Lesson #2 Fossils Date November 5th 2014

Subject/Grade Level Social Studies/Grade Four Time

Duration 37 Minutes

Unit Alberta’s Fossil Heritage Teacher Amy Rae Holmwood

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIESGeneral Learning Outcomes:

4.1 Alberta: A Sense of the Land

Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of how elements of physical geography, climate, geology and paleontology are integral to the landscapes and environment of Alberta.

Specific Learning Outcomes:

4.1.1 Value Alberta’s physical geography and natural environment:

Appreciate how Alberta’s fossil heritage contributes to the province’s unique character (LPP)

4.1.3 Examine, critically, how geology and paleontology contribute to knowledge of Alberta’s physical geography by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:

How did archaeologists and paleontologists discover the presence of dinosaurs in Alberta? (LPP, TCC)

What geological features make Alberta unique (e.g., hoodoos, Rocky Mountains, foothills, oil sands)? (LPP, ER)

LEARNING OBJECTIVESStudents will:

1. Explain how the presence of fossils makes Alberta unique2. Recognize how people know that dinosaurs lived in Alberta long ago3. Explain about the landforms that make Alberta’s land unique

ASSESSMENTSObservations: Observe the students as you are presenting the PowerPoint. Are the

students engaged? Listen to their responses/answers to the questions posed in the

PowerPoint.Key Questions: What are fossils?

What are paleontologists? What do fossils tell us? Why do we find fossils in Alberta? Where are fossils found in Alberta?

Products/Performances:

PowerPoint & Fossils worksheet.

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT Alberta Education Website Textbook “Voice of Alberta, People, Places, and

Possibilities”

PowerPoint/Smart board Worksheet #2

PROCEDUREPrior to lesson Have PowerPoint set up and worksheets printed off.

Introduction TimeAttention Grabber Have the PowerPoint ready to go on the smart boardAssessment of Prior Knowledge

Students have previously just explored/skimmed chapter two in the textbook. They have an idea of the definitions and topics they are about to study. Now it is time to get into detail.Say: “Today we are going to go into detail more about the scavenger hunt worksheet you all completed last class with your partners”

5 seconds

Body TimeLearning Activity #1 The PowerPoint, SLIDE 1 titled “Alberta’s Fossil

heritage” will be set up on the smart board already. Present it to the class & go through the slides in

detail posing the questions presented (for the students next activity they will be required to complete a worksheet themselves answering similar questions by going through the textbook alone or in partners)

SLIDE 2: What are we going to learn in this unit? Quickly explain the bullet points on what we are

going to cover in the course.

SLIDE 3: “So now that we have gotten a brief understanding of what fossils are, I want to ask you, what are fossils? Raise your hand if you have an answer”

*Select a couple students to answer the questions

SLIDE 4: What do fossils tell us? READ----1st paragraph page 49 of textbook and ask

the students, “How do we know that this scene could once have happened in Alberta?”

=Briefly explain the points on the PowerPoint. “Does anyone have any questions so far?”

SLIDE 5: What is a paleontologist? -Scientists who study fossils to learn about very old

forms of life called paleontologists.

SLIDE 6: What do fossils tell us?

SLIDE 7: Why do we find fossils in Alberta? -Fossils are found in Alberta because of the way the

land formed. Some places there were earthquakes and volcanoes, plants and animals were covered over and preserved. They became fossils buried below layers of dry soil and rock. Over millions of years, water and Albert’s strong winds carried away the soil and rock and in many places the fossils were

15 minutes

uncovered.

SLIDE 8: Where are fossils found in Alberta? -Mostly in the Badlands and several places in Alberta

such as Fort McMurray, Grande Cache, Drumheller, Castle Mountain, Taber, and McGrath.

“Grade fours, can you name the Natural Regions from Chapter 1 in which these fossils were found?”

Teacher Notes: Assessments/ Differentiation

Are students following along? Listen to their responses/answers after they have

raised their hands to specific questions. Monitor to see if that class is getting antsy – if so,

take a 1 minute walk around the classroom/stretch break.

Learning Activity #2 “Okay everyone we are going to work on a second worksheet that will help you learn and understand more about fossils. I am going to put you in pairs to work on this worksheet together. We are going to work on this for the next 15 minutes and if you have any questions please raise your hand and ask as there are a couple of us in the room that will gladly help. After I call out your names to put you in pairs, find your partner quietly grab a textbook and find a spot in the room to work”

Hand out the work sheet labeled ‘Fossils’ to the first student in each row.

Call out the students names.

20 minutes

Teacher Notes: Assessments/ Differentiation

Walk around the room and listen to the students if they are in pairs. Sit with a pair and review their worksheet to see if they are on task and ask how they are doing. If they are alone walk around and skim their worksheet. If they seem to be struggling, lend them a hand and point them in the right direction.

ClosureConsolidation of Learning:

“Okay Grade fours lets head back to our desks quietly, put away your worksheet in your Social studies binders and prepare for your Social studies test.

Can I get a thumbs up if you had an okay time filling out the worksheet…. Can I have a thumbs down for those that had a difficult time completing your worksheet.”

2 minutes

Transition To Next Lesson

“Thank you everyone, next class we are going to start talking about making a brochure for Tour Alberta and do a little bit of research about fossils in Alberta”

30 seconds

PowerPoint (activity 1)Slide 1 Slide 2 Slide 3

Slide 4 Slide 5 Slide 6

Slide 7 Slide 8

Reflection:

The lesson I chose to thoroughly reflect on was my second social studies lesson that I did

with my grade four class. The students are learning about Alberta’s fossil heritage. The first

lesson the students became familiar with the textbook and the topics and concepts they were

about to study. This lesson was focused about going into more detail about the topics.

For activity 1, I started the lesson off with a PowerPoint displayed on the smart board so

the students could visually see the headings that we would currently be talking about as well as

pictures that related. I kept the slides very simple, most with only the headline/question on it with

a picture then I would explain the topic and discuss it with the class. I had a purpose for making

the slides like that as I did not want the slides distracting the students nor did I want to stand

there and read off of them (boring and students cannot pay attention to that). I have

realized/learnt that students usually don’t read what gets put in front of them, but having the

topic on the smart board will help them remember where we are at and what we are specifically

focused on in that moment. Discussing the topic with the class helped me know that the students

were taking in what I was explaining/teaching them. There were 8 slides (I felt like this amount

was good and I would not want to do anymore for future lessons) that I had gone through with

the students and planned to get through them all in roughly 15 minutes. I had finished it all in

about 20 minutes, and you could tell by the end some students were ready to move on. I’ve

realized that they can only take in so much at one time and after that they don’t retain anything

being said which is not good for their learning. Some reasons as to why it went a little bit longer

was that throughout my slides I was posing several questions as a way of formatively assessing

them. It was a good reassurance for me. The students were all eager to answer the questions but

many had several stories to go with their answers which is good, as they are relating the concept

to their personal life, but it is hard for the teacher as I only had 37 minutes to get through

everything I wanted/needed to in that lesson. Over time I had started asking those who

continuously raised their hands up, “is it a question or comment that you have?” and those that

reply comment I will ask them to share it with me later because we have to get through some

things but that I will gladly listen later. The only thing with that is making sure that I will be able

and willing to listen later because students will often remember to tell me things later. I want to

continue this technique into future planning and instruction as it worked well. While I was

lecturing, it was obvious that the students are clearly established with the ‘hands up’ routine and

are pretty good at not shouting out answers. Sometimes by posing so many questions and the

students becoming comfortable with their teacher it can lead to call outs in class. What I could

possible say at the beginning of a lesson is, if the students are well behaved and quiet throughout

the first activity they can work in pairs for the second activity (in this case the worksheet). It is

definitely a good idea for future lessons or classes that I will have the opportunity of teaching.

The second activity I had the students work on a worksheet that focused on the slides

presented in the first activity and assigned them a partner to complete it with. My teacher

associate often has them do most activities in groups/pairs so they’re well disciplined in that

aspect therefore I felt comfortable having them work in pairs for me. There are a couple

students’ in the class that struggle with reading and writing as well as focusing, so I had them

work in groups of 3 so that they had an extra person contributing and helping. Transition to the

worksheet went really well, I briefly described the task making sure to say, what the purpose for

the worksheet was and what they were asked to do for it, who they’d be working with, where

they could work on it, and when they could go to grab a text and meet their partner. There was

minimal interruption with that and minimal questions from the students as the instructions were

clear. They all listened and waited until I said go. For classroom management I used the 5-4-3-2-

1 countdown to grab the students’ attention where they would need to stop talking and listen to

an instruction or comment that I had to say. I feel like group work is beneficial, as long as the

students are using their time appropriately. It allows the students to help each other with concepts

that some may not understand or be able to find in the textbook. With this worksheet assignment

I found that the students were good at communicating with each other and also making sure they

asked me for help. Throughout the worksheet activity I wander around the room (I had all the

students stay in the classroom, they like to work in the hall sometimes) and checked in with each

group to make sure they were on task and ask if they had any question. If the majority of the

class could not find an answer on the worksheet I would stop the class using the count down

technique and have them listen to me so I could explain it to the class as a whole instead of going

to each group and having to repeat myself. This saved me a lot of time and with that the students

were able to move on as the question was answered for all of them in that moment. I used the

worksheet and those specific questions on it as a new way for the students to work on the same

concepts taught in activity 1 as the students need to look at a topic more than once to retain the

material. I first taught and explained the concepts and then had the students dive into the

textbook themselves and write out the explanations of the topics to learn and understand the

material. Next time I need to clarify how many sentences and points that I want the students to

have for each question as that was a question many of the students had asked me. I just assumed

that they would write down as much information that they had found in the paragraph that

answered the question. The students need and like structure so they have something to follow or

strive for. I’ve learnt from this lesson that you really do have to break things down and explain

every little detail that you expect from them including their behavior when you assign them a

worksheet. For future lesson planning and instructions I will work on breaking down details and

instructions so the students know what they need to do and what is expected of them.