Layered Curriculum Unit: Amphibians (4th grade)

By Angela Kanerva & Katie Golin

Pinckney Elementary School

C Layer Choices:
1.  Amphibian Flashcards:  Make flashcards for the following words, memorize them and get quizzed by the teacher:  Amphibian, Lungs, complete metamorphosis, tadpoles, tail-less, tail, vertebrate, cold-blooded, gills, swamp, pond.
2. Frog Life Cycle: Draw out the life cycle of the frog. Label each part and identify its special features. (see textbookpages 76-79 for help)
3.  Amphibian Big Book: Write a simple non-fiction writing piece about an amphibian that you choose.
4. Amphibian Food Chain:  Cut out pictures of animals of a food chain.  Paste them to a paper.  Label their names and if they are a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.  Use arrows to show who eats who. (1 point/picture correctly labeled)
5.  Textbook: Read pages 76-79 and Answer Questions 1-4 and Think!
6.  Amphibian Name Poem:  Write a name poem using the name of an amphibian  Include facts about the amphibian in the poem.
7. Venn Diagram:  Create a Venn Diagram of two amphibians.  You must include at least the following information in the Venn Diagram: length, weight, diet, habitat, predators, prey, and 2 interesting facts.
8. Video and Questions: Watch the video on amphibians and answer the question sheet.
9.  Amphibian (Computer Lab) Data Collection Sheet: Visit the computer lab and compete the Amphibian Data Collection Sheet.  You may use this information to help you with other choices.

B Layer Choices:
1.  Visit a classroom with a children's fact book you wrote about amphibians: Make a picture book explaining the two different kinds of amphibians there are and use all of the vocabulary from Almphibian Flashcards. Write an illustrate a fact book about amphibians for any grade Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
2.  Make a graphy amphibian poster using 15-30 pictures of amphibians.  Organize your data into a graph.
3.  Amphibian Observation: Find a frog or toad in your backyard.  Take pictures and watch it.  What does it do when it sees you?  Does the frog think you are predator or prey?  When do frogs like to come out? Think of 5-10 questions like these that you are curious about.  Write them down and answer them.  Share your information with the class.
4.  Visit a pet store.  How many frogs, toads and newts does the pet store have?  Describe both kinds of amphibians (with tails and without tails) and identify their body covering, body parts and actions that help that amphibian to survive.

A Layer Choices:
1.How does the destruction of the rainforest effect amphibians?
You will need to check out a book or two from the library or get on line to gather your information.  Include information about the rainforests of the world that have amphibians.  Identify predators and prey of amphibians in the rainforest.  Include a small map of the world showing where rainforests are located.  Give your opinion on what should be done or not done to help the amphibian population.
2.  Is it better to have frogs, toads or newts as pets?
*Find three resources on the lives of frogs, toads and newts.  Write about the two different types of amphibians (found in your textbook page 76-79) including what you learned from your C layer vocabulary.  What helps an amphibian adapt to its environment?  What kinds of environments do amphibians need?  Is one type of environment better than another?  What kinds of information including foods, shelter, and adaptations will help an amphibian survive?
3. Fly Away Home Movie Review Sheet.  Watch the movie and these answer questions on a separate sheet of paper in complete sentences.
*1.  What is Migration?*2.  What is imprinting?
*3.  How were migration and imprinting used in the story?
*4.  What made helping the birds migrate the right thing to do?
*5.  What made helping the birds migrate the wrong thing to do?
*6.  Do you think they made the right or wrong decision?

Layered Curriculum Unit: Birds (4th grade)
Angela Kanerva and Katie Golin
Pinckney Elementary School

C Layer Choices:
1. Bird Words: Make flashcards for the following words, memorize them & get quizzed. warm-blooded, contour feather, down feather, migration, inborn behavior, instinct, learned behavior, bill, webbed feet, talons.
2. A Bat is Not A Bird: In Class activity
3.  National Geopraphic Parrot People: We'll read the article together in class then answer the worksheet questions.
4.  Data Collection Sheet: Complete in the computer lab.
5. Time for Kids: A Sticky Situation In Class activity.
6. On the Move: Map skills worksheet showing where birds migrate.
7.  Bird Big Book: Write a simple non-fiction writing piece about a bird that you choose.
8.  Textbook: Read pages 84-86 and Answer Questions 1-3 and Think!
9.  Textbook: Read pages 110-114 and Answer Questions 1-3 and Think!
10. Venn Diagram:  Create a Venn Diagram of two birds.  You must include at least the following information in the Venn Diagram: length, weight, diet, habitat, predators, prey, adaptations and 2 interesting facts.
11. Guess My Bird: Find a bird and collect data to create a feathers riddle done together in class.
12.  Bird Bills and Feet: Worksheet about the adaptations of birds.

B Layer Choices:
1.  Build a Bird House: Create a bird house of your choosing, filled with seed.  There are varioous BIRD BILLS that are adaptations for different birds.  Draw and identify four different bird bills and how they are useful to help the bird survive.
2. Food Web Poster: Make a food web of at least 15 animals. Identify and label the animals as herbivore, carnivore or omnivore.
3. Graphy Bird: Create a graph of at least 15 birds.  Sort them according to an adaptation (for example: webbed feet, flying, beaks...) and create a graph that explains your data. 
4.  Ecosystem Poster:  Design your own poster of an ecosystem of your choosing.  You can draw any amount of plants and animals you choose but they all must fit the criteria of an appropriate ecosystem.  For example: Put a penguin in with the seals and polar bears of the Arctic, not in the rainforest).

A Layer Choices:
1.  What happened to the eggs?  Answer all of the questions in the book about the picture on page 87.  Use good reasoning skills and support your opinion with details.
2.  Rachel Carson in the Food Chains and Webs Book page 12: Read about her choices and fears for the animal population.  How did she think the problems were effecting the insect population and how does that connect to the bird population?

Layered Curriculum Unit: Digestion 4th grade
Angela Kanerva and Katie Golin
Pinckney Elementary School
C Layer
1.  What Happens to the Food you eat?: Worksheet
2.  The Stomach: Read & Answer questions. Oral quiz.
3.  Taking care of your teeth: In class Dental Office Visit Presentation
4.  The Human Body Corporation: Writing paper modeled in class.
5.  The Great Food Journey: Writing paper modeled in class.
6.  Pyramid Explorations Readers Theater: Read along with the class **and answer questions in booklet.
7.  Mouth full of teeth: We'll talk about the various kinds of teeth and **how we use them.
8.  Incredible Journey: Worksheet
9.  Digestion Poster: Color and assemble a 2-D model of the Digestive **System.  There are 2 choices available for you to choose, just pick one.
10. Digestion Words: Make flashcards for the following words: Teeth, ***Tongue, Esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, *anus, liver, kidneys, pancreas and gall bladder.  Oral quiz.
11. Digestion Quiz Information: The digestion quiz will cover the following **information:
**All of the Digestion words from #10 above,
**Label the parts of the  Food Pyramid,
**Know that Mechanical Digestion involves the teeth and muscles & ***Chemical Digestion involves stomach acid and saliva. 
**Label the parts of the tooth. 
**Name five foods for a balanced meal & what food group they are in.

B Layer
1.  Make a Triangular Pyramid using magazine pictures.  Get the puzzle pieces and model from class to make your model from.
2.  Build a 3-D Model of the digestive system labeling all parts from the Digestion Words in the C Layer.  Use whatever supplies you find and have a good time!
3.  Tongue Map: In Class lab about your taste buds.
4.  Good Health Presentation:  Mr. Mortensen, Mr. Carlson, Mrs. Golin and Mrs. Kanerva all team teach this great lesson on your growing and changing human body.

A Layer
1.  The Doctor of Digestion is Dr. William Beaumont.  He has an office for exhibit that will be part of our Mackinaw Trip Scavenger Hunt.  After reading about this famous Doctor, prepare a presentation on why Dr. Beaumont was controversial.  Was it right or wrong for him to leave Mr. St. Martin open and do experiments on him?  What problems were there or could there have been?  Would someone be able to do experiments like this today?
2.  Are medications good or bad for the human body, especially the digestive track?  Find out which medications have been developed specifically for a particular part of the digestive track and how they help or hinder that body part.  Would you like to be a researcher who creates new medicines?  What would be the pros and cons of being a research scientist?