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**Grade 3 Life Science: Habitats of the World**
Essential Question: How are plants and animals able to survive in different environments?


 * Lesson 1:** Habitat Research – An introduction to non-fiction electronic resources using Grolier Online Encyclopedia and Enchantedlearning.com

**Lesson Overview:**
This lesson is from a two-month study of Life Science: Habitats/Biomes of the World for grade 3. It is a very comprehensive unit that spans many curricular areas: Science, Language Arts, Technology, Information Literacy, Drama and Art. The student population is very diverse with a mix of white, Hispanic, African-American, Asian and Indian.

This is the first lesson of a series of research lessons that takes place in the computer lab. Prior to this lesson, students have had lessons on the research process, locating information, and note-taking from books and encyclopedias in the classroom and in the library. Students have used books from the classroom and the library to read and begin to take notes on the habitat assigned to them.

English Language Arts Curriculum Framework
General Standard 8: Understanding a Text Students will identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.

General Standard 24: Research Students will gather information from a variety of sources, analyze and evaluate the quality of the information they obtain, and use it to answer their own questions.

**Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework**
Life Science (Biology), Grades 3–5 Adaptations of Living Things 6. Give examples of how inherited characteristics may change over time as adaptations to changed in the environment that enable organisms to survive, e.g., shapes of beak or feet, placement of eyes on head, length of neck, shape of teeth, color.

**Instructional Technology Standards**
Standard 1. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of computers and applications as well as an understanding of concepts underlying hardware, software, and connectivity.

Standard 3. Demonstrate ability to use technology for research, problem solving, and communication. Students locate, evaluate, collect, and process information from a variety of electronic sources. Students use telecommunications and other media to interact or collaborate with peers, experts, and other audiences.

3.1 Explore and develop understanding of how to gather information from a variety of electronic sources, including teacher-selected Web sites, CD-ROM encyclopedias, and automated card catalog.

**Language Objectives**
Reading

R.3 Comprehension: Students will read English fluently and identify facts and evidence in order to interpret and analyze text.

R.3.1. Identify main idea(s) or important information in a literary or an informational text. (link to FL 2.8, 2.12; ELA 8.2, 8.10) R.3.2. Identify details that support main idea(s) in a literary or an informational text. (link to FL 2.8; ELA 18.18) R.3.3. Summarize information from a literary or an informational text that is read. (link to ELA 8.18)

R.6 Research: Students will gather information in English from a variety of sources, analyze and evaluate the quality of the information obtained, and use it to answer their own and others’ questions.

R.6.2 Summarize data gathered through research. R.6.2a. Gather information in order to answer research questions.

Writing

W.2 Writing: Students will write in English for a variety of purposes with clear focus, coherent organization, and sufficient detail.

W.2.2e Writes brief summaries of information gathered through research.

W.5 Media: Students will use, analyze, and produce a variety of media in English, including audio, television, Internet, and emerging technologies.

W.5.3, W.4.2d Works collaboratively with peers when using technology in the classroom.

W.5.5 Gathers and analyzes information, using multiple media.

**Objectives for students**
o Review of Internet Explorer: clicking links and using the Back button o Review of Stanley school website – stanleyschool.org o Introduce how to access Enchanted Learning Habitats - enchantedlearning.com o Learn/review how to read and pull out important information from an informative article o Review how to read information from a website and put it in their own words


 * Key Vocabulary**

Habitat, vertebrates, mammal, adaptation, food chain, environment, tundra, desert, rainforest, grasslands, savannah, temperate deciduous forest

**How does this lesson Increase Comprehensibility?**
Reading and note- taking is a new skill third graders are acquiring. Reading and writing down facts in their own words helps them learn and understand more about the habitat they are studying. Beginning their research on enchantedlearning.com, a grade-level appropriate website, students are able to understand the text fully.

**How does this lesson Increase Interaction?**
Students work in pairs. Reading information from a website, understanding what it is read, and summarizing information in their own words are complex tasks for third graders. Working in partners helps students tremendously. They read the passages aloud to each other and identify important facts for their notes. They also in turn teach each other about what they should know about the habitat assigned to them.

**How does this lesson Increase Higher Level Thinking Skills?**
This lesson increases higher level thinking skills because it is requiring students to read about a science topic in greater depth. They have to comprehend the reading and synthesize their learning by collecting information for an informative research report. Information they learn about the habitats is then used when creating background scenery for a puppet presentation on habitats and animals.

How does this lesson Build Connections to prior learning?
This lesson is based on student’s prior knowledge. The have learned about the habitat they are researching in science and read about it in the classroom and in the library. This research lesson is not the first time they are leaning about a new habitat.


 * Materials:** Computers with Internet access, Books from classroom and library, Note-taking guide sheet, Sources/Works Cited sheet, pencils, clipboards

Graphic Organizers Attached:

o Habitat Performance Task List (.pdf) – distributed on first day of project o KWL (.pdf) – completed when Habitat is assigned o Nice to Know Worksheet (.pdf) – completed during Note-taking lesson o Habitat Web (.pdf) – completed when research begins o Note-taking guide sheet (.pdf) – used to take notes from books, encyclopedias, and online sources o Source Sheet/Works Cited Document (.pdf)