Where Does This Fit In The Des Moines Schools Curriculum and What Standards Does it Fulfill

This rainforest lesson belongs under the Life and Environmental Science Umbrella. Our lesson dealt with the animals of the layers of the rainforest and information about them. This fulfills the department objective of --living things in an ecosystem interact with one another and the nonliving environment. This unit was chosen by the classroom teacher as it is a part of their 4th grade curriculum.

Our lesson fits into the content area of Life Science. The two characteristics of this content standard that our lesson fulfills are:

Characteristics of Organisms--Our lesson revolved around describing the animals that live in the layers of the rainforest.

Organisms and environments--We helped children research about the animals which in turn taught them about the environment that the animals live in, the rainforest.

For more information on the Standards 

Pathways

A: Inquiry Based

Our Science content was adapted and designed to interest the students and allow them to research and learn about the rainforest animals. Each student was included in the project no matter what their ability level was.

B: Guide and Facilitate Learning

As teachers we tried to help and guide students to the amount that they needed. It was important to include all students and give them what they need.

C: Ongoing Assessment of Teaching and Student Learning

During our time in the classroom we had the students filling out a rainforest packet. This packet was how we assessed where they were at in the lesson, still researching or preparing to build.

D: Provide Time, Space, and Resources Needed for Learning Science

We provided a safe working environment for the students where they felt comfortable and able to perform the required elements of the lesson.

The students had a hand in developing thier own classroom environment. The students were able to choose which animal they created and how they wanted to design it. These animals were hung in the wall outside of the classroom.

We brought in many outside resources for the classrooms. The classroom teacher had many books avaliable as well as the internet as a source for the students. We also brought in many materials that the students could work with to build. These materials were very interesting to the children and they loved working with them.

E: Community of Science Learners

The students were encouraged to respect their classmates and be good listeners and audience members. These different elements made them into a responsible and caring community. We nutured collaboration between group members and different groups.