Always remembers what it was like to be in grades seven, eight and nine.
Because some girls can be mean, and boys start looking pretty fine.

Allows students to explore new ideas that best suit their unique
learning styles.
Is outgoing, fun, and homourous so that I am able to create laughter and smiles.

Can’t wait to come to work and has tears when the year is over – from
being so proud of every single one.
Is knowledgeable, but has common sense, so that I will never make a
student feel dumb.

1. Key Concept
What I want the kids to learn about the topic is the difference between natural habitats (occurs in nature) and habitat gardens (man-made) with more emphasis on habitat gardens.  I also want them to learn about some various types of native species, by working
individually, so that they can later work in groups to decide on what type of habitat garden they would create in their schoolyard and whattypes of native plants they would choose to put in.

2. Objectives
Objectives that I would like the students to to focus on would be from
grade 8 IRPs/PLOs.
1.) Gather and organize a body of information from primary and secondary print and non-print sources,  including electronic sources (Social Studies)
2.) Compose or create works of communication for specific audiences and purposes, including to entertain, persuade, or inform (English)
3.) Co-operatively plan, implement, and assess a course of action that addresses the problem, issue, or inquiry initially identified (Social Studies)

3. Pre-Planning
The materials that I would need to prepare before I can teach the lesson is:
1.) Fresh strawberries for my hook.
2.) 6 different colored pieces of paper, for class of approx. 30, 5 pieces for each color
3.) Picture of the butterfly garden my group and I created to insert into my notes
4.) Pre-typed notes for students about natural and man-made habitats, as well as on native plants

ie:)
Natural Habitats
Forest – a plant community having over 60% tree canopy cover. Forest communities are actually made up of seven layers of large and small trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and vines. The three types of forest communities include: deciduous, mixed and coniferous.
Woodland – a tree community with 20-60% canopy cover. Woodlands are made up of a variety of tree and understory species, depending on their stage of development (from pioneer to climax), their moisture regime, and their soil type. . . .etc. . .
Man – Made
Bird – a variety of tree, shrub and wildflower species that provide food (i.e. berries), shelter (i.e. conifers) and perches. Bird gardens also require a water source within them or close by.
Butterfly – a garden that includes a combination of wildflowers to provide larval and adult food sources, as well as basic needs such as shelter from strong weeds, resting places and a source of water.. . .
Native Species
Native species of wildflowers, trees and shrubs are those that occur in the region in which they have evolved prior to European settlement around 1600 AD. Plants evolve over time in response to climate and interactions with other species inhabiting the community. Thus, native plants possess certain traits that make them uniquely adapted to local
conditions.
These notes are from the source:
http://www.evergreen.ca/nativeplants/learn-more/start-garden.php     I would prepare notes so that they have more time to listen to me, and to get started on activities, rather than merely lecture the whole class.

4. Materials
The materials the children will need so that they can be successfully involved in the lesson is their laptops, and an understanding of native plants going into the final activity.

5. Anticipatory Set
How I would stimulate the children so that they will want to learn what I am about to teach them is with my hook.

HOOK (5 MINUTES max.)
       My hook involves placing one fresh strawberry, either wild, barren, virginia, whichever I can get ahold of at the time, on each student’s desk, instructing them NOT to eat the strawberry. Once I have everyone’s attention I will ask them to give me ONE or TWO words that describe that strawberry infront of them.  I will quickly write words
down on the board which could possibly include things like “red” “fruit” “delicious”, etc.  The goal of this is to see if someone mentions “Native Plant”.  After I feel everyone has had their say, I will explain to them that the strawberry infront of them is a native
plant, and that now going into a lesson on native plants, not one student can say that they do not know one example of a native plant.
Hopefully it will gets their minds going and thinking about what other plants fall into this category! They may then, if they like, eat the strawberry.

       How I will indicate to the children what I expect them to learn is by telling them that at the end of this unit, they will be able to discuss a variety of different native plants, and hopefully plant one themselves, as they have to design one for the schoolyard.

6. Procedure

(10 MINUTES)
       After the hook, I will begin with a brief lesson on gardens, and native plants.  I will provide them with notes, as above, that I have ready for them, which I will have taken from sources such as www.evergreen.ca, and I will include a picture of my butterfly garden below the description of one, so that they have a visual idea of one along with notes.

MAIN ACTIVITY (25 MINUTES)
       I will have 6 different colors of paper in a hat, and each student must pull out one piece of paper.  The colors will include red, purple, white, yellow, orange, and green.  The students will then be given the website: http://www.evergreen.ca/nativeplants/search/guided.php?province=BC on the board, which they must enter into each of their own laptops.  This is an individual assignment to begin with.  The objective of “Gather and organize a body of information from primary and secondary print and non-print sources,  including electronic sources” comes into play here. Each student must then search for one plant type that matches or resembles the color of paper that they pulled out of the hat.  Then in one paragraph, on a Microsoft Word document, they must identify the color they chose (yellow = yellow sand verbena), what plant type matched the color (tree, shrub, wildflower, fern, vine, etc.), and give a description of what the plant looks like, what family it belongs to, and where it can be found in Canada.  This assignment is
due the following day, and must be completed on own time if not completed during class. I would like an electronic copy sent in to me.
 The assigment is marked on a pass/fail basis, and as long as the assignment was completed to the best of the student’s abilities, he/she will receive a passing grade.  The objective is that they are able to “compose or create works of communication for specific
audiences and purposes, to inform”.  They must write a paragraph, after gathering knowledge from an electronic source, to inform me about what they learned.

7. Closure

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY (10 MINUTES)
       The class will then divide themselves into groups based on which color they chose. Reds with reds and whites with whites, and so forth. This way the groups are made randomly.  I will pose them with a problem: We have no garden in our schoolyard, and we need to address this problem by coming up with different designs for a garden that we
could put in our schoolyard.  They must refer back to their notes on Habitat gardens, and begin discussing what type of garden would be best in the schoolyard.  For instance, a butterfly garden as a resting place and source of water, or prairie/meadow garden that attracts insect species.  This is a start for them to get thinking.  It ties in
with the objective “Co-operatively plan, implement, and assess a course of action that addresses the problem, issue, or inquiry initially identified”, the problem being that the school has no garden, and they need to co-operatively plan a garden for the school.

       The closure for this lesson is the group work alone, as they will be looking back in their notes they received earlier in the lesson, and discussing plant types and the knowledge that they each bring to the group.  They will wrap up the class thinking about what they will be working on for the next few upcoming lessons.  They, of course, may
ask any questions about the assignment.  This time is not neccesarily used for starting the project, but more so to get the “ball rolling” and coming together to discuss what was learned throughout the lesson, and what they will need to do for next class.

8. Evaluation
       Students will be evaluated on several things. The first is their listening ability right at the start of the lesson.  Did they eat the strawberry or do as they were told to observe it and give me one word to describe it?  They will next be graded pass/fail if the assignment
of one paragraph is handed in to me on time.  Lastly, I would use the assessment tool of merely “Listening” for the evaluation of the start of the group activity, compared to other tools like checklists, rubrics, student self-assessments, running records, etc.  For
evaluating by listening, I would listen to students responses and interactions, listening for things like involvement and understanding.  They will be awarded a group/work partipation point, as the final assessment on group work would come much later when each group has designed their own layout for a garden for the schoolyard.