The Sky Is Falling, Author(s): Karen L. Miller, Grade Level: 2, Subject Area: Interdisciplinary Unit, In the spring of first grade, children plant sunflower and pumpkin seeds with anticipation for harvesting in the fall. In the fall, children will go on a nature walk and observe their crops. They also collect signs of autumn to share with the class. Items will be sorted into groups based on size, shape, and color.

Planning Guide

Creating Learner-Focused
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LU Title: The Sky is Falling	Author(s): Karen L. Miller
Grade Level: 2	School Address: West Leyden School Fish Creek Road West Leyden, NY 13489
Subject Area: Interdisciplinary Unit	School Phone/Fax: 315-942-9280/315-942-6162 e-mail KLMiller30@aol.com

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Declarative	Procedural
Identify the life cycle of a pumpkin.	Compare/contrast apples and pumpkins.
Identify the life cycle of a sunflower.	Make an apple graph.
Understand why farms raise crops and animals.	Plant pumpkin seeds.
Recognize how each season is important to an apple tree.	Write an autumn acrostic poem.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

How does the weather in autumn affect daily activities?
How would your life be different if you were an apple tree?
How would farming be different if you lived near an ocean?
How does where you live affect how you use apples?

INITIATING ACTIVITY

In the spring of first grade, children plant sunflower and pumpkin seeds with anticipation for harvesting in the fall. In the fall, children will go on a nature walk and observe their crops. They also collect signs of autumn to share with the class. Items will be sorted into groups based on size, shape, and color.

Culminating Performance

Based on what you have learned during our harvest unit, with a partner create a picture or a model representing the cycle from seed to harvest.

Connection to State Learning Standards

Content Area: English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies

Level: 2

Benchmarks: Present information clearly in a variety of oral and written forms such as summaries, paraphrases, brief reports, stories, posters and charts.
Ask geographic questions about where places are located; why they are located where they are; what is important about their locations; and how their locations are related to the location of other people and places.

Benchmarks: Construct tables, charts, and graphs to display and analyze real-world data.
Describe patterns of daily, monthly, and seasonal changes in their environment.

Standard: ELA #1 Students will read, write, listen and speak for information and understanding.
ELA #2 Students will read, write, listen and speak for literary response and expression.
SS #3 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live- local, national, and global- including the distribution of people, places and environments over the Earth's surface.

Standard: MST #3 Students will understand mathematics and become mathematically confident by communicating and reasoning mathematically, by applying mathematics to real-world settings, and by solving problems through the integrated study of number systems, geometry, algebra, data analysis, probability and trigonometry.
MST #4 Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the development of ideas in science.

Learning Experiences

Declarative Knowledge

What declarative knowledge should students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of the unit, the student will know or understand…

What experiences or activities will be used to help students acquire & integrate this knowledge?

What strategies will be used to help students construct meaning, organize and/or store the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

the life cycle of a sunflower

the life cycle of a pumpkin

life cycle of an apple tree

crops harvested in the fall

non-fiction sunflower books

Big books:

Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington

Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell

pumpkin stations

apple stations

Collaborate to create a four-season display that illustrates the life cycle of an apple tree.

non-fiction book, Nature's Harvest

3-minute pause

K-W-L

graphic organizer- flower

collaborative pairs

cooperative learning

graphic organizers-venn diagram

active participation

brainstorming

collaborative pairs

K-W-L

rhyming pegword

analyzing perspectives

Read aloud variety of non-fiction books

Access a sunflower website:

www.geocities.com/toto?s=76000008

Use trade books during literature group.

Observe apples and pumpkins (size, shape, color, etc.)

Measure mass of each using a balance scale.

Measure circumference of each using string.

In cooperative groups design a pumpkin face using geometric shapes. Carve pumpkins. Scoop out pulp and seeds. Sort seed into groups of ten. Bake seeds for a tasty snack.

See attached learning experience outline.

During literature groups make a glossary with farming vocabulary.

Write to children/farmers from other communities:

e-mail address

gardeningforkids@juno.com

Please note other useful websites:

www.virtualorchard.net

apple-crop@virtualorchard.net

Learning Experiences

Procedural Knowledge

What procedural knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of this unit, students will be able to:

What will be done to help students construct models, shape & internalize the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

compare/contrast apples and pumpkins

write an autumn acrostic poem

plant seeds

make an apple bar graph

graphic organizers

demonstration

talk aloud

think aloud

model

guided practice

practice with variation

review process

chart with steps

experiment

set of written steps

bar graph

Make a venn-diagram

Read aloud acrostic poetry book, Autumn. Model with a familiar noun (ex: apples). Children select their own autumn noun to write their acrostic poem. Final copies will be published using the computer (Children's Writing and Creativity Center or Microsoft Works).

Visit a pumpkin farm.

Plant pumpkin seeds. Keep a seed journal. record observations. Measure seed growth over time.

Children will taste apples (Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, and Granny Smith) and record favorite apple on a bar graph.

Rubric:

Key Questions:

What are the key elements, traits, or dimensions that will be evaluated? Are the identified elements of equal importance or will they be weighed differently?

	Element #1	Element #2	Element #3	Element #4
Elements Scale	Included all stages in the life cycle.	Accurately displayed information on picture or model	Organization of ideas.	Presentation
Weights
4	Included all stages in the life cycle.	Organized information in a detailed, accurate manner.	Developed ideas fully.	Presented information in a thorough manner.
3	Included 3 stages in the life cycle.	Organized information in a satisfactory manner.	Developed most ideas.	Presented information in a satisfactory manner.
2	Included 2 stages in the life cycle.	Information is not well organized.	Developed some ideas.	Presented information in a basic manner.
1	Included 1 or none of the stages in the life cycle.	Information does not represent the life cycle.	Developed few ideas.	Presented information in a random manner.

NOTE: Rubric or other performance assessment instruments may be used.

Length of time: Approximately 6-8 weeks (in September & October).