PREINSTRUCTIONAL

• Students will be introduced to the topic of the desert.
• Students will complete a chart of what they know, and what they want to know, about the desert.
• Students will become familiar with the bulletin board, and the way in which they will become responsible for demonstrating their learning about the desert.
• Students will be introduced to the type of record keeping that they will perform throughout the unit (journals).

• "The Living Desert" Video by Walt Disney
• Green construction paper (1 large sheet, 20 small) (22 18 by 20 sheets)
• Scissors
• Bulletin board
• Black marker
• Chart paper
• 22 pieces of white lined paper

DURING INSTRUCTION

1. Cut out a cactus pad from a large sheet of green paper. Write the words, "What We Know About the Desert" on it.
2. Hang the pad on the bulletin board.
3. Cut out several (20) smaller pads. Place them in a pile next to the bulletin board.
4. When the students learn a new thing about the desert, as a class, they will add it to the board as an extension to the cactus by writing what they have learned on the small pads.

1. Explain to the students that the class will be studying the desert. Ask the students what they know about the desert. Record this on the paper.
2. Show the video about the desert.
3. Discuss the video, asking the students if they see any difference in what they know now and what is on the board.
4. Ask the students what they want to learn about the desert. Record this on the chart.
5. Show the students the beginning of the bulletin board. Explain that when they learn something new about the desert as a class, they can take turns recording what they have learned and adding it to the bulletin board.
6. Explain that another way in which they will record their learning is through journals.
7. Hand a large piece of green paper (18 by 20) and several sheets of lined white paper to the students.
8. Ask the students to fold the green paper, place the sheets of paper inside of it, and staple the edge. Explain that this will be their way of keeping a record of experiments and things that they have learned.
9. Explain the procedure for writing in the journal:
   1. The teacher will identify when the students are to write in their journals.
   2. Each entry must be dated.
   3. Each entry will have a description of what they are doing or observing, or the material that they are working with or researching.
   4. At the end of each journal, they will either write questions that they have, reactions to the experiment, or what they feel that they learned from the lesson.

POSTINSTRUCTIONAL

• Were the students able to identify things about the desert that they learned through the video?
• Did the students identify aspects of the desert that they would like to learn about?
• Did each student create a journal, and seem clear as to how and when it would be used?
• Did the students add things on the bulletin board after the lesson?

• Students may draw pictures to aid in the explanations in their journals.
• If a student is unclear as to what a desert is, the book A Closer Look at Deserts by Jill Hughes may be looked at with the teacher during independent reading time. The book may also be lent to the child overnight to be discussed with parents.