Kindergarten Understanding by Design Unit: Identify Desired Results (Stage 1) Domain Areas: Curricular (Subject) Areas
Kindergarten Understanding by Design Unit: Identify Desired Results (Stage 1) Domain Areas: Curricular (Subject) Areas
Kindergarten Understanding by Design Unit: Identify Desired Results (Stage 1) Domain Areas: Curricular (Subject) Areas
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.
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.
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?
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.
Adapted from: Wiggins, Grant and J. McTighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development