Pre-K Integrated Science Unit: All About Snails

Alicia Osborne
EDU 515
April 12, 2016
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Description

This unit being proposed for Pre-K students, ages 3 to 5 years old, is all about

snails. The students will learn about snails through first-hand observations, as well

as snail-related games and activities. They will learn that there are different types

of snails, but will be observing live garden snails in the classroom. Children will

create a snail terrarium and learn what snails need for survival. They will make

predictions about the snails and describe and record their observations. Children

will make representational drawings and models of the snails using various media.

They will learn to identify and label some external parts of the snail and observe

their movement. The students will learn about the role that snails play in the local

ecosystem.

Rationale

Young children are naturally intrigued by the living things that they come

across, so goals of teaching life science to young children include maintaining this

interest through the careful observation of living things and encouraging children to

treat them and their environments with care and respect (Worth & Grollman, 2003).

MA curriculum frameworks for Pre-K life science include comparisons of humans to

other living things. Chaille and Britain suggest that it is important to go further than

just teaching children similarities and differences between ourselves and other

living things and to communicate the complex interdependencies of the natural

world through childrens experiences with animals and plants (2003, p. 129).

Chaille and Britain state that the ultimate goal of understanding the natural
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world is the development of respect and understanding for living and non-living

things, which is called ecological perspective taking (2003). A natural way to

promote ecological perspective taking is simply by understanding the needs of

living things, respecting them, and interacting with them appropriately (Chaille &

Britain, 2003). In order to communicate an understanding of the perspective of

living things, I will be using Joanne Ryders book, The Snails Spell, which is about a

child imagining a garden snails perspective, and I will involve children in the care of

the snails, setting up the environment for the snails, encourage appropriate

handling of the snails, and setting up various activities that involve the snails

(Chaille & Britian, 2003). By helping to create the snails temporary classroom

habitat, the children should develop a sense of responsibility for the snails

wellbeing.

I will introduce the curriculum by asking the children what experience they

have with snails. I will ask them if they have ever seen a snail, touched a snail, or

where they have heard about snails before. I will next ask the children what they

think they know about snails. I will record these ideas and theories and revisit them

as the children learn more about the subject. Children's theories, built on their

limited experiences, may be reasonable but incomplete or wrong (Worth &

Grollman, 2003), and it is important to let them explore and investigate to discover

the correct answers, rather than just immediately correcting childrens inaccuracies

about science. I will ask the students about what they want to learn about snails

and, to the best of my ability, provide materials and resources that will allow them

to explore answers to these questions. At the end of the unit, I will revisit the
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questions with students and try to get a sense of whether children are satisfied with

the answers they have gained from their investigations and assess the extent of

knowledge that children have gained through the unit.

Having live snails in the classroom will play the most integral role in this

curriculum. According to Conezio and French, young children, like scientists, need

to practice the process skills of predicting, observing, classifying, hypothesizing,

experimenting, and communicating. they need opportunities to reflect on their

findings, how they reached them, and how the findings compare to their previous

ideas and the ideas of others (2002, p.3). The National Science Education

Standards explain that although children develop concepts and vocabulary from

science investigation experiences, they should also develop inquiry skills (2003).

According to the standards,

as students focus on the processes of doing investigations, they develop the

ability to ask scientific questions, investigate aspects of the world around

them, and use their observations to construct reasonable explanations for

the questions posed.Full inquiry involves asking a simple question,

completing an investigation, answering the question, and presenting the

results to others. (2003, p. 1)

According to the National Science Standards, one of the abilities necessary to

do scientific inquiry is to employ simple equipment and tools to gather data and

extend the senses (2003, p. 2). Included in the simple equipment and tools that I

will provide to children are Chaille and Britains three tools and techniques that they

suggest for helping children tune in to the natural world. They are magnifying tools,
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capsulizing nature (in this case, in a snail terrarium), and recording nature (2003).

Recording the snails features and activity will be done through drawing, 3D

representations, dictations, photographing, and videotaping. Students will record

their observations in a science journal. Teachers will support childrens writing or

record dictations of the childrens verbal observations.

The students will learn that snails, much like humans, use their senses to

move around, find food, stay safe, etc. In accordance with MA curriculum standards,

children will use their own senses in their exploration and play to gather

information. They will look at the snails, touch the snails, try to move like the snails,

and maybe even try to listen to them, smell them, and taste some snail food

(vegetables).

Although the snails unit is science-based, it extends throughout all areas of

the Pre-K curriculum. The unit will promote development in language and literacy

through reading a number of books, use of science journals, and games. Simple

turn-taking games, such as Snails Pace Race, will promote positive social

interactions. Measuring and graphing are some examples of bringing math concept

into the unit. Art projects will promote childrens creativity and representational

drawing skills.
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References

Chaille, C. & Britain, L. (2003). The young child as scientist: A constructivist

approach to early childhood science education. (3rd Ed.). New York:

Longman.

Conezio, K. & French, L. (2002, September). Science in the preschool classroom:

Capitalizing on childrens fascination with the everyday world to foster

language and literacy development. Young Children. National Association for

the Education of Young Children.

Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Standards.

Retrieved January 26, 2016, from

http://www.doe.mass.edu/stem/standards/StandardsDraft.pdf

National Academy Press. National Science Education Standards.

Retrieved September 5, 2003, from

http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/6c.html

Worth, K., & Grollman, S. H. (2003). Worms, shadows, and whirlpools: Science in the

early childhood classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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Unit Goals

1. Students will compare, using descriptions and drawings, the external body parts

of living things and explain functions of some of the observable body parts.

2. Students will be able to explain that most animals have five senses they use to

gather information about the world around them.

3. Students will use their five senses in their exploration and play to gather

information.

4. Students will use evidence from animals and plants to define several

characteristics of living things that distinguish them from non-living things.

5. Students will use evidence from the local environment to explain how familiar

plants and animals meet their needs where they live.

(from the 2016 Massachusetts Pre-K Science and Technology/ Engineering

Standards)
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Unit Schedule/ Outline

Day 1:
As an introduction to the unit, photographs of snails will be hung up in the
classroom and both fiction and non-fiction snail books will be on the
bookshelf when the children arrive. Snails Pace Race will be set up at the
games table and tree blocks with small toy snails will be set up at the put-
togethers table. A snail stamping activity will be out at the writing table. The
sand/ water table will have non-toxic/organic soil with more fake snails, fake
worms and insects, leaves, flowers, small flowerpots, small rocks, and
gardening trowels.
During circle time, the children will learn two of the following songs/poems-

I'm A Little Snail

(Sung to: Sing a Song of Sixpence)
I'm a little snail, I'm crawling on the ground.
I have got no legs, so I can't walk around.
And when I'm in a hurry, there's someplace I must go.
I'll get there when I get there, even though I'm very slow!

Snail
He cannot fly.
He cannot hop.
He cannot run at all.
But you should see
The way he goes
Slowly up the wall.
He cannot skip
Or race about.
He has one way to go;
And as I watched him
I must say
He's good at going slow.

Snails, Snails (by Zane Good)

Snails, snails, are wonderful creatures,
If you look real close you'll notice fun little features.
They move real slow as they move across the grass,
They leave a slimy trail that shines like glass.
They're so quiet, even more than a mouse,
What's really cool is that they carry their house.
Yes, it's true, their shell is their home,
They always have it, no matter where they roam.
If you try to pick them up, they'll just hide,
Then you'll have to get real close, so you can peak inside.
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As a whole-group activity, I will ask children about their experiences with

snails. Have you ever seen a snail? Where? What did you notice about it? Is a
snail living or non-living? How do we know? I will then use chart paper to
make a list of what children think they know about snails (we did a pond unit
the week prior, so they were briefly introduced to snails then and learned
about living v. non-living things in the pond ecosystem). I will then ask them
to help me come up with a list of what we want to find out about snails, and
finally, how we can find out the answers to our questions about snails.
I will read the big book version of The Snails Spell by Joanne Ryder for story
time.
If it a cloudy, wet day, we may be able to hunt for snails outside in order to
observe them in their natural environment.

Day 2:
Lesson Plan 1: Create a Snail Terrarium
Children will begin observing the snails in the terrarium
Story and discussion: The Biggest House in the World by Leo Lionni

Day 3:
Lesson Plan 2: Recording Snail Observations
Children will learn about the observable body parts of the snail
Story: Are You a Snail? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries

Day 4:
Story: Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman
Children will learn more about the function and architecture of the snails
shell
Lesson Plan 3: Create a Spiral Snail Shell
Continue observations

Day 5:
Stories: Snail Trail: In Search of A Modern Masterpiece by Jo Saxton and Slow
Snail by Mary Murphy (both feature a silver snail trail to follow throughout
the pages of the book)
Lesson Plan 4: Snail Painting
Have a class discussion about what to do with the snails at the end of the day-
should we let them go back outside where they were found, or take on the
responsibility of caring for them in the classroom terrarium longer? (garden
snails tend to live very long, healthy lives in captivity)
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Lesson Plan 1: Create a Snail Terrarium

Domains: Social, Emotional, Cognitive, Physical, Aesthetic

Content Area: Science, Language/ Literacy

MA Curriculum Frameworks:
Observe and describe how natural habitats provide for the basic needs of
plants and animals with respect to shelter, food, water, air, and light.
Observe and identify the characteristics and needs of living things: humans,
animals, and plants.
Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and
answer relevant questions.
Communicate personal experiences or interests.
Generate questions and gather information to answer their questions in
various ways.

Goals:
Describe how natural habitats provide for the basic needs of plants and
animals with respect to shelter, food, water, air, and light.
Identify the characteristics and needs of living things.
Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and
answer relevant questions.
Communicate personal experiences.
Generate questions and gather information to answer their questions in
various ways.

Objectives:
The students will participate in a large group discussion about snails and
work cooperatively as a class to create a healthy environment for snails to
live in.
Students will use both prior knowledge and experiences as well as non-
fiction books as resources to describe the basic needs of snails.

Materials: Small aquarium with lid

Live snails
Soil/ dirt
Leaves, rocks, sticks
Spray bottle
Small plate
Vegetable scraps
Egg shell (for snail calcium source)
Photographs of snails for reference
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Procedures:
The children will have had some introduction to snails through reading a
fiction book about snails and looking at the photographs of snails that will be
hung up in the classroom. They will already have had a group discussion
about what experiences they have had with snails, so I will ask them for some
ideas about they think the snails will need in order to live in our classroom.
I will provide the students with some more information about what the snails
will need in their terrarium, while at the same time, not giving away too
much information about how the snails will interact with their new
environment. This way, the students will have the chance to develop their
own theories through their direct observations of the snails.
Students will each have a turn adding a component to the snail terrarium.
We will discuss the importance of being gentle and respectful of the snails
before adding them to the terrarium.

Accommodations/Adjustments: As this will be a rather long whole-group activity,

the two children that are on IEPs and have autism spectrum disorders will
most likely need to leave the group for movement/ sensory breaks. For the
children that do not respond to me asking about what they think we will
need to put in the snail terrarium, I will scaffold their participation by asking
some prompting questions, for example, Why do you think we are putting
this lettuce in the terrarium? As an extension, I will ask children probing
questions in order to better assess their knowledge about the needs of living
things and ask them to make predictions about how the snails will behave in
the terrarium.

Assessment Plan: I will write down anecdotal observations of childrens

participation and record what they say during the discussion. This will allow
me to assess their participation in discussions, communication of their
experiences, and their ability to generate questions they have about the
activity, as related to the above goals. I will make notes of the theories
children have about what kids of behaviors they will observe while watching
the snails in the terrarium. I will take photographs to document the process
and print them at a later time and ask children to describe to me what was
occurring in the photos. I can also use the photos as a sequencing activity for
children to revisit.
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Lesson Plan 2: Recording Snail Observations Using Science Journals and iPad

Domains: Cognitive, Physical, Emotional, Aesthetic

Content Areas: Science, Art, Language/ Literacy

MA Curriculum Frameworks:
Identify and use simple tools appropriately to extend observations.
Record observations and share ideas through simple forms of representation
such as drawings.
Compare and contrast natural materials such as water, rocks, soil, and living
organisms using descriptive language.
Observe and identify the characteristics and needs of living things: humans,
animals, and plants.
Investigate, describe, and compare the characteristics that differentiate living
from non-living things.
Use emergent writing skills to make letters in many settings and for many
purposes.

Goals:
Observe the characteristics of living things and record these observations
and share ideas through simple forms of representation such as drawings.
Identify and use simple tools appropriately to extend observations.
Use emergent writing skills to make letters.
Appropriately utilize technology to document their observations.

Objectives:
Students will observe snails in and out of the snail terrarium and record
these observations through drawing.
Students will share their observations verbally and through emergent
writing in their science journals.
Students will use magnifying tools as well as the camera/ video tools on an
iPad to extend their observations.

Materials: Live snails

Notebooks for each child (science journals)
Markers, pencils, colored pencils
Magnifying glasses
iPad

Procedures:
Each child has a notebook in which they can record observations. I will
inform them that our snail observations will be technical drawings, and
remind them of what that means: that they should try their best to draw
accurately what they see, using the actual colors that they see. I will remind
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them about other choices and opportunities that they will have for creative
drawing.
The snail terrarium will be located at the science table for the entire week
and children can choose to go to that area to observe the snails.
Under teacher supervision, children will be allowed to take the snails out of
the terrarium to make closer observations.
Children will draw what they see and describe it in words. Children can
write their words with teacher support or dictate their words for a teacher to
transcribe.
Children will have access to the classroom iPad in order to take some photos
or videos of something that they are observing that they find interesting.

Adjustments/Accommodations: The older and more independent children in the

class will be able to observe and record/document their observations
entirely independently. Children who have yet to develop these skills to that
extent, which will be most of the children, will need varying levels of teacher
support. Teachers can ask prompting questions, such as what do you notice
about and support students who need assistance with pencil grip, letter
formation, etc. The children who struggle to grasp a colored pencil may need
to use markers or crayons instead. For extensions, teachers can ask students
to use magnifying tools to help them to draw in greater detail and encourage
children who are able to use inventive spelling to write about their
observations.

Assessment Plan: The science journals serve as documentation throughout the

school year that show each childs progression in their observation and
documentation skills. I will look to see progression in students abilities to
draw technically. I will be able to assess their progress toward meeting
inquiry goals through making notes on childrens abilities to observe,
describe, develop hypotheses, and utilize simple tools to extend their
observations. By dictating word-for-word what children tell me about their
observations, discoveries, and hypotheses, I will also be able to assess their
level of content knowledge on the subject.
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Lesson Plan 3: Create a Spiral Snail Shell

Domains: Aesthetic, Physical, Cognitive, Emotional

Content Areas: Art, Language/ Literacy, Science

MA Curriculum Frameworks:
Compare, using descriptions and drawings, the external body parts of
animals (including humans) and plants and explain functions of some of the
observable body parts.
Explore a variety of age-appropriate materials and media to create two-and
three-dimensional artwork.
Explore various types of lines in artwork and in nature.
Explore concepts of pattern and symmetry in the environment and artwork.
Listen to a wide variety of age appropriate literature read aloud.
Engage actively in read-aloud activities by asking questions, offering ideas,
predicting or retelling important parts of a story or informational book.

Goals:
Compare and explain the functions of some of the observable body parts of
living things.
Utilize a variety of age-appropriate materials and media to create two- and
three-dimensional artwork.
Explore the concept of lines and patterns in nature and in artwork.
Listen to a read-aloud and actively engage in a discussion about the book.

Objectives:
Students will use a variety of materials to create visual representations of
snails.
Students will identify the pattern of a snails shell as a swirl or spiral and
recreate a swirl pattern in their representation.
Students will be able to give a developmentally appropriate explanation of
the function of snail shell architecture.
Students will listen to and discuss the book Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature
by Joyce Sidman in order to learn about the swirl shape and how it exists in
nature.
Students will be able to compare some external body parts of snails to those
of other living things.

Materials: the book Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman

clay
beads
buttons
glue
construction paper cut into circles and/ or small paper plates
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corks that children can dip in paint to create dots to make their swirl
patterns.
Procedures:
I will read aloud the book Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman.
I will engage the students in a discussion about the book, spirals, and snail
shells. In this discussion, I will offer an age-appropriate explanation of why
and how snail shells coil as they grow.
I will ask the children to make comparisons among snails and other living
things, with and without shells. Immediately prior to the snail unit, children
learned about pond ecosystems, which included some broad information
about turtles, frogs, fish, and insects, so they have a basis for comparisons.
I will introduce a variety of art materials that children can choose from to
create either two- or three-dimensional snail representations. These
materials are listed above.
During choice time, children can choose to make a snail at the art area with
varying levels of teacher support depending on their abilities and interest
level.
I will ask children individually why they chose to make the type of shell that
they made for their snail and record their responses.

Adjustments/ Accommodations: I expect that about two-thirds of the children in

the class will be able to create or draw a spiral independently, after it is
modeled for them. For the children that cannot draw a spiral, due to visual
processing, fine-motor difficulties, or their current developmental stage, a
teacher can draw the spiral and the child can use that line as a guide to stamp
with corks, glue on beads or buttons, etc. As an extension, children who are
interested will be encouraged to write about their snails, either
independently using invented spelling, or with teacher support.

Assessment: I will record childrens level of independence and strengths/ needs

during the art activity using an Art Area checklist and the finished art
project will serve as evidence for their portfolios. I can also use a checklist to
assess students ability to attend during the story. I will write anecdotal
notes about their responses during the discussion in order to assess their
active engagement, abilities to develop theories, and life science content
knowledge. Asking children to describe their snail shells and their reasons
for making the shells the way that they did will allow me to assess their
knowledge of the function of the snail shell and the needs of snails.
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Lesson Plan 4: Snail Painting

Domains: Social, Emotional, Cognitive, Aesthetic

Content Areas: Science, Art, Language/ Literacy

MA Curriculum Frameworks:
Compare, using descriptions and drawings, the external body parts of
animals (including humans) and plants and explain functions of some of the
observable body parts.
Explain that most animals have five senses they use to gather information
about the world around them.
Explore and identify space, direction, movement, relative position, and size
using body movement and concrete objects.
Observe and identify the characteristics and needs of living things: humans,
animals, and plants.
Observe and describe ways that animals, birds, and insects use various parts
of their bodies to accomplish certain tasks and compare them to ways people
would accomplish a similar task.
Explore various types of lines in artwork and in nature.

Goals:
Compare external body parts of human vs. snail and explain functions of
some observable body parts.
Observe and describe ways that snails use parts of their bodies to accomplish
certain tasks and compare them to ways people would accomplish a similar
task.
Explain about senses that animals use to gather information about the world
around them.
Use terms relating to space, direction, movement, and relative position.
Observe characteristics of living things (e.g. movement).
Explore various types of lines in artwork and in nature.
Make predictions about how a living thing will move in particular
environmental conditions (e.g. on a piece of paper in the classroom).

Objectives:
Students will be able to observe and describe the way that a snail uses its
foot to move and compare/contrast to how people use their feet to get
around.
Students will use language that provides information about the space,
direction, movement, and relative position of the snails.
Students will discuss the types of lines that the snails create through their
movement.
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Students will be able to describe how snails use their senses to gather
information about the world around them.

Materials: Snails
White paper
Small cups or jars
Food coloring
Water
Wax paper

Procedures:
The students have already learned about the external/ observable body parts
of snails and their functions and have had multiple opportunities to observe
the snails moving around the terrarium and at the science area. We will
continue an earlier discussion about the senses that snails use to get around
and survive in their environment. I will ask the students what they noticed
about how the snails move and which body parts the snails use to move
around.
I will tell the students that we are going to very carefully dip the bottom of
the snails into a mixture of food coloring and water and put them down on
white paper. I will ask the children what their predictions are about what
will happen to the white paper and record their predictions on chart paper.
Children will each get a turn to paint with their snails at the art area. With a
teachers help, they will carefully dip the bottom of the snail into the food
color and water mixture and place the snail onto their paper. They can
repeat the process using different snails and different colors as they choose.
After the snail has been used for painting, it can be put onto a sheet of wax
paper to crawl around on to get the coloring off of it.
As the children watch the snails move along their papers, the teacher at the
art area will ask them to describe what they are noticing and make anecdotal
notes about these observations.
After all the children have had the chance to participate in snail painting, the
whole group will talk about the paintings and the types of lines that they see.
The students have a dance teacher that comes once a week and have been
learning about all different types of lines with their dance teacher, so it will
be very interesting for them to be able to connect this prior knowledge of
how they can move their bodies in different types of lines to the types of lines
that snails are able to move their bodies in.

Adjustments/Accommodations: It is the hope that, by the point this activity is

introduced, all of the students will be comfortable handling a snail, but there
is a good chance that not every child will be comfortable doing so. I will offer
gloves to children that do not feel comfortable picking the snails up with
their hands and if they still choose not to handle the snails, a teacher will ask
them to choose the snails, the colors, and the placement of the snails and pick
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up the snails for them. I will use probing questions to try to get children to
give me more information about what they are noticing about the snails
movements and travel. As an extension, I can ask children to try to recreate
the snail tracks that are on their papers on large sheets of roll paper at a scale
that can try to move and travel like a snail themselves.

Assessment Plan: I will assess the childrens level of respect for living things
through observing the care that they take in handling the snails. I will record
words that children use to describe the movement, directionality, relative
positions, etc. of the snails. I will ask students how their predictions about
what would happen when we put the snails dipped in colored water on
the white paper compare to what they saw happen during the art activity.
The transcriptions of childrens descriptions of the activity can be typed and
printed and then hung up alongside the snail paintings as a classroom display
and later moved into the students portfolios. I can videotape some snail
movements as well as videotape children trying to move like the snails
and allow the children to watch the videos and describe comparisons
between their movements and the snails movements.
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Resources

Childrens Books:
The Biggest House in the World by Leo Lionni
Are You a Snail? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries
The Snails Spell by Joanne Ryder and Lynne Cherry
Snail (Bug Books) by Karen Hartley
Snail Trail: In Search of A Modern Masterpiece by Jo Saxton
Slow Snail by Mary Murphy

Songs/Poems:
Im a Little Snail (http://www.songs4teachers.com/songspoems4kids.pdf)
Snail (http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems27.html)
Snails, Snails by Zane Good (http://www.justmontessori.com/montessori-
curriculum/week-31-day-2/)

Websites:
Snail-world.com
Make a Snail Habitat and Snail Anatomy
(http://preschoolpowolpackets.blogspot.com/2014/04/make-snail-habitat-
snail-anatomy.html)

Community Resources:
Earl Center at Wheelock College
Public library or college library
Garden center

Technology:
Classroom iPad

Curriculum Resources:
Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Pre-K
http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html
Chaille, C. & Britain, L. (2003). The young child as scientist: A constructivist
approach to early childhood science education. (3rd Ed.). New York:
Longman.
Puckett, M. & Black, J. (2008) Meaningful assessment for the young child:
Celebrating development and learning. (3rd Ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Kahn, S. (February, 2005). From slimy and scary to amazing: Introducing
bugs in first-grade science. ENC Focus Review.
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Standards Based Reflection: Wheelock Teaching Standards 3 and 5

This assignment serves as evidence that I am working toward meeting the

criteria for Standards 3 and 5 of Wheelocks Standards for Teachers. Standard 3,

Knowledge of Content and Integrated Curriculum, states that educators need to be

knowledgeable about the content and concepts that they teach to their students.

Learning experiences should be meaningful and developmentally/age-appropriate

for the grade that is being taught. Educators should develop curriculum based on

their own knowledge and have specific goals regarding what children will learn in

terms of both content and skills/ processes. In order to successfully integrate

curriculum, educators need to be mindful of their students development, prior

experiences and knowledge, and cultural, community, and family backgrounds.

Standard 5, Assessment in a Multi-racial, Multicultural Democracy, states that

educators need to be diligent about using appropriate and varied forms of

assessment. Educators should utilize both formal and informal and both formative

and summative types of assessment. They should be aware that assessments may

have limitations and biases and that appropriate assessments will consider a

students developmental, cultural, familial, and community context. Educators

should use assessment along with student interests, challenges, and successes to

guide, shape, and develop curriculum.

The science curriculum unit that I created about snails is evidence that

demonstrates my knowledge and abilities in the areas that I have described. I had to
 Osborne 21

do a great deal of research in creating this curriculum in order to ensure that I had

accurate science content knowledge about these concepts, that my goals were

developmentally appropriate and in line with the states curriculum frameworks,

and about authentic assessment practices as they relate to scientific inquiry. I had

to learn about snails, the role they play in the ecosystem, their needs, their

characteristics, and how to find them and keep them successfully in the classroom. I

used textbooks, course readings, and the Massachusetts and national education

frameworks in order to help me develop appropriate and meaningful lessons and

assessments.

I chose to create a unit on snails because it is connected to both the interests

of students in my Pre-K class as well as to their prior learning experiences and it is a

tangible and relevant subject for this age group. Since the beginning of the school

year, one child in the class has talked about how she loves snails and she will often

draw pictures of snails. Her talk about snails inspired other children in the class to

begin drawing snails, so I thought that it would be particularly meaningful for the

children to be able to have the experience of having live snails in the classroom. In a

unit about ponds, the children are given an introduction to the pond ecosystem,

living and non-living things in and around a pond, vertebrates and invertebrates,

and biological reciprocity. The snail unit will immediately follow the pond unit and

will provide much more in-depth and inquiry-based learning experiences about one

native species of invertebrate, the garden snail. The learning experiences that I have

planned will further develop childrens understanding of the subject matter of snails

as well as their inquiry and process skills.

 Osborne 22

I worked hard to ensure that the unit is integrated throughout other

curriculum areas, aside from science. Multiple opportunities for reading both fiction

and non-fiction literature, group discussions, individual recording of observations,

and use of both scientific and non-scientific terminology are some examples of how

the Language and Literacy content areas are integrated into the curriculum. Art is

integrated in the curriculum through childrens literature with rich illustrations and

a book about a snail traveling through a museum and viewing famous paintings, the

use of varied and age-appropriate art materials and mediums, and making

connections between lines and patterns in nature as well as in art. I was also

thoughtful about connecting the learning about snails movement to what the

children have been learning about movement with their dance instructor.

I designed this unit in a way that concepts and skills should build upon one

another to create a more comprehensive knowledge base of the subject matter and

science inquiry skills. Since child "growth and development is interrelated and

interdependent, it is important for early childhood educators to take a whole-child

perspective that observes and facilitates growth, development, and learning across

domains (Puckett & Black, 2008, p. 28). In deciding on assessments, I wanted to

ensure that they would be developmentally, culturally, and individually appropriate

for all of the students in the class. Most of my assessments include documentation

that will be saved to compare with other documentation collected throughout the

school year in order to obtain a more holistic picture of the childs growth and

development throughout the school year.

 Osborne 23

Planning this unit has helped me to feel much more comfortable with

developing a curriculum that is appropriate for the various types of learners in the

classroom. I think that in order to continue increasing my competency in Standard

3, I need to continue learning about childrens development, prior experiences, and

cultural, community, and family backgrounds. I think that continuing to think of

myself as a life-long learner and increasing my own content knowledge is crucial to

ensuring that I am able to develop the best curriculum that I can. I need to be

mindful of the importance of both content and process goals and ensure that my

objectives are meaningful and measurable.

Although I feel that I have made progress toward meeting Standard 5:

Assessment in a Multi-racial, Multicultural Democracy, it is a Wheelock teaching

standard that I feel that I need to further develop.

Those who assess growth, development, and learning of young

children should know the limits of their knowledge and expertise and
recuse themselves from assessment procedures for which they are
untrained and unqualified to carry out. By the sane token, the
educator who recognizes his or her limitations continually engages in
professional development in order to maintain highest standards in
assessment practices. (Puckett & Black, 2008, p. 20-21)

Working in Pre-K, I mostly think of assessments as being informal and formative,

however, I do understand that there is some value to formal and summative

assessments. I still need to work on ensuring that my assessments are actually

measuring my goals. I plan to use other educators as resources in order to learn

more about varied assessments. I also plan to continue learning more about ways to

use technology in assessment.

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Reference

Puckett, M. & Black, J. (2008) Meaningful assessment for the young child: Celebrating
development and learning. (3rd Ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill.