UNIT PLAN

Title of Unit Bee a Part of Your Community Grade Level 1

Science, Social Studies, & Language Arts 3-4 weeks

Curriculum Area(s) Time Frame
FOCUS: Science

Developed by Laura Wostradowski

IDENTIFY DESIRED RESULTS

Programs of Study Foundations

Science - Students will be able to:

● “Observe, describe and compare living things” (Alberta Education, 1996, p. 9)

● “Identify ways in which living things are valued; e.g., as part of a community of living things; as sources of food, clothing or shelter” (Alberta

Education, 1996, p. 9)

● “Identify examples of plants and animals that are normally under human care (domesticated) and those that are normally independent of human

care (wild)” (Alberta Education, 1996, p. 9)

● “Identify the requirements of animals to maintain life; i.e., air, food, water, shelter, space; and recognize that we must provide these for animals

in our care” (Alberta Education, 1996, p. 9)

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ● “Give examples of ways in which animals depend on plants and ways in which plants depend on animals; e.g., particular plants may serve as a

source of food and shelter, animals may help spread pollen and seeds” (Alberta Education, 1996, p. 9)

Social Studies - Students will:

● “value self and others as unique individuals in relation to their world:

○ appreciate how belonging to groups and communities enriches an individual’s identity (I)

○ appreciate multiple points of view, languages, cultures and experiences within their groups and communities (C, CC) ...

○ recognize and respect how the needs of others may be different from their own (C)”

(Alberta Education, 2005, p. 21)

● “value the groups and communities to which they belong: …

○ appreciate how their actions might affect other people and how the actions of others might affect them (C)…

○ assume responsibility for their individual choices and actions (CC, I)”

(Alberta Education, 2005, p. 21)

● “determine what makes their communities thrive by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions for inquiry: …

○ How do our actions and decisions contribute to the well-being of groups and communities? (C, I, PADM) …

○ How does caring for the natural environment contribute to the well being of our community? (C, LPP)”

(Alberta Education, 2005, p. 21-22)

Art - Students will:

● “Make drawings from direct observation” (Alberta Education, 1985, p. 7)

● “Use drawing to add details and textures, or to create pattern” (Alberta Education, 1985, p. 7)

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

Language Arts - Students will:

● “group ideas and information into categories determined by an adult” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 12)

● “ask questions to get additional ideas and information on topics of interest” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 12)

● “talk about print or other media texts previously read or viewed” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 18)

● “identify the main idea or topic of simple narrative and expository texts” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 18)

● “generate and contribute ideas for individual or group oral, print and other media texts” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 42)

● “explore and share own ideas on topics of discussion and study” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 48)

● “ask and answer questions to satisfy information needs on a specific topic” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 48)

● “follow spoken directions for gathering ideas and information” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 48)

● “find information on a topic, using a variety of sources, such as picture books, concept books, people and field trips” (Alberta Education, 2000,

p. 52)

● “use text features, such as illustrations, titles and opening shots in video programs, to access information” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 52)

● “use questions to find specific information in oral, print and other media texts” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 52)

● “match information to research needs” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 52)

● “identify or categorize information according to sequence, or similarities and differences” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 56)

● “list related ideas and information on a topic, and make statements to accompany pictures” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 56)

● “represent and explain key facts and ideas in own words” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 56)

● “recognize and use gathered information to communicate new learning” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 56)

● “share ideas and information from oral, print and other media texts with familiar audiences” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 60)

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ● “ask or respond to questions or comments related to the content of own or others’ pictures, stories or talk” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 66)

● “rephrase by adding or deleting words, ideas or information to make better sense” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 66)

● “check for obvious spelling errors and missing words” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 66)

● “identify and use an interesting number of words and phrases related to personal interests and topics of study” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 70)

● “use words and pictures to add sensory detail in oral, print and other media texts” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 70)

● “speak in complete statements, as appropriate” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 74)

● “present ideas and information to a familiar audience, and respond to questions” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 82)

● “add such details as labels, captions and pictures to oral, print and other media texts” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 82)

● “speak in a clear voice, with appropriate volume, to an audience” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 82)

● “ask questions and contribute ideas related to class investigations on topics of interest” (Alberta Education, 2000, p. 92)

Competencies:

● “Critical thinking” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 28)

● “Problem Solving” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 29)

● “Managing information (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 29)

● “Creativity and innovation” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 29)

● “Communication” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 30)

● “Collaboration” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 30)

● “Cultural and Global Citizenship” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 30)

● “Personal Growth and Well-being” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 31)

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 Essential Question

Why are bees important to our community?

Unit Plan Outcomes

Long-term goal: Students will gain an understanding of the importance of bees to our community.

Short-term goals: Students will

● Understand the needs of animals

● Understand what a community is and how we as individuals contribute to it

● Understand the role of bees within our community and in their own communities

● Answer the following questions:

○ What do bees do?

○ What do bees need to survive?

○ Why are bees important?

○ What role do the bees have in our environment?

○ What is community?

○ What are the roles of bees within their own community?

○ How are bees similar to other living things? Similar to you?

○ How do bees and their hive contribute to our community?

○ What can we do to help the bees in our community? Do they need our help?

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

UNIT PLAN RESOURCES

Resources

Students Resources

Students will be given a variety of resources to lead them in their inquiry study to learn more about bees and the community.

Picture Books:

Barton, B. (2019). Give bees a chance. New York, NY: Penguin Random House.

Huber, R., & Lovelock, B. (2015). Flight of the honey bee. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Matheson, D., & Barcita, P. (2004). Ruby Lee the bumblebee: A bees bit of wisdom. Chesapeake, VA: Bumble Bee Pub.

Nagara, I. (2015). Counting on community. New York, NY: Penguin Random House.

Ormes, J. (2016). Little honey bee. Somerville, MA: Big Picture Press, an imprint of Candlewick Press.

Slade, S. B. (2011). What if there were no bees? A book about the grassland ecosystem. J. Kalz (Ed.). North Mankato, MN: Picture Window

Books.

Socha, P. (2017). Bees: A honeyed history. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers

Tidhar, D. (2009). Busy bees: The story of honey. Spring Valley, NY: Feldheim Publishers.

Walsleben, E. B. (2012). The little bee who would be queen. Houston: Heavenly Realm Publishing.

Woolf, A., Antram, D., & Salariya, D. (2017). You wouldn’t want to live without bees! United States: Franklin Watts, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Videos:

This is a video that explains the importance of bees and some of their roles:

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 All Things Animal TV. (2015, May 23). Bees | Animals for children. Kids video. Kindergarten | Preschool learning [Video file]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA05LOfPblY

This is a quick video that demonstrates a reason why bees are important to the community:

Bees Matter. (2015, June 11). 1-in-3 bites | Honey bees and farmers [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-PavX_N8Uo

This is a song about the needs of animals:

Harry Kindergarten Music. (2014, April 2). The Needs of an animal (song for kids about 4 things animals need to survive) [Video file]. Retrieved

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4UDf3tF_O4

Websites:

This website provides basic information on bees and their roles:

National Geographic Kids. (2019). Honeybee. Retrieved from https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/insects/honeybee/

This website includes interesting facts about bees and their roles:

National Geographic Kids. (2019). 10 facts about honey bees. Retrieved from https://www.natgeokids.com/za/discover/animals/insects/honey-bees/

Experts:

Through the “Bees Basics” (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 2) program, students will learn more about the “[s]ocial structure of the

hive” (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4), “[t]he tasks of the bees” (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4), “[h]ow bees make honey”

(Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4), and “the role of the beekeeper” (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4). This program also includes a live

hive observation (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4):

Chinook Honey Company. (2019). Drop in programs. Retrieved from https://www.chinookhoney.com/visit-tour/drop-in-program/

Exploration:

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 I wanted to give students a chance to explore nature either in a park or in a flower garden to examine the food source of bees as well as the bees

themselves if some can be found.

Vocabulary List:

Students will be provided a list of vocabulary words they should observe. The words include: hive, colony, community, drone, larvae, queen

bee, worker bee, teamwork, honeycomb. This list will grow and modify as students learn.

Teacher Resources

These resources are for the teacher to use to learn more about inquiry, bees, UDL, as well as how it all relates to the Program of Studies. The

teacher will also use the student resources in helping them learn about bees.

Program of Studies:

Alberta Education. (1985). Art [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/482114/elemart.pdf

Alberta Education. (1996). Science [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/159711/elemsci.pdf

Alberta Education. (2000). English language arts [PDF]. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/160360/ela-pos-k-9.pdf

Alberta Education. (2005). Social studies: Kindergarten to grade 12 [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/159594/program-of-

studies-k-3.pdf

About Inquiry:

Friesen, S. (2009). What did you do in school today? Teaching effectiveness: A framework and rubric. Toronto: Canadian Education Association.

Retrieved from https://www.galileo.org/cea-2009-wdydist-teaching.pdf

Galileo Educational Network. (2019a). What is inquiry. Retrieved from https://galileo.org/articles/what-is-inquiry/

Galileo Educational Network. (2019b). Why inquiry. Retrieved from https://galileo.org/articles/why-inquiry/

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 Jardine, D. W. (2002a). On the nature of inquiry: Choosing a topic. Retrieved from https://galileo.org/articles/choosing-a-topic/

Jardine, D. W. (2002b). On the nature of inquiry: The individual student. Retrieved from https://galileo.org/articles/the-individual-student/

Sobel, D. (n.d.). Beyond ecophobia [PDF]. Retrieved from https://files.nc.gov/deqee/documents/files/beyond-ecophobia.pdf

About UDL:

Meyer, A., Rose, D. H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST. Retrieved from

https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4603679

About Bees:

Bees Matter. (n.d.). Why do bees matter? Retrieved from https://www.beesmatter.ca/

Maren. (2016, March 19). Bees and pollination – The 15 most important questions to ask! [Blog post]. Retrieved from

http://www.malimomode.com/2016/03/bees-and-pollination-15-most-importan/

Tautz, J. (2008). The buzz about bees: Biology of a superorganism. Berlin, Germany: Springer Science & Business Media.

UNIT PLAN SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

The summative performance assessment for this unit will be having students

What is the summative performance assessment for the unit? create a story on the life of bees in whatever form they please. For instance,

students can create an animation, a picture book, a narrative, a play, etc.

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 The goal of this summative performance assessment will be to see whether

students understand:

● What do bees do?

● What do bees need to survive?

● Why are bees important?

● What role do the bees have in our environment?

● What is community?
What is the goal of your summative performance assessment as
● What are the roles of bees within their own community?
framed within the outcomes and competencies? What do you
● How are bees similar to other living things? Similar to you?
hope to learn?
● How do bees and their hive contribute to our community?

● What can we do to help the bees in our community? Do they need our

help?

Overall, from the summative performance assessment, I hope to learn whether

students are meeting or beginning to work towards the outcomes and

competencies associated with the question “why are bees important to our

community?”

This summative assessment piece will inform student learning because it will
How will this assessment inform student learning and your
demonstrate whether or not students understand the importance of bees in the
practice?
community. Bees in the community is a concept that aligns with the Program

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 of Studies in science because bees are living things (Alberta Education, 1996),

and social studies because of the aspect of community (Alberta Education,

2005). The goal of the summative assessment piece will be to raise awareness

of a vital aspect of our ecosystem, bees, so, if students are able to complete

this assessment well then it will inform my practice in that it will demonstrate

to me that the students gained the authentic and meaningful knowledge

surrounding this topic. However, if students are not able to complete the

assessment, then this will inform my practice as well in that it will show me

that the students will require more guidance, teaching, or even different

resources to go through on the topic after the unit to ensure that they

understand the learning.

LESSON PLAN SEQUENCE/OUTCOMES

Lesson # Primary Objective Primary Activities Assessment

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

1. ● Understand the Day 1: Observations and note taking: The

needs of ● Introduction: Students will watch The Needs of an Animal video teacher will carefully observe

animals to ensure they gain an understanding of what animals, like bees students during the group discussion

● Begin to require to live to assess what students already know.

understand the ○ After the video, the teacher will test their knowledge by

importance of asking students what they found most interesting about the Questioning: Teacher will carefully

bees in our video observe the students as they answer

community ○ The teacher will ask for examples of animals then ask if a questions after the video, during the

bee is an animal group discussion, and during the story

● Group Discussion: The teacher will inform students that they will time to assess students learning.

be learning about bees in our community

○ Teacher will ask students what they know about bees and Exit slip: At the end of the lesson,

communities each individual student will be given

○ The students will first think, pair, then share what they a piece of paper to fill out that asks

know about bees and communities “What have you learned about bees?”

○ Student answers will be compiled on chart paper to be to gain a better perception of how the

hung in the classroom so that it can be used as a resource students understood the lesson.

for students later Students can either draw or write

Day 2: what they learned. The information

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ● Story Time: The teacher will then read Give Bees a Chance so from the exit slip will be recorded by

that students can learn some interesting facts about bees and their the teacher and be added to the chart

importance made earlier.

○ The teacher will ask questions throughout the story that

will allow students to think, pair, share Chart Paper: The teacher will

○ At the end, the teacher will ask students what they learned examine the information gathered on

from the story through the exit slip the chart paper at the end of the

■ This information will be added to the chart made lesson will be used to assess what

earlier students already know about bees.

Differentiation/ ELL support: The chart paper will be hung up in the

● The teacher will read the story slowly and provide repetitions for new
classroom so that it may be used as a
vocabulary to ensure students are building their vocabulary. The
resource for students. In this way,
teacher will explain the meaning of the words that might be new to
students will be able to determine
students, especially ELLs.
from the chart paper what information
● The teacher can provide ELL students with language cards that
they already know, what information
include the important terms learned so that they can become more
is missing, and what information they
familiar with the vocabulary and can revisit them whenever
can expand upon.
necessary.

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ● The teacher will provide sentence structure for the exit slip writing,

such as “I learned that ___” to ensure that writing proper sentences is

not a barrier to the expression of ideas, but students will be able to

draw out their ideas if that works better for them as well.

2. ● Understand ● Story Time: Students will be read Counting on Community Questioning: Teacher will carefully

what a ○ Before the story, students will be asked: observe the students as they answer

community is ■ What do you think a community is? questions during and after the story

and we as ○ During the story, the teacher will point out the different time and the “Bee a Part of the

individuals aspects of community within the book Community Classroom Design” to

contribute to it ■ For example, the teacher will point out the variety assess students learning.

of food at the potluck from all of the different

cultures Observations and note taking: The

○ After the story, students will be asked: teacher will carefully observe

■ Now, what do you think community is? students during the think, pair, share

■ Are we a community? How are you a part of this to assess what students already know.

community?

○ The teacher will explicitly instruct after each of these Exit slip: Students will be given a

questions to ensure students understand the ideas piece of paper to fill out that asks

surrounding community students to “List some of the

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ○ Afterwards, the teacher will allow students to think, pair, communities you are a part of outside

share to answer the following questions: of the classroom” so that the teacher

■ Are you a part of another community outside of can gain a better perception of how

this classroom? the students understand community.

■ Who is a part of this community? This information will be recorded by

■ What do you do in this community? the teacher and it will also be used to

● Bee a Part of the Community Classroom Design: Students will determine whether students require

get to draw out their own bees to be hung in the classroom more teaching or exploration on this

○ Material required: topic before moving onto the next

■ Paper lesson.

■ Scissors

■ Tape

■ Sharpie Markers

■ Pencil Crayons

○ The teacher will introduce this by showing students a

blank piece of paper, asking students to creatively draw a

bee in a way they choose to make them unique and

reflective of that student

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ○ The teacher will model to students what they are supposed

to do

○ Students will be given pencil crayons to colour in their

bees

○ Students will use scissors to cut out the bee

○ Labels for the students’ name will be given to each student

so that they may write down their own names and place it

under their own bee

○ The bees will be hung by the classroom door

○ After all students have completed their bees, they will be

asked:

■ Do you know how bees contribute to our

community?

● This question will be asked last as the next

part of the unit will be used to answer this,

but, in the meantime, this will get students

to consider the possibilities

● At the end, the teacher will ask students to list the communities

they are a part of through an exit slip

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 Differentiation/ ELL support:
● The teacher will read the story slowly and provide repetitions for new

vocabulary to ensure students are building their vocabulary. The

teacher will explain the meaning of the words that might be new to

students, especially ELLs.

● The teacher can provide ELL students with language cards that

include the important terms learned so that they can become more

familiar with the vocabulary and can revisit them whenever

necessary.

3. ● Understand the ● Resource Exploration: Students will be given access to the Bulletin Board: The teacher will

role of bees in different picture books, videos, and websites the teacher provides, examine the information gathered on

our community including the resources the teacher has already used with the class, the index cards that will be placed on

and in our to develop the students’ knowledge bees in whatever form the the bulletin board to assess whether

overall students prefer. Note: Most of these resources had already been there seems to be any information that

environment available for students to read through and gain cursory is missing and still needs to be taught.

● Understand the information before and during the unit. The bulletin board will also be used

role of bees ○ Materials required: as a resource for students in their

within their ■ Index card for each resource summative assessment.

■ The student resources

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

own ■ Bulletin board with the question “Why are bees Observation and note taking:

community important to our community?” on it During the field trip and outdoor

■ Access to technology (iPads/computers) to access exploration, the teacher will observe

websites and assistive technology students in their learning through

○ The teacher will have the question “Why are bees their actions, thinking, and

important to our community?” on a bulletin board, which questioning.

will be used to direct student thinking

○ The teacher will introduce the index cards that the students Journal Entry: Students will fill out

will write the important and interesting information on that a page of their journal after both the

they discovered from that specific resource so that other field trip and the outdoor exploration

students are aware of what is in that resource and build on so that students may document their

the knowledge already on the card experiences like a story in which they

○ The teacher will model to students what they are supposed both draw and write out their

to do adventure. The information will be

○ Students will be provided the following questions to direct used by the teacher to assess student

their focus: learning on bees to determine whether

■ What do bees do? or not students will require more

■ What do bees need to survive? teaching on this topic. Also, this

■ Why are bees important? information can be used by the

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ■ What role do the bees have in our environment? student as a resource later on for their

■ What is community? summative assessment.

■ What are the roles of bees within their own

community? Exit Slip: Students will fill out a

■ How are bees similar to other living things? piece of paper after the lesson to

Similar to you? answer the question “Why are bees

■ How do bees and their hive contribute to our important?” in one or two sentences.

community? This information will be compiled by

■ What can we do to help the bees in our the teacher and added to the bulletin

community? Do they need our help? board so that students can use this

○ The index cards will be shared and placed on a bulletin information for the summative

board that is dedicated to information about bees by the assessment. The information will also

teacher after a few days of resource exploration be used by the teacher to assess

■ The bulletin board will be used as a resource for whether students fully understand the

students in their summative assessment piece role of bees within their own

● Field Trip: Through the “Bees Basics” (Chinook Honey community or if the students will

Company, 2019, para. 2) program at Chinook Honey Company, require more teaching on this topic.

students will learn more about the “[s]ocial structure of the hive”

(Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4), “[t]he tasks of the

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 bees” (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4), “[h]ow bees

make honey” (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4), and “the

role of the beekeeper” (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 4).

This program also includes a live hive observation (Chinook

Honey Company, 2019, para. 4)

○ After the field trip, students will be asked to make an entry

in their journals to document their experience like a story.

Students will be able to draw and write out their

experiences around bees. Note: Students have had these

journals and have been working in these journals since the

beginning of the year.

■ Materials required:

● Students’ journals

● Pencil crayons

● Pencils

● Outdoor Exploration: Students will be given the opportunity to

explore in the learning garden to investigate the food sources of

bees and see if they can observe bees collecting pollen and nectar

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ○ Students will also roleplay the actions of bees in their own

community as well as in our community

■ For example, some students will be worker bees

that will collect pollen and nectar for the hive

○ After the field trip, students will be asked to make an entry

in their journals to document their experience like a story.

Students will be able to draw and write out their

experiences around bees. Note: Students have had these

journals and have been working in these journals since the

beginning of the year.

■ Materials required:

● Students’ journals

● Pencil crayons

● Pencils

● This lesson will end with an exit slip where students will try to

explain why bees are important in one or two sentences

Differentiation/ ELL support:

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ● If the technology is available, the teacher can provide students with

text-to-speech readers to ensure that the reading of the picture books

and websites will not be a barrier to student learning.

● The teacher can provide ELL students with language cards that

include the important terms learned so that they can become more

familiar with the vocabulary and can revisit them whenever

necessary.

● The teacher will provide sentence structure for the exit slip writing,

such as “Bees are important because ___” to ensure that writing

proper sentences is not a barrier to the expression of ideas.

4. ● To demonstrate ● Introduction: Present the project students will be working on for One-on-one conferences: During

an the next week. Explain to students that they will be creating a this portion of the lesson, the teacher

understanding story in whatever way they please (i.e., animation, narrative, will conference with each group to

of the picture book, etc.) that answers the questions: determine whether there are any

importance of ○ What do bees do? questions that need to be answered or

the role of bees ○ What do bees need to survive? any confusions that need to be

in their own ○ Why are bees important? clarified. The teacher will ensure to

community, ○ What role do the bees have in our environment? check-in with each group every once

our ○ What is community? in awhile after their conference while

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 community, ○ What are the roles of bees within their own community? they are working to ensure they are

and in our ○ How are bees similar to other living things? Similar to on the right track.

overall you?

environment ○ How do bees and their hive contribute to our community? Final Summative Assessment Piece:

● To demonstrate ○ What can we do to help the bees in our community? Do It should include the answers to the

an they need our help? following questions:

understanding ● Creating a Bee Story Project: Students will work in their table ● What do bees do?

of what bees groups for this assignment (groups of 3-4). ● What do bees need to survive?

need to survive ○ Materials required: ● Why are bees important?

and what we ■ Access to technology (iPads/computers) to access ● What role do the bees have in

can do to help websites and assistive technology our environment?

■ Access to student resources, students’ journals, the ● What is community?

chart paper, and the bulletin board ● What are the roles of bees

○ Students will be given the list of questions students need to within their own community?

be answer with their story ● How are bees similar to other

■ Emphasis will be given on students’ determination living things? Similar to you?

of the importance of bees in the community ● How do bees and their hive

○ Students will create the rubric with the teacher so that the contribute to our community?

students are well aware of what they are being assessed on

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 ■ Students will first be asked what they should be ● What can we do to help the

assessed on and how. If students are having trouble bees in our community? Do

coming up with their own criteria, the teacher can they need our help?

guide students’ thinking by asking the following

questions: Peer-evaluations: After each

● Should the story answer this question: presentation of the students’ stories,

“Why are bees important to our their peers will be encouraged to say

community?” one strength and one improvement

● Does the story need to make sense? How about the students’ story to help the

should it be organized? students improve their story before

● Does the story answer all the questions I handing it in to the teacher. The

gave you? Should it do more than answer teacher can also provide suggestions

all these questions? for further advancement.

● What elements are important to the story?

Should your story include these elements? Rubric: A rubric will be created with

● What do good presenters do? When you the students at the beginning of this

present your story, what should you do? lesson so that they can evaluate their

● Work Time: The students will be allowed to use the chart paper, own work as they go to see if it meets

the resources used during their resource exploration, the students’ the criteria of the project. The teacher

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 journals, and the bulletin board to assist students in creating their will use the same rubric to assess

stories. student work to ensure whether

○ The teacher will ensure that the students will be given students are meeting the learning

enough time to complete their stories outcomes for the unit. It will first be

○ The teacher will ensure that they check-in with each group used formatively as students complete

periodically to answer any questions, provide any their work and after their

guidance, and provide formative feedback presentations, then, it will be used for

● Presentations: Students will present their stories to the class. the final summative assessment.

○ Teacher will encourage proper audience etiquette from the

students and will propose questions and large group

discussions after each story.

○ After the presentations, the students will have time to

adjust their stories based on the peer-assessment before

handing the final product into the teacher as a final

assessment

Differentiation/ ELL support:

● If the technology is available, the teacher can provide students with

text-to-speech readers to ensure that the reading of the picture books

and websites will not be a barrier to student learning. A speech-to-text

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 reader can also be provided to students so that writing proper

sentences is not a barrier to the expression of ideas.

Notes to the Teacher

Unit Rationale

The long-term goal for this unit will be for students to gain an understanding of how bees are important to our community. Bees are a vital part

of the ecosystem since they pollinate our food sources. Therefore, to ensure the protection of bees, I wanted students to develop empathy for nature and

other living things, especially since electronic media has caused children to become disconnected from the outside world (Sobel, n.d., p. 1). Hence, this

inquiry will be used to inspire children’s curiosity about nature through the study of bees. As Sobel (n.d.) states, “[i]f we want children to flourish, to

become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the Earth before we ask them to save it” (p. 7).

Lesson 1

The video will be used as a “hook” at the beginning of the lesson since it includes a catchy and engaging song about the needs of animals to

ensure students acquire this knowledge. Students will be asked what they found interesting about the video to ensure they gained the knowledge required

from the video. To transition to the next part of the lesson, the teacher will ask students for examples of animals, then ask if bees are considered animals,

which will turn the students’ thinking to that specific focus. Note that throughout the entirety of the lesson, especially in the group discussion, the

students will be asked questions about bees, since they are a living thing, to promote the competency of “[c]ritical [t]hinking” (Alberta Education, p. 28,

2017) and to assess what students already know about the topic. This aligns with “Principle 5: Children are unique and active contributors to their

learning” (Alberta Education, 2007, p. 4) of the Primary Programs Framework since students will be bringing their unique prior experiences to the topic
Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)
of bees. Nevertheless, during the group discussion, the teacher will use chart paper to write out what students already know about bees so that it can be

used as a resource for students in the later summative assessment. Documenting and displaying student thinking are an important part of the Reggio

Emilia approach in that it demonstrates to the students their thought process and where they can go from what they already know (An Everyday Story,

n.d., para. 8). Finally, the lesson will end with a story to allow students to start thinking about bees and how and why they are important. To assess for

understanding, the teacher will ask students questions and examine their answers. At the end of the lesson, the teacher will also give students an exit slip

which will ask students what they learned about bees so that the teacher can assess for understanding. The information from the exit slips will be

compiled and added to the chart to expand on the knowledge within the resource.

To ensure differentiation within the lesson, multiple forms of representations, an important aspect of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), are

included in the lesson since the lesson comprises an oral and visual representation within the video, a written representation with the chart paper during

the oral group discussion, and multiple representations during story time, which will include an oral, a visual, and a written representation of the story

(Meyer, Rose, & Gordon, 2014). The teacher will also ensure that the story is being read slowly enough for all students to understand and will pause to

ask questions, which will assess understanding and determine whether or not the teacher needs to further explain a topic. Providing students with

sentence structure for the exit slip will also ensure that writing sentences is not a barrier to the expression of student ideas. Students can draw for the exit

slip as well if they so choose, which will ensure students have a choice in how they represent their knowledge, an important aspect of UDL (Meyer et

al., 2014). Also, language cards will be provided to ELL students that include the important terms learned so that they may revisit the vocabulary

whenever necessary and so they can become more familiar with the terms.

Lesson 2

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 In this lesson, the teacher will begin with a story to “hook” students into thinking about community. The story time will apply the competency of

“[c]ritical [t]hinking” (Alberta Education, p. 28, 2017) because of the questions the teacher will ask throughout the story, which will cause students to

think about the idea of community and what makes up a community. “Principle 5” (Alberta Education, 2007, p. 4) of the Primary Programs Framework

will apply to the story time as well as to the rest of the lesson because students will have to draw on their own unique knowledge of community to

answer some of the questions. At the end of the story time, after students answer each question, the teacher will explicitly instruct students to ensure they

gain a true understanding of community and its elements. The last few questions after the story will allow for an easy transition to the next portion of the

lesson since they will get students thinking about the different communities that they are a part of, including the classroom community, and their roles

within them. So, now, the teacher will allow students to create their own individual bee that are specific to them, and all of the bees will create one large

community. The creation of the bees will be done through art to allow students to express their learning about community in a hands-on way, a

fundamental to the Reggio Emilia approach (An Everyday Story, n.d., para. 9). This integration of art into the lesson and the questions asked during this

portion of the lesson will allow students to start drawing connections between bees and the community. Lastly, the lesson will end with an exit slip so

that the teacher can assess student understanding on the idea of community to determine whether or not more teaching is required on this topic.

At the beginning of the lesson, differentiation will be assured as long as the teacher reads the story slowly and calls attention to the visuals within

the text to ensure that students have a complete understanding of the topic. This draws from UDL in that students will have multiple representations,

such as written, visual, and oral, of community during the story time (Meyer et al., 2014). To ensure differentiation throughout the entire lesson, the

students will be given multiple ways to represent their knowledge and demonstrate to the teacher their understanding (Meyer et al., 2014). During the

story time, students will express their ideas about community orally, during the classroom design art project, students will express their ideas visually,

and through the exit slip, students will get to express their ideas in a written form. For ELL students, language cards will be provided, which will include

the important terms learned so that they may revisit the vocabulary whenever necessary and so that they can become more familiar with the terms.

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

Lesson 3

During lesson 2, students were asked if they know whether or not bees contribute to our community. This will work as a transition to this lesson

as students’ thinking will now be geared towards finding out whether or not bees are actually a contributing member to our community. So, the overall

objective of this lesson will be to expand the knowledge of students on the topic of bees and the community through inquiry. The first and second lesson

will act as scaffolds for this lesson in that they both directed the way students should think about bees and the community. For the first portion of this

lesson, students will be given access to many different resources, including picture books, websites, and videos so that students may investigate,

question, and explore, like in the Montessori approach (The Canadian Council of Montessori Administrators, n.d.). Most of these resources will have

already been seen by students during reading time before and during the unit to allow students to gain some cursory knowledge. Also, notice that the

questions provided to the students for the resource exploration will also act as a scaffold as they will help direct students to build upon their pre-existing

knowledge of bees and community, an idea from John Dewey’s emergent curriculum (Robinson, 2018, para. 6). Each resource will have an index card

within it so that students can fill it out when they come across important or interesting information about bees. These index cards will later become a

resource for students as they will be placed on a bulletin board to display student thinking, as per the Reggio Emilia approach (An Everyday Story, n.d.,

para 8), and so that students may use the index cards as a resource in their summative assessment later on. The teacher will take a day to share the

information on the index cards to the students as they are placed on the bulletin board. The teacher will also use this bulletin board after the sharing of

the index cards to assess student knowledge to determine whether or not more teaching will be required to ensure that students can answer the questions

provided to them. In this way, students are using the competency “[c]ollboration” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 30) in that students are “working with

others to achieve a common goal” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 30) by collectively finding all of the important information within the resources so that it

can be shared with the class. Notice that the title of the bulletin board, “Why are bees important to our community?”, will be used to direct students’

focus to this idea as they research since it will be introduced to them at the beginning of the resource exploration. Now, next in the lesson, the students

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

will go on a field trip to Chinook Honey Company to participate in the “Bee Basics” (Chinook Honey Company, 2019, para. 2) program to learn about

bees and their roles from experts. The field trip will also include a live hive observation so that students can see the interaction of bees in one

environment. The knowledge students would have gained from the previous lessons and the resource exploration will provide students with enough

background information so that they will be able to ask meaningful questions and make meaningful observations throughout the field trip. Lastly,

students will take what they learned from both the resource exploration and field trip in their outdoor exploration. Students will get to examine the food

sources of bees and potentially observe bees in their natural habitat, rather than just within a man-made hive. An activity included in this exploration will

be the roleplaying of bees in their specific niches. For instance, one student will be assigned the role of the queen bee while others are worker bees and

drones. The teacher will first ask students what they are supposed to do in their specific role, then the students will demonstrate this through their

actions. This hands-on activity, which uses a Reggio Emilia approach because it allows students to express their understanding through movement (An

Everyday Story, n.d., para. 9), will be used to reinforce the idea that all bees have a specific role to play in their own community to ensure that the entire

colony is able to function efficiently. Both the field trip and the outdoor exploration will end with students doing an entry in the journals they have had

since the beginning of the year to ensure students are documenting their experience. Students will get to draw and write within their journals to ensure

their message gets across. The teacher will use the information from the journal entry to assess learning, but the journal entry can also be used by

students as a resource later on. At the end of the overall lesson, students will be asked to fill out an exit slip that asks students to explain why they think

bees are important in one or two sentences. Students will only be asked to write one or two sentences to ensure the activity is short and to ensure the

students only focus on the important information. The information from the exit slip will be assessed by the teacher to determine whether or not students

gained an understanding of bees in the community. The information will also be compiled and added to the bulletin board to be used as a resource for

the students later on. Transitions will not be required as much for this lesson as all of the activities will entail the expansion of knowledge on bees. Also,

many of the activities involved in this lesson will be split up over several days.

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 This entire lesson connects to many theories and practices regarding early childhood. For instance, this lesson will allow students to explore bees

and our community through a variety of resources and through a variety of ways, which is encouraged by the Reggio Emilia approach so that the

students can learn at their own pace and through their own discovery (Rainforest Learning Centre, 2016, para. 7). This will make the learning more

meaningful to students in that they get “to explore their world, and…understand and respect the life forms, systems and forces of which it consists”

(Montessori Northwest, 2017, para. 10), an important aspect of the Montessori approach. Additionally, “Principle 6: Children construct and represent

knowledge in a variety of ways” (Alberta Education, 2007, p. 5) of the Primary Programs Framework aligns with this lesson since students will be able

to learn, explore, and construct knowledge through a variety of resources and activities to ensure they have a solid understanding of the knowledge they

are meant to acquire. Students’ construction of the own knowledge also draws from the Montessori approach (An Everyday Story, n.d., para. 4). Also,

this lesson aligns with “Principle 3: Children interact and learn in a variety of contexts” (Alberta Education, 2007, p. 3) of the Primary Programs

Framework in that, through the learning, nature and different communities will be brought into the learning environment. Lastly, this lesson follows the

“[c]ultural and [g]lobal [c]itizenship” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 30) competency in that students will be considering bees importance to the

environment and how students can help ensure that this environment is sustained.

During the resource exploration, if the technology is available, the teacher can provide students with text-to-speech readers, if they require it, to

ensure that reading the text within the books or websites is not a barrier to learning. The teacher will also provide sentence structure to students during

the resource exploration for the index cards and after the lesson for the exit slip to ensure writing sentences is not a barrier to the expression of ideas. For

the journal entry, students will be able to draw and write, which will ensure students get to represent their knowledge in multiple ways, an important

aspect of UDL (Meyer et al., 2014). Language cards will be provided to ELL students, which will include the important terms learned so that they may

revisit the vocabulary whenever necessary and so that they can become more familiar with the terms. Now, notice that this entire lesson allows students

to learn through multiple forms of representation, an important aspect of UDL (Meyer et al. 2014). Students will have the opportunity to learn about

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

bees from picture books, websites, videos, experts, and movement, which will allow students multiple entryways into the learning. The index cards

students will write on will be used as per the differentiation of UDL since, when they are shared by the teacher, they will provide multiple

representations of the learning that took place (Meyer et al., 2014). For instance, the index cards will be shared by the teacher orally with the card being

a visual and written representation of what students learned once they are placed on the bulletin board. Overall though, throughout this lesson, students

will get to represent their knowledge in a variety of ways (Meyer et al., 2014), through writing on index cards and participating in the roleplay, to ensure

multiple entries into the learning.

Lesson 4

This last lesson will include the creation of the students’ story about bees in the community so that the students can see the importance of bees to

our environment. Particular, explicit emphasis will be on the question “Why are bees important to our community?” since the whole point of the unit

was to determine the answer to this question. The previous lessons scaffolded students’ thinking and learning so that when students got to this step, they

will have already acquired all the knowledge necessary to complete the final summative assessment piece, or at least know where to find the

information. In this lesson, students will get a choice in how they represent their knowledge, an important aspect of the representation guideline within

UDL, since students may choose to create their bee story in whatever form works best for them (Meyer et al., 2014), whether it be through a picture

book, animation, narrative, play, etc. Students will be more engaged in this project due to this choice in format, which draws from the engagement

guideline of UDL (Meyer et al., 2014). This idea of choice also draws from a central tenet of the Montessori approach since students use many different

ways to express their understanding, so allowing students a choice in how they will do this project will allow students to express themselves in a way

that works best for them (An Everyday Story, n.d.). During this project, students will also get to work with their table groups to create the story since

social factors contribute to cognitive development, according to Vygotsky (McLeod, 2018).

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 As a part of this lesson, students will collaborate with the teacher to create a rubric that will be used to assess their final summative assessment

piece. In this way, students will know what should be expected of them because they themselves created those expectations. In turn, this will help

students more easily self-assess their own work, an important aspect of the engagement guideline of UDL (Meyer et al., 2014), as well as more easily

peer-assess the work of others. To build this rubric, the teacher will first provide students the questions they need to answer for the story. Then, the

teacher will ask students for ideas of what they should assessed on and how. If students are having trouble coming up with their own criteria, the teacher

can guide students’ thinking by asking the following questions:

● Should the story answer this question: “Why are bees important to our community?”

● Does the story need to make sense? How should it be organized?

● Does the story answer all the questions I gave you? Should it do more than answer all these questions?

● What elements are important to the story? Should your story include these elements?

● What do good presenters do? When you present your story, what should you do?

The questions above will ensure the students are on the right track in the creation of their own rubric and guarantee that they know what sort of

outcomes they will be assessed on.

The idea of this project aligns with many of the competencies within The Guiding Framework. For instance, “[p]roblem [s]olving” (Alberta

Education, 2017, p. 29) will be used by students to evaluate in a creative way the best option they can take in completing the project. For their final

summative assessment piece, students will be required to manage information, another competency, since they will be required to evaluate which bit of

information is relevant, organize it within their story in a logical manner, and share the information with the class (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 29).

“Creativity and [i]nnovation” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 29) are another vital aspect to this project in that students will be creating their own story

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

about bees in their own way. “Communication” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 30) will be key in this lesson since students will be sharing their stories

about bees with the class to ensure the exchange of information with others. This lesson will also focus on “[c]ultural and [g]lobal [c]itizenship” (Alberta

Education, 2017, p. 30) because the creation of the students’ stories will demonstrate to others how to be a responsible citizen to the environment to

ensure it is sustained. Additionally, this lesson will instill the competency of “[c]ollaboration (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 30) since students will be

working together in groups to complete the project and each group will be working with each other to improve each others’ projects through peer-

assessment. Lastly, this lesson aligns with the competency “[p]ersonal [g]rowth and [w]ell-being” (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 31) since, through the

creation of the students’ own rubric with the teacher, the students will get to determine how they are assessed, which will require setting their own

learning goals. Students will also get to demonstrate resilience and flexibility during the creation of their own stories since ideas for the story may have

to change depending on the information that students have about bees and the ideas of other students (Alberta Education, 2017, p. 31).

To ensure differentiation in the classroom, students will be given a choice in how they represent their knowledge for the final summative

assessment piece (Meyer et al., 2014). Additionally, if the technology is available, the teacher will provide students with text-to-speech readers and

speech-to-text readers to ensure that reading the resources provided to the students is not a barrier to learning and that writing is not a barrier to the

expression of ideas for the students’ stories.

Assessment

In lesson one, the teacher will monitor students’ understanding of the needs of animals through observation and careful questioning to determine

if learning has occurred. At the end of the lesson, the exit slip will be used to actually see what students got out of the lesson. Lastly, the chart paper

created with the students will help the teacher assess students’ prior knowledge so that the teacher and the students can determine where students need to

go in their learning. Also, this will help the teacher in determining whether students require additional resources for the resource exploration to ensure

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

the learning gaps are filled. Overall, the assessment used in this lesson will be used to determine if students are building on their pre-existing knowledge

and where the teacher will need to go from here.

In lesson two, questioning as well as observation and notetaking will be used again to examine students’ understanding during the lesson. The

exit slip will be used again to truly see if students understand the learning. More specifically, it will allow the teacher to see if students understand what

community is and what makes up a community. If there seems to be a lack of understanding from the results of the exit slip, this will show the teacher

that re-teaching of this topic will be required.

In lesson three, the bulletin board, which will contain all the information gathered by the students on index cards from the resources will

determine if there are any gaps in student knowledge, which will allow the teacher to see whether more guidance or different resources will be required.

The journal entries as well as the observations done during the field trip and outdoor exploration will also be used to determine understanding of the

students. Finally, the exit slips to be completed after the field trip and outdoor exploration will allow the teacher to see whether students actually

acquired new, meaningful knowledge about the importance of bees from these excursions.

Lesson four will use one-on-one conferences and check-ins to ensure students are on the right track to meeting the learning goals for their

projects. This will also give the teacher the opportunity to correct any misconceptions the students have developed over the course of the unit. The

creation of the rubric with students will provide students with clarity on how they will be assessed on their stories. The rubric itself will be used by

students to monitor their own learning and that they will know what they need to do for the project. Moreover, peer-evaluation and teacher suggestions

after each presentation will be used as formative feedback to develop a supportive learning community and so that students can further enhance their

work before submitting it to the teacher. The feedback that provided from the self-assessment and peer-assessment are both related of the engagement

guideline of UDL (Meyer et al., 2014). The final summative assessment piece, the students’ stories, will guide the teacher in future planning since it will

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

tell the teacher whether or not more teaching will be required on this topic depending on if the students were able to answer the questions provided to

them. It will also tell the teacher whether or not the types of activities should be used again, which will be dependant on if this unit created an effective

enough inquiry environment to produce a well-made product.

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

 References

Alberta Education. (1985). Art [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/482114/elemart.pdf

Alberta Education. (1996). Science [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/159711/elemsci.pdf

Alberta Education. (2000). English language arts [PDF]. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/160360/ela-pos-k-9.pdf

Alberta Education. (2005). Social studies: Kindergarten to grade 12 [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/159594/program-of-

studies-k-3.pdf

Alberta Education. (2007). Primary programs framework for teaching and learning (kindergarten to grade 3): Guiding principles [PDF]. Retrieved from

https://education.alberta.ca/media/563580/guidingprinc2007.pdf

Alberta Education. (2017). The guiding framework for the design and development of kindergarten to grade 12 curriculum (Program of study) [PDF].

Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/3575996/curriculum-development-guiding-framework.pdf

An Everyday Story. (n.d.) Fundamental principles: What’s it all about? [blog post]. Retrieved from https://aneverydaystory.wordpress.com/beginners-

guide-to-reggio-emilia-approach-home-homeschool/fundamental-principles-whats-it-all-about/

Chinook Honey Company. (2019). Drop in programs. Retrieved from https://www.chinookhoney.com/visit-tour/drop-in-program/

McLeod, S. (2018). Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

Meyer, A., Rose, D. H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral

proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgaryebooks/detail.action?docID=4603679

Montessori Northwest. (2017). What is Montessori education? Retrieved from https://montessori-nw.org/what-is-montessori-education

Rainforest Learning Centre. (2016). 5 key elements of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Retrieved from

https://www.rainforestlearningcentre.ca/5-key-elements-reggio-emilia-approach-early-childhood-education/

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)

Robinson, A. (2018, March 26). Early childhood theorists: John Dewey [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.allanarobinson.com/early-childhood-

theorists-john-dewey/

Sobel, D. (n.d.). Beyond ecophobia [PDF]. Retrieved from https://files.nc.gov/deqee/documents/files/beyond-ecophobia.pdf

The Canadian Council of Montessori Administrators. (n.d.). What is Montessori? Retrieved from http://www.ccma.ca/what-is-montessori

Adapted from Wiggins, Grant & J. McTighe (1998)