Corinne Perry

Dec 6, 2012

Choice Project

Lesson Plan: Fish and Animals that live in the ocean

Objectives:

Students will be able to describe their fish or ocean animal’s physical appearance, where

they live in the ocean, what they eat and any other fun facts they learned while

researching their fish

Students will be able to take a digital photo of their animal or fish while the class goes

on a school trip to the aquarium.

Students will be able to organize information into a report that will be part of a class

book.

Students will be able to create their fish or animal out of Paper Mache.

Standards:

(2.Rl.1)

(2.W.2)

(2.W.7)

(2.Sl.4)

(2.L.1)

Procedure:

1. Students will choose a fish or Ocean Animal.

2. After choosing a fish or ocean animal, students will use the computer and begin

researching.

3. Students will write a description of the physical appearance of their fish or ocean

animal, where they live in the ocean, what they eat and any other facts they have

learned in their time researching.

4. Next the class will go on a field trip to the aquarium and take pictures of their chosen

fish.

5. Students will then load their picture onto the computer and put it into a Microsoft word

document.

6. After the picture is in Microsoft word the students will type out what they wrote about

their fish.

7. Each student will present their fish to the class.

8. Next the teacher will collect all papers and put together a book.

9. The teacher will have the art teacher come in and help create Paper Mache fish.

10. Student will then assist the teacher in displaying the Paper Mache fish around the

classroom.

Materials:

Computers

Paper

Pencils

Digital Camera

Strips of paper

paste

Assessment:

Each student will be assessed on their final report and presentation. There are various criteria

the students will be assessed on as outlined in the rubrics below.

Rubric for Report:

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1Writing Process Student devotes a

lot of time and effort to the writing process (prewriting, drafting, reviewing,

Student devotes suffi cient time and effort to the writing process (prewriting, drafting, reviewing,

Student devotes some time and effort to the writing process but was not very thorough. Does

Student devotes little time and effort to the writing process. Doesn\'t seem to care.

Focus on Assigned Topic

The entire story is related to the assigned topic and allows the reader to understand much

Most of the story is related to the assigned topic. The story wanders off at one point, but the

Some of the story is related to the assigned topic, but a reader does not learn much about

No attempt has been made to relate the story to the assigned topic.

Accuracy of Facts All facts presented in the story are accurate.

Almost all facts presented in the story are accurate.

Most facts presented in the story are accurate (at least 70%).

There are several factual errors in the story.

Requirements All of the written requirements (# of pages, # of graphics, type of graphics, etc.) were met.

Almost all (about 90%) the written requirements were met.

Most (about 75%) of the written requirements were met, but several were not.

Many requirements were not met.

Creativity contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader\'s

contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader\'s

contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story. The

There is little evidence of creativity. The author does not seem to have used

Rubric for Presentation:

Preparedness Student is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed.

Student seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals.

The student is somewhat prepared, but it is clear that rehearsal was lacking.

Student does not seem at all prepared to present.

Speaks Clearly Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, and mispronounces no words.

Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, but mispronounces one word.

Speaks clearly and distinctly most ( 94-85%) of the time. Mispronounces no more than one

Often mumbles or can not be understood OR mispronounces more than one

Enthusiasm Facial expressions and body language generate a strong interest and enthusiasm about

Facial expressions and body language sometimes generate a strong interest and

Facial expressions and body language are used to try to generate enthusiasm, but

Very little use of facial expressions or body language. Did not generate much interest in

Content Shows a full understanding of the topic.

Shows a good understanding of the topic.

Shows a good understanding of parts of the topic.

Does not seem to understand the topic very well.

Modifications/Accommodations:

Students will research their topic on their own but may help each other if they get stuck.

Students will be able to brainstorm ideas with their peers for a half an hour at the beginning of

class. Since each student works at a different pace, they will bring their report up to the teacher

before moving on and working with the art teacher on their paper mache fish. Teacher will give

students extra time to work on their projects if needed. For students who have a hard time

typing or verbally presenting their findings a program called Dragon can be used. For students

who are unable to attend the field trip to the aquarium, they will be able to draw their fish and

write about it or they can have a partner take a picture of their fish for them.

Student Example:

The Great White Shark

By Sally

The fish I chose was the great white shark. They live in most Oceans around the world. They are grey and white. The shark is 10- 20 feet long. This shark has large teeth and eats other fish, turtles, sea lions, sea otters, dolphins and other small sharks.

Sally’s paper mache shark:

References:

Jacqui. (Photographer). (2010). The power of paper mache. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from

http://drawingonscience.blogspot.com/

Corinne Perry

12/6/2012

Educ 150

Dr. Essig

Reflection on Choice Project

I chose to do my choice project on ocean life because it was always a topic that I found

interesting. I feel it’s a topic we find interesting because it’s not somewhere we can visit or

experience. By having the students go to the aquarium on our field trip, they got to see that

their fish were real. The students also got reinforcement on what the fish look like, there

sleeping patterns, what their fish eat and how they behave in their habitat. Also the aquarium

lets students do hands on activities such as petting the manta rays in their facility.

After completing the ocean lesson, I saw the positive impact technology had on my

students learning. By integrating computers and digital cameras into this lesson, I found the

students were more motivated, engaged and more excited to learn about ocean life. By doing

this lesson students were able to expand their knowledge by using child friendly search engines

such as kidz search. Not only did the children expand on their knowledge on their research

topic, they got to practice skills needed throughout their careers as well as their lives.

Not only did this lesson benefit the children, it also benefitted the parents. The parents in

my classroom got to come along on the field trip to the aquarium and they got to see firsthand

what their children were learning. Not only did their children learn about ocean life but they did

as well. I feel it is always a great idea to include parents into their child’s learning.

As the teacher I also benefitted from this lesson because I found different activities I

could use to assess the children. During this lesson I also was able to get a basic idea of where

my students stood in their knowledge of technology. Most of my students had some computer

experience but many were not sure of how to upload photos from the camera into the

computer. I also enjoyed putting all my student’s reports or projects into a book, which I will

leave out for them to look at whenever they want.

As the students worked on their projects they were able to experience three levels of

Bloom’s taxonomy. The first level the students worked through was knowledge. For this stage

the students used child friendly search engines or the library’s databases to find information on

their fish. After learning about their fish students then moved to a level of understanding or

comprehension. For this stage the students wrote a summary about their fish. In the summary

the students included a physical description of their fish, where their fish lives and what their

fish eats. Next students would apply what they learned at the aquarium and after their paper is

done the students would create a paper mache model of their fish. By including technology in

this lesson with my second grade students, they got to experience an introduction to the basic

of technology. I feel that by letting my students use the digital camera and the computer it

promoted their learning in a positive way.

Throughout this project I have noticed both pros and cons. The pros include students learn

about ocean life and why it is so important. Another pro is that students are exposed to

technology that they will have to use for the rest of their lives. Also another pro is that the

students will present their findings to the class that way the class will also learn about other

ocean life before the student gives it to the teacher to create the classroom book. This lesson

also fits into New York State’s core standards which is another pro. One con is that students

may not be able to afford a digital camera to bring to the class, and the school has only a

limited supply. So students may have to share the cameras which may lead to arguments

between peers. Another con may be that some students may not be able to attend the field trip

to the aquarium for various reasons (out sick, do not have the money needed…). Another

concern I have is that the lesson may take a while to complete and schools today have a tight

schedule and a set curriculum.

In conclusion, I think my choice project successfully integrated technology by using the

computers and the digital cameras. I also liked this lesson because it reflects the real world not

only in the technology used but in their research topics. In doing this project students were able

to meet all objectives set by teacher. The objectives were that students will be able to describe

their fish ’s physical appearance, where they live in the ocean, what they eat and any other fun

facts they learned while researching . Another objective met was that students will be able to

take a digital photo of their fish while the class goes on a school trip to the aquarium. Students

were also able to organize information into a report that will be part of a class book. This lesson

was also very successful because it kept the students engaged, motivated and it promoted the

students learning. This is definitely a project I would do again in future classes.