SMMS Lesson Plan Template using Danielson Domain 1: Theme: Pollution

Grade

5th Grade

Subject/Date

Science/12-09-14

Unit

Pollution

Lesson Name

Environmental impact of humans.

Lesson #

Teacher

Ms. Clark

Common Core Learning Standards (Long-Term Learning Targets):

1.4.1. Students ask 'why' questions in attempts to seek greater understanding concerning objects and
events they have observed and heard about.
1.6.3. Students share their findings with others and actively seek their interpretations and ideas. 217
4.6.1. Students describe how animals, including humans, depend upon each other
Short-Term Learning Targets:
Describe the environmental impact of humans.
Understand that pollution is harmful to all living things.
Give examples of ways we can reduce, reuse, and recycle waste.
Danielson Note here how lesson will address these two domains.
Domain 2: The Classroom Environment
Domain 3: Instruction
Section

Estima
ted
Time

Materials and Resources

Whats needed for the
lesson?
From where? 1e

Academic Vocabulary 1a

5min.

Details

Protecting Our Planet video

2 cups dry spiral pasta dyed with red food coloring

Poster board, 1 sheet per student group

Pencils, erasers, and rulers, crayons, markers

Ecology: The study of how organisms relate to each other and their
environments. Ecology shows us why its important to protect the Earth
from pollution.

Exhaust: waste gases produced by an engine. Cars, trucks, and buses

make a kind of pollution called exhaust.
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SMMS Lesson Plan Template using Danielson Domain 1: Theme: Pollution

Nature: The physical world All living things are part of nature.
Pollution: Harmful or poisonous substances that dirty the air, water, or
land Pollution can be dangerous to people, plants, and animals.
Recycle: To use something again or to convert it to a new use One way
of making less trash is to recycle what we use.
Lesson Launch

5min.

Presentation of Short
Term Learning Target(s),
connection with prior
learning and an example.
1a, 1e

Background: What is Water Pollution? Water pollution is the

deterioration of the quality of water. Toxic substances or organisms
changes the waters composition which can damage living things and
their habitats
What causes Water Pollution?
Pollutants that affect our oceans come from many different places. One
of the main causes of pollution is the water and other pollutants that
flow into storm drains. Storm water is the water that comes from rain
and runs off into gutters called storm drains. Urban runoff is water that
comes from water used in human activities such as cleaning the car to
watering the garden.
Storm water and urban runoff are carried to streams, rivers and
eventually to the ocean. This runoff can contain many contaminants that
affect clean water. Contaminants can include:

Possible Misconceptions
1a

2 min.

There is only factory pollution. Students also might not know the health
hazards included with the different types of pollution.

Independent Activity

10 min.

After watching Protecting Our Planet, ask students to describe times

they, or others, littered or created pollution in some way. How do litter
and pollution affect plants and animals? Talk about problems that may
occur when garbage is not disposed of properly.

25min.

3.
Tell students that they are going to participate in a pollution
activity. Take students outside or clear a large space in the classroom
and have students stand in a large circle. Divide the circle in half with
masking tape, a jump rope, or by some other means. Next, create five
groups of students: Group One, humans; Group Two, plants; Group
Three, fish, Group Four, plant-eating animals; Group Five, fish-eating
animals.

Students formulate
questions and attempt
task. 1e
Group Activity
Students bring learning to
the table and learn from
others through
exploration. 1a & 1e

4.

Give Group One handfuls of the pasta and tell them to scatter it

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SMMS Lesson Plan Template using Danielson Domain 1: Theme: Pollution

in both halves of the circle. Tell students that this pasta represents
exhaust, garbage, oil, pesticides, and other pollutants from human
activities. Have Group One rejoin the circle and then ask Group Two to
enter the circle, pick up pieces of pasta and then stand where they found
the pasta. Tell the class that members of Group Two are plants that have
been impacted by the pollution in their environment. Show the class that
one side of the circle represents water while the other side of the circle
represents land. Both land and water plants are affected by human
pollution.

5.
Next, ask Groups Three and Four to enter the circle, Group
Three on the waterside and Group Four on the landside. Instruct these
groups to "eat" a plant by linking arms with a "plant" on their side of the
circle. Tell students that fish and plant-eating land animals are affected
by pollution in many ways, including when they eat plants grown in
polluted regions.

6.
Finally, have Group Five step into the circle and "eat" a fish or
"plant-eating animal" by linking arms with either a "fish" or a "planteating" animal. Tell students to look around the circle. Who created the
pollution? What happened after the land and water became polluted?
Which group looks like it wasn't affected by the pollution? Is that really
true?

7.
Have members of Group One step back into the circle and "eat"
a plant, a fish, a plant-eating animal, or a fish-eating animal by linking
arms with members of these groups.
Independent Activity

8min.

Students record learning

relative to learning
target(s), including
learning from others. 1e
Closing Discussion
Students cognitively
advance higher-level

Students will return to their seats and answer independently

10min.

What happened in the exercise? Who is affected by pollution?

What kinds of things pollute our environment?
Reasons why it is important to protect our planet from pollution,
and ways in which we can avoid polluting our world.

Have students sit in the groups they were in for the pollution exercise
and ask them to discuss pollution and ways we can reduce, reuse, and
recycle waste.

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SMMS Lesson Plan Template using Danielson Domain 1: Theme: Pollution

thinking and discourse for
success of discussion. 1e

Three points: Students were highly engaged in class and group

discussions; fully participated in the pollution activity; and designed a
creative and informative conservation poster with their group that met
all of the criteria.

Assessment 1e
1. Teacher-designed
assessments are authentic
with real world
application, as
appropriate.
2. Students participate in
designing assessments for
their own work.
3. Assessments provide
opportunities for student
choice.
4. Students develop
rubrics according to
teacher-specified learning
objectives.

Two points: Students participated in class and group discussions;

somewhat participated in the pollution activity; and designed an
adequate and somewhat informative conservation poster with their
group that met most of the criteria.

One point: Students participated minimally in class and group

discussions; did not participate in the pollution activity; and did not help
their group design its poster or as a group designed an incomplete and
somewhat informative conservation poster that met only one aspect of
the criteria.

5. Students are actively

involved in collecting
information from
formative assessments and
provide input.
Multiple Points of Entry (Meeting Students Needs): GEs, ELLs, SWDs
Student Groupings
Names of students. Who
works with whom? 1a, 1e

Formative Assessments 1e
What questions/
prompts/assessments are
used regularly to diagnose
evidence of learning by
individual students?

We will group students homogeneously. Grouping high-achieving students with

other high-achieving students allows them to move through the task or steps of the
task at a faster pace. Grouping low-achieving students together, in contrast, allows
students to move more slowly, I will extra time for those groups allowing them
time to address questions and to help them with specific challenges.

What causes Water Pollution

What are the Effects of Water Pollution?
How can Water Pollution be controlled?

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SMMS Lesson Plan Template using Danielson Domain 1: Theme: Pollution

Differentiation
Considerations 1e

we will create a tic-tac-toe board that lists different activities at different ability
levels. When students aren't involved in instruction, they can work on activities
from their tic-tac-toe board. These boards have nine squares, like a tic-tac-toe
board; and each square lists an activity that corresponds with the science unit. For
example, one pollution activity for advanced science students might be to create a
power point presentation about human impact on our planet.
Find websites on the current science unit that students can explore on their own.

Assessment Evidence and Implications for Future Lessons

Teacher intends to use assessment results to plan future instruction for individual students. Danielson 1f
Have each group design a poster including ways in which we can reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. Each poster
should be creative, colorful, and present at least two facts about pollution and two ways in which we can reduce,
recycle, or reuse waste. Students may use the following Web sites to assist them in creating their posters:
Display the finished posters in visible areas around the school to show other students how we can conserve our
natural resources and protect our environment.
And another day, we will introduce students to other types of pollution such as air pollution, soil pollution, and
radioactive pollution

Developed by Ingrid Thomas-Clark, September 2014

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