Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

Name of Teacher Candidate: Alyssa Wyatt Date: March 25, 2020

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Lesson Title: What’s That Animal?

Curriculum Areas Addressed: Language Arts and Science

Time Required: 45 minutes Instructional Groupings: Are you using whole group, small
group, partners, quads, homogeneous, heterogeneous?
Whole group and Individual

Standards: List the GPS/CCGPS that are the target of student learning and are key to this lesson. Include the number and the text of each of
the GPS/CCGPS that is being addressed. If only a portion of a standard is addressed, include only the part or parts that are relevant.
SKL2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to compare the similarities and differences in groups of
organisms.
a. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how animals can be grouped according to
their features.

ELAGSEKW2. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in
which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

As a result of this lesson students will…

Essential Question: (Essential questions should be used to guide instruction.)
What are the two ways that animals are born and how are these types of animals similar/different?

Learning Objectives: (Objectives are stated in measurable/observable terms. These should reflect the thinking skills, skills of the discipline.
These represent the skills that will be assessed.)
By the end of my lesson my students will be able to compare and contrast oviparous and viviparous animals based
on their knowledge on characteristics of these animals.

By the end of my lesson my students will be able draw/write a creative informational piece about how their
favorite oviparous or viviparous animals compare and contrast from each other

Support for Academic Language

Vocabulary: (What Academic Language will be taught or developed? Identify the key vocabulary and/or symbols specific to the content area.
These may be derived from the standards.)
Oviparous
Viviparous
Offspring
Life cycle
Compare
Contrast
Venn diagram
T-chart
Characteristics/attributes
Informative/explanatory texts
Language Demands: (Language demands is defined as the specific ways that academic language (vocabulary, functions, discourse, syntax)
is used by students to participate in learning tasks through reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking to demonstrate their disciplinary
understanding. Identify the following way/ways that students will participate in learning tasks to demonstrate disciplinary understanding:
reading, writing, listening, or oral language.)
My students will use the lesson vocabulary through reviewing oviparous and viviparous concepts that have been
taught during the week, writing a creative piece about an oviparous or viviparous animal in their journals, and
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

presenting their animal to the class by reading and acting out their descriptions.

Syntax: (Syntax is defined as the set of conventions for organizing symbols, words, and phrases together into structures, such as sentences,
tables, or graphs. Identify the supports that will be provided for students to organize the information – charts, graphs, diagrams. These must
relate to the Language Function.)
● Venn diagram
● T-chart
Assessment (Each learning objective must be assessed. How will students demonstrate their understanding or the lesson’s objectives? How
will you provide feedback for the students? What type of assessment will be used? What evidence will be collected to demonstrate students’
understanding/mastery of the lesson’s objective? What constitutes success for the students?)
Assessment Strategy: (Identify the assessment strategy/strategies to be used for assessment of the learning objectives listed above. Each
learning objective should be assessed. DO NOT restate the learning objective.)
The students will complete a journal entry where they will describe their favorite oviparous or viviparous animal
through their knowledge of the animal’s characteristics.

Evaluation Criteria: (Indicate the qualities by which levels of performance can be differentiated and that anchor judgments about the
learner’s degree of success on an assessment.)
Individually:
Journal entry: Success= at least 3-4 complete sentences with correct information regarding the characteristics of
an oviparous or viviparous animal, Lack of understanding= only one complete sentence with correct information
regarding the characteristics of an oviparous or viviparous animal, Failure= sentences are not about an oviparous
or viviparous animal and/or the characteristics are not correct.

Class average (applies to each assessment individually):

Success: 16-20/20 students were successful
Lack of understanding: 14-15/20 students were successful
Failure: 13 or less/20 were successful
*this will also apply to the review of the charts we will complete.*
Steps in the Lesson (Include the attention getter or the hook for the lesson; the introduction; the lesson procedures including
strategies/planned supports for whole‐class, small group, and individual instructions; and differentiated activities.)
Attention Getter or Hook: (State how the attention of the students will be piqued at the start of the lesson.)
I will sit all of the students down on the front carpet (if they are not doing so already) by calling them down by
table color. Once everyone is sitting down I will take out a folder that I have written “Top Secret!” on and tell them,
“So early this morning I was given this folder by the oviparous king and viviparous queen who also hid all of the
eggs and animals yesterday. In this folder there is a description of a special animal that we must work together to
figure out what animal it is.” Now, I will describe an animal’s characteristics one-by-one and act out the animal as
well. This is the same type of activity that the students will be doing today.
Introduction: (State how the lesson will be introduced. This should communicate the purpose of the lesson, be directly related to the goals
and objectives of the lesson, tap into prior knowledge/experiences, and develop student interest.)
● I will review the concepts that I have taught this week about oviparous and viviparous animals by filling in
a venn diagram and t-chart that I have printed out and I will be showing through the projector camera. In
order to gather information for both charts, I will call on students by pulling their number sticks out of the
bucket one-by-one. Before filling in each diagram, I will ask the students what the two charts are called
that we have been using this week to compare/contrast groups of animals (venn diagram and t-chart)
○ For the venn diagram, I will call on students to tell me the similarities and differences between
oviparous and viviparous animals. We have completed this venn diagram in a previous lesson so
this is a great review to tap into their background knowledge before getting into the rest of this
lesson. Oviparous should go on the left side of the diagram and the main characteristic that
students should share is that these animals lay eggs. Viviparous should go on the opposite side
and the main characteristic that students should share is that they give birth to their offspring. In
the middle for the similarities of the two groups of animals, the main characteristic that they
should share is that they are both groups of animals. To write out the characteristics, I will use
the dry erase board to show the paper on the camera and write out the students answers on the
board itself. (formative assessment)
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

○ For the t-chart, I will call on students to give me examples of oviparous and viviparous animals.
As the students provide me with examples, I will ask the rest of the class for a thumbs up if they
agree that the animal is oviparous/viviparous and a thumbs down if they do not agree. If the
students I called on did not provide me with a correct example, I will call on a student who
disagreed to tell me why he/she disagreed with the example given. Then, I will call on another
student to provide me with a different example. These examples will be written under the
correct heading in a list format. To make each list, I will use the dry erase board like I did for the
venn diagram. (formative assessment)
● *Having the students work as a team to fill in the venn diagram and t-chart helps the students to learn
from each other instead of me filling it in for them. Children learn best from each other and helps them to
advance in their social and cognitive development.*
Instructional Strategies: (Use a bulleted or numbered format to communicate the procedures for the lesson – what the teacher will do as
well as what the student will do. Describe the strategies which will be used to support students’ learning. Knowledge of students’ cognitive,
social, emotional, and physical development along with their cultural backgrounds should be evident.)
1. After we complete the review as a class, I will tell students that they will get a chance to act out and
describe their favorite animal to the class like I did in the beginning of the lesson. I will give them their
writing prompt for their journal before sending them back to their seats. (summative assessment)
a. Writing will help my students to progress more in their fine motor skills.
2. The instructions for the writing prompt is as follows:
a. The students must choose one animal that they have written about in their journals during this
week.
b. Once they have chosen their animal, they must describe their animal’s characteristics without
saying the animal’s name. One characteristic they must provide is if their animal is oviparous or
viviparous.
c. The students must write in complete sentences and should write at least 3 sentences for full
credit.
d. Once they have completed their writing, the students will be allowed to draw a picture of their
animal showing the characteristics they have written about. *If the students need to draw their
picture first to brainstorm ideas of characteristics to write about they may.*
e. While I have written high frequency words on the board all week that the students might need
the spelling for. However, today I want the students to rely on their phonics skills to spell
unfamiliar words.
f. After everyone has finished, the students will be called on to describe their animal to the class
while also acting out their animal for everyone to guess.
3. Once I have given the students their instructions, I will ask the students for a thumbs up if they
understand what they will be doing for their journal entry and a thumbs down if they are confused.
a. For the students that give me a thumbs down, I will call on them one at a time to ask any
questions they need to.
4. After all of the questions are answered, I will call students according to their table color to go back to their
seats and take out their writing journals.
5. When all of the students are seated and have taken out their journals, I will remind them to write the date
at the top of their clean page.
a. As the students are writing I will walk around the room to answer any questions and make sure
that the students are staying on task.
b. If a student seems to be having trouble getting started, I will ask the student what his/her
favorite animal is that we have talked about this week. Once the student answers, I will tell the
student that they must now think about different characteristics of the animal that they can
write about. I will remind them that they must include if the animal is oviparous or viviparous in
their description. If the student needs to, he/she may draw their picture before writing to gather
some ideas of characteristics.
c. As I see students drawing their pictures, I will be sure to compliment their pictures and tell them
that they should be proud of all of their hard work from this week.
d. If a student has finished their writing and others are still working, I will have the student read
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

their description to me so that I can guess what animal they wrote about. It will be a great
practice for them before they do it for the whole class.
6. Once everyone has finished, I will call on students in pairs (I will pull their number sticks) to come up to
the front of the class and read their descriptions while also acting out their animal.
a. One student will read their description, act out their animal, then the class will guess their
animal.
b. The second student will read their description, act out their animal, then the class will guess their
animal.
c. I will pull up my venn diagram sheet on the camera that is connected to the projector again and
write the first student’s animal on one side, then the other student’s animal on the other. This
will be done on the white board.
d. As a class, we will compare and contrast the two animals based on the characteristics given. I will
call on students to raise their hand to give me one characteristic that the students named about
their animal. This will help to ensure that the students pay attention while others are presenting.
e. *This is another great form of the students being able to learn from each other as they show
each other what they know about certain animals and work together to fill in the diagram.
7. When every student has presented, I will ask the student to put their writing journals away and come
back to the carpet.
Closure/Wrap up: (Describe how the CONTENT of the lesson will be summarized.)
To summarize this lesson and the lessons we have completed this week, I will have the students go around the
carpet square, stand up one at a time, and tell me their favorite part of the lessons from this week. I will remind
them that we started with our living vs. nonliving topic, talked about oviparous animals along with the lifecycle of a
frog, then we talked about viviparous animals, and the last couple of days we have compared and contrasted the
two groups of animals. They may choose to tell me their favorite topic, video that we watched, book that we read,
game that we played, activity we completed, or their favorite writing prompt.

Instructional Supports
Resources and Materials Used to Engage Students in Learning (Provide citations for all resources that you did not create.
Attach key instructional material needed to understand what you and the students will be doing. Examples: class handouts, assignments, slides,
and interactive white board images.)
● Worksheet Works. https://www.worksheetworks.com/miscellanea/graphic-organizers/tchart.html

Additional Resources and Materials Used to Increase Teacher’s Background Knowledge of the Content: (List any
websites and sources of materials and background information that you will need or use as the teacher to engage the students.)
N/A

Other Relevant Information

Clear Links to Learning Theories, Educational Research, and Principles of Development:
● Dewey’s theory heavily emphasized that children learn best by doing and by being interested in the
material. He believed in a student-centered classroom where there is a respectful relationship between
the students and teacher. While it is important for the students to learn how to write an informative
piece, I wanted the students to be able to do something with their writing. So, I decided that the students
could have a choice in which animal they wrote about and they would get to present their writing to the
class to keep them interested in writing.
● Jean Piaget’s theory on cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages
of mental development (Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational, Formal operational).
Currently, my students are in the Preoperational stage of development which Piaget believed that during
this stage, children tend to engage in a lot of symbolic play. I am building off of Piaget’s theory in that my
students will complete symbolic play as they act out the descriptions of their animal.
● Lev Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory is one theory that I incorporated into this lesson. The major
theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the
development of cognition. Throughout my lesson, my students are working together and building off of
each other’s knowledge to complete tasks. This starts with my introduction where my students share their
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

knowledge to fill in the venn diagram and t-chart about oviparous and viviparous animals. Then, when my
students present their animal’s characteristics, my students are learning about different animals from
each other. They also work together to complete the venn diagram about the two animals presented to
them.
Connections to Technology and/or the Arts:
● My students will be completing a form of improv as they act out their animal’s description for the class.
● As we complete the graphic organizers, I will project the print outs of the organizers onto the white board
by using the camera that is connected.

Description of Collaboration with Others: (These might include the inclusion teacher, media specialist, counselor, guest speaker,
grade level coordinator, community experts, families, etc.)
N/A

Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College