Overview
This integrated unit on rocks will be taught to a first grade class
at Yankee Ridge School, in Urbana. This classroom is composed of 22 children
of varying ability levels. Since the ability levels are so diverse, the
activities contained in the units are meant to meet the diverse needs of
the students. There are many hands-on, open-ended activities that are intended
to reach the needs of every student. This unit on rocks is one part of a
greater unit on geology that will consists of three units: rocks, dinosaurs,
and earthquakes and volcanoes. This unit will be taught over a one week
period, from April 8-12. The unit on geology will be completed over a three
week period, from April 8-26.
Many topics will be covered in the unit on rocks, as it is a very large
subject area with many important concepts to be introduced. Rocks are a
great area of study for first grade students because they are already interested
in rocks as tangible, real objects in their world, their curiosity in this
subject provides a natural vehicle into many different things. Rocks were
chosen as the first part of the unit on geology because it will provide
useful prior knowledge and a natural pathway into the studies of dinosaurs
and earthquakes and volcanoes. By focusing on so many topics, I hope to
provide the children with a wide range of knowledge on the topic of geology.
A first grade student will not be able to learn everything there is
to know about rocks. The activities I chosen for this unit are intended
to give the children a basic working knowledge of some different areas of
rocks and the earth, such as the earth's layers, minerals, characteristics
of rocks, how rocks change, and fossils. More importantly, through this
unit, rocks will be used as a vehicle to learn and practice techniques that
students will find useful throughout their lives. Such skills as observation,
classification, and description will be heavily employed throughout this
unit. Rocks will also be used as a vehicle to practice many math skills
such as weighing, measuring, and graphing characteristics. Many of the activities
in this unit incorporate the students working in small groups. The groups
will be composed of the daily table groups that the students are already
assigned to. These table groups consist of 5-6 students each, with students
of varying ability levels, to form a heterogeneous mixture of students.
An important aspect employed into the unit to help the children keep
track of the many topics we will be covering is the Geology Journal. This
journal will be used to record all activities that will be done over the
course of the unit. It will be used for daily writing activities, reflections
on science activities, comparisons of different literature used, as well
as any worksheets that will be used throughout the unit. One of the most
important aspects of the journal will be the glossary. Since there will
be many new terms for the students to learn, they will be forming a geology
glossary throughout the unit. The students will write at least one sentence
about each term they are asked to put in their glossary. This glossary will
serve several purposes: writing practice, knowledge, and spelling. Since
the students will be keeping these journals and writing about their experiences,
they will need to know how to spell these words. If they are easily accessible
in their own journals, then they will not need assistance for those particular
words.
An important aspect of the daily routine in this classroom is called
the Morning Work Period. During this time children do three different activities
independently: language arts workbook, a writing activity, and an art activity.
During my integrated unit, the assigned writing activity will be some aspect
of the unit. For example, in one of the lessons, the students will be creating
their own fossils. That day, they will write journal entries telling a story
about how they discovered their fossil. The activities during this period
will also be ones that the students can do independently, or with little
assistance since reading groups are also going on at this time.
The classroom that this unit will be taught in revolves around the use
of learning centers. The different centers that the students participate
in are: listening, science, writing, and math. Although the centers are
labeled as such, they are usually integrated into other subject areas as
well. Most of the activities I will employ for center time will be integrated
into at least two subject areas. These centers, as well as the morning work,
must have activities in which the students can be independently working,
since that is one of the most important concepts in the use of learning
centers. Centers begin on Monday, and sufficient introduction to the activities
and topics will be provided, so as to create a natural sequence to activities.
At the end of the week, closure will be made through a review of the center
activities and how they relate to the rest of the unit.
The activities and lessons for social studies and science in this classroom
are intended to be short, half hour mini-lessons, since more concentration
is given to center work in these areas. The read-aloud time in this classroom
is also a large part of the social studies and science learning. Each day
one fiction and one non-fiction book on the integrated unit topic of study
is read aloud and discussed with the students. The mini-lessons and read
aloud time will be integrated to allow for cohesion and greater learning
for the students.
There is a one hour block of time each day for math lessons and math
tubs. As previously mentioned, rocks will be used as manipulatives to practice
skills such as weighing, measuring, and graphing. These skills will be modeled,
taught, and practiced during the math lesson period, which is approximately
half of the math hour. The second half of the math hour concentrates on
the use of math tubs which rely on the use and practice of math skills with
manipulatives. For this unit, rocks will be used as the manipulatives for
the math tubs.
The culminating activity for this unit is a field trip to the Natural
History Museum at the University of Illinois. A paleontologist of the University
will escort the class through the museum. In addition, the children will
explore a hands-on discovery room and see real dinosaur specimens at the
museum as well. This activity will take place at the end of the three week
unit on Geology.
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