LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Title for Lesson Plan: Penguins

Your Name: Christina An, Demi Williams
Date of Lesson: 10/26/2015
Approximate (Amount of) Time Required for Lesson: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Grade Level/Subject(s): 5th Grade
Student Objectives/Student Outcomes:
Students will learn the basics of internet research as well as obtain a broader a more vast
knowledge of penguins by using chromebooks to find information pertaining to habitat, physical
characteristics, diet, potential predators and interesting facts pertaining to their specific assigned
penguin.
Students will learn defining details of the habitat of their assigned species of penguin.
Students will find a short clip of their penguin in action and show it to the class along with their
penguin poster to be explained in Assessment.
Illinois Standards:
NGSS Life Science

LS2.C Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience

o

LS2.D Social Interactions and Group Behavior

o

When the environment changes some organisms survive and reproduce, some
move to new locations, some move into the transformed environment, and some
die.

Being part of a group helps animal obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with
changes.

LS3.A Inheritance of traits & LS3.B Variation of traits

o

Different organisms vary in how they look and function because they have
different inherited information; the environment also affects the traits that an
organism develops.

LS4.B Natural Selection

o

LS4.C Adaptation
o

Differences in characteristics between individuals of the same species provide

advantages surviving and reproducing.

particular organisms can only survive in particular environments.

LS4.D Biodiversity and humans

o

Populations of organisms live in a variety of habitats. Change in those habitats

affects the organisms living there.

Materials/Resources/Technology:
Chromebooks, Giant Post-It Note Paper Pad with Penguin Outline, Markers, Crayons, Colored
Pencils, Etc., Scissors, Penguin Info Books, Slips of Paper with Names of Penguin Species, Hat

Implementation/Procedure
Introductory Discussion: 10 minutes
Discuss with students what they know about penguins. Ask guiding questions like: What do you think
penguins look like? Where do you think penguins live? What do you think penguins eat? Write those
answers on the board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2gbMbzpaUk (0:00 - 1:22)

Example/Explanation: 20 minutes
Go over the resources/websites about different penguins.
http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/wildlife/antarctic-penguins.php
Use this first website to introduce the 7 different penguins that they will research about. But before, take
one penguin, for example the Adelie penguin, and show the students what kind of information they can
find on this website. For the Adelie penguin, the average weight, height, breeding season, distribution,
estimated population, etc. are listed on the website.
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/downey/project/penguins.html

Students can also use this website to find more information about their assigned penguins that is not
mentioned in the first website. Again, for the Adelie penguin, this website talks about the behaviors of this
specific specie. However, teacher should mention that this website does not include information about
King penguins.
http://antarcticconnection.com/information/penguins/
This website includes short descriptions and characteristics for each penguins. Also, it provides some
interesting facts for each penguins. For example, for Adelie penguins, the website mentions that Adelies
are the smallest and most widely distributed penguins in the Antarctic.
By going over the resources/websites, students will have clearer understanding of what they should be
doing and what they should be looking for on each resources/websites.

Procedure: 30 minutes
Break students into equal groups and have each group randomly choose a slip of paper to decide which
group works on which penguin. Give each group two chromebooks and show students the available books
on penguins as well. Each group will also get a poster paper and various drawing materials.
Have students write the name of their penguin species at the top of their poster. Tell students that they will
research habitat, diet, potential predators, physical characteristics and unique facts about their penguins
and write about and draw them inside the penguin on their poster. List the target information on the board,
so that students can easily access and keep track of the information they are finding. Students will also
write about the differences between their assigned penguin and the predictions the class made. They will
find a short video clip on their penguins in action to show the class.

Assessment: 30 minutes
Instruct students to come to a stopping point and sit on the floor in front of the board with their
groups. Randomly select a penguin species from the hat like earlier and have each group come up to
present. Groups will present their penguin posters one at a time and discuss the information they found.
They will also compare their information to the predictions the class came up with during the initial
discussion. Have them present first and show the video of their penguin at the end. Open up the room for
questions at the end of each presentation, but dont put too much pressure on the students to answer. Have
students clap for their classmates after each presentation to practice audience etiquette. At the end of
presentations, the students will each complete an individual exit slip on one thing they learned about
penguins.

Grading Rubric for Poster Presentation

CATEGORY

Required
information
(20 points)

Video Clip
(6 points)

Knowledge
Gained
(6 points)

Title
(3 points)

The poster presentation includes

all required information
including, diet, habitat, potential
predators, physical
characteristics, and interesting
facts written or depicted clearly
and legibly.

Some relevant
information is
included on the
poster, but not all of
the required
information is
represented.

Minimal information
about penguin species
is depicted on the
poster..

The video clip is clearly related

to their assigned penguins, and
have descriptions about the
penguins.

The video clip is not

of the assigned
penguin. The clip is
about the wrong
species.

There is no video clip.

Student can accurately present

the poster information and can
answer most questions related to
facts in the poster presentation.

Student can
accurately answer 1-2
questions related to
facts in the poster.

Student cannot
accurately answer any
of the questions related
to facts in the poster
and processes used to
create the poster.

Name of the penguin species is

clear, legible, and large enough
to see from afar.

Name of the penguin Name of the penguin

is generally clear and species is missing.
legible.

TOTAL ___/35 POINTS