2. Big Idea

3. Curriculum Expectations

4. Assessment

5. Differentiation

6. Technology

7. Lessons

8. References

Math – Geometry (shapes and symmetry)

Language Arts – story writing, the components of storytelling

Visual Arts – Elements of art (colour, texture, shape, form, space, line)

Technology – Students have used various apps and devices prior. This ensures they are comfortable using these technologies for our mini-unit.

2. investigate needs and characteristics of plants and animals, including humans

2.3 investigate and compare the physical characteristics of a variety of plants and animals, including humans 

2.4 investigate the physical characteristics of plants (e.g., basic parts, size, shape, colour) and explain how they help the plant meet its basic needs

2.7 use a variety of forms (e.g., oral, written, graphic, multimedia) to communicate with different audiences and for a variety of purposes

– locate shapes in the environment that have symmetry, and describe the symmetry

– identify and describe common two dimensional shapes (e.g., circles, triangles, rectangles, squares) and sort and classify them by their attributes (e.g., colour; size; texture; number of sides), using concrete materials and pictorial representations

– compose patterns, pictures, and designs, using common two-dimensional shapes

D1. Creating and Presenting: apply the creative process to produce a variety of two- and three-dimensional art works, using elements, principles, and techniques of visual arts to communicate feelings, ideas, and understandings

D1.3 use elements of design in art works to communicate ideas, messages, and personal understandings

1.1 Purpose and Audience 

1.4 Classifying Ideas 

2.1 Form 

2.2 Voice 

2.3 Word Choice

Oral Communication: 

2.3 Clarity and Coherence: communicate ideas, opinions, and information orally in a clear, coherent manner using simple but appropriate organizational patterns 

2.5 Vocal Skills and Strategies: identify some vocal effects, including tone, pace, pitch, and volume, and use them appropriately, and with sensitivity towards cultural differences, to help communicate their meaning 

2.7 Visual Aids: use a few different visual aids, to support or enhance oral presentations

2. Observation & Documentation: I will continuously observe and listen to students as they explore activities. I will take notes, pictures, videos of their work for documentation purposes. This will serve as assessment as learning. 

3. Authentic Tasks to make thinking visible:
  - Story book writing: From Lesson 1. Here students begin to ponder living and   non-living things, while thinking of their needs and characteristics through their representations in their book.
  - "Living Thing" Art: In lesson 3, students living thing art will make their mathematical, visual arts, and science thinking visible through their art piece. 

4. Creating a ”Nature Documentary”: This is from Lesson 2. Here students will receive more kinesthetic, play-based, and inquiry-based learning. Students demonstrate their exploration, identification and understanding of living and non-living things, while also identifying their needs and characteristics. Technology will be integrated in this lesson, but to ensure we are carefully scaffolding and releasing independence over time, this lesson will not be interdisciplinary, to allow focus to be on targeting the Big Idea.

5. Exit Tickets: Exit tickets will be completed at the end of lesson 3 and 4. In lesson 3, students complete an "Art Critic" review. In lesson 4, their exit ticket will be a "Film Critic" review card. 

6. Co-constructing Success Criteria: As a class, we will co-construct our success criteria for our mini unit. Our learning goal will be “We are environmental scientists.” Our success criteria would include “I can identify living things. I can identify non-living things. I can identify needs and characteristics of plants. I can identify the needs and characteristics of animals."

7. Co-creating Rubric: For our culminating task, all students will be involved in constructing our rubrics. We will use our success criteria to create our final task rubric. When all students are involved in this process, they are more familiar with and aware of the requirements for success.

8. Self-assessment: Students will have an opportunity to assess themselves on their culminating task.

After we complete our read aloud of Life, students will return to their groups where stations are set up. A variety of materials and tools will be available for students to create their own book. Otherwise, technology can be focused within the lesson by having students use Storybird to create their book. Their book will contain a story of all the things they are grateful for in the environment/natural world - including living ( it could include animals, plants, family, friends) and non-living things. This is a way for students to practice writing skills, develop mindfulness/integrate well-being in the classroom, and use arts and crafts for engagement and authentic learning. By creating their own books, students will feel successful and accomplished. It’s important to note that teachers can provide copies of the book at each group for students to refer to. This activity works well if students have learned about the conventions of storytelling. During this activity, students may need simple graphic organizers to help them develop their ideas. Also note, depending on what you have in mind as the learning goals for this activity, this may required several classes for student to draft, revise and publish work for their portfolio.

This provocation will be used for students to learn and develop expectations within the Writing and Oral Communication strand of the Language curriculum.

Consolidation:
We then have mini presentations where students share their story, or they can use Flipgrid to create a video of themselves reading their book (especially good for our more shy students). Through presentations we can integrate the Oral Communication strand in this literacy provocation. This can open up conversations about living and non-living things.

Consolidation:
We will share our Nature Documentaries with the class as a consolidation piece afterwards. Students complete exit tickets that are their "Film Critic" (or, rather, "critique") reviews. The 3-2-1 Exit Ticket will include questions about what they learned, what they found fascinating, and a question they still have. Peer assessment will be in the form of Documentary Film Critic (2 Stars and A Wish).

Action:
The action portion will be completed through outdoor education/place-based learning by going outdoors to explore nature. Students can use technology to take photos of plants and animals then embed the 2-D shape that the plant closely resembles overtop the image. For example, they will use the You Doodle app to take photos, edit them by overlaying words (e.g., living thing, plant, animal, human) and drawing shapes (and adding the name of the shape), then saving the image. They will similarly take photos to show things that are symmetrical -- they can also embed lines of symmetry if they are up for the challenge. In order to integrate Needs and Characteristics of Living Things strand, students will identify if their photo is of a living or non-living thing, and identify what it is (plant, animal, leaf, stick, etc.). 

This activity will achieve the learning goal/Big Idea, classifying 2-D shapes and recognizing symmetry. This would work well for the primary classroom because it integrates outdoor education, play and technology. This integration can support students engagement in the learning, develop environmental stewards, and provides students with an opportunity to improve their digital literacy skills. It also works well because it differentiates learning: students get to explore, find and choose the living and non-living things that they want to identify shapes and symmetry for (it could range from simple, to moderate, to advanced). Additionally, it builds on 21st century learning skills like collaboration (working positively with their peers as they explore), communication (speaking with their peers to share their thinking), and creativity (finding shapes and symmetry in nature).

Consolidation:
Students share their photos as we sit in a community circle in class, ask questions, sharing understanding, and learn from each other. 

Lesson 5 - CHATTERPIX: As our culminating task, students work in in pairs to choose 1 living thing. They use or a take a picture of their chosen living thing. They create a silly, engaging video of their chosen living thing talking, while addressing the success criteria for the task. We can have a gallery walk to view other presentations, then create a community circle to consolidate what we learned, ask questions, and provide feedback. 

Ministry of Education. (2006). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8, language. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2005). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8, mathematics. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math18curr.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2007). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8, science and technology. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/scientec18currb.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2009). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8, The Arts. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf

Rylant, C. (2017). Life. New York, NY: Beach Lane Books.

The Learning Exchange. (2018). Learning through the arts - Visual arts. Retrieved from https://thelearningexchange.ca/projects/learning-through-the-arts-visual-arts/

The Learning Exchange. (2018). Open-ended and parallel learning tasks for instruction. Retrieved from http://thelearningexchange.ca/videos/open-ended-and-parallel-learning-tasks-for-instruction/

Vimeo. (2013). Outdoor education - Exploration. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/63176640