Tree Unit

Alyssa Nugent

Ryan Cahill

Michael

DiBernardo

Table of Contents

• Slide 3-Overview

• Slide 5-Document Types Included

• Slide 6-Timeline for Collection

• Slide 7-Description and Rationale for Assessments

• Slide 8-Aligning Assessments within the Unit

• Slide 11-Portfolio Assessment Description

• Slide 12-Portfolio Rationale

• Slide 13-Documentation Portfolio

• Slide 14-Action Plan

Overview

The purpose of this portfolio is to inform and assess students on the topic of trees before, during, and

after the lesson. This will be achieved through the use of a multitude of formative and summative

assessments. We will use:

• A KWL Chart to document the students' background knowledge

• Formative assessments during the lessons to modify teaching and learning activities to improve

the learning process

• Summative assessments after the activities to gain insight into the students' comprehension and

attainment

The lesson will be broken up into these main activities/assessments:

• Read-aloud of A Tree is Nice by Janet Udry (Formative Assessment)

• KWL Chart (Formative/Background Knowledge Assessment)

• A basic lesson on trees/tree vocabulary (Formative/Summative Assessment)

o Students will learn about the parts of a tree, roots, trunk, branches and leaves and what they do for the tree.

o Students will keep a log of all tree related vocabulary words

• Walking Neighborhood Trip w/ Learning Log writing activity (Formative assessment)

o Students will take a guided neighborhood walk and pick a leaf from their favorite tree

o Complete a journal log entry about the shapes of leaves & types of trees they see

• Seeds Learning Log (Summative Assessment)

o Students will plant seeds and keep a journal of the progress

• Descriptive Writing Activity with Found Leaf (Summative Assessment)

o Students will identify their favorite tree after reading texts and the field trip

o Have each student draw a picture of that tree and write two sentences on why it is their favorite and collect those for a book

• Reading/fluency practice test: Joyce Kilmer's Tree (Summative assessment)

• Tree Vocab Bingo (Formative Assessment)

• Complete All About Trees book (Summative Assessment)

o Summative assessment, "putting it all together" to show what the student has learned throughout the unit

Overview, pt. II

The lesson will be broken up into these main activities/assessments:

• Read-aloud of A Tree is Nice by Janet Udry (Formative Assessment)

• KWL Chart (Formative/Background Knowledge Assessment)

• A basic lesson on trees/tree vocabulary (Formative/Summative Assessment)

o Students will learn about the parts of a tree, roots, trunk, branches and leaves and what they do

for the tree.

o Students will keep a log of all tree related vocabulary words

• Walking Neighborhood Trip w/ Learning Log writing activity (Formative assessment)

o Students will take a guided neighborhood walk and pick a leaf from their favorite tree

o Complete a journal log entry about the shapes of leaves & types of trees they see

• Seeds Learning Log (Summative Assessment)

o Students will plant seeds and keep a journal of the progress

• Descriptive Writing Activity with Found Leaf (Summative Assessment)

o Students will identify their favorite tree after reading texts and the field trip

o Have each student draw a picture of that tree and write two sentences on why it is their favorite

and collect those for a book

• Reading/fluency practice test: Joyce Kilmer's Tree (Summative assessment)

• Tree Vocab Bingo (Formative Assessment)

• Complete All About Trees book (Summative Assessment)

o Summative assessment, "putting it all together" to show what the student has learned throughout

the unit

Types of Documents In Unit

Projects

Interactive writing

Vocabulary Bingo

Object and word sorts

Learning Logs

Field Trips

Literacy strategies and skills

Word wall/vocabulary book

Read aloud

Graphic Organizers

Timeline for Collection of

Assignments

• KWL Chart - due week 1

• Parts of a tree-due end of week 1

• Life cycle of tree- due beginning of week 2

• Neighborhood walking field trip writing learning log- due

end of week 2

• Leaf writing/descriptive activity- due at end of week 2

• Reading practice/fluency test: Joyce Kilmer’s Tree-

beginning of week 3

• Tree vocabulary book-on going due during week 3

• Tree Vocabulary Bingo game- due last day of week 3

• Seeds learning log- on going and due at end of unit

week 4

• "All about Trees" book- due last day of unit in week 4

Description and Rationale of

Assignments

• KWL chart will be used to activate background knowledge and a gauge for

the teacher to check the students knowledge of the topic.

• Writing activities are used to document their learning of the content and

confusions the students has. Writing activities can be easily adjusted to

each student`s ability in the differentiated classroom. The writing activities

that we are using include learning logs, project on trees, tree vocabulary

book, leaf and field trip descriptive writing activity. Each of these writing

assignments will be modified for students if needed, by requiring less

writing, partner work, and small groups.

• Reading/ fluency practice and test introduces students to important words

that they will come across in the unit and place them into their unit

vocabulary book. It also allows for integrated mini literacy lessons to teach

strategies and skills necessary for all content subjects.

• Vocabulary Bingo game will be used to assess student knowledge of key

words in unit.

Aligning Assessment Within the Unit

Introductory Activities: Assessing prior

knowledge and setting the tone for instruction

is important in any unit.

• KWL Chart

• Walking field trip--teacher student interaction

will provide information on students' familiarity

with trees

• Read alouds: A Tree is Nice by Janice May

Urdy and Tree by Joyce Kilmer. Reading allows

for text-to self and text-to-text connections that

the teacher can use as a formative assessment

Aligning Assessment Within the

Unit

Formative assessment within the Tree Unit:

• Parts of a tree activity will allow teacher to

assess the student's familiarity with vocabulary

• Learning Log entry will allow teacher to assess

prior knowledge of trees and information

gathered about trees from the neighborhood

walking field trip

• Vocabulary Bingo will assess student

knowledge of tree part vocabulary after some

time in the unit and before the end of the unit

Aligning Assignments Within the Unit

Summative assignments will allow the teacher

to determine whether standards have been

met in the various content areas and collect

information about what has been learned

through the unit:

• Descriptive writing leaf assignment

• Fluency check using Leaf by Joyce Kilmer

• Completed Tree Vocabulary Book

• Completed Seeds Learning Log

• Completed 'All About Trees' book

• Final 'Parts of a Tree' construction activity

Portfolio Assessment

For the teacher, all work from the unit will be

collected in a documentation portfolio. This will

be a file folder made specifically for the tree unit,

and will include learning logs, student completed

work and student work in progress, functioning

like a working portfolio for students.

Students will keep all work in this folder, keeping track of

assignments within the unit using a printed handout list

glued to the front. This will help them take responsibility

for their progress in the unit.

Rationale for Working Portfolio

The documentation portfolio method will allow

teachers to sit with a student at the end of the

unit and discuss what has been learned, what

progress has been made, what standards

have been met and then go on to choose

individual works to be put in a student

showcase portfolio of the year's best work.

Assessment of Documentation

Portfolio

The teacher will sit with the student during a 5-

10 minute conference one-on-one. The

teacher will have prepared an overall

checklist of assignments with their

accompanying standards covered

underneath in a column, along with the

numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. The level 1

corresponds to exceeding, 2 to meeting, 3 to

almost meeting and 4 to far below meeting.

The student and teacher will be able to

evaluate progress and student needs during

this time.

Action Plan for Use with

Overall Portfolio Assessment

For students scoring 1:The teacher will consider these students to be working on an exemplary level, far exceeding expectations, and at times pushing the envelope

into exceptionality. Students in this category are turning all activities/assignments in either early or on time. These students will be

pushed and challenged with extension activities that may be done for fun or for extra credit. Students scoring a 1 will also serve as

teacher assistants and classroom aids in reviewing the work of struggling learners.

For students scoring 2:These students are completing their tasks on an above-average level. They show great promise, but may need a little bit of extra pushing to

overcome obstacles keeping them from scoring a 1, yet also need extra attention to make sure that they do not fall into the 3 category.

Students in this category turn all assignments in on time. These students will be asked to share their work with the rest of the class, and

will also be tapped to help below-average learners achieve their goals.

For students scoring 3:Students scoring a 3 are considered working at the bare-minimum level. They are doing just enough work to get by, and turning most

assignments in on time. These students will be given slight modifications to their typical assignments, with great attention being

committed to seeing the outcomes of those modifications. For students still performing below expectations after modified assignments, a

second follow-up interview/conference will be scheduled, possibly with the parents.

For students scoring 4:These students are performing at a poor and below-average level. Assignments are rarely turned in on time, are late, or are done incorrectly

with disregard for quality and direction. These students are either struggling with the assignments and directions, or are not working up to

expectation. The first step will be to assign a peer to help the struggling student with the assignments as-is. Next would be to modify the

assignments if the student is truly struggling. Special exceptions and time extensions will be made available. If the student continues to

perform at this level, a second conference including their parents will be scheduled to discuss an individual action plan.