Dana Laren

Curriculum Unit Project

Part I
For my Practicum experience, I have been placed in a junior high school in Bloomington. I am in
an 8th grade academic setting with a few 7th graders who come in and out of the classroom as
well. My biggest class period has 12 students while my smallest class size is 5 students. My
students range from receiving RtI in math to having mild to severe Autism. Some of my students
spend much of the day in inclusion classes and I only see them for first hour while others I see
the whole day except for P.E, lunch, and their exploratory classes. For this project, I will be
looking at my fifth hour class which is science. In this class I have 5 students. For this project, I
will be focusing on the students comprehension of texts working with nonfiction, science texts. I
have changed all names in this report.
Audience/Target Classroom
In my science class, we have five students. All of my students are 8th graders. Their
reading levels vary from 4th grade to 7th grade and their comprehension skills vary about that
much as well. My students have really good discussions with me and my CT during science. Up
until now, the class has been studying the human body with the class co-taught by the reading
intervention coach and my CT. The reading intervention coachs last day was March 4th.We relate
everything we do in every single class throughout the day to finding the main idea. For this
project we will look exclusively on how to find the main idea of a non-fiction scientific text.
My students are all different and they are full of opinions, laughter, and are all pretty
close to each other. Most of these students are fully capable of being given an article and
following directions to read the article and pick out some main ideas, even though their main

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ideas might be wrong. One student needs to be prompted multiple times about what is
happening and what we are doing. I have found so far in my lessons that if students are given six,
unrelated paragraphs that they can choose 2 from to read, they are more motivated to do that
work. This is especially true with my students who have a harder time reading and completing
the work.
B is an 8th grade student who has a rare enzyme disorder. This disorder affects her stature,
her breathing, her muscle tone, and her digestive system. There are less than 100 people in the
world who have this disorder and both her and her sister have it. Every Thursday they are taken
to the clinic in Peoria to get treatments to help them stay healthy. B also has a trach and uses
several accommodations in class because she is around 3 feet tall. She leaves class whenever she
needs to in order to get suctioned which can take around 5-10 minutes depending on how she is
feeling. Her health can change at any minute so they have to be very diligent about giving her
suction or else the consequences could be dire. B has some trouble with comprehension but reads
pretty well. She is at a 6th grade level. B always volunteers to read things aloud for the class or
answer questions. She really likes school and has a good time there.
SC has an Other Health Impairment. SC suffers from seizures and she had so many when
she was little that there were some damages to her brain which has put her in our classroom. I
was just told by my CT about two weeks ago that SC needs to be monitored closely because she
is now off of her seizure medication. SC is a bright girl who can be shy at times. Her main
accommodations during class are that she only has to do about half the work that everyone else
has to do and she can have the reading read to her. SC has a hard time processing, so when
reading something new and having to identify what it is about, it may take her longer than the
other students. SC is very close with B. They always sit next to each other, correct each other,

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work together, and study together. B needs someone to walk with in the hallways and SC is
always that person.
L is a very outgoing, 8th grade boy who learns anything and everything he can about
anything and everything. If you ask the class what background knowledge they have of a topic,
more often than not, L offered up half of the ideas. He has a great memory and does not hesitate
to tell you when you are wrong. He likes to crack jokes related to the lessons which sometimes
are not funny, but he will retell them until someone laughs. L has a learning disability and a
speech language disorder. He is at a 6th grade reading level. L has some good comprehension
skills but still needs to work on finding the main idea of a passage. L does not mind asking for
help when he needs it.
A is a fun, 8th grade boy who likes to talk. He sometimes needs more guidance during
independent and guided practice. A has a learning disability and a speech language disorder. He
is at a 5th grade reading level. A needs some work with his reading comprehension. He can
answer literal questions from a passage if he can look back through the passage. A reads at a
slower pace and gets off task easy, so he sometimes does not get to finish readings or assigned
work. He does not mind asking for help when he needs it. R is an 8th grade student who has a
social emotional disorder and also has a behavior plan. R is also on parole and I have not seen
him in three weeks. R has a very tragic and sad home life and it breaks my heart to hear about his
home life. Rs main behaviors are avoidance, theft, truancy and escaping. I have not witnessed
any of these behaviors since I have been here, except for truancy. R has had problems with theft
both in school and out and is in and out of the juvenile detention system. He meets with the
guidance counselor during the last period of everyday. When R does come to school, he usually

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does not come until second or third period. My first 2 times in the classroom, R was not present
so I didnt get to meet him until the second week. R is at a 5th grade reading level.
D is an 8th grade student who has an Other Health Impairment, specific learning disability
and a behavioral intervention program. Ds main behaviors are not raising his hand and avoiding
work. I have seen both of these things multiple times a day with D. D tries to avoid work in order
to not to look dumb in front of his friends. D is also very malleable. He is hesitant to ask me for
help and when he does, if I have to ask him to repeat the question because I couldnt hear, he will
get bashful and shut down. I try and coax his question from him then or try and put together what
I had heard before I lost him. He then is not always the most receptive to help. D also will
pretend to zone out when working one to one at times. I am not sure if this is because he hopes
the person he is working with will read or write for him or if he is trying to avoid looking dumb
in front of whomever he is with. It is in Ds IEP that he can ask an adult to read or write for him
during any part of the school day. Ds main struggles are with the physical reading and he is at a
level M on the Fountas and Pinnel scale. He also has a hard time with picking out the main idea
and reading comprehension.
All of my students have their own personalities and things they like to do and dont like
to do in school. They are all on different reading levels and understand texts at different levels
but all these students need moderate to significant help with comprehension.
Description of Problem/Area of Need
For this project, I will be creating a comprehension unit based on marine biology. My
students have a hard time with comprehension and would greatly benefit from working on this
before they enter high school. Most, if not all of my students IEPs have at least one goal related
to comprehension and they directly link to finding the main ideas. This unit and these skills will

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be taught during 5th period science class with 5 of my students and will be reinforced during 8th
hour Tutorial. Tutorial is kind of like a study hall where students can work on homework or get
extra help before going home for the day. It is nice that we see most of the same students
throughout the whole day but the downside is, we dont see every student the whole day so we
cant add that extra practice in there. But it is great that they are doing well in their inclusion
classes and enjoying them as well.
Comprehension is one of the most essential skills to do well in school. It can help in
every aspect of school, whether you are reading a science textbook, a math work problem, or
reading an independent book for SSR. You use reading comprehension in everything! According
to an article I found, on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 36
% of eighth-grade students were able to read and comprehend text proficiently. The high number
of students who fail to read proficiently, coupled with increasing expectations that students read
more complex text, underscores the pressing need for solutions to our nations reading
comprehension problem. (Fogarty, 2014) This is shocking that comprehension is so low in so
many students when it is used in every aspect of school life. This made me realize how important
comprehension really is and how much more instruction our students need.
When looking for strategies for comprehension practice I came across the article
Comparing the Efficiency of Repeated Reading and Listening While Improving Fluency and
Comprehension. In the article from Hawkins, Marsicano, Schmitt, McCallum, and Musti-Rao
(2015), they state that fluency and comprehension go hand in hand. They found through their
studies that when they had students do repeated reading, where they read a text until they dont
get any words wrong, their students reading fluency went up. Then when they assessed students
for comprehension using the MAZE curriculum based measurement, they saw that their MAZE
scores went up as well. They also found that students can enhance reading fluency and
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comprehension when working in pairs due to the opportunity for both students to be the teacher
and the student at different times. I also found it really interesting that they concluded in this
article that students should be exposed to these strategies as often through the school day as
possible to make sure they are having maximum exposure so that it becomes like second nature
to them. I found this so interesting because this is pretty much what happens with my students.
They get reading instruction in Literature and Composition, then again in Science, and then again
in Social Studies or Tutorial depending on the day. (Hawkins, 2015)
Area of Focus
For this unit, we will be practicing and developing skills for comprehension when reading
non-fiction texts. My students have a hard time with both of these things and I really think a unit
would be very helpful to them before they go into high school to review their skills. This unit
would also help my students to learn new strategies to help them comprehend longer and harder
texts they may be reading in high school. Because this unit will be implemented during science
class, all the non-fiction texts will be about marine biology. The students decided that after they
finished PARCC testing and came back from spring break, they wanted to learn about marine
biology. My CT decided to give myself the opportunity to create a science curriculum to be
taught for this time. I am very excited to implement the curriculum into my first experience as a
teacher.
During this unit, students will be inferencing, summarizing, answering, questioning, and
thinking about our non-fiction texts. I want my students to be able to pick out the main idea and
at least two key details of a text by the time this unit is over.
My students all have comprehension goals in their IEPs and some of them are very
similar. I have added those goals together in order to make this list more succinct. All of the IEP
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goals aim for my students to increase their comprehension skills by answering inferential and
literal questions, identifying main ideas and supporting details, using context clues, and retelling
information.

Due to all my students having different types of comprehension goals, the strategies that
are taught need to range across many categories. Answering inferential and literal questions
needs to be addressed and taught. Using graphic organizers to tell the order of a story needs to be
taught as well.
I think they best way to address all these different goals would be to split students into
pairs. These groups should be split by their IEP goal, not their reading level necessarily. SC, and
B would be paired together because the graphic organizers can really help SC and B to
understand what they are reading better and will help them to know what they should be thinking
while they are reading. L and A would paired due to similar goals and similar reading levels. R
would be given the choice to join one of these pairs or work on his own with a teacher checking
in on him. This way R can have the independent time that he works best with and he can work at
his own pace.
Physical, social, administrative, and educational resources
My CT has a lot of different resources she can utilize for science, reading and writing.
She has a book room open to her full of leveled texts and strategies she can teach her students.
My CT also is very fortunate to have a literacy coach that comes in for 18 weeks during the year
and co-teaches a lesson with her. It is awesome to observe and interact in the classroom when
Mrs. K, the literacy teacher is teaching. The students all have their own individual laptops which
they use in school and can use at home as well. I have seen many educational benefits with these
such as online reviews for tests and quizzes, online modules for practice of a skill, I even made a
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website for a Literature and Composition lesson that the students could go on with their laptops
and navigate through and read the articles that they chose. If there are problems with laptops or a
student forgot theirs at home, they can check new ones out form the office for the day so they
can get it fixed or remember it tomorrow. The classroom also has an iPad to use, though I have
yet to see it be utilized. Students are motivated to read independently by different things every
team does in the school. So one team will get a pizza party from Monicals if they read a certain
number of books. Every student in the school can get free tickets to 6 Flags if they read a certain
amount of books during the summer. Every Friday during Literature and Composition, students
complete their Reading Plus, which is a leveled reading program that is based on the students
interests.
In her class, my CT says that they mostly do reading as a whole class. They just finished
reading Number the Stars as a class and would talk about every chapter that was read together.
She also says that fiction texts are the easiest for her students to read and discuss while nonfiction are the toughest. My CT believes that most of her students are pretty comfortable making
connections and asking questions about the readings which I find really reassuring. If a student
can make connections, they are most often understanding what is being read on some level which
then ties into comprehension. My CT also says that her students are mildly comfortable with
answering questions about a reading from the day before or when making inferences. This tells
me that my students would benefit from an inferencing lesson as well as little tips on how to
strengthen our memory and how to take notes about what we are reading.
My class, according to my CT, would benefit the most from comprehension work which I
see supported in their IEPs, day to day interactions, and through my CTs answers to the survey.

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Most of this information was taken from the Literacy Survey given to my CT on 2/8/2016 which
is attached as Appendix A.

Part II
Unit Planning Visual Organizer
EJHS
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Curriculum Document

Subject: Science _________________________________

Grade:__7th and 8th ___________

Unit Title: Marine Biology_________________________

Pacing: 6 weeks___________

Priority standards and supporting standards

1. CC.SS. RI.8.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective
summary of the text.
2. CC.SS. W.8.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas,
concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant
content.
3. CC.SS WHST.6-8.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources,
using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy or each source, and
quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and
following a standard format for citation. (this is also the same standard as CC.SS W.8.8)
4. CC.SS. RST.6-8.2: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an
accurate summary of the text district from prior knowledge or opinions.

Unwrapped Priority Standards

Concepts
(What students need
to know)
- Central idea
- Supporting ideas
- Objective summary
- Informative/explanatory
texts
- concepts
- relevant content
- multiple print
- digital sources
- search terms

Skills
(What students need
to be able to do)
-

determine
analyze
provide
write
gather
assess
avoiding (plagiarism)
following (a standard)
convey

Learning facet
addressed

- explain
- apply
- interpret

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- credible
- data
- conclusions
- plagiarism
- citation
- summary
- text district
- prior knowledge or
opinions

Essential Questions:
(student-friendly Language)

How can I find a main idea when I am reading a non-fiction text?

How do we understand unknown words and phrases from a text?
How do I pick out important information from a non-fiction passage?
How do I write an explanatory/informative essay that makes sense? What do I have
to include in my essay?
How do I compile all my knowledge into a well written paper?
How do I know a source is credible?

Big idea(s): (Understanding)

(student-friendly language)

The main idea is the point of the paragraph. It is the most important thought about
the topic. To figure out the main idea, ask yourself this question: What do I think the
author wants me to learn the most? The author can place the main idea in different
places within a paragraph so it may not be the first sentence in a paragraph and it
may not be the last either. The main idea is the most important thing that I learned
from a reading and that I have other facts to show that main idea is true.
In order to figure out what a word or phrase that confused myself or made me
pause, I can use clues from the text to help figure out what the confusing words
might mean. So when I come across a word I am unsure of, I can reread that
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sentence to see if the context clues can help me. If that does not help me to
understand the word then I can reread the paragraph. If I still am confused about
what a work means, I can also use my resources in the classroom such as a
dictionary or a friend. If I cannot find the word in the dictionary or my friend doesnt
know either, then I can ask my teacher or another adult for help.
When I am picking out important information, I need to read carefully and look for
text features. Important information may be highlighted, bolded, underlined or
italicized. I also can find important information by looking for main ideas. A main
idea is always important in the text. Another way I can find important information is
by finding information that does not fit. So if I find a sentence or fact that just does
not seem to relate or support anything else in the passage, I know that that is not
important. Important information could also be a number or percentage like 1 out of
every 3 animals is a bug. This is an important fact because it is giving me a number.
To write a great paper, I need to make sure I do a couple things beforehand. I need
to gather credible sources and read through that information. While I am reading, I
need to take notes of all the main ideas from that reading passage. Next, I need to
pick out the most important main ideas or the main ideas that I am interested in the
most. Then, I need to start planning my paper. Once I have my main ideas, I want to
find supporting details. I can look back through my credible sources to find any
information that supports the main ideas I will be writing about. Once I have
supporting details, I can start planning out my paper using a graphic organizer. I
always need to make sure I have an introduction paragraph and a conclusion
paragraph. Once I have every paragraph planned out and enough information, I can
start writing my paper. Once I think I am done writing my paper, I need to make
sure I revise and edit my work. I need to look for grammatical errors, sentence
structure errors, plagiarism, and sentences that may be too long, too short, or that
sound weird. When I am done editing, I can give it to a friend to peer edit and I can
peer edit theirs, or I can turn it in if I am 100% confident with my work.
When I am looking for credible sources, I can look in several places. If I look online,
any websites that end in .edu or .gov are credible because they were made by
schools or the government. I also need to look and see if the website says where
they got their information from. If they list that, then they are pretty reliable. I can
also look in text books and non-fiction books in the library. Those texts are all pretty
credible because they are published.

Key Terms (vocabulary)

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1. Environment/biome
2. salt water
3. vertebrates
4. vertebrae
5. invertebrates
6. cold blooded
7. carnivores
8. herbivores
9. omnivores
10. depth
11. adapt/adaptation
12. extinct
13. pollution
14. conservation
15. marine biology

Unit Assessment Plan/Six facets of Understanding

Pre assessment (see attached)
Article and Main Idea Students will read an article independently and at the end of the article
they will find three main ideas. They will write the main ideas on the back of the paper and have
their name at the top of the reading. This will help me to assess and see where students need the
most help in. Do they need more instruction on finding the main idea or more instruction in the
difference between a main idea and supporting details? The article is attached as Appendix C.
This fits in with the learning facet of interpretation because the student is taking the information
and generating their own new, main idea from the text.
Vocab Pre-Assessment Students will be administered a vocabulary pretest at the beginning of
the unit to see what vocabulary they know and what they dont know. This will help me to see
what words may need a little more time spent on during instruction so students can fully
understand their meanings. The vocabulary assessment is attached as Appendix D. This fits in
with the learning facet of self-knowledge. Students are looking at the vocabulary words and
assessing what they know about those words. They are using metacognition to assess what they
know about those words.
KWL Chart Students will individually fill out a KWL chart at the beginning of the unit to see
what background knowledge they have and what questions they have about marine biology. We
will also create our own class KWL chart on poster board at the front of the room to add onto
during the unit. This will be graded with a rubric at the end of the unit. Both the chart and rubric
are attached as Appendix B. This also fits in with the learning facet of self-knowledge. Students
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are thinking about what they personally know about marine biology and what questions they
have. They are using metacognition to assess what they know about this topic.
Informal Progress-Monitoring Tools (see attached)
Vocabulary book Throughout the unit, students will compile a book of vocabulary words.
These words will include the words on the pre and post assessment and any other words that they
feel are important. Each word will have two pages and on those pages they need to have: a
definition of the word, a sentence using the word, a way to remember the word, and a picture
illustrating the word. This will be graded using a rubric. The rubric is attached as Appendix E.
The application facet is relevant with this tool. The students are taking the word and definitions
and then creating their own sentences and pictures to illustrate what they understand the word to
mean.
Informational poster Students will create an informational poster in the middle of the unit
about a topic they found interesting. This poster will need to contain three main ideas that they
learned from reading/learning about this topic. The poster should be colorful and have
illustrations about the topic we are reading that day. This will be assessed using the attached
rubric (Appendix F). This fits in with the application facet because they are taking the
information they have learned from their readings and putting that information together to teach
others about what they know. They are applying this new knowledge by creating a poster to
illustrate the information.
Research paper post-it notes Students will be given a list of topics they can choose to write
about in their post assessment research paper. During the unit, if we are reading and learning
about one of their topics, they will need to write at least three main ideas on post it notes from
their readings to be used in their research paper. Once they have decided on their three main
ideas they can then make other post-its to remember interesting facts they may want to use in
their paper. These post-its will be collected by me and will be kept in a folder in the classroom so
they do not get lost. I will assess how many and what post-it notes students have on a weekly
basis. I will assess students by using the attached rubric (Appendix G). This supports the
explanation learning facet. By having students find the main ideas of a text and then find
supporting facts or details to use in their papers, they are finding claims from the texts and
supporting them with specific evidence. This is the definition of what this facet is about so it
works perfectly.
Post assessment (see attached)
Research paper Students will have picked three topics at the beginning of the unit to write
about. During the unit they will have compiled main ideas and interesting facts to use in their
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research paper. Students will transfer their information from their post-its onto a graphic
organizer to help plan their research paper. Once they have completely filled in the organizer,
they can write their research paper. The paper will be 5 paragraphs (introduction paragraph, 3
informative paragraphs, and a closing paragraph). The paper will be assessed using a rubric
which is attached as Appendix H with the graphic organizer. This assessment supports the
explanation and application facets. It works with the explanation facet because students are
compiling the research they have done and supporting their claims with specific evidence from
the text. They take this information and turn it into a cohesive paper. By finding the main ideas
and supporting details and writing them as their claims and evidence, the students are applying
all of the instruction from this unit into one, well written paper. They take what they have learned
about finding main ideas and supporting details and putting them in the paper. They take what
they know about finding important information and putting that in the paper. They are taking
their vocabulary words and using some of those in the paper. They are applying all their
knowledge from this unit and putting it all in their paper.
Article and Main Idea Students will read an article independently and at the end of the article
they will find three main ideas. They will write the main ideas on the back of the paper and have
their name at the top of the reading. This will help me to assess and see where my students are at.
This will be compared to their pre assessment article to see how much they have grown. The
article is attached as Appendix I. This fits in with the learning facet of interpretation because the
student is taking the information and generating their own new, main idea from the text.
Vocab post-test Students will be administered a vocabulary post-test that is similar to their pretest. This will be compared to their pre-test and their vocabulary book to see how students did
before and while they were learning about the words. Another lesson may be taught to go over
the words that 2 or more students got wrong on the post test. The post test is attached as
Appendix J. This fits in with the learning facet of application. Students are applying what they
have learned about the vocab words to answer the questions and create sentences about those
words.
KWL Chart - Students will individually fill out a KWL chart at the end of the unit to see what
they learned and see if they can answer the questions they had about marine biology in the W
part of the chart. We will also create our own class KWL chart on poster board at the front of the
room to add onto to see how much we have learned. This will be graded with a rubric at the end
of the unit. Both the chart and rubric are attached as Appendix B. This fits in with the learning
facet of self-knowledge. Students are thinking about what they personally have learned about
marine biology. They are using metacognition to assess what they know about this topic.

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Part III Weekly Planner

Pre-Assessment Results- Describe the pre-assessment results and how the results informed your instructional decision making when
developing your learning sequence and activities. Attach your assessment results as an appendix.
When I implemented this curriculum into my Practicum classroom, I had to change some things due to time constraints and students
being absent for multiple days due to an incarceration and a surgery. Also, to make it easier on my students and in order to spend more
time working on vocabulary, I broke the VKS pre-assessment into four separate assessments. This allowed my students to focus on the
specific words we would be focusing on for that week. On the Monday of the first three weeks of the curriculum, I administered the
VKS pre-assessment which overall, usually had students scoring pretty low. They were not familiar with a lot of the vocabulary words
for the pre-assessments and usually scored most if not all the words with 1s and 2s. By Thursday, when the other Practicum student
in my classroom administered the post-assessment, they were able to mark most if not all of the words as 3s and 4s and use them
correctly in sentences. I was amazed and so proud of all that they were able to recall not only for the post-assessments but also that
following Monday when we would recap what they had learned the previous week. They absolutely surprised me and it was such a
good feeling to know that they were actually learning what we were teaching. By the beginning of week three, they were not getting
invertebrates, vertebrates, and vertebrae confused anymore which was absolutely wonderful! When they finished filling out the VKS
pre-assessments and gave them to me, I was able to see if we needed to spend the whole class period learning the vocabulary like I
planned or if we could just spend half the time on vocab and the rest of the hour reading about a certain type of marine animal. The
VKS pre-assessments 1-2 are attached as Appendix K.
My students filled out the KWL charts independently after I explained what they were to write in the first two columns. I gave them
about five minutes but I realized that my students still did not know what they were doing and had written I dont know anything in
the K column of the chart. So after 2 minutes, I had the group come back together and we talked about what they know so far. I
prompted them with questions like what kind of animals live in the ocean and what kind of plants live in the ocean and has
anyone ever been to the ocean? What did you see there and how was the water different from a pool or lake? Questions like that
really helped them to think about what they knew. Then we moved onto the W column and I prompted them here with my own
questions such as I wonder why different parts of the ocean are different colors and I wonder how much of the world is covered
with ocean water. These questions helped my students really open their minds to the different aspects of the ocean and come up with
some really great questions they had. The KWL Charts are attached as Appendix M.

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Each student also independently read an article on invertebrates. I chose to have them read this article instead of the article I attached
for my part two because this made more sense since our actual unit was shorter. We focused more on the types of animals in the ocean
rather than the actual water and plants in the ocean which is what my original article was about. Once they read the article I had them
write what they thought was the overall main idea of the article at the bottom of the page where I had written Main Idea. Once they
were done with that I had them answer the questions that were on the next page that followed the article. When the entire class was
finished with all of that, we met together to discuss what the main idea was. They have had lots of work in both science, reading, and
language arts about finding the main idea so they should have something that is pretty close to a main idea. Overall, my students were
able to pick out an important fact they found in the article. They all chose the same fact. When we shared what they thought their main
ideas were, I decided to take what they had put and we expanded upon it by adding in what the definition of an invertebrate animal is.
I tried to stress to my students that main ideas are not necessarily a fact but are what the whole article talked about. I explained that
when they are reading something for science they should try and think about what the main thing the author wants us to learn about
this animal. This assessment showed me that my students were still having trouble finding the main idea of an article and needed some
more instruction and practice. Om April 20th, I conducted an informal assessment to see if my students had come farther with finding
the main idea. I had my students read articles on marine reptiles and find three main ideas in that article. They had to create the
informational poster (day 19 in my curriculum) by adding these main ideas as their facts. Overall, half of my students improved and 2
of their three main ideas were correct and written in their own words. The article they were pre-assessed on and what they wrote their
main idea on is attached as Appendix L.
Something that I implemented in my classroom that my students really enjoyed was a Question of the Day. It was always a scientific
question that they needed to answer by the end of the class period. They enjoyed looking through all the readings and websites that I
supplied them with for the answer. Sometimes my students would create their own QODs for the next day because they thought of
something that they wanted to learn then. I have put all the QODs in the Lesson Objective, Big Ideas, and Essential Questions section
of this paper.
Lesson Objective
Big ideas and Essential
Questions

H=How will you hook

and engage my
interest?

Modeling (I do)
(strategies used)

Guided practice
(strategies used)

Independent
Practice/
Assessment

Progress
monitoring
tools (provide a
description of
the tool and
how it will be
Page 18

used during the

lesson)
Day
1

- The QOD will be:

What is marine
biology?
-Big Idea: Introduce
marine biology and
define it. We will also
finish two preassessments; the VKS
vocabulary and the
KWL chart.
-Todays lesson does
not tie into an essential
question since I am
mainly focusing on
assessing what
background
information my
students have about
marine biology.

- To start the lesson we

will look at different
pictures of the ocean. I
will have my students
start thinking about what
they already know about
the ocean and what they
want to know more
about. This will get them
interested in marine
biology as well as
activating their prior
knowledge before
administering the preassessments.

Day
2

- QOD: How much of

the earth is covered in
water?
- Big Idea: Today we
will work on defining
the first words in our

- I will have students

walk in and choose an
ocean book which they
can start looking through.

- I will model how

to look through
the ocean books
(utilizing the
index and/or
glossary) that I

- As a class we
will discuss what
we think marine
biology means.
We will break it
into the words:
marine meaning
sea or ocean, bio
meaning life, and
ology meaning
the study of.
-Students will
then write the
definition we
come up with as a
class on the front
of their
vocabulary books.
- Each student will
then need to create
their own sentence
using the words
marine biology.

- Students will be administered a main

idea assessment where they will need to
read an article about the overview of
marine biology. After they are done
reading, they will independently write
what they believe is the main idea of the
article at the bottom of the page.
- Students will also be administered
their VKS pre-assessment.
- Students will also fill in their KWL
charts at the end of the class period.
They will independently fill in whatever
they know already about marine
biology in the K column and
whatever questions they have or what
they want to learn in the W column.

- As a class, we
will discuss and
fill in the first tab
of our vocabulary
book all about
invertebrates and

- Students will look up the words they

have in their first tab of their individual
vocabulary books and put the
definitions on the appropriate lines.
- Vocabulary books will be checked at
the end of each week to make sure
Page 19

unit. These words will

help us gain
understanding about
marine biology and all
the reading we will do
for the rest of this unit.
- Essential Question:
How do we understand
unknown words and
phrases from a text?

Day
3

- QOD: What is an
invertebrate?
- Big Idea: An
invertebrate in an
animal that does not
have a backbone. They

have picked out

for them. They
will be looking for
the words: salt
water,
environment or
biome, cells,
invertebrates,
plankton,
vertebrates, and
vertebrae as well
as a map of the
five oceans so we
can name them. I
will also model to
them where I want
them to write the
definitions they
find.
- I will also model
taking a word
from the text and
using context
clues to
understand what it
means.
- I will model how
to string and in
what order the
spinal cord should
be made during
guided practice.

the back cover

with the names of
the 5 oceans. They
will look through
the marine
biology books I
have for them to
look for vocab
words as well as
the map of the 5
different oceans.
- When they find a
word, I will have
them read the
sentence or
definition of the
word aloud and
we as a class can
talk to re-word the
definition so we as
a class can
understand what
the word really
means.

students are keeping up with their

vocabulary.

- We will be
creating out own
models of a back
bone. Students
will all create their
own as they

- After making the back bone

manipulative the students will read the
main idea article about invertebrates
and find the main idea. Once they have
all written down their main ideas, we
will discuss the different ways that
Page 20

move and eat in

different ways than
most animals. They are
the most populous type
on animal on the
planet.
- Essential Question:
How can I find a main
idea when I am reading
a non-fiction text?

Day

QOD: How many

follow my
example.
-There will be a
diagram of a real
back bone on the
board where I will
have labeled the
spinal cord,
vertebrae, and
nerves. We will
then identify as a
group which of
the supplies they
have in front of
them are which
part of the back
bone: spinal cord
= pipe cleaner,
vertebrae =
Gummy Life
Savers, nerves =
beads.
- Once we are
done stringing the
spinal cord with
their vertebrae and
nerves, we will
discuss how the
backbone helps
animals move.
-

- We will read an

invertebrates move and eat.

- The article and main idea they wrote
will be collected and graded and be kept
to compare to their main ideas at the
end of the semester.

- Students will be

- Students will
Page 21

invertebrates are there

in the world? What is
an invertebrate?
Big Idea: Todays
lesson we are focusing
on how to get the main
idea out of an scientific
article as learning about
what a research paper
is.
Essential Question:
How can I find a main
idea when I am reading
a non-fiction text?

article together
about a certain
type of
invertebrate. Then
I will model how
to find the main
idea from the
article by focusing
on what the author
wants me to know
the most
throughout the
whole reading. I
will have to think
about what ideas
or words popped
up the most in my
reading. I will
have to decide if
what I think is the
main idea is
actually just a cool
fact that may be a
supporting detail.

assigned a type of
invertebrate
(insects,
crustaceans,
worms, mollusks,
and coral) to read
about. They will
read their article
and find the main
idea. They will
have to find the
biggest thing in the
article so they can
teach their
classmates about
that type of
invertebrate by
using just their
main idea.
- Once students are
done with sharing
their main ideas to
the class, they can
share some other
fun facts that they
learned about that
specific
invertebrate.
- Today, students
will also be
introduced to the
idea that they will

answer the QODs

verbally before
they go to lunch.
The second QOD
is repeated
because it is
something really
important that
my students need
to know for this
unit.

Page 22

be writing a
research paper by
the end of the unit.
I will have a list of
all the different
animals that they
can choose from.
They can pick 3
animals from the
list. Each animal
they choose needs
to be from a
different list. So
they need one
reptile, one
mammal, one fish
etc.
- They will have
time at the end of
the class to
individually read
through the lists
and choose their
three animals. They
will either circle or
write the animals
they picked at the
top of the page.

Day
5

QOD: What did you

learn this week about
invertebrates?

- I will model how

to read an article
and find the main

- We will work
together to put the
invertebrates on

- If students chose
an invertebrate for
their research

- Check-post it
notes of students
who chose to
Page 23

Big Idea: Post-it notes

are a great way to store
information and how
we will be keeping
track of all of our
research.
-Todays lesson does
not tie into an essential
question since I am
mainly focusing on the
science portion of this
unit.

Day
6

QOD: What are some

characteristics of fish?
And what is the deepest
part of the ocean?
Big Idea: The ocean
has three levels. The
Deep Zone is the
bottom level and has no
sunlight.

ideas. I will put

those main ideas
on my post-it
notes which I will
paper clip to the
list of what
animals I chose
from yesterday.

- We will look at the

Deep Sea Exploration
website I found below
and look at all the
different things that are in
the deep zone of the
ocean.

the depth chart at

the back of the
room in the
correct depth they
live at.

paper, they should

take the time to
find the main ideas
for their post-it
notes by reading
one the article that
applies to them
from yesterday.
- While students are
finding the main
ideas they need, the
other students will
be researching the
different
invertebrates and
what level of the
ocean they live in.

research an
invertebrate.
Students need to
have three postit notes per
animal.

- We will label the

different parts of
the fish on the
diagram they have
in their
vocabulary book.
- We will also
define the words
cold- blooded,
migrate, and
carnivore and
write those
definitions in our
vocabulary book.

-If we talked about

one of the animals
they are
researching, they
can have extra time
at the end to write
their three main
ideas on their postit notes.

-Students will
need to have their
first two tabs of
the vocab books
filled in to make
sure they are
keeping up with
the vocabulary
for this unit.

Page 24

- After we have
defined fish, we
will read an article
about the deep
zone of the ocean.
Then we will go
back to the Deep
Sea Exploration
site and identify
some of the fish
from there.
- As a class we
will label the
printed out
pictures of some
deep zone fish,
color them, and
put them onto out
depth chart.

Day
7

QOD: Why is the

middle zone of the
ocean called the
Twilight Zone?
Essential Question:
How can I find a main
idea when I am reading
a non-fiction text?

As a class we will
read an article
about the Twilight
zone. We will
identify the main
idea and the
different animals
in that zone.
We will discuss
the different
adaptations these
animals have to

-If we talked about

one of the animals
they are
researching, they
can have extra time
at the end to write
their three main
ideas on their postit notes.

Page 25

live with little to

no sunlight.

Day
8

QOD: How many fish

are in the ocean?
Essential Question:
How can I find a main
idea when I am reading
a non-fiction text?

Day
9

QOD: How do you

write a research paper?
Big Idea:
Essential Question:
How do I write an
explanatory/informativ
e essay that makes
sense? What do I have
to include in my essay?

Day
10

QOD: What did you

learn this week about
the different layers of
the ocean?

As a class, we will
determine what
depths the
different fish
swim at and put
them on our depth
chart.

I have read my
own articles and
found my own
main ideas about
all my marine
animals. So I will
model how to fill
out our research
paper outline by
using the
information that I
already have and
will also give to
my students.

- Students will
independently read
articles about
different fish and
find main ideas
from the article.

The class will

follow along and
fill out their own
research paper
outline for the
information that I
will give them.

As a class, we will
take the main
ideas that they
read about on Day

-If we talked
about one of the
animals they are
researching, they
can have extra
time at the end to
write their three
main ideas on
their post-it
notes.
- Students will
turn in their
outlines so I can
see if we need to
spend more time
talking about
what goes in the
outline and how
to fill it out.

- Students will
independently read
articles about
different fish and

- I will check
post-it notes of
students who
chose to research
Page 26

Essential Question:
How can I find a main
idea when I am reading
a non-fiction text?

8 and fill in that

information onto
out class outline.

Day
11

QOD: What is blubber?

Big Idea: When reading
an article, I can look at
context clues to define
unknown words.
Essential Question:
How do we understand
unknown words and
phrases from a text?

Day
12

QOD: How deep can a

whale dive?
Big Idea:
Essential Question:
How can I find a main
idea when I am reading
a non-fiction text?

As a class we will
read an article
about how marine
mammals survive
in the ocean by
using their
blubber.
We will then
conduct a blubber
experiment to see
how fat (gloves)
protect them from
the cold ocean
water (a bowl of
ice water).
We will also fill in
the mammals tab
of their
vocabulary book.
-As a class, we
will read an article
on whales and
find the main idea
of the article.

- We will look at pictures

of a sperm whale (the
biggest whale on Earth).
We will discuss how deep
they think the whale can
swim to.

find main ideas

from the article.

invertebrates
and/or fish.
Students have to
have three post-it
notes per animal.
I will look at
their vocabulary
book to make
sure they are
keep up with
their vocabulary.

- Students will also

read an article
about an individual
marine mammal
(dolphins,
porpoises, or
manatees) and find

- Turn in their
main ideas
-If we talked
about one of the
animals they are
researching, they
can have extra
Page 27

the main idea of

that article to share
with the class.

Day
13

QOD: What is a
dugong?
Big Idea:
Essential Question:

Day
14

Big Idea: An
introduction paragraph
is very important in a
paper because it
introduces our reader to

- I will have pictures of

dugongs, seals, walruses,
and sea otters on the
board as students walk in.

- I will introduce
the Guess who
game to my
students and tell
them the rules of
how to play. We
will read each
question/fact as a
class. Then they
will have to look
on the websites I
have given them
to find which
animal the fact is
about. They will
share with the
class if the fact
does or does not
apply to their
animal.
- I will model to
my students how
to write an
introduction
paragraph and

time at the end to

write their three
main ideas on
their post-it
notes.

- Each student will have an animal and

a website. As we read through the
facts/questions on the sheet, students
will independently read through their
websites to find if that fact
belongs/describes their animal.

- Students will
take the
information off of
the outline we
filled in together
Page 28

Day
15

Day
16

what we will be
teaching them about in
our paper.
Essential Question and
QOD: How do I know
a source is credible?
How do I write an
explanatory/informativ
e essay that makes
sense? What do I have
to include in my essay?

first main idea

last week and tell
paragraph for their me what to write
research paper. We next.
will make sure to
use transition
words and
vocabulary words.

QOD: What did you

learn this week about
marine mammals?
Big Idea: An
introduction paragraph
is very important in a
paper because it
introduces our reader to
what we will be
teaching them about in
our paper.
Essential Question:
How do I write an
explanatory/informativ
e essay that makes
sense? What do I have
to include in my essay?
QOD: What kind of
reptiles live in the
ocean?

- As a class we
can add any
animals we didnt
have during the
week to our depth
chart.

- Students will
independently write
their own
paragraphs with the
information that we
used yesterday.
They will put the
information in their
own words.

- I will check
post-it notes of
students who
chose to research
an invertebrate
and/or fish and/or
mammal.
Students have to
have three post-it
notes per animal.

- We will define
the words in our
reptile tab of our

- Students will look

through the ocean
books for our

- I will check
their vocab books
to make sure they
Page 29

Big Idea: Reptiles are

cold-blooded and have
different adaptations to
live in the ocean.
Essential Question:
How do we understand
unknown words and
phrases from a text?

Day
17

QOD: How do reptiles

breathe in the ocean?
Essential Question:
How can I find a main
idea when I am reading
a non-fiction text?
Big Idea: A main idea
in a non-fiction text is
the most important
thing that the authors
wants us to know about
that subject.

- We will start by making

a web of all that we
learned yesterday about
what a reptile is.

Day
18

QOD: Are marine

reptiles carnivores,
omnivores, or
herbivores?
Big Idea: Reptiles are
cold-blooded and have
different adaptations to

- I will show my students

the informational poster I
made about an animal
and explain to them that
that is what they are
making today.

vocabulary book
and talk about
what kinds of
adaptations the
students think
reptiles have to
live in the ocean.

vocabulary words
so we can define
them.

are keeping up
with their vocab
words.

-We will review as

a class how to find
a main idea in a
non-fiction text.
We will read an
article about sea
turtles together
and find the main
idea as a group.
- As a group, we
will put the
animals we
learned about
today on the depth
chart.

-Students will
independently read
an article about
ocean alligators.

- Students will
turn in the main
ideas they found
today.
-If we talked
about one of the
animals they are
researching, they
can have extra
time at the end to
write their three
main ideas on
their post-it
notes.

-Students will independently read an

article on a marine reptile (either a sea
snake or marine iguana). They will pick
out three main ideas and use those as
the main points of their poster. They
will also need to include some fun facts
and vocabulary words that they found in
Page 30

live in the ocean.

Essential Question:
How do we understand
unknown words and
phrases from a text?

Day
19

QOD: How do you put

quotes into a research
paper?
Big Idea: When writing
an informative essay,
we need to make sure
we support our ideas
with facts.
Essential Question:
How do I compile all
my knowledge into a
well written paper? And
How do I know a
source is credible?

Day

QOD: What did you

their text. The vocabulary words that

they include on their poster they will
need to define there as well. Students
will have the rubrics in front of them so
they make sure to include everything
that they need for full points.
- Once they finish the poster, they can
add their animal to the depth chart at the
back of the room.
-If we talked about one of the animals
they are researching, they can have
extra time at the end to write their three
main ideas on their post-it notes.
- Today I will
model how to use
a quote in a
research paper and
how to cite it so
we do not
plagiarize our
writing.

- We will review what I

- As a class, we
will add to our
main paper. We
will write the 2nd
paragraph and the
conclusion
paragraph. I will
stress to my
students that they
will be writing
three
informational
paragraphs but we
are only going to
practice writing
two.

- The poster is
due today so I
will collect it and
grade it
according to the
rubric (Appendix
F).

- Students will

- I will check
Page 31

20

learn this week about

marine reptiles?
Big Idea: When writing
an informative essay,
we need to make sure
we support our ideas
with facts.
Essential Question:
How do I write an
explanatory/informativ
e essay that makes
sense? What do I have
to include in my essay?

modeled for them

yesterday and what they
need to include when
they are writing their
filler paragraphs. For
times sake, today the
students will only write a
second body paragraph
and the conclusion.

independently write
their own
paragraphs with the
information that we
used yesterday.

Day
21

QOD: How do you

clean the ocean?
Big Idea: Humans are
very harmful to the
environment but there
are certain things that
we can do to change
that like recycling and
reducing the amount of
trash we use.
Essential Question:
There is no essential
question that matches
up with today since we
are focusing on the
science part of this unit.

- We will watch the

video:
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?
v=WtewmJ78hzw

We will define the words: conservation,

recycle, and pollution.
- Next we will compile of list of all the
things that are pollutants in the ocean
which we saw in the video.
-Then we will compile a list of ways to
clean the ocean.
- I will have created a table for them of
the different pollutants and ways to clean
the ocean.
- Students will work in pairs to take the
items I have brought and pollute the bins
of water that signify the ocean (vegetable
oil to signify oil, beads to signify small
pieces of plastic, tin foil, receipts, paper,
toilet paper rolls, water bottles, pop cans,
rubber bands, etc, to signify trash).
- Once they have polluted their bins, they

post-it notes of
students who
chose to research
an invertebrate
and/or fish and/or
mammal and/or
reptiles. Students
have to have
three post-it
notes per animal.

-Students will
turn in their
tables at the end
of the period to
be used as
participation
points in the
grade book.

Page 32

will work to un-pollute the bins by using

the tools on the table (tongs, paper
towels, dish soap, and a colander). They
will fill out the chart to keep track of
which tools work best for the different
pieces of trash in the ocean.
- Once their tables are filled out, we will
come back together as a group and
discuss how there is no way to really get
rid of all the trash in the ocean. We will
then brainstorm different ways to lessen
the amount of trash in the ocean.

Day
22

QOD: How do you

know a species is
endangered?
Big Idea: When I am
looking for credible
sources, I can look in
several places. If I look
online, any websites
that end in .edu or .gov
are credible because
they were made by
schools or the
government. I can also
look in text books and
non-fiction books in the
library. Those texts are
all pretty credible
because they are
published.

- We will define the

different endangered
species rankings i.e.
endangered, threatened,
safe etc.

I will show
students different
websites they can
use to conduct
their research
today. I will
explain to them
that by the end of
the period I want
them to have
complied a list of
5-7 different
species of marine
animals that are
endangered or
threatened. When
they write an
animal on the list,
they should also

- Students will independently research

different animals that are on the
endangered species list and/or are
threatened. They will compile a list of
5-7 animals that are on the list and then
will turn in this list at the end of the
period to be graded for their grade
book.

Page 33

Essential Question:
How do I know a
source is credible?

Day
23

QOD: What
adaptations would a
human need to be able
to survive in the ocean?
Big Idea: The species
of animals that live in
the ocean are very
diverse and have many
different adaptations
that help them to live in
the ocean biome.
Essential Question:
Today we are wrapping
up the science portion
of our unit so it does
not tie into our essential
questions for the
writing part of this unit.

Day
24

QOD: How do you

find the main idea in a

write what species

that animal
belongs to, how
many are left in
the world, and
why they are on
the list (hunted by
humans, live in
polluted waters,
etc.)
- Students will read
through all the things
they wrote in their K and
W columns of their KWL
charts and talk about how
much we have learned in
this unit.

- I will model to
my students how

- We will compare
all the animals
that we have
learned about in
this unit by
creating Venn
Diagrams. We will
also create webs
about each species
we learned about
and focus on the
physical features,
breathing, biomes,
and adaptations
each species has.

- Students will fill in the L column of

their KWL chart. They will try to
answer all the questions they wrote in
the W column. If they cannot answer
the question, we can discuss it as a class
and see if the class can answer it.

- Students will
edit and revise the

- Student will be administered their

article and main idea post assessment.
Page 34

Day
25

Day
26

scientific article?
Big Idea: Writing a
conclusion paragraph is
very important to our
writing because it helps
us to wrap up the whole
paper so our readers
know what they learned
from reading your
paper.
Essential Question:
How do I compile all
my knowledge into a
well written paper?
QOD: What questions
do you have about your
research paper?
Big Idea: An outline
helps to organize all of
the information that we
have found so far and
will help us when we
are finally ready to
actually write out
research paper.
Essential Question:
How do I compile all
my knowledge into a
well written paper?
Big Idea: An outline
helps to organize all of
the information that we

edit and revise

their writing on
my own research
paper we have
been writing
together for this
unit.

- I will show them a

funny video about the
ocean to get them ready
to have a good day of
organizing all of their
information.
https://www.youtube.
com/
watch?v=y3x4rMaKrRY

research paper
that we have been
writing together.

This will be graded and compared to

their pre-assessment to see if they have
improved finding the main idea of a
scientific article.
- I will check post-it notes of students
who chose to research an invertebrate
and/or fish and/or mammal. Students
must have at least 9 post-it notes by the
time they walk out of the classroom for
lunch.

- I will give the

outline to students
and go through it
all together. While
we are going
through it I will
remind them of all
the information
we filled in during
our practice
outline.

- Students will first

begin by organizing
their post-it notes
by what idea they
coincide with.
- Students will then
start filling in their
outline, asking as
many questions as
they need

- Students will first take their

Vocabulary Post-Assessment. I will read
the directions to them for each section.
Page 35

have found so far and

will help us when we
are finally ready to
actually write out
research paper.
Essential Question:
How do I compile all
my knowledge into a
well written paper?

Day
27

Big Idea:
Essential Question:

Day
28

QOD: What vocabulary

words are you using in
you research paper?
Big Idea:
Essential Question:
QOD: What should we
do with our work when
we are done writing?

Day
29

- Once they finish their vocabulary test,

they will continue to fill in their
research paper outline.
- If they have not finished their outline
by the time class is over, it will be
assigned as homework.

- We will begin class by

going over the specifics
to writing a research
paper: introduction
paragraph with an
attention grabber, three
paragraphs talking about
each animal their
researched and using
their main ideas (in their
own words), conclusion
paragraph with a great
closing sentence, using
transition words,

Students will continue to independently

write their research paper on Google
Docs.

- Students will continue to write their

research paper on Google Docs.

- We will start class by

talking about how
everyones writing has

- As a class we
will go over what
each level of the

- Students will edit and revise their own

paper or a peers for mistakes in the
research paper by using the editing and
Page 36

Day
30

Big Idea: Editing

means we look for
grammar errors.
Revising means we
look for errors in the
science part of our
paper.
Essential Question:

been going. I will then

tell my students how
proud I am for all their
hard work. The hardest
part is done! They have
picked their topics, done
lots of research, filled out
an outline, and actually
written a research paper!
They have done an
amazing job and I am
proud of what they have
accomplished. They
should feel like amazing
students because of all
the hard work they have
put in so far. I will
remind them that they
have one more part to
finish and that is revising
and editing which they
will do today.

editing and
revising checklist
looks like and
how to make
corrections. Then
students can chose
to either edit and
revise their own or
switch with a peer
and edit that
persons paper.

revising checklist they have.

- Whoever edits and revises their paper,
I want that person to sign their editing
and revising checklist so I know later
who graded and edited what.

QOD: What is marine

biology? How do you
write a research paper?
Big Idea:
Essential Question:

- The agenda for the

period will be written on
the board. First, turn in
their research papers (a
list of everything that is
to be turned in will be on
the board as well).
Second, answer our
QODs. Third, play

- Students can
choose to either
play the Jeopardy
game in partners
or individually.
The five sections
of the game will
be invertebrates,
fish, mammals,

- Students will turn in their research

papers and all the notes they used to
find their research and keep track of
their main ideas. So they will turn in the
following: 1. Research Paper (printed
from Google Docs which we can do
in class) 2. Post-It Notes with their main
ideas written on them 3. The articles
they used to find their main ideas. 4.
Page 37

Jeopardy!

reptiles, and
research.

Their Editing and Revising checklists 5.

Their research paper outline.

Page 38

Accommodations/Modifications and Differentiation Considerations

All reading materials have been altered and leveled so they are at fifth and sixth grade
reading levels so my students can read them. One student will need to use a stool for doing
anything on the SmartBoard and when we add to our depth chart. The depth chart is lower to the
ground but the highest level is still too high for her to reach. Two students in class will need to be
redirected multiple times a period in multiple different ways. Proximity works for one student at
times while other times he needs to have a gesture towards his paper or reading that he is
supposed to be working on. The other student over shares and needs to be asked if his
information he wants to share is relevant to what we are talking about or if it can wait until after
class. All of my students need directions to be repeated about three times and have the directions
written either on a piece of paper or on the SmartBoard. One student will need significant
modifications and accommodations because he is hardly ever in class. He only comes to school
about once a week, twice if it is a good week. He will need to have one to one interventions
during study hall to work on what he missed. Another student will need to have one to one
interventions during study hall because she is out of school every Thursday for medical reasons.
Another modification that I did for my students during this unit involved the library books I had
for them. Some of the books were quite lengthy with large amounts of smaller type on them.
Instead of asking my students to read through all the information and find what they were
looking for, I bookmarked specific pages for them. This helped them to find the information
quicker and be able to spend more time actually reading the information instead of spending that
time just looking for the page. Another modification is that I will read the vocab assessment
directions to my students to make sure my students understand what to do for the test.
Educational Resources/Materials
Materials/Resources

Resources
Page 39

(Physical)
EXAMPLE:
1. Vocabulary books for keeping
track of and defining vocabulary
words: the vocab books will be used
throughout the six week unit. Each
tab of the book is dedicated to the
different types of marine animals:
invertebrates, mammals, fish, and
reptiles. The back of the book
includes a map of the world where
students will identify the 5 oceans
and the front of the book will be used
to define marine biology. The vocab
book will be used different ways
depending on the week. There are
charts students can write on to help
them visualize and remember the
parts of the fish and where the
different oceans are. (see Appendix
N)
2. Editing and Revising Checklist:
this checklist will be used once
students believe they have finished
writing their research paper. They
will look at each step of the checklist
and go through their papers to make
sure everything is written correctly
before turning it in. This will be used
on day 29 so students can turn in
their best work the next day. The
circles next to each section are big
enough for students to check off once
they have finished that step. (see
Appendix O)
3. Guess Who Marine Mammals
Game: this game is used on day 14.
Students will read through the
website they are given and write
which animal the fact belongs to. The

(Technology-based)
EXAMPLE
1. Deep Sea Diving:
http://www.harveywatersofteners.co.uk/le
arn-and-explore-the-deepest-oceans/ This
website was a really cool resource we
used to look at what animals live at the
different depths of the ocean. We used
this to explore and answer our question of
the day which was How deep is the
deepest part of the ocean? Students liked
the visual of traveling deep into the ocean
and looking at the different things that the
ocean can hold as well as reading
interesting facts as they popped up.
2. National Geographic for Kids:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
This website was used when students
were researching different animals and
were doing their endangered species
research as well. This was a great tool for
students to learn about the different
animals and see pictures of them
swimming and eating and fraternizing
with other animals. The material was easy
to use and it had a great fact sheet at the
bottom of each page comparing the size
and weight of every animal as well as a
map of where the species lives and if the
species is on the endangered species list.
4.Snap and Read: http://donjohnston.com/snapread/ This resource is great and lets you
highlight an area to read and will change it to the
grade level you need. The only negative is that it
does cost money so you would either need to use
classroom funds or the school to get this
resource.

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first student done with the most

correct answers gets bragging points
and to go to lunch a minute early the
next day. Students are practicing their
research skills here as well as
practicing their reading. (see
Appendix P)

5. Common Lit: http://commonlit.org/ This

gives you information texts at your students
levels. It has great texts on conservation and
pollution and will be used on days 21 and 22.

4. Vertebrae Manipulative: this is a

manipulative to help students
understand the words vertebrae,
vertebrates, and invertebrates.
Students were given a pipe cleaner,
several beads and several Gummy
Life Savers. I had a diagram of a real
spine on the SmartBoard and I
labeled on the picture which parts
were the spinal cord, vertebrae, and
nerves. We then identified as a class
which of the tools they each had on
their desk would be which (pipe
cleaner = spinal cord, beads = nerves,
Gummy Life Savers = vertebrae).
Students then had to thread their own
spinal cords with the correct formula
to make sure it was correct. Once
they were each threading their own
spinal cord, we talked about what a
spinal cord helps you to do. We then
predicted what animals without a
backbone were able to do and how
they were not able to move as easy as
vertebrate animals. This experiment
helped my students to distinguish
between the vocab words vertebrate,
invertebrate and vertebrae. (see
Appendix Q)
5. Depth Chart: this chart was in the
back of the room. The first week of
Page 41

the unit, we labeled the different

levels of the ocean: sunlight zone,
twilight zone, and the deep zone. We
also labeled what depth each zone
reached. Then as we studied the
different types of animals, we also
researched what zone they swam in
or what is the lowest depth the
animal can swim to. Then we printed
out black and white pictures and
students were able to color them and
place them on the chart. This helps
them to really see how there are less
animals that can live in the deep
ocean. Students also realized how
animals in the deep ocean were
pretty ugly while animals in the
sunlight zone were all pretty colors
and nice looking. We discussed why
that was and it led into a great
conversation about our vocabulary
word of adaptation. (see third page of
Appendix R)
6. Library Books: Before my unit
started, I went to my local library and
checked out six different marine
biology and ocean books at my
students levels. These books were
used for research for their projects,
defining vocabulary words, and
answering the questions of the day.
Students were able to look at the
pictures and also read captions and
the text to find information and share
it with their classmates. They really
liked to look at the pictures and see
how different certain animals looked.

Page 42

My Lesson Plan for the first day in this curriculum unit is attached as Appendix S.
Reflection
I thoroughly enjoyed developing my own curriculum and putting it all together for this
project. The best part was definitely being able to implement the curriculum in my classroom.
My students showed enthusiasm with all the lessons and really learned a lot and retained a good
amount of information so far. This unit will end in my classroom April 29th so by the time this
project is due, we will still be working through the unit. One thing I do want to note about this
project is that the curriculum that I ended up teaching was a little different than the curriculum I
developed. I planned the implementation for my classroom differently because I had to plan with
the other practicum student and she had certain things she wanted to do with the students as well.
My CT has noticed how much my students are learning and enjoying this unit, so she has
decided to keep teaching marine biology even after me and the other practicum student are gone.
This project has shown me exactly how much goes into developing a curriculum. I
enjoyed planning it out though it was a lot of work. I think it is easier to have a general idea of
where you are going and where you want to be at the end. I definitely found it easier to plan out
my pre-assessments first and then I worked backwards and planned exactly when I would have
post-assessments due and when we would wrap up the specific marine biology learning. I then
filled in from there all the information in between and wrote out all my Questions of the Day. I
think the curriculum went well with having the first three days of the week be focused on the
science portion of the unit and the last two days of the week focused on the writing portion. Each
day has a lot of information in it that can easily be split into more days if needed. For instance,
students might need more modeling or guided practice then what is planned for in the unit.
Page 43

Teachers can extend the writing process into another day if needed and then keep following
along with the curriculum.
I would say a strength for me during this planning process was the actual planning. I
really enjoyed and I believe I did well planning out the lessons and splitting up the days and
weeks appropriately. I think that a weakness that is related to that though is my day to day
planning. It took me a while to finally sit down and plan out what would be happening every day
for six weeks. I found it easier to create my own mini chart on a piece of construction paper and
take that and fill in the information onto the planning chart above. I would also say a strength for
me was finding manipulatives and hands on activities for my students to do during class. The
things that we actually were able to implement went really well and my students enjoyed the
hands on experiences. However, I think that a weakness for me would be finding online
resources. I am still building my literacy resources lists and am finding more as I go along. I
would also say that a weakness for me would be planning the different accommodations and
modifications my students need. A lot of the modifications I have for them are things that I just
dont think about doing because it is something that I am used to doing for them. This is one
reason why explaining modifications is a weakness for me because I do not even think what I
actually change for them because it is natural.
Overall, this project was a great learning experience and I am extremely proud of myself
for all that I have accomplished and completed. The curriculum went well in the classroom
which was amazing and I had a good time also writing the project here. This was so beneficial to
my learning as a future special educator because I know that developing my own curriculum is
definitely in my future.

Page 44

Appendix
A. CT Survey
B. Marine Biology KWL Chart with Rubric
C. Article 1 for Pre Assessment Properties of Water
D. Vocab Pre Assessment
E. Vocab Book Rubric
F. Informational Poster Rubric
G. Research Paper Post-It Notes Rubric
H. Research Paper Rubric
I. Article 2 for Post Assessment Water in the Environment
J. Vocab Post Assessment
K. VKS Pre-Assessments that were administered
L. Article and Main Idea that was administered
M. KWL Chart that was administered
N. Students Vocabulary Book
O. Editing Checklist
P. Guess Who Marine Mammals Game
Q. Vertebrae Manipulative
R. Depth Chart
S. Marie Biology Lesson Plan

Page 45

References
Fogarty, M., Oslund, E., Simmons, D., Davis, J., Simmons, L., Anderson, L., & ...
Roberts, G. (2014).
Examining the Effectiveness of a Multicomponent Reading Comprehension
Intervention in
Middle Schools: A Focus on Treatment Fidelity. Educational Psychology
Review, 26(3), 425-449.
Hawkins, R. O., Marsicano, R., Schmitt, A. J., McCallum, E., & Musti-Rao, S. (2015).
Comparing the
efficiency of repeated reading and listening-while-reading to improve
fluency and
comprehension. Education & Treatment Of Children, 38(1), 49-70.

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