Backward Design Planning

Student Name: Kelsey Metzler School: Dodd Elementary Date:11/12/17

Grade:4-5 Group Size:12
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Subject: Science

Title: Animal Cells

PA Core Standard(s):
Standard - 3.1.5.A5- Explain the concept of a cell as the basic unit of life.
Eligible Content - S5.B.1.1.1 Recognize that all organisms are composed of cells.

Stage 1: Desired Results

Understanding(s):
Why are cells important to our bodies?

Essential Question(s):
• What is a cell?
• What are the different parts that make up an animal cell?

Established Objective(s):
The students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of what parts make up an animal cell by correctly
including 5 or more correct organelles in a 3D mixed media model of an animal cell.

Foundational Knowledge:
• Understanding that objects and items are made up of something (table is made of wood just like humans are
made of cells)

Key Knowledge/Competencies/Skills:

• Cells- a basic unit of life. All humans and animals are made of animal cells. Cells are very tiny in size and

they make up our organs like our heart and our skin.

• Parts of the cell include: cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, nucleolus, vacuole, mitochondria, ribosome,

Smooth& Rough endoplasmic reticulum, nucleoplasm, Golgi complex

• All of the parts in a cell work together

Key Vocabulary, Concepts, and/or Symbols:

 Parts of a cell

• Nucleus-controls the cell (it’s like our brain, it tells the cell what to do)

• Cell membrane - outer most part of the cell that maintains the cell’s shape and keeps all organelles

inside

• Cytoplasm- liquid in the cell

• Mitochondria- powerhouse of the cell, helps make the energy that fuels our bodies

• Ribosome-makes protein

• Golgi complex- packages proteins in the cell

• Organelle- everything inside a cell

Vocabulary will be taught throughout short intro,. video as well as throughout the lesson as students build their
models and label each part.

Duration: 40-50 minutes

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Task(s):

Informal: The teacher will assess students’ knowledge and mastery through discussion and evaluate responses.

Formal: Teacher can collect models and assess student understanding based on correct labeling and placement of objects
in model

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Learning Activities:

Materials: List ALL materials.

• Teacher cutout of parts of cell
• Teacher labels
• Baggies (12)
• Student labels for 3 parts of cell
• Paper plates (12)
• Construction paper cytoplasm (12)
• Play dough (12)
• Mitochondria noodle (12)
• Pipe cleaners (12)
• Beads (24)
• board/large paper where teacher model can be made and used throughout lesson
• Projector for video

Suggested Instructional Strategies:

• Hands on building of model
• Visualization tools with teacher model and students 3D model
•
Instructional Procedure:

Anticipatory Set:

• Teacher will introduce topic and say, “ Today we will be learning about cells. Does anyone know

what a cell is? “(Teacher will allow for responses if any students know what a cell is)

• Introduce Essential questions:

• What is a cell?

• What are they made of?

• Explain that today the students will be learning the answers to both of the above questions

• Say, “To learn more about animal cells we are going to watch a short video about cells and what they

are made of”

• Play video :https://www.brainpop.com/science/cellularlifeandgenetics/cellstructures/

• Once video is over, ask for student volunteers to name any of the parts of the cell they can remember

from the video

• Explain to students that cells are very tiny in size. Each cell is made up of different parts and all of

the parts work together to make the cell function. Cells are the material that make up who we are. Just

as a table is made of wood, we are made of cells. Cells make up our organs, our skin, and anything in

our bodies.

Model & Guided Practice: Write steps to the teacher modeling or demonstrating the task.

1. The teacher will name the first part of the cell-the Cell Membrane

• She will draw a large circle on the board to represent the cell membrane

• She will remind students that the cell membrane is the part of the cell that holds the cell’s shape
 • She will tell students that today their paper plate will act as a cell membrane. She will say, “just as a

plate holds all of your food, the cell membrane holds all the parts of the cell inside it.”

• She will pass out a paper plate to each student

2. Teacher will introduce Cytoplasm

• She will place a large cloud shape in the circle to represent cytoplasm

• She will say, “Cytoplasm is the liquid inside the cell”

• She will hand students a cloud shaped piece of paper

• She will instruct students to take their cloud shaped piece of paper and place it in their paper plate as

part of their model

3. Teacher will introduce Nucleus

• She will place a circular picture of a nucleus on her board diagram as she says, “the nucleus controls

the cell. It is like our brain. Our brain tells us what to do and the nucleus tells the cell what to do.”

• Teacher and paras will hand out playdough

• Teacher will ask students to take out their play dough

• Teacher will model how to roll play dough into a sphere, and will ask students to do the same

• Teacher will instruct students to place sphere in the center on their plate

4. Teacher will introduce Mitochondria and say, “The mitochondria is known as the powerhouse of

the cell. This is where our energy is made. We need energy so that we can move.”

• Teacher will place cutout of mitochondria on the board in her model

• Teacher and para will hand out noodle to each student

• Teacher will instruct students to pick up their uncooked pasta

• She will explain that the pasta noodle is going to represent mitochondria in the model

• She will instruct students to place the mitochondria down somewhere in the cytoplasm, just as she did

in her model on the board

5. Teacher will introduce Golgi Complex

 • Teacher will say, the Golgi Complex is where proteins are packaged in the cell

• She will place her cutout of this on her model on the board

• Teacher will hand out pipe cleaners

• She will ask students to pick up their pipe cleaner

• She will explain that since the Golgi Complex looks like it is curvy, the students are going to bend

their pipe cleaner

• She will demonstrate how to bend/curve the pipe cleaner

• She will instruct students to place their Golgi complex somewhere in the cytoplasm

6. Teacher will introduce Ribosome

• She will say, “Ribosome is the part of the cell that makes protein. The Ribosome make the protein

and then the Golgi Complex packages it for use in the cell.”

• Teacher will place cutout of ribosome on her model on the board

• Teacher will pass out beads

• Teacher will instruct students to take the 2-3 beads and place them in the cytoplasm

• She will say, “since ribosome is small and round, and more than one can be found in a cell, we are

going to have these beads represent our ribosome.

Guided Practice:

• Teacher will explain that now that the students have made many of the parts in an animal cell, they

need to go back and label their model. The teacher will say, “ I don’t want to forget the names of all of these

parts of a cell. Can any of you help me label my model on the board? Who remembers where the nucleus is?”

• Teacher will allow students to come up and place label card on nucleus.

• Teacher will repeat this process of asking for a student volunteer to come up and label her diagram

for all 6 parts covered in the lesson

• Teacher will give hints if needed as supports during this activity

 Independent Practice:

• Once the teacher’s diagram is completed and reviewed with the labeled parts, the teacher will tell

students the she wants them to try to label 3 of those parts individually in their own model.

• Teacher will take her labels off of her model

• Teacher will hand each student a baggie with 3 tables (nucleus, mitochondria, cytoplasm)

• Teacher will instruct students to take their 3 labels out of their bag and place the labels on the correct

parts of their individual 3D model

• Teacher will ask students to raise their hand so she can check their finished model once they have

labeled it

Closing:

• Teacher asks review questions to the class, What is a cell? What is made from cells? What is a cell

made from?

• Teacher will allow for student responses and review the idea that cells are the basic units that make

up human life. She will remind students that cells have many parts that work together that allow them to

function.

• Teacher will tell students try to remember all of the parts they just learned until Thursday when they

will be working in their science groups to build their own models out of different materials

• Students will be instructed to clean up models

Supports and Scaffolds:

• Teacher or para may ask a student to point to the parts they read allowed instead from their label if reading
the label cannot be done by student

Related Materials/Resources:
Video link: https://www.brainpop.com/science/cellularlifeandgenetics/cellstructures/
Cell part pictures below: (enlarged and used on chart in lesson)
Teacher Reflection: Provide a narrative reflection after teaching the lesson.

Overall, I think the lesson went well, but I also faced many challenges teaching a whole class lesson to

the diverse population of students in my LSS placement. The interactive cell building part of the lesson kept

the students engaged and I would definitely do this activity again! However, some of the students were easily

distracted by all of the fun materials. Giving the parts to the students one at a time seemed to be effective in

cutting down some of the distraction. I also learned that while the students had been hearing about cells in their

inclusion science class, none of the students knew what a cell was or what any of the parts were. Even after my

lesson and review questions where the names of the cell parts were practiced many, many, times, students still

struggled to name any of the parts of the cell. This lesson really showed me how much time it takes to get

students to reach understanding and mastery of new content.

If I were to change anything about this lesson, I think I would have lowered the number of the parts of

the cell taught. I think if I had just done 3 or 4 parts instead the students may have been able to focus on

learning and understanding those parts better. During this lesson, I realized that while I didn’t use a lot of high

level scientific language when presenting my lesson, even just knowing the names of the parts like

mitochondria, and cytoplasm was extremely challenging for these students. Also, my co-op really wanted this

lesson to be whole class, however, I think if I were to teach it again I would have liked to put the students into

smaller groups based on ability levels. Some of my students are academically years ahead of their classmates

so I would have liked to be able to differentiate this plan a bit more for all the different types of students in my

class.

Picture of student built model: