ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

Upon reviewing the 4th grade State Assessment for 2002-2003 and our School Improvement Plan, I saw that the following standards are areas in which students performed at lower percentage levels in my district compared to the state average: Standard 1: Gathering and organizing data, Standard 3: Engaging in the writing process. Using the results from the 4th grade Terra Nova Language Arts test, the students at Rickard had an average of 60% correct compared to a state average of 63% for Standard 1: Gathering and Organizing Data. For Standard 3: Engaging in the Writing Process, Rickard students scored 57% correct with a state average of 58% correct. Teaching a combination 1st and 2nd grade classroom, we often do not find the time we need to study science. Therefore I am planning a cross-curricular unit that will connect writing with a science unit involving live butterflies.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: 1. I want my students to understand the life cycle of a butterfly.  2. I want my students to understand the parts of a butterfly and what they need to survive.  3. I want my students to understand that writing can be used for many purposes. 4. I want my students to understand that there are a many resources they can use to collect information.  5. I want my students to understand there are a variety of ways to organize information.
Goal(s): 1. Students will understand how to organize information about butterflies.  2. Students will understand how to use technology to access information. 3. Students will understand how to select a specific genre of writing to match their purpose.  4. Students will understand how to incorporate the vocabulary of the butterfly’s parts and life cycle into their writing.  5. Students will understand the life cycle of a butterfly and know what they need to survive.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. What are the four stages in the life cycle of a butterfly?  2. What are the differences between a butterfly and a moth?  3. What are the names for the different parts of a butterfly?  4. Why are the colors on a butterfly’s wings important?
Objectives: 1. Students will identify and label the four parts of a butterfly and describe their importance using Kid Pix.  2. Students will identify and label the life cycle of a butterfly on a poster, following a rubric designed by the class.  3. Students will compare a butterfly to a moth using a Venn diagram.  4. Students will design wings for a butterfly that will make it able to hide from a predator.  5. Students will apply what they know about the life cycle of a butterfly to create a riddle that contains at least three clues.  6. Students will combine the vocabulary of the butterfly into their writing.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?
1. Students will have to identify and label the parts of a butterfly.  2. Students will have to identify and label the stages in the life cycle of a butterfly.
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?
1. I will ask essential question at the beginning of each lesson that will guide the students to the focus of each lesson. 2.  For lesson #5, I will show examples of riddles and demonstrate writing them to guide the students to make their own riddles about one of the stages in the life cycle of a butterfly.  3. For lesson # 3, I will provide a Venn Diagram for students to show how butterflies and moths are the same and different.
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
1. Students will observe the changes in the butterflies in our classroom daily.  2. They will record their observations.  3. The students will also use the internet to access information.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?
1.  I will observe the students as they are working.  2. The students will share each of their activities will their classmates and I will collect their finished work. 3. Together, we will create rubrics to score their life cycle poster and butterfly picture with labeled body parts.

Instructional Strategies

Students will use a variety of inquiry based strategies to complete the following tasks: 1. Identify the stages in the life cycle of a butterfly. 2.  Identify the different parts of a butterfly.  3. Compare butterflies and moths.  4. Distinguish colors that help to protect butterflies from predators. 5. Throughout the lessons, the students will observe the butterflies in our classroom and record information.  6. They will use the internet to access information about butterflies.  7. They will use different graphic organizers to show information.  8. They will also apply what they know to write about butterflies in a variety of ways.