ELL Resources: Lesson Plan Template

Based on Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack (2001), Hill & Flynn (2006), and
WIDA Standards (2007)
Name: Courtney Russell
Date due:
Targeted Grade: 4th
11/6/15
Content & Focus of Lesson: Add the
focus of the lesson after the subject area:

Language Arts:
Math:
Science: Senses/Sensory Organs
Social Studies:
Other:
SC Science Standard(s): Standard 4-2.3 explain how humans and other animals
use their senses and sensory organs to detect signals from the environment and
how their behaviors are influenced by these signals.

Learning Objective(s): Students will be able to:

Name the five senses
Name the sensory organs that goes with each sense
Identify how senses affect behaviors
Identify special senses that other animals possess (echolocation, etc.)
Use their senses to detect signals from the environment
Key Vocabulary:
Behavior- A response to a change in the environment
Senses- tell animals what they need to know about their environment
Sensory Organs- any part of the body that receives signals from the environment
Echolocation- the sonar-like system used by dolphins, bats, and other animals to
detect and locate objects by emitting usually high-pitched sounds that reflect off
the object and return to the animals ears or other sensory receptors
Electromagnetic Fields- the coupled electric and magnetic fields that are generated
by time-varying currents and accelerated charges
Magnetic Field- a region of space near a magnet, electric current, or moving
charged particle in which a magnetic force acts on any other magnet, electric
current, or moving charged particle
Infrared- the part of the visible spectrum that is contiguous to the red end of the
visible spectrum and indicates heat
Background Science Content: Every animal possesses sensory organs that help
an animal survive in its environment. Students need to know that humans are
considered animals and also possess sensory organs that affect their behaviors.
Students should bring the background knowledge of the five senses to this lesson.
They should already know what the five senses are; I want them to focus on how
they are used and how it affects their behaviors. After they have a firm grasp on
how they use their senses, they need to know what organs provide those senses to
them. Then we will transition to animals and which sensory organs they possess.
Students should know that most animals have similar sensory organs and use the
same senses. However, there are a few that uses senses that most other animals do
not. For example, bats use echolocation. They do not have good eyesight, so they

B. B. Levin & S. Mercier, TED 680B, UNCG, Spring 2010, v.3.1

ELL Resources: Lesson Plan Template

Based on Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack (2001), Hill & Flynn (2006), and
WIDA Standards (2007)
make up for that by using sound waves to see their food.
After learning about how their senses are used to help them survive they will be
asked to apply that knowledge to different situations. They will have to have
background knowledge of different weather patterns, which they do. The unit these
students studied before the animal unit was the weather unit. Therefore, they will
have excellent knowledge of the types of weather presented to them in this lesson.
They will also have to have real-world experience with snakes and bees. They will
have to know what sounds they make. Most students will have this knowledge, but
if they do not I will give them this information to help them complete the required
task.
Materials Needed:
Starbursts
Napkins
Paper
Pencil
PowerPoint
Worksheet
Video
Pictures
Smartboard
Science Notebook
Electronic Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqt8wc3w9NA Magic School Bus
episode about echolocation
Lesson Context: (e.g., introduction,
Time Planned for this Lesson: 3 days;
developing, independent, review,
40-45 minutes each day. Time allotted
etc.)
for science is 50 minutes. However,
This lesson will serve as a
about 5-10 is lost when students are
supplementary lesson. During this unit
coming back from specials and packing
students previously learned about the
up for dismissal.
different types of animals and how to
classify them. After this lesson they will
learn about biomes and the different
types of environments that the animals
live in. Therefore this lesson will give
them insight as to how each of these
animals is able to survive in these
environments. It will allow them to
connect animals physical
characteristics, sensory organs/senses,
and biomes together in a way that allows
students to understand why certain
animals live in specific environments and
how they survive there.

B. B. Levin & S. Mercier, TED 680B, UNCG, Spring 2010, v.3.1

ELL Resources: Lesson Plan Template

Based on Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack (2001), Hill & Flynn (2006), and
WIDA Standards (2007)
Interventions/Differentiation Strategies: When students are split into groups, I
will disperse the special education students evenly into all the groups. If they are in
a group all by themselves they may not be able to contribute to the lesson. If they
are with other students they will be able to hear the flow of ideas coming from other
students, and this may help them better understand how to apply the content of the
lesson.
Lesson Sequence:
5E:
Engage: To begin this lesson and engage students in the following activities, I will
simply ask them a series of questions. Students sometimes get discouraged when a
lesson begins by asking them to identify information that they have never heard.
Therefore I will simply ask the whole class the question Who can tell me, by raising
your hand, what one of the five senses are? Then I will call on students individually
to give me their answer until all five of the senses have been named. Then I will
check with the class to make sure everybody agrees with the answers given.
Explore: I will pass out a napkin and a starburst to each student. Once each
student receives their starburst they will be asked to get out a sheet of paper and a
pencil. I will ask them to unwrap their starbursts. I will ask students to look at their
starburst and write down exactly what they see. Then they will be instructed to sniff
their starburst and write down what they smell. Next, they will shake their starburst
and write down what they hear. After that, they will touch their starburst and write
down what they feel. Finally, they will be able to eat their starburst and write down
what they taste. After the activity I will begin the PowerPoint and ask/answer
questions from the activity within the PowerPoint.
Explain: Students will be given a sensory worksheet at the beginning of the
PowerPoint. As we progress through the PowerPoint we will cover each sense and
sensory organ. As we address each sense we will refer back to the starburst activity.
I will ask questions like, What did you see when you looked at your starburst? and
What kind of characteristics did you write down? We will do this for every sense.
This will allow students to not only learn what organ and sense they used, but it will
allow them to see how it is applied to their everyday lives. Then we will cover more
application in the lesson such as how these senses allow animals to survive. We will
cover how certain senses detect danger or discover food and shelter. The
presentation will give them information about how different types of animal have
similar senses but different types of sensory organs. For example, animals that use
sight usually have two sight organs called eye. Spiders use sight and eyes to see
with, but they have many eyes whereas most animals only have two. After covering
what five senses most animals possess and how they affect animal behavior, the
students will have completed worksheets. They will glue these worksheets in their
notebooks to use as a study guide or reference sheet in the future. Next, I will
present animals that use different senses than most other animals. Students will
then watch a video on echolocation to deepen their understanding of how this
different sense is used by bats.
Elaborate: Students will be split into four groups. There are four pictures of
different scenarios, and each group will receive one picture. There are two pictures
B. B. Levin & S. Mercier, TED 680B, UNCG, Spring 2010, v.3.1

ELL Resources: Lesson Plan Template

Based on Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack (2001), Hill & Flynn (2006), and
WIDA Standards (2007)
of weather and two pictures of animals. Once each group receives their picture they
will discuss together what senses they would use if they were caught in this
situation. They would also discuss how these senses affected their behavior. After a
few minutes of group discussion I will put each picture up on the smartboard and
each group would present what they discussed. For example one picture is of a
rattle snake. One of the senses that they would use to identify this animal is
hearing. The organ they use for hearing is ears. They would hear the rattle on the
tail of the snake. It would affect their behavior because they would sense danger
and they would likely run away. If they do not get all of these answers I would ask
some guided questions during their presentation to extract this information from
them.
Evaluate: Upon completion of the lesson students will take out their science
notebook. They will write a small paragraph from the point of view of an animal that
they choose. They will step into that animals shoes and write about how it survives.
They will be prompted to write about its senses and what organs produce those
senses. They will also write about how those senses influence its behavior. They will
turn in their notebooks for grading. It will be counted as a simple participation
grade.
Fast Finisher Activities: Fast finishers may go onto the website presented at the
end of the PowerPoint to learn more about the electric senses of rays and sharks.

Lesson Reflection
I taught a lesson about senses and sensory organs to a 4 th grade class
at Palmetto Bays Elementary School. I taught science during their science
block from 1:35-2:25. Even though this block allots 50 minutes for science, I
never received 50 minutes to teach. There was about 5-10 minutes taken
from science for transition time. At the beginning of the block they were
coming back from specials, and at the end of the block they were packing up
for dismissal. So for the lesson I was using about 40-45 minutes each day for
three days.
For this lesson it was necessary for me to know the five senses (seeing,
hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting). I also had to know which organ
produced the five senses. I had to know how animals used the five senses to
survive. I also had to know which animals used special senses and how they
used these senses. The hardest part about designing the lesson was figuring
out which order to put the lesson in. I like how I organized the animals. I put
normal, five sensory animals first and then I taught about animals with
special senses. However, I could have fit each special sensory animal in with
the sense that it lacked. When I was teaching about sight, I could have taught
about bats and how they use echolocation for sight. Or I could have

B. B. Levin & S. Mercier, TED 680B, UNCG, Spring 2010, v.3.1

ELL Resources: Lesson Plan Template

Based on Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack (2001), Hill & Flynn (2006), and
WIDA Standards (2007)
categorized that sense with hearing. It was tough deciding where to put those
animals. So I decided that it would be easiest if I taught about animals with
the same senses that we have and then taught about animals with special
senses.
I think the most effective part of my lesson was having an application
review for the students to explore what they already knew. My fourth graders
already knew what the five senses were but I wanted them to apply that
knowledge to real life. So I gave them a candy that required them to use all
five senses. I referred back to the activity many time during the lesson.
Because they did this at the beginning of the lesson, they were able to better
understand the rest of the lesson. When we talked about how senses affected
their behavior I continuously referred back to the starburst. I made them
examine themselves. I reminded them that when they first saw the starburst
they got excited because they identified it as candy. Their behavior was
affected by the sight of the candy. I had them apply this reaction to every
sense and scenario throughout the lesson. If the students did not have these
reactions to relate to the lesson I do not know how well they would have
comprehended each scenario.
I did not experience many unexpected outcomes with this lesson.
However, in a previous lesson that I taught a student knew a random fact
about the content that I did not know. He knew that a platypus was a
mammal that laid eggs. That was a random piece of information that I did not
know. Even though I did not experience that during this lesson I was a little
more prepared because I designed a section of instruction that covered
animals that had special senses. This made me think about future instruction.
I will need to be well versed in knowledge about anything that has to do with
information that I am teaching. I cannot teach strictly to the standard
because there will always be a student that will know random information
and I will have to be able to connect it or explain it.
Overall students achieved the goals of the lesson. I know this because
there were activities and scenarios where students had to showcase their
knowledge. They all understood the content of the lesson and met the goals
and objectives that I set.
This lesson was a supplemental lesson to the overall unit that was
being taught. Therefore, I would not really need to design any subsequent
lessons. However, the next bit of information that they were going to learn
was biomes. This lesson could be referred back to in group activities. When
teaching biomes students could be split into group based on different biomes.
As they traveled from group to group they could identify what senses and
sensory organs the different animals possessed within the biome and how
these senses allowed them to survive in this environment.
B. B. Levin & S. Mercier, TED 680B, UNCG, Spring 2010, v.3.1

ELL Resources: Lesson Plan Template

Based on Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack (2001), Hill & Flynn (2006), and
WIDA Standards (2007)
If I were to complete this lesson again I would put more emphasis on
the difference between senses and sensory organs. There seemed to be a
small bit of confusion between the two so I would definitely spend a little
more time defining these and giving more examples so that students could
see the difference between the two.

B. B. Levin & S. Mercier, TED 680B, UNCG, Spring 2010, v.3.1