Jaime Matzke
EDU 510

Unit Overview:

This is a unit on pollution and how it affects both humans and the environment. This unit is planned to take two to three weeks and is aimed for a fourth grade classroom. This unit will consist of daily lessons and activities that correspond with the given lesson. The purpose of this unit is to create awareness on the effects that pollution has on the environment. In doing this, the students will develop an understanding of the concept of recycling and the steps that they can take to help keep the environment clean. This unit will also be integrated into the other content areas with an emphasis placed in the science classroom.
 
 

Unit Goals:

• Increase an awareness of various problems that humans cause the

• Investigate and explain why some locations are more polluted than

• Describe safer ways and steps people can take when they interact

• Enable the students to learn how to use other sources to gather

help.

• Increase an understanding of how waste can be classified and sorted; as

Unit Objectives:

(The following are from Bloom’s taxonomy with the categories in parenthesis).

1. Students will be able to orally state the different types of natural resources.(knowledge)

1. Students will be able to analyze the benefits of reducing, reusing, and recycling. (analysis)
2. Students will be able to show both positive and negative effects that humans have on the environment. (application)
3. Students will be able to distinguish between natural waste and waste resulting from man made materials. (analysis)
4. Students will be able to hypothesize what the earth will look like in 50 years based on current trends. (comprehension)
5. Students will be able to define the work decomposers and explain how they contribute to the decay of organic matter. (knowledge)
6. Students will be able to construct and design a landfill and explain how it will be used for trash disposal. (synthesis and comprehension)
7. Students will be able to develop a slogan and poster to use to promote a clean environment in order to persuade people not to pollute. (evaluation)
8. Students will be able to describe safer steps that people can take to preserve the environment. (knowledge)

Over the next ten to fifteen days, we will begin to examine and analyze different kinds of things that pollute our environment. The first day, I will read the story, Just A Dream by Chris Van Allsburg to help activate the students’ schemas on pollution. After we have read the story, I will create a KWL with the students around the topic pollution. Next, I will introduce the natural resources to the students. After we have discussed the natural resources, I would break the students up into small groups. I would assign each group a natural resource that they would be responsible for. They will have to define it and develop ways in which we can preserve it through reducing, reusing, and recycling. The students will also have science journals where throughout this unit, they will be able to respond to questions, write about things that they have learned, or list things that they do not understand.

Each day, I will have the students pick a card and classify the object on it into the categories: man made, natural wastes, glass, paper, plastic or metal. The students will have to apply what they have already learned as they classify their objects. I will develop a graph that the students can use to add their item to so that we can see throughout the unit which categories various items fall into. After the students have determined where their card should go, the class will discuss it and check to make sure that everyone agrees and that there are no discrepancies. This will also serve as a point of reference and referral to the students throughout the unit.

After the basic lessons on recycling, reducing, reusing, natural versus man made materials and waste have been taught, the students will do a variety of activities to help reinforce what they have learned. For example, the students will make their own landfills using soil and garbage. They will put these landfills by the windows and observe them over the next few days. This will help the students to witness firsthand what really happens to garbage in landfills around the world. The students will also draw a picture and write a story about what earth will look like in 50 years based on current trends. They will be able to use their landfills and other references to help write their stories.

The students will also take a trash walk in the community outside of the school to collect litter. After they get back to the classroom from their walk, they will be able to classify the trash that they found into the different categories like we do each morning. This will lead us into a discussion about how we as a group can help promote a cleaner environment. I will then break the students down into groups of two or three and they will be responsible for coming up with three situations that harm the environment and then three solutions to these problems. Thus leading into their final projects where each student will have to develop a poster and slogan to promote a safer, cleaner environment. For example, "Keep it clean, keep it green!" The students will also have to write a paper about the topic that they choose following the guidelines in the rubric that I give them.

Throughout this whole unit, I will include a lot of literature pieces, pictures, research, videos, and students’ personal experiences to help enhance and further their learning. Therefore this will also show the students that there are multiple resources out there for them to gather information from.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Assessment Overview

As with this unit and others that I am teaching, I do not feel as though I could use just one form of assessment to assess student achievement. The assessments for this unit will be informal and formal, as well as, ongoing. Initially, the majority of the assessments that I use will be informal through oral communication and observing. I will do this daily as students are working individually or within their small groups; as well as, when the students are writing in their journals. This will help me to get a feel of who is grasping and understanding the concepts and who has not. The KWL chart will also allow me to informally assess the students’ prior knowledge and also get a feel for things that they do not know or would like to know more about.

Once the students begin using their journals they will use them to answer higher level questions, writing down what they have learned, what they have questions about, or interesting facts that they may come across. The students will have numerous opportunities to share what they wrote both in small groups, as well as with the whole class. I feel that this will be a wonderful way to assess and review old information, as well as make a connection to what we are currently learning. For example, if we had just spent the day learning about recycling, I would have the students draw a picture of items that they would place in their blue bins and then write down reasons or characteristics of that item to show why it could be recycled. If a student were having difficulty writing down their explanation, I would write it down for them while they dictated it to me.

As the students were selecting, placing, and graphing the objects into the correct categories, they would have to verbally explain why they would put it there. This would be an excellent way to informally assess both their knowledge and comprehension of what we had learned so far.

The students would also be formally assessed by various worksheets, short answer questions, true/false, and matching exercises. These assignments will be graded and will serve as a tool for me to use to modify and further develop me lesson plans so that I can cover and reinforce concepts that the students maybe having problems with.

After the students partake in the trash walk, they will be able to sort and classify the items that they had collected. I will be able to informally assess their understanding based on the categories that they placed the items in. I will then informally assess the students orally by asking them questions like, "What affects could this glass bottle have on the environment?" or "Why do you think that this metal can is not safe in a field?" This will begin to get the students to think critically about their surroundings and what they are learning.

As part of the formal assessment, the students will get to create their own landfill out of a variety of materials. The students will have to write about and record what happens to their landfill over the next week in their journals. Over the next week, the students will be doing activities that will have them hypothesizing about their landfills. This will allow them to apply previous knowledge that they have learned.

For the performance assessment, I am going to have the students create a poster, slogan, and written explanation about safer ways to protect the environment. This will allow me to see if the students understand the danger and harm that humans have on the environment. It will also be an excellent culminating activity that will allow me to see if the students have learned all that I was hoping for in this unit. Through the written portion of this assignment, I will be able to assess knowledge, comprehension of material, and their application of it.

Table of Specifications
 

Category	Knowledge	Inference	Showing
Classification	1 SR		P & PA
Causes	3 SR	1 SR, 1 E	P& PA
Human Impact	3 SR	3 SR, 1 E	P & PA
Prevention	4 SR	6 SR, 1 E	P & PA

 

SR- Selected Response

E- Essay

P- Product

PA- Performance Assessment
 
 
 
 
 
 

Matching:

_____2. Recycle B. An impurity mixed with a pure substance

_____3. Environment C. Anything dirty in the air, soil, or water

_____4. Smog D. Fog that has become mixed with smoke

_____5. Contamination E. Something that surrounds living

organisms

_____1. Biodegrade A. Useful materials that come from the earth

_____2. Decompose B. A place to dispose of things

_____3. Natural Resources C. Able to be decomposed by natural processes

_____4. Landfill D. Harmful substances in the environment

_____5. Pollutants E. To separate into different components
 
 

True/False

Directions—Write true on the line if the sentence is correct and write false

on the line if the sentence is wrong.

_____1. Before someone recycles a glass bottle, they should break it.

_____2. Turning off the lights in an empty room conserves light bulbs.

_____3. Fixing leaky faucets is an example of conserving.

_____4. Newspapers and plastic bags slowly biodegrade in landfills.
 
 

Fill in the Blank

Directions—Fill in the blank with a word(s) that best completes the

sentence.

1. A landfill is a place to ______________things.
2. ___________ are useful materials that come from the earth.
3. Reduce, reuse, and _______________!

Directions—Circle the letter of the correct answer.

1. Which of the following can be recycled?

1. a foam plate

3. c. a rusty wire
4. d. a tire

1. Which of the following would not pollute the water and make it dirty?

1. boats
2. bacteria

1. Which of the following is an example of conserving?

1. running water
2. letting the car run

1. leaving the lights on

can not be?

1. air
2. soil
3. water
4. coal

Directions- Write the answer to each of the following questions using

complete sentences.

1. There are many ways in which the environment becomes polluted. List three ways that humans pollute the environment and why it is considered harmful.
2. There are many ways in which humans pollute the environment everyday. List three suggestions that humans could take to help stop pollution and tell why each one would be beneficial.
3. As planes pass overhead to spray crops to protect against insects, is this really helping the environment or is it just polluting it with the harmful toxins it sprays? State your answer and list 3 reasons to support yourself.

As a culminating activity, I will have the students do a performance assessment activity that will allow them to incorporate all of the things that they have learned in the unit. The students will be required to design a poster and slogan, as well as a written analysis of steps that people can take to help stop pollution.

The students will have to develop a picture that corresponds with their slogan. For example, they could draw a park with no litter and their slogan could be, "Keep it Clean, Keep it Green!" The students will also be required to write reasons that would persuade people not to pollute or litter the parks.

After their project is finished, the students will present their poster to the whole class, describing what they have done and read what they have written. I feel that this will be a fun and motivating activity where the students can use their imagination and be creative. Through the use of a rubric, I will be assessing the students written portion and also the overall appearance of their poster.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

	ORGANIZATION	KNOWLEDGE  OF  CONTENT	SENTENCE STRUCTURE	CREATIVITY
4	Clarity of information in sequence and logical order Strong beginning, middle, end	Shows comprehension Shows higher level thinking	All sentences are clearly written Complete sentences with varying word choices	Original ideas Supporting details given to back up thoughts
3	7-8 ideas in a logical and sequential order Good beginning, middle, end	7-8sentences shows an understanding of topic and higher level  thinking	7-8sentences clear  Sentences with same word choices	4-5 original ideas and supporting details
2	Information and ideas not connected Ideas not always logical No format: beginning, middle, end	4-6 sentences shows comprehension and higher level thinking	4-6 sentences clear 4-6 sentence structures weak	2-3 original ideas and supporting details
1	No connection of information or ideas No logical ideas	1-3entences shows comprehension and higher level thinking	1-3 sentences clear No variety	1-2 original ideas or thoughts and supporting details
0	No attempt	No attempt	No attempt	No attempt