Microteach Lesson Plan

Teaching Plan Teacher Name Subject Area Topic

Melissa Davies Science Food Web

Date Grade Time

March 14th, 2019 4-6 14 minutes



Learning Objectives What do you want your students to learn?

Assessment

How will you know your students have learned?

Students will be able to identify the structure of the food web, the connection between consumers, producers, and decomposers, and the impact of invasive species in an ecosystem. Assessment will be based on student engagement along with a supplementary handout

Materials

1 ball of yarn 17 species (animal/plant +sun) cards Handout





What resources will you need?

Introduction

(how will you “hook” students? )

Time: 2 mins

Ask: Have you heard the word ecosystem before? What do you think an ecosystem is? Think: Allow brainstorming for one minute Explain ecosystem and the different roles in the ecosystem (producer, consumer, decomposer) Have the students think of a spider web and how it is connected. Draw a quick spider web. The strings of the spider web can lead to anywhere on the web. Have the students think of a forest and explain that an ecosystem works the same way. We will be playing a game to show this interdependence.

ED 2500 – Orientation to Teaching Instructor: Beth Cormier

Body Learning activity or sequence of activities. )

Time: 10 mins

Closure Time: 2 mins

Preparing (1 min): Have the students form a circle in the classroom. Remain outside of the circle and provide assistance. Each student will receive a card with a species on it. The ‘sun’ card will be accompanied by another species card. Creating the Food Web (5 Mins): Ask the students to consider how the other species relate to them. Every student will go around and read their card and say their species role (consumer, producer, decomposer). Have the students hold their cards in front of them. The student who has the ‘sun’ card will begin with a ball of yarn. They grab the end of the yarn. They will proceed to make a connection to another student in the food web (i.e. the Sun produces light which helps the maple tree grow) and pass the ball of yarn to the other student. Provide prompts and guidance to assist with the process. This process will continue until everyone is holding onto a part of the yarn and a food web is created. Presenting Scenarios (5 Min): 1. Ask students what would happen if the sun disappear. Ask the student with the sun card to tug gently on the yarn. Tell all the students if they feel a tug to begin tugging as well. At the end, all students will be tugging at the rope. Discuss the connection. 2. Continue to discuss the connection and repeat with: a. Mushroom species disappearing. (Do they think mushrooms are that important?) b. Wolf species disappearing. Students should begin to recognize the pattern and predict what will happen. 3. Have the students all gently tug on the string. Explain this time, when they feel part of their string loosen, they drop their part of the string. Introduce yourself as an invasive species. Explain the animal/plant this species affects. Approach the student with this animal/plant card and ask them to let go of their string. Eventually, all students will have dropped the rope. Clean Up (1 mins): Students will collect a handout and return to their desk. Two students will wrap up the yarn.

Closure (2 mins): Have the students complete the handout. Encourage the incorporation of non-living things (i.e. rocks, soil) into their food web and how they connect to their species. (Due to time constraints, students may need to finish the handout next class)

ED 2500 – Orientation to Teaching Instructor: Beth Cormier

Notes and Ideas

ED 2500 – Orientation to Teaching Instructor: Beth Cormier