Unit Topic: Trees & Environment Grade level: 1-5 (differentiated) Stage 1 Desired Results Content Standard/Established Goals(s):

Science S4.B.3.1.2: Describe interactions between living and nonliving components (e.g. plants water, soil, sunlight, carbon dioxide, temperature; animals food, water, shelter, oxygen, temperature) of a local ecosystem. S4.B.3.2.1: Describe what happens to a living thing when its habitat is changed. S4.B.3.2.2: Describe and predict how changes in the environment (e.g., fire, pollution, flood, building dams) can affect systems. BIO.B.4.2.4: Describe how ecosystems change in response to natural and human disturbances (e.g., climate changes, introduction of nonnative species, pollution, fires). Social Studies 8.3.6.A: Explain the social, political, cultural, and economic contributions of individuals and groups to United States history. NCSS # 10 - Learning how to apply civic ideals as part of citizen action is essential to the exercise of democratic freedoms and the pursuit of the common good. Literacy CC.3.6: Writing: Students write for different purposes and audiences. Students write clear and focused text to convey a well-defined perspective and appropriate content. CC.1.2: Reading Informational Text: Students read, understand, and respond to informational text with emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with focus on textual evidence. Understanding(s) (Grades 1-5) Students will understand that: We use specific criteria to classify and identify things in nature Natural resources benefit their environments ecosystem as well as human lives and communities Individuals can make a difference in protecting our natural resources/environment Throughout history humans have both harmed and helped the environment Informational texts can help us to organize information and learn about the world around us We can learn about the world by making careful observations and keeping a record Essential Question(s) (Grades 1-5) How do we classify things? How can we make sense of the world around us? Why are natural resources important? How are natural things in our world connected or related to each other? How are our natural resources threatened? How have humans impacted the natural world? How can humans be stewards for and protect the environment? Why are informational texts important? What makes a persuasive piece of writing successful?

Persuasive writing involves using evidence or examples to support a stance or position you take on an issue

Student objectives (selected outcomes): Students will be able to Classify trees based on criteria such as: leaf shape, bark type, etc. (Grades 1-2) Describe the growth pattern of trees and forests and Reason why observed patterns happen the way they do (Grades 3) Assess the health of trees/forests by analyzing threats such as: deforestation and poor tree care/management (Grades 3-5) Advocate for trees through persuasive and/or creative writing (Grades 3-5) Communicate the benefits of trees: habitat for animals, cleans our air, provides resources (paper, food),and how they improve communities (All Grades) Persuade community to care about urban trees in the neighborhood (All)

Students will know... Individuals like John Muir and Wangari Maathai and how they have contributed to tree conservation through advocacy and activism (All Grades) The stages of forest succession (Grade 3) Where major deforestation is currently happening globally (Grades 3-5) Current efforts happening locally to protect urban trees, specifically the Tree Tenders program with the Philadelphia Horticultural Society and/or the Morris Arboretum (Grades 4 & 5) Common stresses/threats to urban trees (Grades 4 & 5) The stages in the life cycle of a tree (Grades 1-3)

Stage 2 Assessment Evidence Performance Task(s): Students will adopt a local tree: making observations of it, classify it, identify it's contributions to the community/local ecosystem and record their journals on a class website (All Grades) Students will create Public Service Announcements to encouraging the community to protect the urban trees in their neighborhood. (4 & 5) Students will create a flip book demonstrating how humans can impact forests and trees (Grade 3) Students will create one page posters for class book to persuade community members to care about trees (1 & 2) Other Evidence: Cause and effect web/sequence of events on trees and their ecosystem (Grades 3 & 4) Tree Rings project charting a life in tree rings (Grade 3) Quizzes on tree classification and/or Matching/Sorting activities (Grades 12) Creating and analyzing tree maps for the school grounds and/or park (Grades 1-3) Checklists with important concepts, terms and actions related to lesson goals for observations during performance tasks and group work (All) Rubrics for performance tasks/projects

Learning Activities: (Selected)

Stage 3 Learning Plan Assessments (Selected) Observing groups and recording whether students are classifying accurately or not

Sorting tree samples by looking at the diversity in tree types with real materials (leaves, bark, etc.) (Grades 12) Read Books about tree conservation: Mama Miti about the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya with Wangari Maathai, The Great Kapok Tree about trees in the rainforest and selections of John Muir's writing when founding Yosemite National Park and learning about the National Forest Service (Grades 3-5)

Free write responses in science journals to assess comprehension of readings. Students Chart motivations, strategies, challenges and impacts of environmentalists to show comprehension and application of information read about individuals (then observing role playing with rubric) Walk around to formatively assess what parts their tree drawings are missing before going over the parts of a tree. Then collect altered pictures to assess for inclusion of all parts and accurate labels of parts Observe students, looking to see which stages are overlooked or forgotten, have students present their cycle and then have students individually complete a cycle diagram worksheet. Observe students using accurate symbols to represent different tree types on their own maps. Exit ticket to ask which tree type our school yard has the most. Rubric for the page each student completes, peer assessments of how it contributed to the effectiveness of our book Clicker Quizzes with specific terms highlighted, smartboard games to complete using knowledge gained

Creating a tree diagram to learn parts of a tree (Grades 1 & 2)

Kinesthetically Role Playing sequencing life cycle of a tree (Grade 2)

Mapping and Charting Tree Types in the school yard (Grades 1-3)

Raising awareness in the community about the importance of trees (each student create a page) and make it into a class book. (Grades 1 & 2) Thinking about trees as an important part of an ecosystem (habitat for animals, provides food, shelter and cleans the air) (Grades 1, 2, and 4)

Checklists with specific terms, and concepts to be listening for in discussion Applying knowledge gained to create their own tree rings for their life with reasoning of why they made the choices they did Homework, online journals for adopted trees assessing that each prompt question was answered and looking to see if they applied concepts discussed in class to their own tree. Using writeboards or Smartboard clickers to vote whether a tree is at risk or not in class discussion.

Examine examples of tree rings with real cross cut examples (Grades 3)

Trip outside around school grounds and/or to Clark Park to identify and observe local urban trees (All) Learn about Tree Protection Zones and Tree Root Zones when mapping local trees in the area (Grades 3-5) Investigating specific benefits of and threats to local trees (Grades 3-5)