Context: I completed this assignment for student teaching . I completed this assignment under the instruction of Mandy Bledsoe, cooperating teacher. I constructed these science lessons on animals as part of my unit. I taught the lesson in a kindergarten grade class at Millis Road School in the spring of 2008.

Impact: I created this science lesson with the help and advisement of my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Bledsoe. These lessons had huge impact on student learning. Students learned about different types of animals, how animals move, how to take care of animals like what animals need to survive. (domestic, how to take care of pets and how to take care of wild animals as well). The students also learned how animals help us (give us food, clothes, etc) and what we can do to help animals (take care of habitat).

Alignment: Through the completion of this project I have met the following NCDPI standards:

Standard 3: Elementary teachers have a broad knowledge and understanding of the major concepts in science

Indicator 1: Teachers have knowledge of basic life science concepts including:
Characteristics of living things
Diversity of organisms and their environments
Life cycles, mutations, and adaptations
Structure and function of plants, animals, and their parts
Growth and development of organisms
Health and the human biology
Relationship between humans, organisms, and the environment (ecology)

I met this standard by teaching lessons on the different groups of animals, life cycles of a caterpillar, how to take care of animals and how animals take care of us and the relationships between animals and humans

Indicator 3: Teachers have knowledge of basic earth science concepts including:

Planetary astroonmy (objects in the sky, changes in the earth and sky, and weather)

Properties of earth materials (rock, minerals, fossils, water, air)

Earth dynamics an systems

Interaction of earth an living systems including management of natural resources and pollution.

I met this standard by having the students study and observe natural habitats of animals. We discussed how different animals have different types of habitats made out of different earth materials to help protect them. We also spoke about the effects pollution has on the wild animals.

Indicator 4: Teachers have knowledge of controversial issues and how they impact learning, including evolution and genetics.

I met this standard by talking about the life cycles of many of the animals with the students.

Standard 7: Elementary teachers use developmentally appropriate strategies to design and deliver instruction in all areas of the elementary curriculum.

Indicator 1: Teachers develop and implement the pacing and alignment of curriculum that is consistent with the NCSCOS, LEA standards and pacing guides, and national standards in all subject areas.

I met this standard by basing my lesson plan off of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. This lesson meets many standards from science and language arts subjects.

Indicator 2: Teachers understand and use an interdisciplinary approach to teaching my connecting and integrating language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, healthful living, and arts concepts and processes, with appropriate technologies to enhance their teaching.

I met this standard by incorporating language arts into my science lesson.

Indicator 4: Teachers implement a variety of teaching and communication strategies for instruction.

I met this standard by incorporating many different teaching styles to make sure that I reach all my students with different learning styles. I made sure to provide visual examples of oobleck as well as give the directions orally.

Indicator 5: Teachers assist students in developing multiple learning strategies to address discipline specific content, critical thinking, and problem solving skills

I met this standard because this lesson was created to students investigate and use their critical thinking and problem solving skills to classify animals into groups.

Indicator 7: Teachers develop and use a variety of formal and alternative assessment strategies as an integral part of instruction and learning appropriate for assessing individual, peer, tem and collaborative skills.

I met this standard by my students using different methods such as informal assessment by observing the students. I also used formal assessment.

Standard 10: Teachers provide active inquiry experiences in the teaching of science by using various questioning skills and developing science processing skills (predicting, classifying, measuring, inferring, interpreting, analyzing, and synthesizing).

I met this standard by using many methods for my students to develop the science process skills. This lesson made the students predict which animals belong to which animal group was and had students inferring, interpreting and analyzing the animal groups.

Standard 15: Elementary teacher encourage underrepresented groups to engage in the schooling process, especially math and science

Indicator 1: Teachers use a variety of strategies to encourage underrepresented groups to engage in the schooling process, especially math and science. They:

Utilize community resources

Give personal attention and encouragement to underrepresented groups of students

Use relevant and real-world applications that interest a diverse population

Encourage underrepresented groups to assume leadership roles.

I met this standard by making sure that girls and minority students were engaged in this activity. I made sure to call on girls while asking them questions about animal grouping.