Environmental Lesson Plan--Week Four

Day 1

Science

Today we will begin watching a documentary in class--the first 30 minutes will be done today. We will watch another 30 tomorrow, and the final 35 or so on Wednesday. It is called Before the Flood featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and is an award winning film on climate change. It discusses all sorts of things, from animals going extinct to deforestation, coral reefs dying, etc. but most importantly the impact of climate change on all of us. It is on Disney Plus. It is a bit left leaning, unfortunately not completely unbiased, but most political things mentioned are from past governors and cabinets, and Republican and Democrat are not usually specifically mentioned aloud, and all things mentioned politically are factual. The movie has some nude artwork at the beginning (the type you would see at an art museum), but it may be best to skip to 2:32 where it ends so the students (and parents) are more comfortable. It is briefly shown again a couple times, and some other nude paintings are shown with the Vatican in one interview. The painting is used for a reason throughout the movie but it is most prominent in the intro.

IMPORTANT: A clip of Glenn Beck is shown using the term "son of a b****" starting at 23:35. The teacher can easily mute this for a few seconds as the clip only lasts until 23:42. Just be sure subtitles are off for this as well. The word "damn" is on the screen at 24:55 as a climate activist briefly describes that when he published unpopular information, he received threats ("damn" is in an email threat he received), although this should be fine to show.

You may want to note that because this was made over a few years, and/or if you show it later on, some information regarding dates may be a bit weird (such as in an interview, a man said "Last year, president Obama...").

At the end of the week, students will have a final presentation for their parents (for the parents who are able to come). They will pick one of the following groups: climate change, overfishing, litter, deforestation, invasive species, or endangered species. The students will do research at home on these topics, and have ten minutes each day to discuss their project up until Friday. They will complete a "rough draft" T-chart by the end of Wednesday, and put together all their information on a big poster board in class on Thursday in preparation for Friday. The project will include a brief description of what their topic is, the problems relating to the topic, and solutions the government, involved parties, and everyday citizens can implement to fix or minimize these issues.

Math

The students will do a bell work review of comparing decimals, completing 5-10 problems alone or with their group, and then the teacher will go over it to ensure everyone understands.

If several kids are still experiencing difficulty (you can have them hold up 1-3 fingers for their "confidence levels" to check for understanding), work with the class more on this. Hopefully they will understand better so the teacher can move onto converting decimals and fractions.

The class will work on turning decimals into fractions and fractions into decimals. Use climate change related problems and regular paper problems, using the power point on Wordpress titled Fractions_Decimals_ClimateChange.pptx. For this assignment, the students will need a four-function calculator and their papers from last week. Here is the link: https://www.learn-with-math-games.com/decimal-math-games.html

Slide 1: Intro Page

Slide 2: Bell Work--have students read the slide and work on their own.

Slide 3: Fractions vs. Decimals--explain easy decimal and fraction transitions such as 1/2 to 0.50.

Slide 4: Fractions vs. Decimals Continued--explain not all fractions have exact decimals, such as 1/3 to 0.33.... Then explain how you can turn a decimal to a fraction.

Slide 5: How to Convert Fractions and Decimals-- call a student to the front to help you. They will share with you their paper from last week that they colored. The student will pick one of their colors and the teacher will ask them to find the number of boxes with that color. The other students can follow along with this on their own sheet, and will then write it in the given category. The teacher will show them how to turn it into a fraction and simplify it if possible. From there, they will show the kids how to divide the fraction in their calculator to turn it into a decimal. They will fill out the entire sheet tomorrow, or later if there is time.

Slide 6 and beyond: Conversions in Climate Change--follow the slides and complete the activity.

After this, set the students up with a 10-15 question worksheet on converting fractions and decimals. The teacher can choose to allow them to work in groups, pairs, or individually. The papers should be turned in at the end of class or completed for homework.

If time, go over multiplying and dividing decimals again. If there is not time, send a short homework assignment home with them to make sure they don't forget what they learned about it.

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Day 2

Science

Continue Before the Flood from yesterday, watching until about one hour.

Have the students work on their project in their assigned groups for ten minutes, sharing their information and writing it down on their "rough draft" papers.

Math

Continue working on the coloring conversion assignment from last class. Have all the students pull out their coloring sheets and charts. Here is the link again to the activity: https://www.learn-with-math-games.com/decimal-math-games.html

This chart also has percentages, so you could either ask students to temporarily ignore it until you use it later in the year, or have them cross the section out so they are not distracted. If the teacher would like, they can show an example of their own coloring sheet to remind them how the fractions and decimals compare with each other as parts of a whole grid. Allow small talk at tables, as this is a relaxing activity that will reinforce how fractions and decimals work. Make it seem more fun (as long as it doesn't get loud and everyone is doing their work in a timely fashion).

This should take no more than 20 minutes maximum for every student to complete. If they are not done after 20 minutes, the rest is homework and they will turn it in the following morning before starting bell work.

After working on their color and chart sheets, students will move on to learning how to compare fractions and decimals. If students are still struggling with how to convert the two, this day or part of it may have to be reserved for going over it some more.

Assuming the students are mostly solid on converting the two to each other and comparing them within themselves, it's time to move on to comparing fractions to decimals! Use the power point on Wordpress: fraction_decimal_compare.pptx to go over how to solve inequalities with the two different types of "parts to a whole" and some fun word problems about a made-up island and its climate-related issues.

If time, play a quick round of math jeopardy, where you, the teacher, write a problem on the board, and go around to each group to solve it. Group one begins, and if they answer wrong, another group has a chance to "steal" their point by raising their hands the fastest. You can decide if they lose points for wrong answers, get negative points, etc., but those may lengthen game time. Whoever gets to x amount of points first wins. The winning group can receive a small prize, such as candy or classroom currency. Five points is a good number for a medium sized game with 4-5 groups of students and should take about 30 minutes. For a shorter game, try three points; for longer, try seven.

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Day 3

Science

Watch the remaining time on the movie. Have students write a 6 sentence paragraph on what they learned and found interesting.

Afterwards, have the groups meet again for 10 minutes, 20 if necessary, to discuss their project and finish their "rough drafts."

Math

Today will be a big review on everything decimals with a small amount of fraction review as well. Begin with reviewing adding and subtracting decimals, then comparing them to each other, then spend half the total time on multiplying and dividing, if not more, which is preferable. If time, review adding and subtracting fractions.

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Day 4

Science

Today, you and the students will have a discussion on important factors in climate change and how humans impact the environment. Set up a poster board, giant piece of paper, or section of the white board to devote to this discussion. Each student must have input on this assignment, they can share anything they want about the entire unit that resonated with them, be it a certain part of the movie or something on littering. The teacher can decide how they want to set this up. For example, to mirror the final presentation, it can be a problems/solutions T-chart, and students can input either problems or solutions, or one of each to add to the chart. It should be an active discussion, and take up an entire 20 minutes or so.

Tomorrow students will present their problems and solutions in a fun way to their parents! Have them transfer their rough draft information onto a poster board, this should take about 20 minutes. Feel free to allow them to take information from the class discussion they just had. Students posters should include: at least two drawings; three problems relating to their topic; two solutions; a brief description of their topic (i.e., what is overfishing?); and why it is important to us (i.e. overfishing is important because it can cause people to run out of fish to eat). Students will also decide on who speaks when during the presentation.

Math

Today the students will have a big game review day. They will play math bingo, full math jeopardy, and potentially other games if the teacher decides or as time.

Begin with fraction review, going over adding and subtracting fractions if it was not reviewed yesterday, and cover comparing fractions to each other. This should only take 15 minutes.

Begin with whichever you, the teacher, want to start with, but both will take a fair amount of energy to keep up with the kids. Jeopardy takes the longest and covers everything on the test, so it may be a good start. Separate the kids into 4 or 5 groups, and play the game with normal rules. A few angle related questions have cards that go with them for students to better measure the angle with their protractors. The teacher will need to create the cards prior to the game so they can give the students the card. Download the game on Wordpress in the file tiled: EVRN_Unit_Math_Jeopardy.pptx. Start the powerpoint, wait for the intro, then click the hyperlinks to easily navigate the game. Click the numbers to see the question, "answer" to see the answer to the question, and the house to return home to pick a new question. You may have to keep track of which ones you've clicked on, but it should darken the numbers slightly so the teacher and students can see which categories and numbers have been chosen already.

Math bingo should be very simple. Have the answers to various questions relating to angles, addition and subtraction of fractions and decimals, and conversion questions scattered throughout the bingo card. There are several website available to make the cards for free. You will have to write out all the questions to read off by pulling them randomly from a sack/box/etc. Winners can pick a treat or reward the teacher offers, and the game should be played for maybe 20 minutes or so, getting in as many rounds as possible. The teacher can have the students shuffle the bingo cards every round, or keep the same cards.

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Day 5

Science

Today students will present their projects one at a time to the class and their parents to finish the unit strong. Their bell work will be to set up and converse with their team mates to make sure everything is in order. After the class has finished presenting, it might be fun to have a nature-themed cake or cupcakes brought in to celebrate completing the unit.

Math

Today the students have their big unit test. The test should be composed of 25-30 questions and check for understanding in: adding and subtracting fractions and decimals; comparing fractions and decimals within themselves and to each other; adding, subtracting, and measuring angles; and converting fractions and decimals to each other. Students may use a protractor and, only once they advance to the converting fractions and decimals portion, a four function calculator. The teacher can set this up however they like, but sticking with the theme of environmental issues is preferred whenever possible with word problems and questions focusing on the same base of information, such as a chart with 4 questions assigned to it. To prevent cheating, a separate sheet with the conversion questions can be used, where students complete the main test, then have the second part of the test where they use the four function calculator. Once the students are done, they can read or work on something for the next unit.

Social Studies

Students will spend an hour this morning learning about Florida's tourism and how the economy, population growth, and environment tie together with tourism (Standard SS.4.A.8.4). You will need: A T-Chart for the students to make notes on how tourism effects the economy and environment (population is only a small pivot point of the lesson); A "think pair share" sheet, where students have a place to write down their ideas, other students' ideas, and a conclusion; and FL_Tourism.pptx found on Wordpress. Any teachers will have to adjust this powerpoint to their own class, as mine has relevant photos/videos of me to entertain the students during the lesson. Other teachers cannot use the photos of me when sharing this powerpoint with their students.