Name: Laura Baer Class: ELED 3221 Date: 3/17/14 edTPA Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template What

is Soil? _____________________________________________________________________________ Central Focus/Big Idea: Nature of soil Subject of this lesson: Introductory lesson on soil/understanding what soil is, what it is made of, and that there are different types of soil Grade Level: 3rd Grade NC Essential Standard(s): 3.L.2.4: Explain how the basic properties (texture and capacity to hold water) and components (sand, clay and humus) of soil determine the ability of soil to support the growth and survival of many plants. Next Generation Science Standard(s): 5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. 21st Century Skills: Collaboration: Students must work together in groups to complete activities (4th grade outcome). Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Students must construct explanations from their own observations and discuss them with peers (4th grade outcome). Academic Language Demand Language Function: Students are asked to predict what ingredients they may find that make up soil. Students are asked to categorize the different substances in the soil into different categories. Students must compare and contrast three different types of soil and describe their similarities and differences. Analyze Interpret Argue Predict Categorize Question Compare/contrast Describe Retell Summarize Explain

Scientific Vocabulary: soil, potting soil, clay, sand, bacteria, fungi

Instructional Objective: Students will be able to create an information poster on soil including information about what ingredients are in soil, how soil is made, and descriptions of three different types of soil: clay, sand, and potting soil. Prior Knowledge (student): Students should already know how to sort items into categories, how to make predictions, how to compare and contrast, and what their five senses are to understand this lesson. Content Knowledge (teacher): The teacher should know that soil is a mixture of many materials including leaves, rocks, minerals, tree bark, and micro-organisms. Each inch of soil takes 100 years to form in nature. Fungi, Bacteria, and other living things decompose the nutrients of those materials and recycle them into soil. There are more than 100 billion micro-organisms living in one pound of soil. The tools we have today cannot make soil like bacteria and fungi do. The nutrients in the top level of soil are what make it fertile and allow plants to grow. Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group): During the activities outside, I would help the students with special needs collect the soil samples. I would also help them complete their observations by providing the questions I ask the whole class after the lesson to them beforehand so they know what to search for as opposed to free exploration. For ELL students, I would allow them to explain their observations to me as opposed to writing them down in their science notebooks. Materials and Technology requirements: Plastic spoons 24 Plastic cups 24 Potting soil 1 bag Clay 1 bag Sand 1 bag Tweezers 24 Sticky notes 3 stacks Pens/pencils 24 Paper bags 3 White construction or printer paper 3 sheets Construction paper 24 sheets Total Estimated Time: 90 minutes Source of lesson: Teacher-Provided materials (Amanda Mohler) from Life Lab Science Program (2007) Safety considerations: Students will be shown demonstrations on how to handle the materials both outside when collected soil and inside when making observations about it. All stations will be set up beforehand so students will not potentially harm themselves or others. Consequences

will be enforced for any students not following directions or abusing the materials provided to them for the lesson. Content and Strategies (Procedure) Engage: Have the students sit in their seats with their eyes closed and read the following short story. Imagine that we are scientists from the Planet Zog journeying to planet Earth on the Star Ship Life Lab. We have been chosen to make a most important journey. The future of our beloved planet is in danger as it has become so polluted that we are no longer able to grow our own food. Our astronomers have detected a very faraway planet called Earth. It appears to be green, lush, and fertile. Our computers have analyzed the reason for this and it appears to be a brownish-grey substance called soil. It is difficult for us to believe that all their food comes from this substance. Our mission as scientists is to find this material called soil, dissect it, and record each and every ingredient for our computers. This will allow us to learn the secret of this material so we can make soil back on planet Zog. Upon landing, we will break into groups of three to four scientists. Each group will use our tools to collect samples of toils (plastic cups and spoons). Remember: it is crucial to the success of our mission that each and every substance found in the soil be recorded. Good luck to all of you. Long live planet Zog! Ask students, So, what are we looking for outside on planet Earth? Does anyone have any predictions about what we might find in the soil? Then, divide the students into groups of four and bring the students outside in an orderly fashion. Explore: Once outside, tell each student group that they will collected soil from different parts of the planet (outside area or garden). Model digging up soil with the plastic spoon and putting it into the plastic cup for the students. Be clear about the expectations of collecting the soil (no throwing at each other, etc.) Send each small group to a different area of the garden or outside. When they have collected the soil, have students return to the classroom. In their groups, students will use tweezers to pick up the different items in the soil. They can use paper towels to sort their findings into different categories. Each student must record the different items they find in the soil in their science notebooks. Allow the groups to share their findings to the whole class. Ask questions like, Are the ingredients all the same, or are some different? How are they different? Why do you think that is? Explanation: After students have shared their findings, allow them to try and create soil from the ingredients they have removed. (They should not be able to do this). Allow them to try until they get frustrated. Ask questions like, Why do you think we are having such a hard time forming soil from these ingredients? Shouldnt we be able to? Explain to students the process of creating soil. Soil is made up of many different ingredients, including the ones you have found. Some examples are bits of leaves, rocks, and tree bark. However, we cannot just put those items together to create soil. Each inch of soil takes 100 years to form in nature. 100 years! Fungi, Bacteria, and other living things decompose the nutrients of

those materials and turn them into or recycle them into soil. There are more than 100 billion tiny or micro-organisms living in one pound of soil. The tools we have cant make soil like bacteria and fungi can. Ask the students, What is soil made of? Can humans create soil using the ingredients? Is soil alive? Why or why not? What do you think would happen if all of the soil on Earth washed away? Elaborate: Tell students, Now that we have learned about what some soil is made of, we are going to compare different kinds of soil! Set out three containers of soil: clay, potting soil, and sand. Put a stack of sticky notes, 8 pens or pencils, and a paper bag next to each container. Divide class into three equal groups of students (8 each for 24 students). Tell students that they are going to explore three different types of soil with all of their senses except taste. They will also be using good, descriptive words to describe the different types of soil. Give each group one container of soil (with a lid on), one paper bag, a stack of sticky notes. Give the students the following directions: 1. Each student in the group will shake the container of soil and listen to the sound it makes. Record notes in your journals. (Hearing) 2. Each student in the group will open their container of soil and feel it with their fingers to understand its texture. Record notes in your journals. (Feeling) 3. Each student in the group will hold the container up to their nose and smell the soil. Record notes in your journals. (Smelling) 4. Each student will look closely at the soil. Students can rub a bit of the soil on paper to see what color it leaves. Record notes in your journals. (Seeing) 5. Each student must think of one word to describe their soil, write it on a sticky note, and put it in the paper bag at their station. Each student group will rotate to all of the stations and complete the same process. After each group has finished each soil stations, the groups will create a poem about their last type of soil using all of the words in the paper bag. They can stick the sticky notes on their desk or a large sheet of chart paper. All words must be used, no matter how many times it appears in the bag. Allow each student group to share their poems. After sharing, ask the students questions like, What were some things that were similar about the three different types of soils? What were some things that were different? Which one had the strongest smell? Describe how each type of soil felt. Were two types more alike than another? Describe the different sounds the soil made. What did you learn about soil from this activity? Evaluate: Formative assessment is the questions asked by the teacher to the students throughout the lesson activities. For summative assessment, students will create an informational poster about soil. They must include information about what ingredients are in soil, how soil is made, and

descriptions of the three different types of soil we learned about (clay, sand, potting soil) in their poster. Students posters must also be neat and include their name to achieve mastery.