Kindergarten Understanding by Design Unit: Identify Desired Results (Stage 1) Domain Areas: Curricular (Subject) Areas

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Kindergarten Understanding by Design Unit

Title of Unit The world of dinosaurs


Time Frame 2 months

Developed By Margaret Mackenzie

Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)

Domain Areas: Curricular(subject) Areas:

Competency 1: To perform sensorimotor actions effectively in different contexts Math:


Students will be participating in fine, gross and psychomotor throughout the unit in many Counting lesson
subject areas. Fine motor skills will be demonstrated in many subject areas. In math they As a class we will do a game called dinosaur footprints. I will make a giant dinosaur footprint
are using clothes pins in an activity. Science, students will be using and exploring cutout with a large poster size paper. As a class we will then figure out how many of our
brushes, clay, measuring tapes and many other tools. Gross motor will be focused on shoes/footprints can fit in the dinosaur’s footprints. To do this, students will remove their shoes
and place them on the dinosaur footprint. I will then take a washable crayon and trace all the
when playing Outdoor games such as the dino hopscotch game which will include
shoes until the dinosaur’s footprint is full. As a group we will count the number of footprints and I
running and jumping. Psychomotor will be included in an activity with special awareness
will write the numbers that we could in each footprint. Students will then re write/trace the
when acting out dinosaur movements. number that is in their footprint.

Competency 2: To affirm his/her personality Art:


Students will work independently and make sufficient choices for themselves based on For this lesson, students will be contributing to build a giant dinosaur skeleton. As a class, we will
the context of the activity. Students will also express their interests related to the unit of take on the project to create a giant dinosaur skeleton out of toilet paper rolls and paper towel
dinosaurs and what they want to learn more about. This will be informed to the teacher rolls. This skeleton will help our students to identify parts of the dinosaur. We will label all the
in the self-portraits. Students will share what they are proud of when choosing what parts when it is put onto the wall. Students will be painting and decorating all of the toilet and
work of theirs they would like displayed in the classroom. paper towel rolls.

Competency 3: To interact harmoniously with others Physical education:


Students will be constantly working with their peers in a variety of contexts. At centers As part of a daily physical activity, I will bring students outside for a dinosaur footprint hopscotch
there will be a limited number of students and they will need to share and distribute game. This game will help students with their gross motor skills as they will be jumping and
running.
materials fairly. On the carpet for group discussions, students are expected to wait their
turn when talking and actively listen to their peers when they are talking. They are Language arts:
expected to be respectful of each other and the materials at hand and problem solve if As a class we will read many different books about dinosaurs.
any issues arise. I will have a phonics/sight word activity using our dinosaur vocabulary. Students will
have a basket of eggs and inside each egg will be a sight words or phonic words. If they
Competency 4: To communicate using the resources of language can read/identify the word they get to keep the egg, if not the egg is returned to the
Students will use their resources of language to have conversations with their peers and nest.
teacher. Students will also learn new dinosaur vocabulary related to the unit and will be
expected to use it during our activities and lessons. Science:
This lesson is where most of our dinosaur knowledge will be introduced. We will read the
Competency 5: To construct his/her understanding of the world book Little kids first big book of dinosaurs by Catherine D Hughes. This book is very
Students will demonstrate their understandings of the unit of dinosaur’s trough their factual and provides the opportunity to learn about how old dinosaurs are and the
work. They will demonstrate their knowledge of dinosaurs and fossils. Students will be various species that existed. Students will also be using the vocabulary words learned
exploring and discovery new material and are encouraged to show interest in their work. form the language arts lessons in this lesson.
Students will also be expected to make connections with the unit of dinosaurs and
understand how it connects to their everyday life.

Competency 6: to complete an activity or project


Throughout the unit, students will have many opportunities to complete art, math and
science activities and projects. They will be expected to give full participation and
complete the project with an explanation on how they were able to do so.

Essential Questions Enduring Understandings


Open-ended questions that stimulate thought and inquiry linked to the content of the
What do you want students to understand & be able to use several years from now?
enduring understanding.
1. How do we know dinosaurs really existed?
2. How are fossils made? Students will understand that many different species of dinosaurs existed Ex T-Rex, triceratops, tyrannosaurus
3. How do paleontologists find fossils? rex, brontosaurus and that some dinosaurs were carnivores, omnivores and herbivores
4. How did dinosaurs survive in the wild?
5. When did dinosaurs go extinct? And why? Students will understand that the job of a paleontologist is to find fossils and learn about the history of earth of
long ago
6. How many kinds of dinosaurs existed?
Students will understand that fossils are millions of years old

Students will understand that some dinosaurs would survive by being able to fly, having long necks to eat,
having really sharp teeth or being really fast

Students will understand that fossils are made in the ground over a long period of time and are proof
dinosaurs existed
Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)
What assessment strategies /tools will help check for understanding? Performance Task (Overview)
Mini student led conferences I will create a template that I will fill out with the student. I will ask the students the questions about how they
I will meet with my students to check in and ask them what they are enjoying about what they are learning. I feel about their progress and learning and document it on the sheet for them.
will ask them what they have interest in learning. I will ask them what they are proud of. Having these
meetings will help me to evaluate the students’ progress and inform me of instruction. This will be used for a Any work that students complete would be added to their portfolio. This could include art, writing, math or
formative assessment. science projects. For activities like the dinosaur counting, a picture could be taken of the student who has
Portfolios correctly completed the activity.
Students will keep their completed work in their portfolios. This is what we can use to show their parents the
work they have done through the year. This will also be used as a summative assessment at the end of the I would use checklists when assessing students reading comprehension skills. For the language arts activity
year. with the sight words, I would create a checklist of how many words the student were successful with. I would
Checklists/rubric also note which sounds students had difficulty with.
I will create checklists and rubrics to help guide student progress. This checklist would ensure that I can see
where the student is in their learning at that point in time. This would be used as a formative assessment The self-portrait will be a task where students will have the opportunity to draw themselves and what they
Self portraits enjoy doing and are interested in.
I will have students to make a self-portrait and ask questions about their interests and likes. This will help me
to learn about the child outside of the classroom and create a connection to them. Work samples that could be collected could be of their writing or their artwork to assess their fine motor skills.
Work sample comparisons
I will keep samples of my students work, for example of their writing and use it to see their progress later on
in the year.

Learning Plan (Stage 3)


As the hook to this unit, the class will be imagining that they are going to become
How will you hook students at the beginning of the unit? (motivational set) dinosaurs. Students will be standing in their own personal space on the carpet. Students
will act out and make dinosaur sounds. I will project images of different types of
dinosaurs one by one on the smartboard for the class to see. I will then tell the class that
they will have 10 seconds to act how they think that dinosaur would sound and move. We
will repeat this for all of the dinosaurs on the slides. After each slide we will talk about
why they made certain sounds or movements based on the picture they saw. I will ask
students “why do you think that dinosaur would have made that movement?”
1. Hook Dinosaur acting hook activity
2. Science subject area – fossils lesson
What events will help students experience and explore the enduring understandings and
3. Dinosaur hopscotch
essential questions in the unit? How will you equip them with needed skills and
4. Math - counting lesson
knowledge? How will you organize and sequence the learning activities to optimize the
5. Language arts – dinosaur vocab words
engagement and achievement of all students?
6. Field trip to Redpath museum
7. Visual arts – dinosaur skeleton
- Students will have the opportunity to revisit the learning centers over the course of the unit.
- Brainstorms and answers students give in class discussions that have been written on flip
How will you cause students to reflect and rethink? How will you guide them in charts will be displayed on the walls in the classroom.
rehearsing, revising, and refining their work based on your essential questions and - Students’ art will be displayed on the walls in the classroom. For example, the dinosaur
enduring understandings? skeleton made out of toilet paper rolls.
- The daily words that we learn in the language arts lessons will be put into their journal with a
picture, so that students can continue to use and learn all of the words we are learning as a
class.
Students will choose what they would like to have in their portfolios and show their
How will you help students to exhibit their growing skills, knowledge, and understanding
parents at the parent/teacher meetings. Students will also choose which of their projects
throughout the unit?
they would like to be displayed on the walls in the classroom.

Conversations
Environment What open ended questions can I ask to learn through conversations that will scaffold
(What will be added to the environment to support the unit?) children’s learning?
- I will print out pictures of real dinosaur fossils from museums and display them on Math
the walls around the classroom at eye level Looking at the footprint of the dinosaur, how big do you think dinosaurs were compared
- I will have natural materials in the classroom, for example plants to simulate that to how big we are?
dinosaurs lived in the jungle What is a big animal you have seen before? For example, maybe at the zoo?
- Real fossils will be available at the centers for students to interact with.
- The language arts center will be a cozy and comfortable environment with cushions Language arts
and pillows. Do you think you are a carnivore or a omnivore or a herbivore?
Do you think all dinosaurs roar? Or sound the same when they do roar?
Do you know of any dinosaur names?

Science
Do you see any similarities to animals that we have today with dinosaurs?
Would you like to be a paleontologist grow up?
What interests you about the job of a paleontologist?
What do you think dinosaurs would eat? Do you think all dinosaurs ate the same things
Resources Play
What resources will you use in the What activities can I offer to maximize
Brief outline of planned lessons (for this activity 3 different subject areas)
learning experiences to meet the the children’s opportunities for learning
outcomes? and inquiry?
Math center: 1. Math: counting lesson
Materials: 1. Dinosaur counting with clothes pins
Hook: Read dinosaurs count to ten. This book allows students to practice their counting while
- Construction paper 2. Matching dinosaur puzzle game seeing various spices of dinosaurs. In the book, it also gives students an idea that dinosaurs were
- Toilet paper rolls and paper towel 3. Counting the bones game big compared to humans.
rolls
- Washable markers Language arts center: Activity: dinosaur footprint activity
Count how many of our footprints can fit into a cutout dinosaur footprint. Various sizes of the
- Chalk 1. Reenactment of books read in class with
dinosaur footprints will be cut out in order for the class to count to different numbers.
- Glue Puppets
- Washable paint and paint brushes 2. Sight word activity in dinosaur eggs follow up activity: students will receive a numbers worksheet where they will practice their fine
- Clothes pins motor skills by writing numbers inside dinosaur eggs.
- Journals Science center:
- Plastic eggs 1. Dinosaur excavation
- Clear baskets 2. Identifying fossils 2. Language arts – dinosaur vocabulary
- Brushes 3. Making fossils Hook: A new dinosaur vocabulary word will be projected on smart board. For example, Carnivore.
The students will sound out the word all together. I will ask students “what do you think this
Technology: Sensory table: word means?” “have you heard it before?” I will write all of their answers on the board that the
- Smart board an open-ended sensory table where students students give. I will then explain to students that it means dinosaurs who eat meat. I will draw
pictures of “meat” like a hamburger or bacon so that students can have a visual.
- Digital camera will be able to tinker and explore the items
available – rocks, shells, pipe cleaners, shiny
Activity: students will have a journal where they will keep track of all our daily words. In the
Books: stones journal students will copy the word down with a pencil. I will also give them a picture of the word
- Dinosaur bones by Bob Barner that they will cut and glue and put in the journal. Students will also colour the picture.
- Little kids first big book of Physical education:
dinosaurs by Catherine D Hughes dinosaur hopscotch game 3. Science – fossils
- How dinosaurs count to ten by
Jane Yolen Hook: Fossil discussion on the flip chart
- Dinosaur Dance by Sandra The word fossil will be written on the flip chart. A real fossil will be circulating around the room.
Boynton Students will engage in a discussion and answer questions about what knowledge they have of
- Fossils tell of long ago fossils.

Activity: Read Fossils tell of long ago.


Field trip to the McGill redpath museum
to see the dinosaur exhibit and fossils Follow up activity: flip chart with questions and recap/review of hook activity

Assess and Reflect (Stage 4)


This unit is important for students to situate themselves in the world and understand that dinosaurs
Does my unit promote lifelong learning, encourage the development of self and
are not a fictional animal. They will learn that there is an entire profession dedicated to the study of
community, and engage students?
dinosaurs and fossils, that they may want to pursue when they grow up. The activities and lessons
are hands on and encourage students to work collectively with their peers.
Students will be learning through reading books, writing in their journals, analyzing
Do the learning experiences allow learners to use multiple literacies while constructing images and having class discussions with their peers. They will be autonomous when
knowledge, demonstrating social responsibility, and acting autonomously in their world? exploring the subject area centers.

Adaptive Dimension:
Have I made purposeful adjustments to the curriculum content (not outcomes),
instructional practices, and/or the learning environment to meet the learning needs of all
my students?

Instructional Approaches: Student centered approaches


Having multiple activities at the many different centers, allows students to have choice and select
what they would like to work on. I have also incorporated project-based learning into the lesson. For
example, the dinosaur skeleton and the dinosaur footprints. I have also incorporated lots of
opportunity for class discussions where students can ask questions and develop their ideas with their
Do I use a variety of teacher directed and student-centered instructional approaches?
peers.
Teacher directed approaches
I will use teacher directed approach when giving students their vocabulary words. With the help of
the student, I will help them sound out the word and explain its meaning. I will also read students
books, which will teach them about the different species of dinosaurs.

Student Evaluation:
Formative assessments I have included will indicate to me what areas in the unit students will like to
Have I included formative and summative assessments reflective of student needs and
explore further. These assessments will also show where students may need more support in their
interests based on curricular outcomes?
learning.

Our class projects such as the dinosaur skeleton and the dinosaur will be hung up around the
Resource Based Learning: classroom at eye level so students may revisit it. Individual projects will also be hung up around the
Do the students have access to various resources on an ongoing basis? classroom or they will be placed in their portfolios, which they will also have access to. The books
read as a class, will be available at the language arts center for students to look at and re read.

Content and Perspectives/Gender Equity/Multicultural Education:


Have I nurtured and promoted diversity while honoring each child’s identity?

Adapted from: Wiggins, Grant and J. McTighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

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