Lesson Plan: Comparing life Cycles
Subject Area: Science
Grade Level: 6th grade
Flexible groups: Break students into small groups so they can travel to different stations.
Amount of Time Needed: One class time period of 50 minutes
Objective/purpose: Students will develop the understanding that all animals have a life cycle that includes being born, developing into an adult, reproducing, and eventually dying.
You’re Personal Stake: Share a personal story.
Materials Needed:
Frog stages posters
TV or computer screen
Video Clip
Tuck Everlasting Book
Introduction/connecting to students: Read Pages 60-64 in the Tuck Everlasting Book
Teaching/Learning procedures: Students travel to different stations that are spread out amongst the room so that they can be more flexible. The stations consist of the different stages in a frogs life cycle. Next students watch a short clip on the life cycle of a dragon fly as a class. After all clips are watched we can compare these cycles to the human life cycle. Some discussion questions to be considered are:
What are the stages are all in common?
What stages are different from each species?
How would life be if one of these stages did not exist?
Closure: Reflect back to the reading excerpt in the beginning of the lesson. Ask the students what life would be like without life cycles, and death? Hold a class discussion.
How would the book change if Winnie decided to drink from the spring?
Would you do if you were given the choice?
What is death was not a part of the life cycle?
Assessment: Assess the students through their level of engagement in the discussion. Hand out a fill in the stages work sheet to clarify the knowledge of the life cycles of the frog and dragonfly.
Strategies to consider:
Make sure that the stations are easy to reach and spread out appropriately
Give students a list of discussion questions to keep the discussion moving