1. ECOSYSTEMS LITERATURE FOCUS UNIT BY GRAYSON ERLING

2. STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN FOCUS UNIT Language Arts – RL. 10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding RI. 1 ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text basis for answers. W. 5 with guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. SL. 1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. math – Nf. 6: solve real world problems involving multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers. Music – 8.2.1 Perform on an instrument alone and in small group and large groups P.E.- 8.1.3 – Know intermediate skills to participate in outdoor adventure

3. CONTINUED Science – 4.2.4 Keep records of their investigations and share their results with others as scientists do 4.4.3 Understand relations between organisms and environment Social Studies – 8.1.4 Understand how key events, people, and ideas contributed to world history 8.1.3 Understand how key events, people, and ideas contributed to United States history.

4. LITERATURE SELECTION Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth by Rochelle Strauss and Margot Thompson Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring The Earth To Life by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas by Molly bang and Penny Chisholm Common Ground: The Water, Earth, and Air We Share by Molly Bang Pond Year by Kathryn Lasky Find It in the Desert by Dee Philips Find It on a Coral Reef by Dee Philips Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea by Steve Jenkins Who Eats What?: Food Chains and Food Webs by Patricia Lauber and Holly Keller Count Them While You Can...: A Book of Endangered Animals by Anne Bowman

5. THEMATIC STUDY Students will take part in a thematic unit on the ecosystems on Earth. This unit will integrate reading and writing with social studies, science, mathematics, art, music, and physical education. Students will develop an understanding of the ecosystems, animals in the ecosystems, habitats, food chains, endangered animals, reasons why animals are going endangered and words used in the science realm.

6. LANGUAGE ARTS: READING ACTIVITIES Students will have a choice in their preference in ecosystem books. Each book will be on a specific ecosystem. Students will pick a book they want to read to the class. Students will read a story that another classmate made about a specific animal and its habitat. Student may read aloud poster boards around the room.

7. LANGUAGE ARTS: WRITING ACTIVITIES Student will create a book about a specific animal and its habitat, daily routine, fun facts, and any other facts that intrigue them. Students will be allowed to take notes on student presentations of their ecosystem and they will also be able to use these on the test. A new animal will be put on the board each day and the students will be required to go home and write down three facts on the animal. Write a poem of their choice about the ecosystems Students will write out their favorite animal and tell why its their favorite, Where it lives, and facts about the animal using descriptive words.

8. LANGUAGE ARTS: SPEAKING ACTIVITIES Students will make a diorama of their ecosystem and will speak about it as other classes come in and walk around to see everyone’s diorama. Students may take turns reading out of a book on their ecosystem. While in their groups, they will be assigned a number, when a number is called, that number will go to another group and tell them about their ecosystem, they will then return to their group, then another number will be called and they will have to tell about the ecosystem they just learned about. Students will take part in discussion at their tables about “Count Them While You Can “...: A Book of Endangered Animals by Anne Bowman.

9. LANGUAGE ARTS: LISTENING ACTIVITIES Students will listen to other students’ presentations. Students will be listening to other students read from Count Them While You Can...: A Book of Endangered Animals by Anne Bowman Students will listen to direction given by the teacher and apply them to the activity at hand. Students will listen to different sounds in each ecosystem.

10. LANGUAGE ARTS: VIEWING ACTIVITIES Students will view water color paintings in Pond Year by Kathryn Lasky Students will view photographs of animals and ecosystems in multiple books Students will view the dioramas of other students and examine the differences and similarities between each one. Students will view poster boards made by their peers Students will watch a video on ecosystems and their dynamics

11. LANGUAGE ARTS: VISUALLY REPRESENTING ACTIVITIES Students will bring pictures of their ecosystems Students will print out pictures of their favorite animal in the ecosystem Students will make a diorama of their ecosystem Students will create a word wall of the animal and scientific words Students will have poster boards around the room with each ecosystem

12. SCIENCE ACTIVITIES Students will learn about specific ecosystems by navigating through http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/ecosystems/index.html http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/ecosystems/index.html Students will select their desired ecosystem and make a poster board on the ecosystem which will include; animals, conditions, plants, food chain, and other fun facts. Students will be put into groups by drawing popsicle sticks, Once they are in their groups, students will be making dioramas of their ecosystem Other classes will be able to walk through the classroom and visit the ecosystem dioramas and students will present and give information to them abut their ecosystem. Students will present their favorite animal and its ecosystem and habitat to the class.

13. MATHEMATICS ACTIVITIES Students will take a vote on favorite ecosystems, they will then find the percentages and fractions with the vote. Students will find the average of temperature of their ecosystem over the span of the week. Students will read graphs on the precipitation of ecosystems Students will find common factors in numbers and apply that to the ecosystems Students will find patterns in the temperatures in the ecosystems

14. SOCIAL STUDIES ACTIVITIES Students will examine how the pioneers adapted to the new ecosystems Students will study the ecosystems of early ages i.e. ice age Students will examine the change of ecosystems from early travelers Students will demonstrate their knowledge on locations of ecosystems by coloring maps in of different ecosystems Students will take a field trip to ND game and fish to examine the ecosystem in ND to see what the pioneers were living in.

15. MUSIC AND ART ACTIVITIES Students will examine the water coloring of the ecosystems and make their own ecosystem paintings Students will listen to the sounds of an ecosystem and different animal noises fro each ecosystem Students will examine photographs of their ecosystem and animals in Find It in the Desert by Dee Philips, Find It on a Coral Reef by Dee Philips, and Common Ground: The Water, Earth, and Air We Share by Molly Bang Students will bring in pictures of their favorite animal and its ecosystem and share it with their classmates Students will make a beat and rhythm using animal sounds

16. PHYSICAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES Students will play charades with different animals Students will play freeze tag and to become unfrozen the teacher will pick an ecosystem and the frozen students will have to mimic an animal from that ecosystem Students will show they can name an ecosystem on a nature walk Students will demonstrate their ability to do animal walks i.e. Crab walk, elephant walk, bear crawl, and frog leap Students will play octopus octopus

17. TECHNOLOGY Elmo SmartBoard Audio sources for animal sounds Magazines Books Copier http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/ecosystems/index.html http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/ecosystems.h tm

18. LANGUAGE ART STRATEGIES Activating background knowledge: Students will acknowledge what they have previously learned about ecosystems Brainstorming: Students will think of ideas related to ecosystems Connecting: Students will relate ecosystems and animals together by finding how each benefits the other Playing With Language: Students will give multiple presentations and will practice using words to relay on information. Revising: Students will make changes to their stories and other activities Visualizing: Students will examine paintings and other images