1. Background Information
2. Name: Jenise Banks         
3. Content Area: Science
4. Topic: Earth and Space
5. Grade:1^st Grade

• Goals and Objectives
• TEKS
• Science 1.2A Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student develops abilities to ask questions and seek answers in classroom and outdoor investigations. The student is expected to: ask questions about organisms, objects, and events observed in the natural world;
• Science 1.8B Earth and space. The student knows that the natural world includes the air around us and objects in the sky.The student is expected to: observe and record changes in the appearance of objects in the sky such as the Moon and starts, including the Sun;

• Content Objective:

The student will identify the phases of the moon and be able to draw the moon phases.

• ELPS:
• (2)  Cross-curricular second language acquisition/listening. The ELL listens to a variety of speakers including teachers, peers, and electronic media to gain an increasing level of comprehension of newly acquired language in all content areas. ELLs may be at the beginning, intermediate, advanced, or advanced high stage of English language acquisition in listening. In order for the ELL to meet grade-level learning expectations across the foundation and enrichment curriculum, all instruction delivered in English must be linguistically accommodated(communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with the student’s level of English language proficiency. The student is expected to:

      (E)  use visual, contextual, and linguistic support to enhance and confirm       understanding of increasingly complex and elaborated spoken language;

• (3)  Cross-curricular second language acquisition/speaking. The ELL speaks in a variety of modes for a variety of purposes with an awareness of different language registers (formal/informal)using vocabulary with increasing fluency and accuracy in language arts and all content areas. ELLs may be at the beginning, intermediate, advanced, or advanced high stage of English language acquisition in speaking. In order for the ELL to meet grade-level learning expectations across the foundation and enrichment curriculum, all instruction delivered in English must be linguistically accommodated (communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded)commensurate with the student’s level of English language proficiency. The student is expected to:

      (D)  speak using grade-level content area vocabulary in context to internalize new English words and build academic language proficiency;

• (4)  Cross-curricular second language acquisition/reading. The ELL reads a variety of texts for a variety of purposes with an increasing level of comprehension in all content areas. ELLs may be at the beginning, intermediate, advanced, or advanced high stage of English language acquisition in reading. In order for the ELL to meet grade-level learning expectations across the foundation and enrichment curriculum, all instruction delivered in English must be linguistically accommodated(communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with the student’s level of English language proficiency. For Kindergarten and Grade 1, certain of these student expectations apply to text read aloud for students not yet at the stage of decoding written text. The student is expected to:

      (F)  use visual and contextual support and support from peers and teachers to read grade-appropriate content area text,enhance and confirm understanding, and develop vocabulary, grasp of language structures, and background knowledge needed to comprehend increasingly challenging language;

• (5)  Cross-curricular second language acquisition/writing. The ELL writes in a variety of forms with increasing accuracy to effectively address a specific purpose and audience in all content areas. ELLs may be at the beginning, intermediate, advanced, or advanced  of English language acquisition in writing. In order for the ELL to meet grade-level learning expectations across foundation and enrichment curriculum,all instruction delivered in English must be linguistically accommodated(communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with the student’s level of English language proficiency. For Kindergarten and Grade 1, certain of these student expectations do not apply until the student has reached the stage of generating original written text using a standard writing system. The student is expected to:

      (B)  write using newly acquired basic vocabulary and content-based grade-level vocabulary;

• Language Objective: The students will be able to discuss, write facts, and draw pictures of the moon phases.

• Materials Needed:
• Something to write with
• Science journal
• Oreo cookies
• Spoons to help the students shape the filling into moon shapes
• Moon phases foldable
• Phases of the Moon with Oreo Cookies paper
• The Phases of the Moon by Suzanna Slade
• Posterboard with the sun, the Earth, and the moon with the 8 phases of the moon going around the Earth

• Technology Needed:
• Smartboard
• Computer
• Printer
• YouTube song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvkrC4HSLkM

• Pre-Assessment related to TEKS and Objectives

Before I introduce the moon phases to the students I will have up on the smartboard a PowerPoint slide. On the first slide I will have a picture of the moon and ask the students open ended questions about what is this object called? Where can this object be found at? The students will raise their hands if they think they know the answers to these open-ended questions. On the next slide I will have the picture of the moon and the answers to my open-ended question on what this object is called and where it can be found at. On the following slide I will have the students using a low voice level what they notice about the pictures of the moon. I will then call upon students who have their hands raised to tell me one thing they and their partner notice is different about these pictures of the moon. For example, the students can say the moon is round, it’s changes shapes. After gathering their responses, I will put on a YouTube video about the moon phases to help students who are auditory learners that uses music/songs to enhance their memorization skills.

• Key Vocabulary:
• Phases
• New Moon
• Waxing Crescent
• First Quarter
• Waxing Gibbous
• Waning Gibbous
• Full Moon
• Waning Crescent
• Last Quarter

• Instructional Procedures
• Engage

I will start the lesson by predicting the students do not know the different moon phases. I will ask the students if they have every looked up at the sky at night to look at the moon. Have the students every travel outside of their home at night and notice that the moon seems like it is following you. I will follow up the questions with another question, if they ever notice the moon changed shapes at night sometimes. One time it may be full and another night the moon maybe not as bright in the sky. The changes in the moon appearance is called phases. These phases happen because the earth and moon are moving. The moon will change appearance on different days throughout the month. Therefore, we can only see certain parts on the moon as it is moving. The phrases will repeat itself every four weeks.

• Explore

I will start the lesson by reading to the students a book called The Phases of the moon by Suzanna Slade about the moon phases. Afterwards I explain to the class that we will be creating our own moon phases out of Oreo cookies fillings. I will have the pass out buddy for the week to pass out the Phases of the Moon with Oreo Cookies paper along with a spoon to all of the students. I will pick a popsicle stick with a student name on it to determine who will help me to pass out 4 Oreo cookies to each student.I will explain and model that we will twist the Oreo cookie in half and spoon the filling into one of the moon phases. They will have to do this for all four of the cookies to make the 8 moon phases.   

• Explain
  • Once the students have successfully made their Oreo cookie moon phase, I will walk around the classroom and look at their moon phases to make sure they spoon the filling correctly. I will have the students explain the assignment to me again and ask questions about the lesson. For example, why is the moon rotating? How long does it take the moon to move around the moon?
• Elaborate
  • I will ask questions to check the students understand of the new concept.
  • What is the differences between the 8 phrases of the moon?
  • Have the students take a look at the moon tonight and tell me tomorrow what moon phases it is in.

Re-Teaching

For the students who did not meet the objectives and are still struggling with identifying the moon phases will have the opportunity to come to the teacher table and work in a small group with the teacher or work one-on-one with the teacher. For all students for a review they can

• Modifications

An anchor chart will be helpful for students with special needs and for ELLs students as a visual aid. I can use images with word strips that can be provided for students that need to paste into the moon phases foldable, which would be an accommodation to students who may have a cognitive delay or something else and has an IEP with such accommodation for the student.

• Extensions

For my more advance students, they can create a short story on their own about the phases of the moon.

• Assessment

Evaluate – Students will be able to recognize and recall, with 90% accuracy, the new vocabulary words and the concept of the phases of the moon without asking for or getting help from the teacher. The students will work quietly on their moon phases foldable at their desk. They need to be able to draw the 8 moon phases and label the correct moon phase with the drawing. This will show me the students have met the objectives from the lesson.

• Summary for the Students of What Has Been Learned

Closure– Once I am done with reading the book about moon phases and explaining to the class they will be making the different moon phases out of the Oreo cookies fillings, I will give the class the option to ask any questions or address any concerns they may have about the moon phases. I will also provide information about once they are done making the different moon phases out of the Oreo cookies filling they can work on a foldable which will go in their science journal. After explaining the activities, I will give the signal word that means they can start working on the assignments at their desk. I will also have the assignments listed on the smartboard for students who are more of a visual and like to see the instructions written down instead of vocalizing them.

Safaa Ismail

Jenise Banks

Miranda Ross

Table 2. One Example of Culturally-Responsive Science Activity

Grade 4
Topic Question How do plants and animals reproduce? And how does their hereditary information transfer?
TEKS 4.10.B The student can acknowledge that some traits such as eye color, hair color, and skin color are inherited through genes. 4.10.C  The student can explore, compare, and illustrate life cycles.
Objectives 1.       Students will be able to identify the process of plant and animal reproduction. 2.       Students will be able to create Punnett Squares and predict probabilities and outcomes of traits inherited through reproduction.
Materials Orchids, Pictures of Brazilian animals, worksheets, scissors, YouTube, document camera, whiteboard and markers, Sticky notes, iPads
Phases of the 5E model	Questions
Engage. Ask questions about objects, organisms, and event in the environment.	What kind of animals do you see around the area or in your environment?   What kind of plants do you see around you?   Students will answer these questions on a sticky note and pass them to the front of the class. Those who wish to share may also share to the whole class. Students can use the inaturalist app from http://sciencenetlinks.com/collections/science-apps/ to look at observations or even create their own.
Explore. Ask questions to gather evidence to answer the question posed.	What is different about this flower in comparison to the ones you usually see in your environment?   What is the same between these two flowers? What is different between the two?   What kind of traits do you notice about animals in your area?     What kind of traits do you notice about animals in South America, Africa, etc? The teacher will ask the students the following questions. They can raises their hand to be called upon to share their answer aloud to the class. Students can use the app GeneIndexHD from https://www.teachthought.com/technology/40-ipad-apps-for-science-by-category/ to explore genes. This can be an extension or just an exploration to open their minds more.
Explain. Ask questions to use new knowledge and observable evidence to construct scientific explanations and answer initiating questions.	What do you think would happen if we mixed the traits of a white flower and a purple flower?   What would happen if a green tree frog and a brown tree frog mixed their traits?      Students answer the questions. After the questions are presented the teacher will explain what a Punnett square is and how it works. The teacher will show an example on the board for the class to see and work out together as a class to determine the outcomes of traits inherited through reproduction.
Elaborate. Ask questions to apply new understandings to new problems.	What causes the differences in outcomes when two flowers are mixed? Or these two Tree Frogs? Actual plastic flowers will be shown, and their mixed counterpart. Tree Frogs will be shown on the ppt.   Multicultural Activity Addition The animals available in South America.   What are differences of animals and plants in South America?   Ex: tree frogs vs. tree frogs   Lizards vs. lizards   Orchids vs. orchids
Evaluate. Ask questions to assess developing understandings and inquiry skills.	What will happen if we mix this white and purple orchid together? And why?   If the trait is dominant, what would most likely happen?   After these questions are asked, students will have competitions filling out punnett squares on the board. This can be done with the whole class being divided into teams. One player from each team will go up to the board and play against the other players. The team with the most points at the end are the winners.   Students will also be asked to create their own questions as an exit ticket to turn in on a sticky note at the end of class with their name, as a sort of assessment.

Director: Miranda Ross

Material Manager: Safaa Ismail

 Recorder: Jenise

Helper: All three of us were helpers if one of us was absent.  Speaker: Miranda ( we all presented a part

Parts of a Plant 

(to the tune of “I Love You”, song by Barney)

I have a plant, you have plant

Their roots buried in the soil

With a great big stem

And leaves for collecting energy too

Wanna see seeds turn to fruit too

 Article: Peer Communication Through Blogging by Steven D. Wall and Janice Anderson

1. Problem:

Educating students in the 21st century has imposed a change in the way in which teachers interact with students in the classroom. With the increase of mobile technology, it is changing the way teachers are using social media for example using blogs in their classroom during the school year. These new changes provide challenges and opportunities for teachers.

• Solution:

A research study was conducted on three students who consistently post comments on each other’s blog. Investigating their posts and comments open the eyes of teacher’s expectations for science teaching roles and how teachers applied their expectations when commenting on their peers

• Purpose of the study:

Science teachers approach to teaching did not include networked communication like blogging.  The way teachers used to interact with the students after a lesson was that they would talk privately to the students.Through blogging teachers start a discussion and receive responses through the reflections and comments of others. These are new opportunities for teachers but lack the interaction.

• Results and Conclusions:

The results revealed that by blogging with one another the interpersonal relationships did not change the type of interactions that occurred. The study considered any interaction to be an extension of academic learning outside and inside of the classroom.

https://www.citejournal.org/volume-15/issue-4-15/science/peer-communication-through-blogging/

For my community science project, I included my children and we explored our neighbors’ trees in their front yard. The weather was clear and sunny on Tuesday, November 20, 2018 around noon. I wanted to get my children out of the house and take advance of the beautiful weather that we walked to our neighborhood park. On our way to the neighborhood park you can tell the season is autumn by the sign of leaves falling from the branches of trees and the leaves are turning colors. It is a lovely sight to see these things happening. I find it interesting that my neighbors all have different type of trees in their front yard and the leaves are different colors, shapes, and sizes. For example, my neighbor across the street has a tree that is almost full of green leaves. It makes me wonder why the leaves on her tree hasn’t started falling completely yet but another neighbor a few houses down leaves have already started turning a reddish color.All the homeowners’ trees should get the same amount of sunlight and should be the same soil. I wonder if it makes a difference how much or little we water the trees in our yard.

            I like this community science project and feel like it is easy for my future students to do in my classroom. I want to teach my students that science is all around them and they do not have to always go out and spend money and go places to enjoy the sciences around them. your group reflection on how this experience will affect your future classroom. What if I teach at a title 1 school with low income students and they their families cannot afford to take them to museums and other places. I do not want that to discourage them from participating in a community science project. Students can just step outside their home and go on a nature hunt or explore the world around them.They can do this same project but instead of observing autumn leaves they can observe plants, animals, etc. This project can be used at any grade level and different subjects. I can make it easy or difficult that you want it to be. For example, for 1^st graders I can have a scavenger hunt and have them collect 5 red leaves, and 5 yellow leaves, and 5 green leaves. They can learn about science and including math in the lesson as well.