Lesson Plan 1

Unit: Wetlands

Lesson: Ecosystems

Subject: Science

Grade: 3rd

Rationale: An ecosystem is a distinct community of interactive living and non-living things. Small ecosystems can be parts of larger ecosystems. This lesson is designed to educate students about what an ecosystem is.

Instructional Goal: After completing this lesson, students will have a thorough understanding of what an ecosystem is.

Performance Objectives. The students will be able to:

  1. define what a ecosystem is.
  2. describe any type of ecosystem.

Introduction/ Focusing Event:

Show students pictures of the rain forests, ponds, parks, swamps, etc. Explain to the students that these pictures all contain an ecosystem.

Procedures.

  1. Have students look at the pictures and discuss with a partner what they think an ecosystem is.
  2. Have a class discussion about what they came up with.
  3. Have students fold their papers in half. Label one side living things and the other side non-living things.
  4. Have students break up into groups of three .
  5. Pass out one picture to each group.
  6. Have students list all the living and non-living things in the picture that they can see .
  7. Discuss what each group put down.
  8. When the students have a thorough understanding of what an ecosystem is, have them take a field trip to a wetland, park, or beach.
  9. Have students list all the living and non-living things that they saw.

Closure. When the students return from the field trip, go over what they have on their lists and make a bulletin board about ecosystems in general or about the ecosystem they visited on their field trip. Have students draw different things that was in the ecosystem that they saw.

Materials.

Student Evaluations: Students will be evaluated by their list that they made in class and on their field trip, their participation in class discussions, and their participation in making the bulletin board.

Teacher Evaluation: Did I explain the material clearly? How was the pace? too slow? too fast? Were the instructions clear? Did the students understand? Was the lesson interesting? Were the students motivated?

Follow-up: Have the students prepare a classroom terrarium that is an ecosystem. Have the students list the living and non-living things that interact.

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