wickedwikiwomen - Lesson Plan 3

Lesson Plan 3
Students represent the lifecycle of a butterfly through a visual representation (timeline) and also explore different examples of diagrams to critique and learn from.

monarchlifecycletimelapse.jpg

In this lesson students are to work in groups and as a whole class to create a big visual representation (timeline) of the stages in the lifecycle of a butterfly.The lesson begins by using the above image as a stimulus to introduce visual representations and students move into their previously allocated groups to search images to represent their stage in the lifecycle. The whole class then work collaboratively to join the pictures of different stages to make a completed timeline. Students examine and critique on other examples of diagrams and discusses what needs to be added, removed or changed to their timeline in order to make an appropriate and accurate visual representation.

UNIT TITLE: Life Cycles
LESSON: 3/10			Year 3 Stage 2
Science and Technology - (Living Things) S2.3: - Identifies and describes the structure and function of living things and ways in which living things interact with other living things and their environment. Science and Technology - (Using Technology) UT S2.9: - Selects and uses a range of equipment, computer-based technology, materials and other resources with developing skill to enhance investigation and design tasks. English - (Talking and Listening) TS2.1 - Communicates in informal and formal classroom activities in school and social situations for an increasing range of purposes on a variety of topics across the curriculum. English - (Reading and Viewing) RS2.5 - Reads independently a wide range of texts on increasingly challenging topics and justifies own interpretation of ideas, information and events. English - (Reading and Viewing) RS2.7 Discusses how writers relate to their readers in different ways, how they create a variety of worlds through language and how they use language to achieve a wide range of purposes. Visual Arts- (Appreciating) VAS2.4 Identifies connections between subject matter in artworks and what they refer to, and appreciates the use of particular techniques.			ASSESSMENT: Questioning students throughout lesson Engagement in discussion and contribution to group discussions Asking students questions about their perceptions and ideas Appropriate timeline is produced Observe whether or not students are able to work collaboratively
PART AND TIMING	SUBJECT MATTER	TEACHING PRACTICE		RESOURCES/ORGANISATION
Introduction: 5-10 mins Students are exposed to images and visual representations in their everyday lives. It is essential for students to be able to learn how to interpret visual texts as well as written texts.	S2.3 Identifies and describes the structure and function of living things and ways in which living things interact with other living things and their environment. - identifies pictures that relate to particular stages in the lifecycle RS2.5 Reads independently a wide range of texts on increasingly challenging topics and justifies own interpretation of ideas, information and events. - interprets and gathers ideas from the visual text - uses visual grammar terminologies to describe what they observe	- Ask students to get into their allocated groups. - Students are shown the visual image of the lifecycle of a butterfly (shown above) and asked whether or not their groups recognise which picture refers to their stage in the lifecycle. - Ask students how they viewed the image when they first saw it on the screen. Did they visualise it left to right? Did they start from the top or from the middle? Teacher should encourage students to think of the visual elements of the image through scaffolding and questioning e.g. Reading Paths created by the strong vectors going across the image (rows of pictures like a movie film), Is the picture a timeline? It seems like a timeline but the stages of the lifecycle is not in order. (Students may be asked to come up to the screen to point out what they saw first and why) - Ask students whether or not they can figure out the timeline of the lifecycle of the butterfly with this image and why. (Unsworth, 2001, pp.90-91)		Resources: - SmartBoard - Images from http://www.wyllz.com/id178.htm - Computers Organisation: Students are seated in front of the board on the floor.
Body: 30 mins Students are able to gain deep knowledge and understanding when they can contribute in practical activities where they are representing their learning visually and orally through communication with peers.	TS2.1Communicates in informal and formal classroom activities in school and social situations for an increasing range of purposes on a variety of topics across the curriculum. - answers questions as a group as teacher comes around to ask questions about the pictures being used - communicates with peers to make decisions when problem solving for the best timeline UT S2.9 Selects and uses a range of equipment, computer-based technology, materials and other resources with developing skill to enhance investigation and design tasks. - uses the computer and the Internet to search for pictures successfully	- Show students the website of images of the butterfly life cycle and instruct them that they will be working in their groups to find images on the website that may help them to explain their stages better to their peers. - Students are asked to get into their groups and are allocated a computer for each group. The students explore the website and start printing and saving the image files in their student folders. * The pictures should be interesting, clear, appropriate to their stage and informative so that peers are engaged and informed about each stage of the lifecycle at the end of class. - When children are matching their images with their stage in their groups, ask questions like why does this image belong to your stage? * Students should use technical language that belongs to their stage. - Ask all students to come back to the floor with their pictures. - The whole class works together to align a big pictorial timeline of the different stages of the lifecycle across the whiteboard (imagining the whiteboard as a big piece of paper, students may use arrows provided) * Teacher leaves the task for students to work it out themselves, only assisting them when they are not able to reach physically.		Resources: - SmartBoard - Images from http://www.wyllz.com/id178.htm - Computers - Colour printer - Cut up arrows - WhiteBoard and bluetac - Internet Organisation: Students are seated in front of the board on the floor.
Conclusion: 20 mins Students are to evaluate their own work and of others thus grasping a firm idea of what should be achieved throughout the lesson.	RS2.7 Discusses how writers relate to their readers in different ways, how they create a variety of worlds through language and how they use language to achieve a wide range of purposes. - discusses the features used in the different diagrams explains why the features are used VAS2.4 Identifies connections between subject matter in artworks and what they refer to, and appreciates the use of particular techniques. - identifies and appreciates visual features used in the diagrams	- Ask students how they constructed the timeline and why they did it that way. (Students may have a linear timeline or a cyclic timeline). - Ask students the following question: 1. What type of text would need such a visual (timeline or diagram)? Answer: Explanation. Recall prior lesson on additional features in explanations and discuss why explanations have visuals that go along with the text. Teacher shows examples of 3 different diagrams to the class. (Refer to Diagrams below)** - Ask students the following questions: 1. Which one is the most similar with our timeline? Which features are similar? 2. What do all the diagrams have all in common? What are the differences? Discuss as a class all the different features of a diagram (title, pictures, short texts to explain pictures, arrows) 3. Why are the arrows used? In written text, what would replace the arrows? (Text connectives) 4. What else can be added to the diagram to improve it?		Resources: - Diagrams 1,2,3 - Timeline on WhiteBoard Organisation: - Students are seated in front of the board on the floor.
Lesson Evaluation: Did students achieve the lesson outcomes? If not, what would need to be modified to enhance student learning? Were students engaged in the learning throughout the process? Why/why not was this the case? Did the students understand the relevance of the concepts explored? In what ways was this evident? Were the concepts explored relevant for subsequent lessons? How? Were the works finished was there not enough time? How could this be improved? How were students motivated to achieve a finished piece of work? How effectively did students contribute to editing and creating final piece of work?