Unit Plan Template 

Teacher Candidate​​: ​ Brigette Maxfield

Unit Name: ​Body Systems
Subject and Grade Level: ​Fifth grade, Life Science
Standard: ​G5.4S.C1.P01-P04

Overarching Goals: ​What would you expect for mastery?

Students will be able to identify and label the parts and functions of the brain, both the skeletal and
nervous system, as well as identify the three types of muscles and distinguish between involuntary and
involuntary responses. By the end of this unit, students with have a basic understanding of human
anatomy.

Objectives: ​Identify the objectives for the unit and a table that shows 21st Century skills addressed. Use
the objectives that you created in Unit 1.

Objective 21st Century Skills

Addressed
I can explain that the skeletal system provides protection with the ribcage Identifying, critical
and cranium, movement with the pelvis, femur, and hip, and support with thinking, writing
the vertebrae. comprehension,
technology
I can identify that the cardiac muscle is the heart, the smooth muscle is the Reading
stomach, and the skeletal muscles are the biceps. comprehension,
identifying,
critical thinking
I can explain that the brain is the control center of the body, the spinal cord Identifying,
is the body’s relay mechanism , and the nerves transport messages creativity
throughout the body. I can correctly identify and label the six regions of the
brain, and can explain the function of each region.

I can distinguish between a voluntary response of the nervous system and Distinguishing,
an involuntary response. generalizing,
applying

Prerequisite Skills: ​What skills do students need to have before beginning this unit?
Before beginning this unit, students must have reading comprehension and some identifying
skills. They must also possess some creativity as this unit has a lot of hands-on projects and
model building.
Summative Assessment: ​What evidence or project will students submit to demonstrate that they have
met the standard and objectives? How will you assess these products?

Students will create a model of the brain out of a hat. The model must include all areas of the brain
properly labeled with their name and functions. Students will also take a summative assessment on
Edulastic at the end of this unit. Edulastic produces immediate data which I will use to determine who
needs reteach interventions before moving on to the next unit. The model brain project takes place in
the middle of the unit, so I will use the data to formulate appropriate groups for centers activities.
Students will be grouped according to learning needs such as review, reteaching, and enrichment. This
needs will be addressed during centers.

Formative Assessment: ​How will you monitor and track student progress?
I will perform formative assessments regularly during this four week long unit. I plan to do
centers at least once a week in order to close any learning gaps that may form along the way.
Doing centers will also help me to differentiate the activities and projects in the unit to
accommodate any ELL or special needs students. I plan to use paper exit tickets, ideally one at
the end of each lesson that does not include a different form of assessment. Exit tickets are
short and simple for students to complete before we move on to the next lesson that day. I can
use the data from the exit tickets to plan for the following days instruction. I will also use
whiteboards to do a fun, interactive quiz with the class.
For the lessons on voluntary and involuntary responses we will do a “Reaction Time Ruler” lab.
After the lab we will have a discussion with a verbal check for understanding using scenarios.

Lessons:​ ​What are the lessons that you will teach for this unit?​ ​How will you sequence the lessons that
you will teach for this unit? Will you lessons be goal oriented, theme-based, or project-based? What
follows this unit?
1. Lesson​​ 1​​- (30 minutes)- goal oriented
This unit begins with the skeletal system, as it provides the framework to relate the other systems
of the body to. Students will break into small groups and watch a sing-along video that identifies the
different bones in the body. Each group will have a picture of the skeletal system to point to as they sing
along. After the song, students will watch a powerpoint presentation that introduces the parts and the three
functions of the skeletal system. Students will fill out cloze notes that follow the powerpoint. The
conclusion of the lesson will involve students filling out foldables in their interactive journals using their
cloze notes as needed.
2. Lesson 2-​​ (40 minutes)- goal oriented and theme-based
This lesson will begin with a review of the skeletal system in the form of an interactive
powerpoint. Students will answer questions on their whiteboards for about 15 minutes. After the
review, students will watch a BrainPop video about the muscular system. We will then fill out graphic
organizers on our interactive journals as a whole group. The lesson will end with a class discussion about
where certain types of muscles are located within the skeletal system, followed by paper exit tickets
involving both systems.
3. Lesson 3​​- (30 minutes) goal oriented
This lesson will serve as an introduction to the nervous system and will prepare students to
begin learning the parts of the brain so they may begin their project for this unit. We will begin with a
reading passage that introduces the parts and functions of the nervous system by using figurative
language, which hits on one of our reading standards as well. The lexile level of this reading passage can
be adjusted as needed for ELL, low-level readers, and special needs students. We will use the three read
method and students will create thorough annotations before answering some comprehension
questions focused on the functions and parts of the nervous system. I will later use the annotations to
check for understanding and critical thinking. Toward the end of this lesson, we will shift our focus from
the entire nervous system to the brain to get ready for our next lesson. Students will be given a foldable
of a brain with all parts labeled with their name and function. We will review this foldable together as
we put it in our interactive notebooks.
4. Lesson 4- ​(80 minutes)​ p
​ roject based
This lesson will be centers based and will serve as the starting point for our model brain project
for this unit. I will begin by introducing the project description and rubric, along with a review on the
parts of the brain we learned about the day before. Students will be given a hat which they will decorate
to illustrate the different areas of the brain, labeled by area, name, and function. Students will then be
separated into heterogeneous groups based on the results of the the formative assessments in this unit
so far. There will be one center dedicated to reviewing the skeletal system, one one the muscular
system, one about the nervous system, and one dedicated to the brain where students can begin
planning for their project. Students will rotate centers every 20 minutes.
5. Lesson 5- ​(40 minutes) theme-based
​The final lesson in the unit will introduce voluntary and involuntary responses. Since these
responses are caused by the nervous system , this is a great lesson to tie the unit together. Students will
view a presentation that explains and gives examples of voluntary and involuntary responses. Then
students will pair up to do the “reaction time ruler” lab. This experiment allows students to practice the
scientific method, a previous science standard, while providing visual examples of reactions and
responses. After the experiment, we will have a class discussion about the different voluntary and
involuntary responses they had and observed during the lab. This lesson will conclude with a verbal
check for understanding . I will present different scenarios and students will have to answer if it is an
example of a voluntary or an involuntary response.

Differentiating Instruction: ​How will you differentiate the product, content, and/or process for the
various needs, preferences and readiness levels of your students? How will you differentiate the lesson
for students with disabilities and English language learners?
​My plan is to incorporate many different learning mediums in order to reach each student on their
level. Whenever a lesson involves cloze notes, I will provide my ELL and Special Needs students with
fill-in-the-blank style notes, along with copies of the PowerPoint so they can follow along at their own
pace. During independent practice, I will pull small groups of low-achieving and special needs students
to a table where I can work with them closely. The brain model project will be fairly independent for the
students. We will have some class time for it but it will largely be a homework project. For my ELL and
Special Needs students, I will reach out to their resource teachers so that they can help our students
with the project one-on-one. I would also reach out to parents to help with the project at home.
Next Steps: ​What will you do after the unit? Review, re-teach, extend, or move to the next unit?
The next step following these five lessons would be cumulative review and a summative assessment.
Unfortunately, my current school’s schedule does not allow for a lot of science and social studies time,
so I would have to try to reteach through other subjects. For example, if many students misunderstood
the muscular system I would try to revisit the subject through reading passages.

References: ​Add resources you used to create this unit plan (preferably in APA format).

McCann, Linda. Learning the Bones Youtube Video, resource. Retrieved, 2018, from Beyond
Textbooks.org ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abgJD054sds&t=10s

Tankersley, Rachel. The Skeletal System Cloze Notes, resource. Retrieved, 2018, from Beyond
Textbooks.org
https://www.beyondtextbooks.org/@api/deki/files/41729/PDF_Skeletal_System_Notes.pdf?origin=mt-
web

Curtis, Ashley. Build a Brain activity, resource. Retrieved, 2018, from Beyond Textbooks.org
https://www.beyondtextbooks.org/@api/deki/files/93742/Build_a_Brain_Directions_and_Rubric.pdf?or
igin=mt-web

Muscles. BrainPop. Retrieved, 2018, from ​https://www.brainpop.com/health/bodysystems/muscles/

Attack of the Nerves. Weekly Reader Corporation, 2009. Retrieved, 2018, from Readworks.org
https://www.readworks.org/article/Attack-of-the-Nerves/1bcbe8d3-648b-42ec-8feb-a849ce757942#!ar
ticleTab:content/

Howe, Maggie. Voluntary and Involuntary Responses. PowerPoint example, retrieved, 2018, from
Beyond Textbooks.org.
https://www.beyondtextbooks.org/@api/deki/files/96792/PDF_involuntary.pdf?origin=mt-web