Teacher: Kimberly Frazier



Reading and Rainforests Unit Plan

Teacher: Kimberly Frazier

Cooperating Teacher: Nancy Luckasson

Date: May 11, 2010

Subject: Gr. 4 Language Block

Lesson: Rainforests Introduction to The Great Kapok Tree

I. Objectives

a. The students will be able to communicate their knowledge of rainforests.

b. The students will be able to discover and share a vocabulary word.

II. Materials

a. Smartboard

b. Notecards with vocab words

c. Sticky notes

d. Worksheets copied

e. Dictionaries

III. Procedure

a. Introduce the topic: This week we will be reading and learning more about rainforests.

b. Give each student a sticky note. Have them write down their name, and then a fact or two that they already know about rainforests. Place the sticky notes on the front board.

c. Go through the sticky notes. Have each child come up and share their fact(s). (10-15 min)

d. Have students gather around the Smartboard in the back.

e. Show the first video. Explain that you would like to take students to the rainforest, and in this video they can imagine they are there.

f. Give students a notecard. Have them describe the sounds and images from the rainforest on the notecard. Play the video two or three more times while the students write down three adjectives that describe images or sounds. Give an example: a quick and alert bird, darting its head; the hard-working ants, carrying pieces of leaves around. Talk about descriptive words (words that describe/adjectives like colorful, energetic, sneaky, prowling, slithering, etc.)

g. Have students share what they wrote on their note card. (10 min)

h. Show the video with students talking about the rainforest in Costa Rica. Stop and discuss when necessary. Talk about deforestation. Ask them questions about why deforestation is happening, what we can do to stop it.

i. Explain to the students that there are also people who live in the rainforest—not only animals. This is their home. Show the video about the Kayapo. Stop the video at certain times to talk when you feel necessary to explain more, this video may be challenging to understand at their level. (10 min) Ask how they would feel if someone was taking away their land and natural resources where they lived.

j. Go to the first website. Read about rainforests and look at the four layers. Read about the four layers.

k. Visit the second website. Look at the information about the four layers. Look at the pictures for which animals live in each layer. Make sure to look at information about the Kapok tree. (10 min)

l. Break students up into groups of two. Each group of 2 gets a vocabulary word. They have to: find the definition in the dictionary, use it in a sentence, and make a small illustration of the word. Then each partnership shares with the class.

m. Give each group a dictionary and worksheet. Circulate during worktime.

IV. Assessment

V. Reflection

Teacher: Kimberly Frazier

Cooperating Teacher: Nancy Luckasson

Date: May 13, 2010

Subject: Grade 4 Four Block Language Arts

Lesson: Reading the Great Kapok Tree

VI. Objectives

a. The students will be able to explain vocabulary words.

b. The students will be able to comprehend text.

c. The students will be able to demonstrate map reading skills.

d. The students will be able to give examples of onomatopoeia.

e. The students will be able to form compound predicates.

VII. Materials

a. Necessary worksheets and overheads

b. Smartboard

c. Textbooks

d. Vocabulary word cards

VIII. Procedure

a. Break students up into groups of two. Give each group a vocabulary word and each a worksheet to complete about their word.

b. Give students work time to complete the worksheet. Circulate.

c. Have students share their word and what they learned about it.

d. Circle students up in the back. Share the website about the layers of the rainforest with the students. Make sure to talk about the Kapok Tree.

e. Have students take a seat in their spots. Hand out the reading textbooks.

f. Have students open textbooks up to page 160. Read the introduction to the students. Introduce the story. Tell about what a kapok tree is.

g. Turn the page. Look at the map. Briefly discuss the map.

i. What is the title?

ii. What does it show us?

iii. Where are rainforests located?

iv. What does the side picture show us? What can we learn from it?

v. What surrounds the map?

h. Hand out map skills worksheets. Have students complete these individually. Circulate around the room to help students.

i. Have students share about the layers questions (how many there are, which animals are found there). Collect worksheets.

j. Begin reading the story. Use the sticks to find readers. Discuss comprehension questions as they arise in the teacher manual.

k. Discuss onomatopoeia. Put the word up on the board. Have students find examples of it in the story. Make a list of them on the board. Have students think of others. Have some perform and guess (ex: clap, snap, shush, pop, click with mouth, animal sounds, etc.)

l. Discuss compound predicates. Use both overheads to explain and show how to make compound predicates. Give students the worksheet to complete.

m. If additional time exists, share the video about rainforests with students on the Smartboard.

IX. Assessment

X. Reflection

Teacher: Kimberly Frazier

Cooperating Teacher: Nancy Luckasson

Date: May 14, 2010

Subject: Grade 4 Four Block Language Arts

Lesson: The Great Kapok Tree Skills

XI. Objectives

a. The students will be able to connect reasoning with a main idea.

b. The students will be able to make compound predicate sentences.

c. The students will be able to use suffixes targeted in the lesson appropriately.

d. The students will be able to use colorful descriptions to describe the rainforest.

XII. Materials

a. Associated worksheets and overheads

b. Links to videos

c. Smartboard

XIII. Procedure

a. Begin by completing the story chart as a class. Use the overhead outline to complete. Ask students for suggestions for each box.

b. Discuss theme/ main idea. How did you arrive at the main idea? (reasoning of the animals)

c. Break students up into groups of two. Hand out textbooks. Have students go through the story and make a chart listing the animals and each of their reasons. Put the main idea on the top of the page.

d. Circulate around the room as the students continue to work on this.

e. Discuss compound predicates. Use both overheads to explain and show how to make compound predicates. Give students the worksheet to complete.

f. Discuss suffixes. Do a large group introduction to the three suffixes. Give the worksheet out for students to complete.

g. Invite students back to the Smartboard with pencil, paper, and their clipboard. Show them the video with rainforest sounds and pictures. Talk about description and adjectives and have them write a descriptive paragraph about the rainforest based on what they saw in the video. Have students share their descriptions. Talk about bad vs. good descriptions. (I saw a bird vs. I saw a colorful bird with a large beak twitching its head.)

h. If additional time remains, share library books with students about the rainforest.

XIV. Assessment: Worksheets

XV. Reflection

Teacher: Kimberly Frazier

Cooperating Teacher: Nancy Luckasson

Date: May 17, 2010

Subject: Grade 4 Four Block

Lesson: The Great Kapok Tree Day 4

XVI. Objectives

a. The students will be able to use suffixes studied correctly.

b. The students will be able to describe the rainforest and animals in it.

c. The students will be able to communicate their reasoning for saving the rainforest.

XVII. Materials

a. Worksheets

b. Links to videos

c. Smartboard

d. Paper for posters

e. Self-Assessment copies

XVIII. Procedure

a. Have students take out the worksheet from Friday. Go through explain the second half of it to them for compound predicates (how to edit). Do the first edit with them.

b. Talk to students about suffixes.

i. What is a suffix? (addition to the end of the word to add to or change the meaning)

ii. Introduce the three suffixes on the worksheet.

iii. Give examples of how they are used. Ask students for examples.

iv. Assign students to complete the worksheet.

c. Invite students to the back of the room with a sheet of paper, a pencil, and their clipboards.

d. Show the students the unedited clip of the rainforest.

e. Ask students how they would describe what they saw and heard (bird sounds, colorful plants and animals, etc.).

f. Have students listen to it again. Have each student write a paragraph (3-5 sentences) about what they saw and heard. Have students share if they would like.

g. Show students the additional video about the rainforest they have not seen yet. This will teach students more about the rainforest, and reinforce what they already know.

h. Collect the paragraphs.

i. Introduce the poster assignment. Students will make posters that describes the rainforest, why it is important, and what people can do to save it. Explain the self-assessment sheet for the poster.

j. Give students work time to complete.

XIX. Assessment: Worksheet, paragraphs, posters

XX. Reflection: These activities were done over several days. My cooperating teacher especially liked the rainforest description activity and made a paragraph of her own. I enjoyed listening to what the students came up with in their paragraphs and was impressed by the vocabulary and adjectives they used. This unit has been an excellent opportunity to integrate science with language arts and reading.



Video of Amazon animals (no narrative) 1:14



The Kayapo People 3 min



Educational video about the rainforest in Costa Rica with students explaining. 5:25



Website with rainforest basics



Website about rainforest… good description of the layers



Video about rainforests from a tree’s personified perspective ~10 min

Teacher: Kimberly Frazier

Cooperating Teacher: Nancy Luckasson

Date: May 19, 2010

Subject: Grade 4 Four Block

Lesson: Rainforest Project

XXI. Objectives

a. The students will be able to communicate their understanding of the importance of the rainforest by creating a poster advocating for it’s preservation.

XXII. Materials

a. Video link

b. Poster paper

c. Resource books

XXIII. Procedure

a. Invite students to the Smartboard in the back.

b. Discuss ways to save the rainforest.

c. Introduce poster project. They will create a poster about the rainforest that includes a description of the rainforest, three reasons to save the rainforest, and what people can do to save the rainforest. It also must be neatly done and contain drawings of the rainforest.

d. Give students work time for the posters.

XXIV. Assessment: Poster- self assessment sheet and teacher check of it.

XXV. Reflection

Teacher: Kimberly Frazier

Cooperating Teacher: Nancy Luckasson

Date: Friday, May 21, 2010

Subject: Grade 4 Four Block

Lesson: Rainforest Last Day

XXVI. Objectives

a. The students will be able to communicate their understanding of the importance of the rainforest by creating a poster advocating for it’s preservation.

XXVII. Materials

a. Poster paper

XXVIII. Procedure

a. Explain the poster activity to the students.

b. Introduce poster project. They will create a poster about the rainforest that includes a description of the rainforest, three reasons to save the rainforest, and what people can do to save the rainforest. It also must be neatly done and contain drawings of the rainforest.

c. Give students work time for the posters.

d. When students finish up, they can take a look at the new National Geographic issue.

XXIX. Assessment: Poster

XXX. Reflection

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