Animals

      ANIMALS

 

 

1. TIMING: 6 sessions of about an hour.
   
   
2. LEVEL: Second cycle of Primary Education    
   
   
3. INTRODUCTION/JUSTIFICATION
   
4.  
   This didactic unit is called "Animals" and forms part of the Science program for this grade. The subject area develops students' rational and objective understanding of their surroundings, starting with their own perceptions and experiences.
   
   Moreover, Science subject gives the students the necessary resources to initiate a form of scientific analysis of their surroundings, developing the capacity for investigation and inquiry and the search for answers and explanations to the problems which are posed by their own everyday experiences.
   
   During the second cycle of Primary Education, the students' development allows a more complete understanding of their surroundings, taking as a starting point their own experiences, graduating and blending their capacities through a graded series of learning experiences.
   
   It also helps students to assimilate another cross-curricular theme which is "To appreciate the importance of respecting all living things and helping to protect the natural environment."
   
   With all this previous information, this didactic unit helps student to work in different basic skills like:
   
    -  Knowledge and interaction with the physical world.
   
   -  Competence in linguistic communication.
   
   -  Use of information and digital competence.
   
   -  Cultural and artistic competence.
   
   CONTENT OBJECTIVES:
   
   Students will be able to:
   
     1. Identify and name the terminology related to animals and their classification.
   
     2. Categorize the characteristics of vertebrates and invertebrates and classify them accordingly.
   
     3. Identify the processes of nutrition, respiration and reproduction in the different groups of vertebrates and invertebrates.
   
     4. Distinguish different groups of animals and establish the similarities and differences of the characteristics we use to classify each group.
   
     5. Show a respectful attitude towards all animals and their rights and establish ways to help to protect them in their own natural habitat.
   
   LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES: 

1. Language Obligatory:
   
     1. Identify and name the terminology related to animals and their classification.
   
     2. Categorize the characteristics of vertebrates and invertebrates and classify them accordingly.
   
     3. Identify the processes of respiration and reproduction in the different groups of vertebrates and invertebrates.
   
    4. Distinguish different groups of animals and establish the similarities and differences of the characteristics we use to classify each group.
   
    5. Show a respectful attitude towards all animals and their rights and establish ways to help to protect them in their own natural habitat..

1. Language Compatible:
   
   - Basic class rules structures: open your book, listen to the audio, fill up the chart, divide into groups of three, and so.
   
   - Animals: a random number of animals already learnt on previous years.
   
   - Verbs: to be, to have, to describe, to explain, to fill up, to listen, to draw, to write, to classify, and so. All the ones needed to understand the teacher instructions and the activities.
   
   - Link words: prepositions, articles, W questions, connectors.
   
   - Different habitats: ocean, jungle, farm, house, forest, sky, savanna, dessert, and so. Those will be used in order to improve their knowledge about the animal characteristics and to talk about where animals live.
   
   COMUNICATION SKILLS:
   
   - Listening and reading for gist
   
   - Speaking, reading and writing using new vocabulary and structures.
2. 
   COGNITIVE/THINKING SKILLS:
   
   At the end of the unit the students should be able to:
   
   -  Recognize and name the terminology related to the structure, functions of animals and their classification.  
   
   -  Classify the characteristics of vertebrates and invertebrates by how they breathe and their nutrition and reproduction processes.
   
   -  Describe images of vertebrates and invertebrates.
   
   -  Identify and classify the animals in the student's own environment.
   
   -  Create wall murals that include images and texts.
   
   -  Show a respectful attitude towards all animals and their rights and establish ways to help to protect them in their own natural habitat. 
3. 
   KEY COMPETENCES:
   
   This didactic unit helps student to work in different basic competence like:
   
    -  Knowledge and interaction with the physical world.
   
   -  Competence in linguistic communication.
   
   -  Use of information and digital competence.
   
   -  Cultural and artistic competence.
   
    INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES:
   On this unit different types of activities, methodologies and grouping options are used: tuning in, activating prior-knowledge, making input comprehensible, guide and independent practice
   Session 1
   
   - Graffiti: Students will be divided into groups of three and an empty paper will be given to them. The teacher will write on the blackboard "What does the word "ANIMALS" make you think of?" and the students will write as much things as they can think of. After that all will share what they wrote and the teacher may give them new ideas to complete the basic information.
   
   - Know-What-Learned: After the students know what is the unit about, they will fill up a chart with what the already know about the topic, what they would like to know, and the will leave the last column to fill up after the unit is done, with what they have learnt.
   
   - Reading "animal life": The students will hear a song about animals followed by the explanation of doing a story book about five animals that live together and each one will tell the others about their main characteristics. Each part of the story will be complimented by different pictures of the animals and their physiognomy. Each animal belongs to one of the five Animal Kingdoms.
   
   - Vocabulary poster: After random of the vocabulary words given to the students the teacher, helped by the students, will write on a poster all of them in order to create a visual reference during the whole unit.
   Session 2
   
   - My Animals book: Students will have an uncompleted Story book about the five Animal Kingdoms. Each page will belong to one of them and every day the students will complete the pages guided by the teacher, who will talk about the information being helped of a PPT presentation projected on the wall. First day "Birds" and "Fish" will be filled up.
   
   - My Peace Day dove: As during the unit the Peace Day will be celebrated the students will create their own Peace Day dove with an empty paper roll and the parts of the bird given by the teacher.
   
   - Venn Diagram "Birds vs. Fish": as a Conclusion activity of the session the students will have to compare the similarities and differences of the main characteristics of the Birds and the Fish by drawing and filling up a Venn diagram.  To help them the teacher can provide them a TickChart to fill up with different items of both Kingdoms and see easily the similarities or differences.
   Session 3
   
   - My Animals book: on the second day of this activity "Amphibians" will be filled up with the same methodology than the previous day.
   
   - My frog booklet: Because the students have learnt the main characteristics of the Amphibians the will strengthen their knowledge through their Frog Booklet. This activity will be taught by using some audios, one to describe the life-cycle of a Frog, from an egg, then a tadpole, and then a frog; and another one telling a story the students will follow with different pictures already ordered. At the end they will have to re-write the story on a piece of card trying to remember as many details of the story heard.
   
   - Who Am I?: After having learnt about three different Kingdoms of animals the students will play in groups of four "Who Am I?" They will have different cards with animals and the want their classmates to guess them through giving them information about their main characteristics. Before teacher will play this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfFhXwqfGJQ
   
   For example: (Parrot)
   
    – I am a bird. My body is covered with feathers. I breathe trough lungs.
   
   - Are you a bird? - Yes I am
   
   - Are you an eagle? – No, I am not. Sometimes I can reproduce some words as humans do..
   
   - Are you a parrot? - Yes I am
   Session 4
   
   - My Animals book: on the second day of this activity "Mammals" and "Reptiles" will be filled up with the same methodology than the previous day.
   
   - We are mammals: After having learnt all the five Animal Kingdoms the students need to recognize humans as animals belonging to the Mammals Kingdom. For that reason the teacher will ask students to create a TickChart with all what they can think about any animal (within the mammals) and themselves.
   
   - Quiz about animals: Students will complete the quiz answering questions about animals facts and spelling different animals names. http://www.turtlediary.com/grade-2-games/science-games/animal-quiz.html
   
   - If I were an animal…: to end up this session the teacher will introduce a new grammar structure to express hypothesis "If I were an animal I would be a…". Students, taking turns, will think about the animal they would like to be and will tell their classmates. The teacher will establish a speak out moment by asking them why, what they would do, and so.
   
   Session 5
   
   - Animals museum: The teacher will divided the students into five groups designating one Animal Kingdom to each one and asking them to bring different pictures of animals belonging to this Kingdom. Once they are in class a long piece of paper will be given to them in order to create a presentation of the Kingdom, with some pictures and summarizing all the information they know about its characteristics.
   
   - Animal kingdoms quiz: Students will have to complete this quiz with their computers.
   
   http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/science/animal_kingdom/quiz963.html
   
   Session 6
   
   - Designing supporting programs: at the end of the unit Students may be aware about different types of environmental issues. In groups of three they are going to design a real program to help both endangered animals or to protect the natural environment around them.  They can bring materials and the teacher will provide them real materials as magazines, newspapers, posters and so.
   
   CONCLUSION
   In a school classroom, each little experience with students will make them learn something or other, and although it is true that lack of experience in the field often leads to the activity has not collected all the goals that could have fulfilled, you could always make it a meaningful learning, which ultimately is what the student will remember.
   
   To sum up my CLIL unit I will use a quote that I try to remember every morning when I show up in my classroom and that represent faithfully what I believe a good teacher has to do.
   
    
   
   "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember.
   
   Involve me and I learn."
   
   Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), U.S. statesman and scientist.

Victoria Burgueño