Georgia Southwestern State University Lesson Plan Guidelines

Created by GSW School of Education

EDEC 4200 Spring 2016
(Revised by L. Larsen)
Name:Clefira Santana
Lesson Date:
Lesson Start Time:

Lesson End Time:

Classroom/Lesson Context
__x__ Whole Group _____ Small Group _____ One-on-One
Please specify the number of students:
_____ Girls _____Boys
Learning Central Focus
A. Lesson Plan Title:
B. Grade Level: ___k_____
C. Central Focus:

Living vs. Non-living_______

The central focus for this learning segment is that the students will differentiate between living
and non-living materials.
D. Content Standard:
SKL1. Students will sort living organisms and non-living materials into groups by observable
physical attributes.
a. Recognize the difference between living organisms and nonliving materials
Student Learning Goal(s)/ Objective(s):
A. Skills/procedures:
The students will gather evidence about different organisms and materials and develop
guidelines in order to determine if the organisms and materials are living or non-living.
B. Prior Academic Knowledge and Conceptions:
In order to be successful in the lesson, the students will need to have developed proper
communication and discussion skills. The students must be able to convey their thoughts in an

understandable fashion, and be able to follow instructions. The students must also be familiar
with word sorts and have basic word and picture recognition skills.
Common Errors, Developmental Approximations, Misconceptions, Partial
Understandings, or Misunderstandings:
During the lesson, there will most likely be some misconceptions as to what constitutes a living
or non-living thing, which will lead to misunderstandings when addressing certain organisms
and materials. The most common errors during this lesson tend to be surrounding plants, rocks,
eggs, or seeds.
I will address misconceptions by first creating a list of guidelines that constitutes living things
with the help of the class. I will then use the guideline list to explain why the materials are either
living and non-living, and also explain any further questions the class may have (for example:
how does a plant move?).
Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks
A. Launch: __________ Minutes
I will gain the students attention by clapping my hands, and asking the students to have their
eyes on me.
I will tell the class that I will be showing them some pictures, and that I want them to call out
what they think about the pictures, and whether they think the things in the pictures are alive or
not. I will show a picture of a horse trotting, a tree, a fish, a rock, a frog, and a crayon. I will give
the students time to say their responses without interrupting, and let them discuss their thoughts
among themselves.
After seeing the pictures, I will say to the class that today we will be learning what it means to be
living or nonliving, and what questions we can ask ourselves to see if something is living or not.
I will explain to the class that I expect them to sit quietly, pay attention and to only speak to
answer or ask a question. I will also explain to the class that I expect them to respect their peers
and to be silent while another student talks.
B. Instruction: __________ Minutes
I will tell the class that a living thing is something that is alive, and that a non-living thing is
something that is not alive. I will tell the class that humans, dogs, and horses are examples of
living things.
With the help of the class, I will construct a check list of guidelines that constitute a living being.
I will begin by asking the class to list things about humans that that make us know that we are
alive, and list them on the paper. I will also ask them to list things that we need to stay alive.
When a student provides an answer, I will let the class discuss his or her answer among
themselves, and if in the end the class still finds the answer valid, then I will write it on the chart
paper. As I write them down, I will repeat them out loud. When we are done making the list, we
will read it aloud as a class. An example of the list we may have in the end could be as follows:
breathes, walks, has a heart, talks, needs food and water, has bones, grows, moves.

After we have our initial list, I will check its validity by checking it with other things to see if it is
alive, showing the class pictures of the living things as I do, and slowly increasing in difficulty of
the object. I will ask if the living thing fits our list, and have a pause to let the students discuss,
and then step in when the ultimate answer I desire is reached, repeating the answer as I do.
While I discuss the options, we will alter the list, removing and adding qualities as we see fit.
The following is a sample script of how I would discuss with the class (class response is
italicized):
Okay class, now that we have our list, lets check it with some other living things.
Let me think of something that is livingokay, lets check this with the horse
we saw in the slideshow. Lets go down the list together. Our first requirement is
breathes. Does a horse breathe?
Yes
Alrighty, so we will put a check next to this one. Next one, does a horse walk?
Lets think about this one, because it needs to apply to ALL living things, and that
includes babies.
Grown up horses can, and so can baby horses. But human babies cannot walk.
Thats right. Even though horses can walk when theyre adults and babies, other
living things like human babies cant. So since not all living things can walk,
should walk still be on our list?
No!
Thats right, it shouldnt, so were going to mark it out. Next one, does a horse
have a heart?
Yes.
Yes it does! So we are going to put a check by that one. What about talking? Do
horses talk like you and me?
No
No, they dont, so we are going to mark this one out because not all living things
can talk. Now on to the next one, does a horse need food and water?
Yes
Yes, so were going to check it. Does a horse have bones?
Yes
Horses do have bones, so were going to check this one off as well, good job.
Now lets read the next one, what does it say? Grows. Does a horse grow?

Yes
Correct, a horse grows just like you and me, so we are going to put a check next
to this one. Last one, does a horse move?
Yes!
Thats right, horses move when they run around and shake their head or even
blink their eyes. So since this living thing moves, we are going to check it. Now
lets read our list now: Living things breathe, have a heart, need food and water,
have bones, grow and move. Lets check this list with another living thing, this
time it is gonna be a little trickier so I need you to pay attention.
I will repeat this discussion with different living things to help narrow down the list, slowly getting
more difficult with the living things and explaining when the students get confused. For example,
when I ask the class about the jellyfish, we will determine that a jelly fish breathes, needs food
and water, grows, and moves, but that it doesnt have a heart or bones, so we can mark those
off the list. When I ask about trees, I will explain every category in case some students get
confused. I will explain that trees breathe in a chemical called carbon dioxide from the air, and
turn it into oxygen that we can breathe. I will explain that trees need food and water too, the
water they get from rain or other forms of water that has been soaked into the ground, and that
trees get food from soaking up nutrients in the ground with their roots. I will show a diagram of
the different stages of a tree to show that just like a baby, a tree starts out tiny and grows bigger.
I will also explain that even though plants like the tree do not move around like animals, they do
show movement. In trees, leaves fall off, fruit grows, roots travel under the ground, and flowers
bloom. Some plants, like sunflowers, move in the direction of the sun, and some plants, like
Venus fly traps, open and close.
If the category hasnt been named yet, I will explain that all living things reproduce, which
basically means that they produce babies or a new version of themselves. Humans and animals
have babies, which means they reproduce, and plants make seeds, which grow into younger
plants. I will add this to the list, dictating it as I write, and reading the whole list aloud with the
class when I finish.
We will then read the whole list aloud when we are done. The list should read:
Living things:
Breathe
Needs food and water
Grows
Moves
Reproduces
C. Structured Practice and Application: __________ Minutes

We will then practice naming living and non-living things as a class. I will show pictures to the
class, and we ask ourselves the five questions: does it breathe? Does it need food and water?
Does it grow? Does it move? Does it reproduce? Each student will have a two signs, one that
reads LIVING and one that reads NON-LIVING. After we have asked the five questions, each
student raise the paddle that they think fits the picture we see.
I will model first with a picture of a fish. I will tell ask myself the 5 questions out loud, and after I
say yes to each one, I will raise my LIVING sign.
We will practice with a crayon, a kitten, a daisy, an egg in a nest, an egg in a supermarket, a
seed on the ground, a bag of roasted and salted sunflower seeds, and an apple on a tree and
being eaten.
We will concede that a crayon is non-living and that a kitten and a daisy are living. I will explain
to the class that some eggs, the ones protected by mother birds in nests, have baby birds inside
them, and that they are living, but that ones from supermarkets are specially made and do not
have baby birds inside them. I will explain that seeds that are not cooked or in our tummies can
still grow into plants, and are living. Based off of this, I will explain that an apple in a tree has
seeds in it that can still turn into smaller apple trees, but that once we pick and eat the apple it
becomes non-living.
The students will apply what they have learned through an activity they will do using their
science journal. The students will receive a sheet of cut-out pictures of several different items or
organisms. They will also receive a worksheet with the checklist on it, which they must fill out
about each picture. For each item, they will cut out the picture, paste it in the appropriate part of
the chart. Then, they will put a check mark or an x on the boxes representing each of the five
questions, and finally circle whether the picture is living or non-living. Lower students will be
placed into a small group at the back of the class, where they will work with the assistant
teacher to complete the task.
As students work, I will walk around and survey the work of each student. For each student, I
will perform a small oral assessment, and ask them if they can name one living thing not on the
sheet. I will then ask the student why the thing they named is a living things, and write on a
sheet I have whether they were correct. If a student shows struggle, I will provide further
assistance. I will assess the children based on their work as well as their oral assessment.
D. Closure: __________ Minutes
To end the lesson, I will ask the students to gather at the carpet. I will hide the poster sheet
and ask the class to tell me the five things all living things do. After this, I will show the class
a short music video about living vs non-living things, and we will sing the song together.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_aAkuK_8nQ&nohtml5=False)
Differentiation/ Planned Support
A. Differentiation plan:
By involving a lot of student interaction during my lesson, and letting the class come to
their own conclusions, I am differentiating my instruction for different learning styles. I am

also helping students who may have issues reading by reading out everything I write, and
having the class read everything together multiple times.
During the independent work, students who have different needs will be grouped together
and work on their assignments with the assistant teacher who will help them with what
additional assistance they may need, whether it be reading a question aloud or determining
what a picture is.
B. Student Interactions
I made my lesson center on a lot of student interaction and discourse. Students will discuss with
one another and come to their own conclusions during the instruction and guided practice.
C. What Ifs
Some students may still have misconceptions after the lesson, which will be addressed as I go
around performing my oral assessment. If any student displays signs of not grasping the
content, I will work with that student one-on-one to address any other misconceptions.
Theoretical Principles and/or Research Based Best Practices

Why are the learning tasks for this lesson appropriate for your students?

Materials
The teacher will need a rubric, the lesson plan, a PowerPoint with all of the objects that will
be addressed in this lesson, a large notepad, markers, and the worksheet.
The students will need the worksheet, the living and non-living signs, crayons, scissors, glue
and a pencil.
Vocabulary
Living
Non-living
Reproduce
Analyzing Teaching
A.

B.

Worked/Didn't Worked
What worked?
What didnt?
For whom?
Adjustments
What instructional changes do you need to make as you prepare for the lesson
tomorrow?
C. Proposed Changes

If you could teach this lesson again to this group of students what changes would you
make to your instruction?
Whole group:
Group of Students:
Individual Students:

D. Justification
Why will these changes improve student learning?
What research/ theory supports these changes?

Lesson Planning
GSW School of Education
Revised Spring 2016
This is an abbreviated format of the GSW lesson plan. Teacher Candidates will practice
writing three lesson plans in the EC science course.
The grading rubric is included in this packet. Pay close attention to the following:
Instructional Strategies Section
Instruction I (teacher candidate) do

Practice We (teacher candidate and students) do

Application You (student) do
These sections need DETAIL. Consider the following:
What are you providing as instruction?
How are you providing the instruction?
When the practice section starts, are your students doing?
How is the practice helping meet your goals of this lesson?
In application, what types of assessment(s) are you doing?
What should the student achieve by completing this application?