Developmental Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidate: Alyssa Madara Date: 1/30/19

Group Size: 24 Allotted Time 30 minutes Grade Level 1st grade

Subject or Topic: Penguin Unit- Day 3: Science Experiment

Common Core/PA Standard(s):

Standard - 3.1.1.A2 Investigate the dependence of living things on the sun’s energy, water,
food/nutrients, air, living space, and shelter.

Learning Targets/Objectives:
1st grade student will be able to:
 See what it is like for penguins to swim in very cold water and how their fat acts as protection
from the cold.
 Investigate how penguins’ bodies must have more fat then other animals to be able to survive
in cold water.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. Science experiment paper 1. Student will be able to understand the
experiment by filling out the worksheet
with the correct answers.

Assessment Scale:
1. Science experiment paper
6= student was able to fill out each question with accurate information
5=student was able to fill out 5 questions with accurate information
4=student was able to fill out 4 questions with accurate information
3=student was able to fill out 3 questions with accurate information
2=student was able to fill out 2 questions with accurate information
1=student was able to fill out 1 question with accurate information
0= student was not able to fill out any questions with accurate information

Subject Matter/Content:
Prerequisites:
 Information from day 1 and 2 of the unit.
 Be able to follow directions for an experiment in the class.
Key Vocabulary:
none

Content/Facts:
Students will be testing out what it is like for penguins to swim in cold water by using Crisco and ice
water. The students will be putting Crisco on one finger and placing it in the ice water to show how the
Crisco acts as the fat on penguins and how they are protected.
Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
1. The teacher will start the lesson off with showing the students the live video of the penguins to
see what they are doing today. The teacher will ask the students what the penguins are doing
and if there is anything different about today. (https://explore.org/livecams/penguins/live-
penguin-cam-2)
2. Once the students have looked at the video and has discussed it the teacher will introduce the
science experiment to the students.
3. The teacher will tell the students, “today you will be scientists and you will get to experiment
with Crisco to see how it represents a penguin!”
4. The teacher will first show the students all the materials they will be using: bucket, water, ice
cubes, Crisco and gloves.
5. Then the teacher will break the students up into 6 groups with 4 students in each. (list is
attached at the bottom)
6. Once all the students are in their group the teacher will inform the students that, “you will be
wearing the gloves at all times when doing this experiment, if the glove comes off then the
experiment will be over.” This will ensure the students follow the directions.
7. Before starting the teacher will ask the students if they know what Crisco is. The teacher will
explain to them that it will act as the penguins’ thick layer of fat.
Development/Teaching Approaches
1. The teacher will start by passing out the buckets with ice water in them. Once the buckets are
all passed out then the teacher will pass out the gloves.
2. The teacher will then pass out the experiment paper to each student.
3. Once all the papers are passed out the teacher will get all the students’ attention and explain to
the students what they will do next.
4. The teacher will say: “First thing you will do is write your prediction of what will happen when
you put your finger in the ice cold water without the Crisco on.”
5. The teacher will then say: “what will happen when you put your finger in the ice cold water
with the Crisco on your finger.” The teacher will go over the questions together with the class
for 1 and 2.
6. Once the students have written their predictions the teacher will instruct the students by saying,
“one student will place one finger into the bucket at a time and the other students will count
how long each students’ finger stays in the water. Once you take your finger out of the water,
write down how many seconds you lasted in the water. Repeat for each student one time each.”
 The teacher will remind the students that they will place just one finger in the bucket at a time.
7. As the students are doing this the teacher will walk around the room to make sure only one
student has their finger in the bucket at a time and everyone is counting.
8. The Special Education teacher will walk around as well to make sure all students are on task.
9. Once all the students are finished the teacher will pass out the gloves to every student.
10. Before passing out the Crisco the teacher will go over some rules so students know what they
are doing:
 “When working with the Crisco you must keep your gloves on at all times.”
  “You should not play with the Crisco at all, if you are caught playing or touching other
people you will sit out for the rest of the experiment.”
11. The teacher will then demonstrate to the students how to put the Crisco on their finger.
12. Once the students have their gloves on the teacher will come around and have each student
scoop one finger in the bottle of Crisco.
13. The student will then place their finger into the bucket, remind the students to place the finger
with the Crisco on it.
14. Once the student places their finger in the bucket they will keep it in there until they start to
feel the water. The teacher will remind the students, “the Crisco is acting as the fat that
penguins have so you will feel the cold water but it should not be so cold that you have to take
your finger out of the water.”
15. The teacher will also tell the students, “one student will place their finger into the bucket and
the rest of the group will count how long that student’s finger stays in the bucket.”
 The Special Education teacher will monitor the students around the room to make sure
they are on staying on task.
16. The teacher will tell the students, “if you have counted to 50 you can stop and take your finger
out of the bucket.”
17. Once all the students have placed their finger into the bucket they will throw away their gloves
in the trash can immediately after they take their finger out of the bucket.
18. The teacher will instruct the students to fill out the rest of their experiment sheet-remind the
students that their answers do not have to be long.
19. The teacher will walk around the room to clean up the buckets of water as the students are
filling in their sheets.
20. If needed, the teacher will help students with answering/reading the questions.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
1. To close up the lesson, the teacher will talk to the students about how the Crisco acted as the
fat on a penguin. The teacher will say, “this experiment was meant for you all to understand
what it feels like for penguins to swim in cold water and how their fat protects them from that.
2. The teacher will then talk about how tomorrow they will be talking about the life cycle of a
penguin.

Accommodations/Differentiation:
 According to the students IEP’s they will all need assistance in certain things like
keeping them on task.
 If needed, provide each student with more time to fill out their experiment sheet.
 Peer role modeling will be provided for students who need it.

Materials:
 Crisco: enough for all students for one finger
 6 big green buckets: 1 per 6 groups
 Plastic gloves: 1 per student
 Experiment sheet: 1 per student
 Water
 Ice cubes
 Resources:
Live Penguin Camera - penguin beach. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://explore.org/livecams/penguins/live-penguin-cam-2

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels
All the students ranged from 5-6 scores for the experiment sheet that they completed from the
lesson. All the students were able to follow along with the directions when repeated multiple
times, some students were able to understand what we were doing the first time where as others
took a few more times being said what we were doing.

Remediation Plan
Next time when I do a science experiment I would change a few procedures and rules for
when the students perform it. I would first change the way students handle the materials, students
were curious to touch everything and I did not put everything into account. I would go over the
rules a day in advance and “quiz” the students to see if they understand what they can and cannot
do during the experiment.

Personal Reflection Questions

1. Will the students be able to follow the directions?
2. What will happen if the students do not understand what to do?
3. Will the students understand the concept of the Crisco?

Additional reflection/thoughts
1. For the most part, the students were able to follow directions, I did have to restate the
directions a few times and making sure they saw what I was doing. This helped them
because they saw what to do before actually doing it.
2. The students were able to understand the concept after I told them as well as showing
them what to do. Some students needed more instructions and one on one instruction to
make sure they understood what to do.
3. It took students a longer time to understand the concept of the Crisco. I kept asking the
ones who did not know why we used it to make them think about why we were using it. I
do wish I pushed the concept more about how it is representing the penguin’s fat and how
they use it to keep warm.
I thought this lesson would be very difficult considering the class really never does lessons like
this. If I were to do this over again I would have changed a few things, I also would want more
control of the class during the actual experiment time. Also after doing the lesson I thought of a
few different ideas of what to do instead with the Crisco and how to teach the concept
differently.
Name: ___________________________________

“How do Arctic Animals Stay Warm?” Experiment

What do you think will happen when you put your finger in the ice water without
the Crisco?:

What do you think will happen when you put the Crisco on your finger and
place it in the ice water?:

Data:
Time: Without Crisco: With Crisco:
Count how many
seconds your finger
stayed in the water
What did you find out about the Crisco?

What does the Crisco represent in this experiment?