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Thematic Unit on the
Four Seasons

 
LEVEL: Fourth Grade

GOALS: For every student to grasp the concept of the different seasons throughout the year by using different activities. Also, I will be using different subjects such as Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies and Arts.

WEEK ONE: DAYONE

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. The students will walk in the classroom and pull out a temperature chart that the teacher will provide. The students then will keep track of the temperature everyday, not including the weekend, throughout the school year. The students will then graph their findings every Friday and at the end of every month.

SUBJECT: Social Studies, Science, Math and Reading SEASONS: All Seasons
l. Concept or Activity: Children will read the daily newspaper everyday and write the temperature on their chart. Also, a different child will be picked every day to write the temperature for that day and he or she must describe the day by using the words sunny, warm, cloudy, breezy, windy, chilly and cold.

2. Environment: Giant calendar will be used to write down the temperature everyday and the descriptive word. On this calendar will be the name of the month and the season were are in.

3. Materials: Temperature chart, markers, felt tip pens, rulers to graph theirusing (students) findings. The teacher then will post their findings on a bulletin board.

4. Evaluation: Children's knowledge of the seasons will be evaluated through their discussion and through their findings from their graphs.

B. OBJECTIVE:
1. Children will use different books to aide them in reading and writing achievement to help them understand the different characteristics of the four seasons.

SUBJECT: Language Arts(reading and writing) SEASONS: All Seasons
l. Concept or Activity: Read a books titled "Nuestras Maravillosas Estaciones" and "El Mundo Del Clima."

2. Environment: Have them read the books at the library, in class or wherever the students prefer.

3. Materials: Reading materials, paper and a pencil or pen.

4. Evaluation: The students will be evaluated by the way they present their book report or by using creative writing to see if they were able to comprehend or distinguish the different seasons.

DAY TWO: All Seasons/Fall

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Students will know what happens to a tree when the different seasons arrive by decorating the tree to match the season.

SUBJECT: Science

SEASON: All Seasons
1. Concept or Activity: Students will participate together to help decorate the tree by making a bark, branches and leaves.

2. Environment: In the classroom, near the science area on a bulletin board or wall

3. Materials: Butcher paper for the background and the tree. Also, construction paper the leaves. Scissors, glue or staples will be needed and a sign to describe the season.

4. Evaluation: The students' knowledge will be based on how well they match the

tree to the different season.

DAY TWO CONT.....

B. OBJECTIVE:
1. The students will help improve their math skills in multiplication and division.

SUBJECT: Math

SEASON: Fall
1. Concept or Activity: The children will cut out apple flash cards and on one side they write the answer and on the other side the equation. For example, 8x9=72 and 72/8=9.

2. Environment: They will work from their own desk by themselves or with a partner(s). Cards will be kept in their desks.

3. Materials: Each student will have their own flashcards, markers, and scissors to

cut out the apple flash cards.

4. Evaluation: Students performance will be graded on tests and oral quizzes.

DAY THREE:

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Students will observe the different cycles that a tree goes through during the different seasons, and be able to write about it.

SUBJECT: Science and Language Arts SEASON: Fall
l. Concept or Activity: Choose a tree on school grounds and the class goes and visits the tree about once a month to notice any changes. The changes will be logged in a journal.

2. Environment: Outside on school grounds and then in the classroom to record the data.

3. Materials: A journal (notebook), pen/pencil, and a tree.

4. Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on how well they were able to observe and log what they saw. They will also be evaluated on how well they were able to describe the tree.

Friday:

SUBJECT: Math

SEASON: Fall
Find the average of the temperature the students logged down on their charts and graph it by adding them and then dividing the answer by five. Five is the number of days in the school week.

WEEK TWO: DAY ONE

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Students should be able to write a story about what they see in the picture by being descriptive.

SUBJECT: Language Arts(writing) SEASON: Winter
l. Concept or Activity: Look at pictures that deals with winter for example, the picture might be of a forest covered with snow an write about it.

2. Environment: Inside the class and read what they wrote to the class. 3. Materials: Photographs with a winter setting.

4. Evaluation: Children will be evaluated by how well they write their story by checking their spelling, grammar and punctuation.

B. OBJECTIVE:

l. The children will learn how to form a hypothesis wazzu and prove their hypothesis by guessing at what temperature water will freeze.

SUBJECT: Science SEASON: Winter
1. Concept or Activity: Have a discussion in the classroom about why water freezes in the winter. Then have the student write down the temperature it will freeze and write why or why not it did not freeze at the temperature they wrote down. Fill an ice tray with water and leave it in the freezer over night.

2. Environment: The classroom and the cafeteria to use the freezer.

3. Ice cube tray and a freezer.

4. Evaluation: To see if the child understood what happened and why it happened that way.

DAY TWO:
A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Learn what certain animals hibernate and why. Also, construct their home for the winter.

SUBJECT: Science(biology) SEASON: Winter
1. Concept or Activity: This project will take about two days and will be done in class. The students will work on it for two hours the first day and two hours the next day. The students will be paired in groups of three or four depending on the size of the class. The assignment is to pick an animal that hibernates in the winter and write a short summary about the animal and construct their home.

2. Environment: The classroomthe library, and with their group.

3. Materials: Construction paper, cardboard, scissors, glue and any other material the students bring from home.

4. Evaluation: The students will be evaluated on their summaries, how well they worked together and participation.
DAY THREE:

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Continue working on the hibernation project and the groups will give their presentations on Friday. Also, for homework the need to write a poem about winter the words snow, Christmas, cold, hot chocolate, Santa Clause, etc....

SUBJECT: Writing(poems) SEASON: Winter
l. Concept or Activity: Children will write poems about Winter using the words above or other words that deal with winter and with the help of their parents.

2. Environment: (Poems) At home with the help of their parents. 3. Materials: Just a pen and paper.

4. Evaluation: Check to see if the words used were associated with Winter. not including the words given to them.

Friday:

SUBJECT: Science and Math

SEASONS: Winter/All Seasons
Give their group presentation on the animal they picked and present the animals' home. After lunch they will find the average temperature for the week by using their temperature chart.

WEEK THREE: DAY ONE

A. OBJECTI VE:
1. To see how well notice a change in the season and be able to explain what is happening and predict what might happen next.

SUBJECT: Science and Materials Writing

SEASON: Spring
l. Concept or Activity: Take the students outside and have them observe any changes on the tree and write a story about what they think is going to happen next.

2. Environment: The students will be taken outside and we will stay there until they finish writing. At the most 30 minutes.

3. Materials: Notebook, pencils and themselves(brain).

4. Evaluation: Will be graded on well they perceive that spring is . noticeable and on their creativity.

DAY TWO:

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Use math to figure out how many birds came back for Spring and learn how to use a calculator.

SUBJECT: Math

SEASON: Spring
1. Concept or Activity: Use problem-solving skills to figure out how many birds came back for the Spring. For example, "If I50 Robins left for the Winter and only 103 came back. How many Robins did not come back?

2. Materials: A worksheet with problem-solving problems and a calculator. 3. Environment: In class and they will be able to work in groups.

4. Evaluation: Check to see how well students perform in math by using problem-solving and see if they remember which type of bird comes back for Spring.

DAY THREE:

A. OBJECTlVE:
l. Learn the importance of why bees pollinate flowers.

SUBJECT: Science and Writing

SEASON: Spring
1. Concept or Activity: Go on a field trip to a botanical garden to find out bees pollinate flowers and then have paint a picture of a bee pollinating a the flower. Also, have them write a story about which flower they would pollinate and why.

2. Environment: At a botanical garden and then back in the classroom.

3. Materials: A piece of paper to write down the name of their favorite flower.

4. Evaluation: How well they grasped the importance of pollinating and how well creative their stories are.

Friday:

SUBJECT: Math

Continue working on their graphs.

WEEK FOUR: DAY ONE

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Be able to recognise the change in temperature during the summer.

SUBJECT: Writing

SEASON: Summer
1. Concept or Activity: Take the children outside for five minutes and have them close their eyes so they could only feel the air. Then have them write a poem about what they felt by using this format:

Line 1: Subject(s)

Line 2: 2 adjectives that describe the subject(s)

Line 3: Place you associate w/ the subject(s)

Line 4: A descriptive phrase

Line 5: Other adjectives

2. Environment: Outside and then back inside to write their poems.

3. Materials: Paper, pencil and most important their imagination.

4. Evaluation: On well they describe summer and the words they use to relate to it.

DAY TWO:

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Help the achieve a better vocabulary in English by finding the antonyms of Winter clothing.

SUBJECT: Language Arts SEASON: Summer
1. Concept or Activity: Have the students practice their spelling and pronunciation of different words used in English by playing a game. First I would divide the class and then I will take turns asking a student a question. For example, "Juan would you where a sweater in the summertime." The student then responds "No, you wear a shirt." The first team to get to 15 wins a prize.

2. Environment: In class and working with peers as a team.

3. Materials: A piece of paper to keep track of the words and their spelling.

4. Evaluation: How well the students spell the words and how well they understand the concept of antonyms.

DAY THREE:

A. OBJECTIVE:
1. Have them write a story and check for grammatical errors and punctuation.

SUBJECT: Writing

SEASONS: Summer
1. Concept and Activity: Have the students write a story about what they are going to for their summer vacation or what summer means to them. For example, they can write a story on family trip they are going to take.

2. Environment: In the classroom.

3. Material: Paper, pencil and their minds.

4. Evaluation: How well they write their papers.

Friday:

1. Finish up the temperature chart and have a discussion in class on why the temperatures changed throughout the year.

2. I will have a magnetic bear on the chalk board and the students have to dress him up accordingly to the different seasons and depends which question I ask them. For example, I will ask them "How is the bear supposed to dress up in the winter." Then the student will have an assortment of clothes to choose from.

3. Finally, I will give them a short quiz on the different seasons, by having them name the four seasons, and write two basic characteristics for each one. This is how the students will be evaluated.