Lesson Plans

  If you came here for lesson plans, you may have found the right place!  I have some original and inspired lessons plans available at this site.  If you need more information on a lesson feel free to e-mail me, I will try my best to get back to you as soon as I can! 

    All of my lesson plans are correlated to the South Dakota State Standards, some of them I am sure have already changed somewhat, but not much.  Feel free to use these lessons in anyway you wish, unless you plan on handing these in for credit as a college student, then please reference me!  Thanks!

Math Lessons:
  Kinder-patterns: This unit is an introductory unit on patterning.  Kindergarten students need a variety of patterning experiences beyond this unit throughout the year.  This unit is designed to be somewhat diagnostic for a teacher to find out where students are and how far they need to go.  Some of the lessons in this unit will be repeated throughout the year to be the most affective for the Kindergarten student.  Kindergarten students who recognize patterns in concrete objects will have an easier time in the generation of their number sense.  This unit should follow a unit on sorting so students will learn how they can arrange their possibilities of answers and work on being observant to distinguishing characteristics of objects.  Also in this unit students will be asked to read patterns, touching each one as they say the color, which promotes one-to-one correspondence with counting. With Kindergarten students, there also needs to be exposure to mathematical ideas to foster mathematical thinking in all areas of the curriculum.  Students in this unit were provided with mini-activities throughout the day that fostered thinking in patterning, exposure to literature with and about patterns, and other non-assessed activities.  Some of these activities would include exploring environmental patterns while lining up for lunch, exploring patterns in nature, and listening to and interacting with literature for both shared reading and pleasure reading. 
  Snap Names: (Kindergarten) Students will use lettered (which have both upper and lower case letters) snap cubes to create their names.  Students will compare their names with other students in the group and decide whose name is taller (longer). 

Language Arts:
  The Very Hungry Couch: (Kindergarten) Students will make a “The Very Hungry Couch” book using different pictures and words of things you would find inside the cushions of a couch. You also need to use the worksheet which can be pasted into a word doc and enlarged (or shrank) to fit the 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper. This lesson is a spin off of the Very Hungry Caterpillar and was used during weekly letter studies and could be enhanced for older children.

Science:
  Nature Learning Centers: (5th Grade) Students will explore nature (the environment and wildlife) through centers (six total centers).  Students will explore ethical issues and different animals through these investigative centers.  Many of the activities will use learning in real-life scenarios that students may face in their lives. Many of the lessons built from Project Wild curriculum.
  Popsicle Trebuchet: (7th Grade) Students in pairs will investigate and apply the principle of Conservation of Energy by building and working with a Trebuchet. This is the process of making a real trebuchet (in a small scale). Also I have created a rubric and for your assistance if you wish to see what it should look like (or might look like) I have some pictures.

Social Studies:
  Times are a Changin': (5th Grade) The purpose of this thematic unit is to show how the world has changed over a period of time in values, ideas, dreams and technology.  Change happens all around us and it important for students to know not only where we are, but also to take a look back at where we came from which will help them answer more of the “whats” and the “whys” to our American and world cultures.  Also through the workings of this theme students will hopefully break some of their misconceptions about history being boring.  This unit has the capabilities to be a year long unit of study because I have had so many more ideas throughout the process of developing this unit.