and to relate the concepts with their environment. The ability to relate what is taught in class with the environment is not only important for students to succeed in developing a strong foundation for their future professions but also to empower them with the ability to apply their knowledge in their day-to-day activities. During the early development stages, children need to develop strong cognitive abilities by relating the stimuli that they pick from the environment using different senses with what they are taught (Akfirat & Kezer, 2016). In view of these reasons, the objective of integrating the concepts of life science with the environment, and to be able to understand why conservation of the environment is important is meant to set foundation for future lessons in which the concepts are discussed in detail. The most important key concepts in the plan are essential life skills, and relationship between people and the environment. Essential life skills discussed has been supported by discussions about motor skills in which people make coordinated movements. The skills can be applied when engaging in physical fitness exercises to ensure that exercises are done in safe and beneficial ways. After understanding the concepts of essential life skills, students will be endowed with the ability to perform important activities such as washing their hands after visiting the toilet and engage in environment conservation exercises such as planting trees. These concepts are important because they enhance students’ understanding of how human health is affected or influenced by the environment, and enabling students develop basic skills for good health (Akfirat & Kezer, 2016). Furthermore, students will be able to have foundational knowledge of the activities that they will engage in upon completion of their studies. With an elaborate knowledge of life skills, students can live lives in which they take precaution that reduce diseases, conserve the environment, and relate their knowledge with environmental ecosystems. The unit plan can be used in future professional practice to demonstrate to students the importance of physical fitness in the dimension of disease prevention, and long-term sustainability of environmental resources. Students will then be able to understand the importance of physical fitness and a healthy diet regarding disease prevention. The theme will be applied to endow students with basic life skills for a healthy life and safe environment. |
Reflection Topic 2:
The process of continuing with the unit plan development got to the point in which appropriate instructional strategies were carefully chosen to suit the topic, and smooth transition from and connection to the concepts of the past and future lessons respectively. The main instructional strategies include but not limited to: brainstorming, reciprocal learning, use of graphics, role modeling, games, and storytelling. Brainstorming and graphics support independent study and active inquiry since students actively think of different ways that the concepts taught are connected with other concepts that they are familiar with, which in turn enhances their critical thinking capacities. Reciprocal learning, storytelling, and role modeling increases the rates of collaborative knowledge transfer among students (Sharafi-Nejad, Raftari, Ismail & Eng, 2016). When students learn from one another, they freely engage in active inquiry and supportive interactions (Lee et al., 2016). As a result, the degree of reciprocity will increase, which in turn increases collaborative learning thus increasing the rate of knowledge acquisition and transfer among students. In my future professional practice, I will apply brainstorming and audiovisual graphics to help students remember or connect the current concepts with concepts from previous lessons. Brainstorming helps students to review their knowledge and make connections with present concepts, which increases their creativity and critical thinking skills (Sharafi-Nejad, Raftari, Ismail & Eng, 2016). In order to increase students’ collaborative learning and interdependence, I will apply the strategy of role modeling and storytelling. Role-modeling involves selecting one student to demonstrate to others in a group or the whole class different aspects of lesson contents to increase collective understanding (Tate, 2015). When role-modeling is combined with storytelling and short academic-oriented games, students will engage in supportive interactions that in turn will promote their critical thinking, which in turn will improve their ease of understanding the content. As such, the overall time taken for teaching the concepts will reduce, which will save time for reviewing the concepts as a way of reinforcing students’ understanding of the content areas. |
Reflection Topic 3:
Your discussion was good but remember to meet the in citation required in this section each week, You needed a min of 2 of them Instructors are tasked with the responsibility of meeting the standards of their respective districts and states. By using differentiated learning and instructional strategies, teachers can effectively meet the needs of all students and support them to exceed the established standards and expectations. The primary objective of differentiated learning is attained by choosing relevant teaching methods to meet each individual student’s needs. Any learner is expected to demonstrate considerable variation in their learning characteristics and behaviors. As such, when a group incorporates students that have learning disabilities or deficiencies, the amount of variations in learning is significantly increased (Blaz, 2016). Therefore, the diverse learning characteristics that are showcased by students in the contemporary learning environment make it essential for instructors to implement a broad range of activities within their classroom environments. As classes get more culturally diverse, it becomes more imperative to design differentiated instructional models. Differentiated instruction is necessary for virtually all general education classes. This is especially true when it comes to students who have a long array of learning challenges. At its most essential levels, differentiated learning is comprised of efforts of instructors channeled towards responding to variances among students in the classroom environment. In situations where the teacher reaches out to individuals or small groups to vary their teaching to establish the best learning experience possible, such instructors are offering differentiated teaching. Differentiated learning can be met in levels such as content, processes, products, as well as learning environment. Contents refer to what the learners require to gain knowledge or how the student will gain access to informative data (Blaz, 2016). On the other hand, processes include activities that the students engage in to make sense of or master the contents. Examples of processes may include making tiered activities through which all learners work with the same important understanding and skills, but proceed with varying levels of support, challenges, or complexities. |
Reflection Topic 4: |
Reflection Topic 5: |
References
You have several citations here but only the first word should be capitalized
Akfirat, O. N., & Kezer, F. (2016). A program implementation for the development of life skills of primary school 4th Grade Students. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(35), 9-16.
Blaz, D. (2016). Differentiated Instruction: A Guide for World Language Teachers. London:
Routledge.
Gentry, R., Sallie, A. P., & Sanders, C. A. (2013). Differentiated Instructional Strategies to
Accommodate Students with Varying Needs and Learning Styles. Online Submission.
Lee, H., Parsons, D., Kwon, G., Kim, J., Petrova, K., Jeong, E., & Ryu, H. (2016). Cooperation begins: Encouraging critical thinking skills through cooperative reciprocity using a mobile learning game. Computers & Education, 97, 97-115.
New York State Education Department. (2019). New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards. NYSED. Retrieved from http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/curriculum-instruction/p-12-science-learning-standards.pdf
Tate, M. L. (Ed.). (2015). Worksheets don’t grow dendrites: 20 instructional strategies that engage the brain. Instructional Leader, 26(2), 1-12.
Sharafi-Nejad, M., Raftari, S., Ismail, S. A. M. M., & Eng, L. S. (2016). Prior knowledge activation through brainstorming to enhance Malaysian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. International Journal of Linguistics, 8(2), 187-198.
van der Fels, I. M., te Wierike, S. C., Hartman, E., Elferink-Gemser, M. T., Smith, J., & Visscher, C. (2015). The relationship between motor skills and cognitive skills in 4–16 year old typically developing children: A systematic review. Journal of science and medicine in sport, 18(6), 697-703.