TWO-WEEK UNIT PLAN

By: Julia Wilson

 Rationale

For this assignment, I made a two-week lesson plan using the subjects;

literature, math, science, social studies, and art/music/drama to help connect

to the people of the Caribbean. For the first week of this unit, I focused on

the Caribbean as a whole and did certain elements and other parts that

could help connect the children to the people of the Caribbean. For the

second week of the unit, I focused on certain islands and places of the

Caribbean to try and help the children gain a deeper understanding of

certain parts of the Caribbean. The Caribbean is a set of islands located

southeast of North America and includes countries such as the Bahamas,

Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad, and many

others.

I was partnered with Ines and we worked with each other on the

community event that was hosted in the WOW. My original idea when I

thought of doing an engaging activity for the children and families that were

coming to this event was a sensory motor table. This included a water tub

with jelly beads, figurine animals, and boats. It also included a sand tub with

seashells, palm trees, and figurine crabs. I thought this was a good idea

because I felt as though this would be a great way for the children to engage

with a beach environment, since there are none in Tucson, and see how the

people who live on the islands of the Caribbean live on a daily basis. This

relates to the AZ Early Learning Standards: Physical Development, Health

and Safety Standard Strand 1: Physical and Motor Development Concept 2:

Fine Motor Development. It relates to this standard because the children are

using their hands and fine motor skills to manipulate tools and materials.

I was so excited when I was given the Caribbean cultural story box

because it is so different from Tucson and thought it would be fun to

introduce not only to the children and families that came to the community

event, but also to the children in my placement classroom. I thought that the

overall presentation would help draw children to the Caribbean and the use

the engagements to help them connect with the people who live on the

islands.
 AZ Early Learning Standards
Social Emotional Standard:
o Strand 2: Relationships
 Concept 1: Attachment. The child demonstrates the ability to
engage in and maintain healthy relationships.
 Concept 2: Social Interactions. The child displays socially
competent behavior
 Concept 3: Respect. The child acknowledges the rights and
property of self and others.
Approaches to Learning Standard:
o Strand 1: Initiative and Curiosity
 Concept 1: Initiative. The child demonstrates self-direction while
participating in a range of activities and routines.
 Concept 2: Curiosity. The child demonstrates eagerness to learn
about and discuss a range of topics, ideas, and activities.
o Strand 4: Creativity
 Concept 1: Creativity. The child demonstrates the ability to
express their own unique way of seeing the world.
Language and Literacy Standard:
o Strand 1: Language
 Concept 1: Receptive Language Understanding. The child
demonstrates understanding of directions, stories, and
conversations.
 Concept 2: Expressive Language. The child uses verbal and
nonverbal communication for a variety of purposes to share
observations, ideas, and experiences, problem-solve, reason,
predict, and seek new information.
 Concept 3: Vocabulary. The child understands and uses
increasingly complex vocabulary.
Mathematics Standard:
o Strand 1: Counting and Cardinality
 Concept 1: Counts Out Loud. The child counts out loud and uses
number words in daily conversations.
  Concept 2: Knows Number Names and Symbols. The child
identifies numerals and uses number words in daily activities.
 Concept 3: Counts to Tell Number of Objects. The child uses
number words and counting to identify quantity.
o Strand 2: Explores Addition and Subtraction
 Concept 1: Explores Addition and Subtraction. The child
combines and separates groups of objects and names how many.
 Concept 2: Patterning. The child recognizes, copies, extends,
describes, and creates patterns.
o Strand 3: Measurement and Data
 Concept 3: Measures. The child uses measurement to describe
and compare objects in the environment.
Science Standard:
o Strand 1: Inquiry and Application
 Concept 1: Exploration, Observations, and Hypotheses. The child
asks questions and makes predictions while exploring and
observing in the environment.
 Concept 2: Investigation. The child tests predictions through
exploration and experimentation.
 Concept 3: Analysis and Conclusion. The child forms conclusions
about observations and experimentations.
 Concept 4: Communication. The child discusses and reflects
upon the scientific investigation and its findings.
Social Studies Standard:
o Strand 2: Community
 Concept 1: Understands Community. The child recognizes that
he/she lives in a place with many people and that there are
people and events in other places.
 Concept 3: Geography. The child demonstrates an awareness of
locations within and around their community.
Physical Development, Health and Safety Standard:
o Strand 1: Physical and Motor Development
 Concept 2: Fine Motor Development. The child uses fingers,
hands and wrists to manipulate tools and materials.
Fine Arts Standard:
 o Strand 1: Visual Arts
 Concept 1: Creates and Understands Visual Arts. The child uses a
wide variety of materials, media, tools, techniques and processes
to explore, create and understand art.
o Strand 2: Music and Creative Movement
 Concept 1: Creates and Understands Music, Movement, and
Dance. The child uses a wide variety of instruments, movements,
techniques and music to explore and create.
Create Principles
Principle 1: Valuing the funds of knowledge within diverse
cultural communities.
Principle 2: Encouraging story as a meaning-making process to
understand self and world.
Principle 3: Celebrating the significance of family literacies in
literacy learning.
Principle 4: Providing professional learning opportunities for
educators across community, school, and university settings.
WEEK Literature Math Science Social Studies Art/Music/Drama
ONE

Monday Read aloud Put plastic Use magnifying Learn history After reading aloud,
The Dance caterpillars in glasses for the and origin of play the music of
of the a container children to caterpillars the dance of the
Caterpillar and have examine the (where they live, caterpillars and
s by Adele each child plastic what they eat, have the children
Marie count them caterpillars up etc.). create their own
Crouch. out. close. dance of the
caterpillars.
Tuesday Read aloud Put seashells In the same tub, On a map, show Make sand art with
Caribbean in a tub of use magnifying all of the paper, colored
Dream by sand and glasses and dry different islands sand, and glue.
Rachel have each paint brushes to and try to learn Print out seashells,
Isadora. child come dig out the as many by crabs, and other
and count seashells and name. Use beach artifacts on
out the shells examine them google maps paper then have
(about 10 but further. and the the children pick an
they are presentation artifact, put the
welcome to board to help glue on the paper
go as high as show them in a where they’d like,
they want). real-world and sprinkle the
sense. Show colored sand on.
how the islands
look with the
beaches, sand,
trees, etc.
Wednesda No kids No kids on No kids on No kids on No kids on
y on Wednesday Wednesdays. Wednesdays. Wednesdays.
Wednesd s.
ays.
Thursday Read aloud Have a tub of Lava lamp Learn Have children
Anna water and experiment. Use geography of balance empty
Carries use empty empty water where volcanoes baskets on their
Water by play-doh bottles and fill are in the heads.
Olive containers for 2/3 with oil and islands of the
Senior. the children the rest with Caribbean. Show
to scoop out water. Add if there have
5 ‘cups’ of several drops of been any active
water and food coloring. ones recently or
place into Break an alka- in the children’s
another tub. seltzer tablet lifetime. If none
into 3 or 4 recently, show
pieces. Drop one the children the
piece in and body of water
watch the surrounding
colored water each of the
erupt. Water will islands and
keep fizzing where the
until tablet children of the
dissipates but islands would
will start back get their fresh
up as soon as water from.
you add in
another tablet.
WEEK Literature Math Science Social Studies Art/Music/Drama
TWO

Monday Read aloud Use old, stale Fact or fiction: Learn geography Listen/dance to
Juliana’s banana chips Are banana of where Raffi’s banana
Banana’s from Trader peels slippery? Banana’s grow on phone. An empty
by Ruth Joes and use Use an empty, the Caribbean clip art picture of
Walton. those as small container and which islands a banana will be
‘counting and place a have the most available for kids
coins’. Have banana peel in access to them. to decorate and
the children there then make their own
count out the each child will ‘banana phone’.
‘coins’ from a get a turn to
big tray into use their
their own fingers and
small slide the
container. banana peel
around.
Tuesday Read aloud Use the straw Making straw Learn about the Each child will be
Tukama flutes the flutes. Use a different allowed to use a
Tootles the children will plastic straw instruments and plastic recorder
Flute by make, and use pliers type of music to mimic the
Phillis measure with to flatten the that the people of sounds of the
Gershator. measuring end of the the Caribbean flute while there
tape how straw. Cut the play and listen to. is a video of a
many inches flattened end Is it different than flutist playing on
and and then cut the music here? the projection
centimeters it some holes in board.
is. Are the straws,
people’s then it will be
different ready to play!
sizes?
Wednesda No kids No kids on No kids on No kids on No kids on
y on Wednesdays Wednesdays. Wednesdays. Wednesdays.
Wednesd .
ays.
Thursday Read aloud Learn that Sink or float How do the Sing and dance to
Down by music and experiment. people of the a few songs that
the River songs usually There will be Caribbean travel? are in the book.
by happen in an numerous Learn about the
Caroline 8-beat objects tested different types of
Binch. sequence. and during boats and other
Teach very centers small means of
basic musical groups of transportation
notes (half children will do that the people of
note, whole thumbs up if the Caribbean
note). they think it use.
will float and
thumbs down
for sink. They
will record
their data.
Friday Read aloud In a sensory Hurricane in a Learn geography Listen and dance
Sergio and motor tub jar. Fill jar ¼-1/3 of Puerto Rico to the sounds of
the filled with with soap, and the most rain and storms.
Hurricane sand, trees, then use recent hurricane
 Lesson Plan Are Banana Peels Age Range 3-5 year olds
Slippery?
Standards: o Science: STRAND 1 Inquiry and Application
 Concept 1: Exploration, Observations, and
Hypothesis
 The child asks questions and makes
predictions while exploring and
observing in the environment.
 Concept 2: Investigation
 The child tests predictions through
exploration and experimentation.
 Concept 3: Analysis and Conclusion
 The child forms conclusions about
observations and experimentation.
 Concept 4: Communication
 The child discusses and reflects upon
the scientific investigation and its
findings.
o Physical, Development, Health, and Safety:
STRAND 1 Physical and Motor Development
 Concept 2: Fine Motor Development
 The child uses fingers, hands, and
wrists to manipulate tools and
materials.
Objective: To conduct a fun experiment to test whether banana
peels are slippery.
Rationale: Bananas are a very import to the people of the
Caribbean and they are known for how many banana
trees they have. Having the children know this, doing
hands-on experiment with a banana will help them
connect the Caribbean and its people to this experiment.

Materials: o Clear, small tub

o Banana peels (about 1 for 2 kids)
Procedure: o set-up: start with the reading of Juliana’s bananas,
and then have a class discussion about the
Caribbean’s bananas.
o introduction: show the kids the banana peel in
the tub and have each of the them make educated
guesses as to whether they think they are slippery.
o motivation: after they have all decided whether
or not they think banana peels are slippery, make
a class chart and see where the majority of the
class stands (yes, it is slippery, no it is not slippery,
or unsure).
o do it: each child will be able to use their fingers to
test whether banana peels are slippery.
Closure: This activity will be done when each child has had a turn
to check the banana to see if it is slippery or not.
Review: As a class, we will come together to decide if banana
peels are slippery.
Assessment/Evaluation: If the children realize that the banana peels are slippery,
then every time they see a banana, they will (hopefully)
remember this experiment and the people of the
Caribbean who harvest these bananas.
 Lesson Plan Counting Banana Age Range 3-5 year olds
Chips
Standards: Mathematics Standard:
o Strand 1: Counting and Cardinality
 Concept 1: Counts Out Loud. The child counts out
loud and uses number words in daily conversations.
 Concept 3: Counts to Tell Number of Objects. The
child uses number words and counting to identify
quantity.
o Strand 2: Explores Addition and Subtraction
 Concept 1: Explores Addition and Subtraction. The
child combines and separates groups of objects and
names how many.
Physical Development, Health and Safety Standard:
o Strand 1: Physical and Motor Development
 Concept 2: Fine Motor Development. The child uses
fingers, hands and wrists to manipulate tools and
materials.
Objective: The goal of this activity is to help children with their counting
ability.
Rationale: As previously stated, bananas are very important to the people in
the Caribbean. Doing an entire day devoted to bananas will help
the children realize that because they will be dealing with
bananas and different forms of bananas that will help them be
able to connect with the people of the Caribbean.
Materials: o Three bags of banana chips from Trader Joe’s
o a big community bowl for each table
o a small bowl for each child
Procedure: o set up: There will be a big community bowl on each table
where the banana chips will be.
o introduction: Before the children are dismissed to their
seats, we will read the book Juliana’s Bananas and then
have a class discussion about bananas, whether children in
the class like them or not, and then talk about banana
chips.
o motivation: I will get them excited by showing an example
bowl with the banana chips in it and start counting them.
Then, I will ask them if they want to try and count out their
own banana chips.
o do it: They will then be excused to go to their seats and
count out about 10 or so banana chips, they can go higher
if they would like.
Closure: This activity will be done when the children start losing interest or
their focus becomes fixed somewhere else.
Review: After the activity, we will have a class discussion and I will ask
them whether or not they liked this activity. Then, we will all have
some banana chips (new bag) and then throw the community
banana chips away.
Assessment/Evaluatio Having the children talk about and see bananas for an entire day,
n: that will most likely become a memorable day because there is
 Lesson Plan Geography of Age Range 3-5 year olds
where bananas grow on trees
Standards: Social Studies Standard:
o Strand 2: Community
 Concept 3: Geography. The child demonstrates an
awareness of locations within and around their
community.
Objective: To show the children the geography of the islands of the
Caribbean and also get them familiar with looking at maps and
understanding how to read them. We will be focusing on where
the most banana trees grow in the Caribbean.
Rationale: Understanding geography and maps is incredibly important for
children to understand
Materials: o Globe
o Projection board that can display a computer
o Map of the Caribbean
o Markers of where banana trees grow
Procedure: o set up: during circle time, the children will come over on
the rug and on the projection board will me a map of the
Caribbean
o introduction: I will start by asking questions like “Do you
know what this is?” “What does it mean to have land
surrounded by a lot of water?” In hopes to spark some
conversation and discussion about what islands are.
o motivation: Then I will introduce them to the banana trees
and ask them where they think they grow.
o do it: Then, I will start by putting down a white board
marker of where banana trees grow on the projection of the
map. Then, each child will have a turn to place a magnet on
top of the marker is to represent their own banana tree.
Closure: We will be done when everyone has had a turn to put down a
magnet on top of a marker.
Review: We will wrap up by having a discussion about geography, banana
trees, and how many banana trees are on the islands of the
Caribbean.
Assessment/Evaluatio Exposing the children to geography and world maps early on will
n: help them when they are trying to understand how big the world
is and how much of it there is to see. This activity will help them
understand this new part of the world and how different it is from
their lives.
 Resources:
Activities:
Lava lamp: http://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-for-kids/diy-lava-lamp/
o These are the lava lamps that will be used during Thursday’s science
lesson.
Straw flute: http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-make-a-straw-
instrument-straw-flute/
o These are the straw flutes that the children will be making during
Tuesdays’ science lesson.
Hurricane jar: http://onetimethrough.com/make-hurricane-jar/
o These are the hurricane jars that the children will be making during
Friday’s science lesson.
Colored Sand: http://www.orientaltrading.com/colorful-craft-sand-assortment-
a2-12_22000.fltr?
sku=12%2F22000&BP=PS532&ms=search&source=google&cm_mmc=Goog
le-_-835332380-_-42840559156-_-Colorful-Craft-Sand-
Assortment&cm_mcca1=OTC
%2BPLAs&cm_mmca2=GooglePLAs&cm_mmca3=PS532&cm_mmca4=FS39
&cm_mmca5=Shopping&cm_mmca6=PLAs&cm_mmc10=Shopping&cm_mm
ca11=12/22000&cm_mmca12=Colorful-Craft-Sand-
Assortment&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9PDCyvLk1wIVhAQqCh0FEw5BEAQYAyABEg
Lam_D_BwE
o This is the colored sand that will be used with the coloring pages
during Tuesday’s art lesson.
Coloring pages: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/beach-coloring-pages/?
lp=true
o These are the coloring pages that will be used with the colored sand
during Tuesday’s art lesson.
Banana Phone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQJjx19sRbs
o This is Banana phone by Raffi for the children to listen, sing, and dance
to during Monday’s music time.
Hurricane sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_kc_VR30VI
o This is a video of a hurricane that can be listened to by the children
during Friday’s music lesson.
Books:
Bloom, Valerie, and David Axtell. Fruits: a Caribbean Counting Poem.
Macmillan Children’s Books, 1997.
o This is a good book to introduce counting to. It is a fun book that brings
in fruits and counting to make it yummy and educational.
Crouch, Adele Marie. The Dance of the Caterpillars. 2010.
o This book is designed to help children learn English and for those who
are learning English as a second language.
Das Prodeepta, and Benjamin Zephaniah. J is for Jamaica. Frances Lincoln
Children’s Limited. 2009.
 o This is an alphabet book that brings in the different cultures and
traditions in the island of Jamaica. It is a great book for children to be
exposed to and see the different types of children and what they do on
a daily basis.
Dorros, Arthur, and Elisa Kleven. Isla. Puffin Books, 1999.
o This is a very bright, fun, and colorful book about a young child and her
grandmother. They go on adventures around the island to show where
the grandmother grew up.
Frederick, Malcolm, and Prodeepta Das. Kamal Goes to Trinidad. Frances
Lincoln Children’s, 2010.
o This book has pictures and the story of Kamal and his travels of his first
time visiting the island of Trinidad. Has real pictures of him and his
family and their adventures on the island.
Gershartor, Phillis, and Synthia Saint James. Tukama Tootle’s the Flute.
Orchard Books., 1994
o This is a really good book when bringing in the music of the Caribbean.
This is a fiction folktale about a young boy who needs to go on an
adventure to be able to play his music.

Hallworth, Grace, and Caroline Binch. Down by the River: Afro-Caribbean

Rhymes, Games, and Songs for Children. Frances Lincoln Children’s,
2010.
o This book has multiple songs, games, and rhymes for children that can
help them connect their songs with the songs and rhymes that the
children on the Caribbean love and enjoy.
Isadora, Rachel. Caribbean Dream. Puffin Books, 2002.
o This book brings insight on what it is like to live on an island in the
Caribbean. This book shows bright and vivid pictures to get an
accurate sense of what life is like on the Caribbean.
MacDonald, Margaret Read., and Mary Newell. DePalma. The Squeaky Door.
2006.
o This book is about a young boy in Puerto Rico and how he deals with
the hurricanes that come. This is a good book to read to children,
especially thouse in Southern Arizona who do not know what
hurricanes are or what they do.
Senior, Olive, and Laura James. Anna Carries Water. Tradewind Books, 2014.
o Anna must fetch water from the spring every day, but she cannot carry
the basket on her head like her brothers and sisters can. This funny
story shows kids how the children of the Caribbean get their resources.
Wallner, Alexandra. Sergio and the Hurricane. Henry Holt, 2006.
Walton, Ruth. Juliana’s Banana’s: Where Do Your Banana’s Come From? New
Internationalist Publications Inc., 2014.
o This book has a lot of knowledge when it comes to trading goods and
how vital fruits are to the people of the Caribbean. It is shown through
 the eyes of children of banana farmers and what they have to do on a
day to day basis.
Watson, Jesse Joshua. Hope for Haiti. Penguin Group, 2010.
o Hope for Haiti talks about the island of Haiti and how the people of this
island reacted to the devastating hurricane that had happened. This
book talks about how the children came together and started smiling
and laughing again to show that the hard times would not be forever.
 Reflection

For the community event, Ines and I had a lot going on at our

Caribbean adventure island. The people that came up to our center had a lot

of fun and really enjoyed the sensory motor table. It was the biggest hit out

of all of our activities. The sensory motor table was my favorite part as well

because I felt like it was very interactive and was a hit with the children that

came to the event. The overall event went very well and I think our station

was very elaborate and drew a lot of attention to the children and families

that attended the event, which is why I think that there were numerous

people at our station at any given time.

The areas in which we could have improved on was the amount of

activities at each station. I personally felt as though there were too many

activities and it overwhelmed me as someone who was supposed to be in

control of the Caribbean station. I think that this could have been avoided

with better communication between partners and a clearer plan as to how

we would execute this event.

Overall, I think that the community event was fun, even with the few

bumps in the road. The families and children that came seemed to enjoy

each countries station and what they each had to offer in terms of

engagement. I think everyone did a great job with their presentations and

really enjoyed the community event as a whole.

 Application

There are numerous ways in which this can be modified for older

grades. For example, some of the math lessons are counting different

objects. The older grades can use the same figurines or other objects but

instead of just counting them, they can use them for their math unit. An

example of this could be using the certain object in their word problems or

whatever their current area of study would be at that time (Mathematics

standard strand 1, concept 2: knows number names and symbols). Another

way that this unit could be modified for the older grades is when we talk

about transportation and how people travel on the islands, we could in

addition compare and contrast the different ways that they travel with the

way that the Tucson children travel (Social studies standard strand 2,

concept 1: understands community).

Many of these activities and lessons in the unit plan could be used with

the older grades as well, for example learning the geography of the

Caribbean, where banana trees grow, and the sensory motor tubs. Overall, I

had a great learning experience with the entire benchmark assignment as a

whole. The WOW community event and the written portion has helped me

learn so much that I will be able to take with me to my classroom one day.