Lesson Plans

6th Grade: Types of Rocks, Three-Headed Expert

Richards Middle School

Hodge – Jen Weisphal

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to correctly explain the differences in the three types of rocks.
Students will be able to use communication skills to listen carefully to their peers.
Students will be able to work together to create a cohesive sentence about subject matter.
Students will be able to demonstrate effective verbal communication by projecting their voice and using diction when speaking.
Students will be able to practice appropriate behavior as an audience member.

Integration Area/Subject:

Science & Theatre

State Standards:

S6E5. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to show how Earth’s surface is formed.

Plan and carry out an investigation of the characteristics of minerals and how minerals contribute to rock composition.
Construct an explanation of how to classify rocks by their formation and how rocks change through geologic processes in the rock cycle.

ELAGSE6SL1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.
Follow rules for collegial discussions, set specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.
Pose and respond to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic, text, or issue under discussion.

TA6.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

Demonstrate effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills (e.g. rate, pitch, volume, inflection, posture, facial expression, physical movement).

TA6.RE.1 Engage actively and appropriately as an audience member.

Identify the role of the audience in different environments.
Analyze the relationship between an audience and a performer.
Create guidelines for behaviors appropriate to a theatre experience.
Model appropriate audience behaviors.

Materials/Playing Space:

Open space at the front of the classroom

Description:

The PAIR Specialist asked the teacher to pick a couple of volunteers to come up to the front of the class with him. The teacher played along for the first round to aid in guiding the students with how to perform Three-Headed Expert. The PAIR Specialist asked the group of three people (the teacher and two students) to tell the class what happens at lunch on any given day, however, they must answer the question as though they are one person, one ‘three-headed’ expert that will only say one word at a time from each ‘head’.

The class had a practice round to understand the flow of the game, both for the people playing and the people participating as audience members:

Student 1: “We”

Student 2: “walk”

Teacher: “to”

Student 1: “the”

Student 2: “cafeteria”

Teacher: “for”

Student 1: “lunch”, etc…

The PAIR Specialist then asked the class to raise their hand and share a type of rock. A student suggested Sedimentary, so the PAIR Specialist asked the Three-Headed Expert to now explain the identifiers of a Sedimentary rock. The PAIR Specialist then had the teacher choose another set of students for the following rock types.

The teacher then took over and asked a new Three-Headed Expert how a sedimentary rock becomes a metamorphic rock. As the ‘expert’ answered this question, one student in the group of three made a stop to ask what happens if the expert was explaining the wrong thing. This was a great learning moment for working together and fixing the problem. The PAIR Specialist suggested that the student who knew the answer was becoming incorrect should give a sudden exclamation such as “Wait!” or “No!” to clue in the rest of the expert to the problem and try to redirect the answer as best he could. The teacher then asked the audience to raise their hands for the correct information, thus giving the Three-Headed Expert a little extra support.

Notes:

It’s helpful to talk to the class about what an audience needs to do with respect to the performers. Students generally know from previous experience, but having a reminder before the game starts helps the audience start on the right foot with them.

Making sure students know that projection and diction are part of theatre performance will aid in their success when speaking in a large group. Not only do they need the other two players to hear their word, but the audience needs to be able to hear as well to raise their hands to help should things begin to go off course.

6th Grade: Ratios, Visual Thinking Strategies

Richards Middle School

Sands – Meagan Cascone

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to have a conversation about the art they see, using various art terminology.
Students will be able to let the art influence their thoughts about ratios.
Students will be introduced to the basic rules of ratios.
Students will be able to talk about art and ratios on the most basic level.

Integration Area/Subject:

Math & Visual Art

State Standards:

MGSE6.RP.1 Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities.

VA6.RE.3 Engage in the process of art criticism to make meaning and increase visual literacy.

Write responses to works of art through various approaches.

Materials/Playing Space:

Multiple pieces of art

Description:

The PAIR Specialist started the activity by asking the students what they thought of when hearing the word “art.” This allows the students to become art experts and doesn’t put any added pressure on the teacher to teach art standards. Instead, the teacher can simply apply the art they already know to the lesson.

Once the students finished saying the different things they thought of when hearing the word “art,” the PAIR Specialist asked the students to look at three different pictures of art. They were Mondrian, a jelly bean rendition of Starry Night, and a Mandala with both 2D and 3D elements. (The key to picking art pieces is to find art that interests you and what you think your students would like. If you think it is boring, they will too. You don’t have to pick famous art for it to work.)

We talked about the different pieces using art terminology that the students had said at the beginning of the lesson. We talked about color, line, shape, texture, medium, 2D and 3D art, and shadow and how these words pertained to the art pieces.

The teacher then introduced the very basic form of ratios. “Ratios compare two things.”

We then looked at Mondrian and talked about shape and color. We made ratios for the number of squares and rectangles and ratios for the number of blue vs. red. We looked at the jelly bean art of Starry Night. And compared the number of jelly beans of the different colors and different shades of colors and formed ratios. Finally, we looked at the Mandala and created a ratio of the 2D parts and the 3D parts of the piece.

The teacher wrapped up with a quick discussion about what they would be doing with ratios the next class.

Notes:

Have fun with it and let your students be the art experts! Pick pieces of art that you like to look at!

6th Grade: Rational Numbers, Relay Drawing

Richards Middle School

Ledwick/Sands – Meagan Cascone

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able define positive integers, negative integers, and absolute value.
Students will be able to work together to create an equation.
Students will be able to present an artistic visual representation of that equation.

Integration Area/Subject:

Math & Visual Art

State Standards:

MGSE6.NS.6 Understand a rational number as a point on the number line. Extend number line diagrams and coordinate axes familiar from previous grades to represent points on the line and in the plane with negative number coordinates.

MGSE6.NS.6a Recognize opposite signs of numbers as indicating locations on opposite sides of 0 on the number line; recognize that the opposite of the opposite of a number is the number itself, e.g.,–(–3) = 3, and that 0 is its own opposite.

MGSE6.NS.7c Understand the absolute value of a rational number as its distance from 0 on the number line; interpret absolute value as magnitude for a positive or negative quantity in a real-world situation.

VA5.CN.3 Develop life skills through the study and production of art (e.g.collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication).

VA6PR.2 Creates artwork reflecting a range of concepts, ideas, and subject matter.

Materials/Playing Space:

Plain computer paper, tri-folded
Pencils

Description:

The teachers pre-folded the computer paper into three (or four) boxes, labeling each box 1, 2, 3, (and 4), from top to bottom. For Relay Drawing, the paper is passed around the class, so, at the end, a single piece of paper has the work of three artists on it. The paper can be passed a final time, so that a student who had no hand in the creation of the art can assess it and explain what they see in the artwork created by their peers. Mrs. Sands had paper that was divided into three parts and Mrs. Ledwick had paper that was divided into four parts.

The teachers asked the students to write 5 different positive integers in box 1. Once all students were finished, we passed the papers one person to the right (depending on the setup of the classroom, the way you pass the papers will vary). The teachers then instructed the students to write 5 different negative integers in box 2. Once again, we passed the papers. (For Mrs. Ledwick’s class, they then wrote 5 absolute value integers in box 3 and then passed the papers.)

In the final boxes, the teachers asked students to write different equations. For example, a number in box 1 plus a number in box 2 and what it equals or a number in box 3 minus a number in box 1. The only rules were that a number could only be used once in any of the equations (For example, once you used the positive 5 that was written in box 1, a positive 5 could not be used in any other equations) and they had to use at least 2 different signs in their equations (+, -, x). Once the students had written 4 different equations, we passed the papers one last time.

Once they received the paper after the last pass, the students had to choose an equation from box 4 and draw a visual representation on the back of the paper. Several students were then called on to show their visual representation and explain it to the class.

Notes:

It is important, as much as possible, to use visual art to assist in teaching the content, not just relaying it. In the reverse, the same is true: use the core content to assist in teaching the visual art. When looking at the visual representations drawn, discuss color, line, shading, pattern, etc. Be sure to discuss how collaboration on math led to the artwork being created. These two ideas should be taught hand in hand.

6th Grade: Rainforest Destruction, Slow Reveal/Close Looking

Richards Middle School

Casper/Yelkovich – Austin Sargent

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to identify the artistic qualities of a photograph.
Students will be able to use art vocabulary to connect their artistic observation to the social studies content.
Students will use maps of Latin America to hypothesize where the photographs might be from.
Students will combine three seemingly unrelated images to form their own observations and opinions about the issue of deforestation in Latin America.

Integration Area/Subject:

Social Studies & Visual Art

State Standards:

SS6G2 Explain the impact of environmental issues in Latin America.

Explain the environmental issue of destruction of the rainforest in Brazil.

VA6.RE.1 Reflect on the context of personal works of art in relation to community, culture, and the world.

Identify how the issues of time, place, and culture are reflected in selected works of art.
Interpret works or art considering themes, ideas, moods, and/or intentions.
Define where and how we encounter images in our daily lives and how images influence our view of the world.

VA6.RE.2 Critique personal works of art and the artwork of others, individually and collaboratively, using a variety of approaches.

Engage in supportive peer review through formal and informal assessment and idea development.
Use the language of art to identify how meaning is conveyed in works of art.
Describe and analyze the aesthetic qualities of specific works of art.

Materials/Playing Space:

Prep: Before the activity begins, it is important that the teacher prepare the photograph/visual art image by dividing the image into 3 separate sections. Images that work the best have a distinct demarcation between lush forest and barren deforestation.

Description:

This class began by looking at Image 1: Lush Forest. Students were split into groups and given the instruction to use adjectives to describe the image that they saw. Students could write these images in the margins of their photo for a verbal record. Students were then instructed to use their textbook as a reference and identify where in Latin America that photograph might have been taken.

Once guesses were made, Image 2: Barren Wasteland was handed out. The same process was followed; interpret the image, describe it in adjectives, and then identify using a map where this image could’ve been taken. Students then spent time defending their choices to other groups.

Then Image 3: Full Image was distributed. Verbal reactions and physical reactions were had, and students repeated the same process; adjectives & geography. The point here was that Deforestation is a major issue plaguing the Amazon Rainforest. Giving students this specific image provided a much more realistic context than just talking about it.

Notes:

For bonus points, specify which Artistic Vocabulary words you’d like students to concentrate on. You certainly could talk about texture and contrast, but also words like value, saturation, and density could also be helpful in guiding student discussion.

To strengthen the integration, make sure students understand how the images created the list of adjectives and how the adjectives reflect the geography of the selected images.

6th Grade: One-Step Equations, Ensemble Squash

Richards Middle School

Ledwick – Meagan Cascone

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to solve a one-step equation.
Students will be able to represent different parts of a one-step equation with their bodies.
Students will be able to work together, using appropriate communication and empathy.

Integration Area/Subject:

Math & Dance

State Standards:

MGSE6.EE.1 Write and evaluate numerical expressions involving whole-number exponents.

MGSE6.EE.2 Write, read, and evaluate expressions in which letters stand for numbers.

DMSPFD.2 Understands and models dance etiquette as a classroom participant, performer, and observer.

Materials/Playing Space:

Open space at the front of the classroom

Description:

The teacher explained the activity as using our bodies to display a math equation, rather than writing the equation out. For example, “How would you show ‘equals’ with your body?” The student representations may vary. We made a sample equation as a class. The teacher called up 5 students to represent the equation “x-4=10.” One student was the “x”, one student was the “-” and so on.

Once the students understood what their role was, she gave them a new equation (y+3=5) and told them they had 20 seconds to create that equation with their bodies. The students had to work together to make sure all parts of the equation were represented and none were repeated.

After the equation had been formed, she asked the students in the equation to solve for “y.” This meant that the “y”, “=” and “5” stayed where they were, and the “+” became a “-” next to the “5” and the “3” followed. This made the new formation “y=5-3.” Finally, to solve the equation, the “-” left the picture, and the two people representing the 5 and 3 made a new picture that represented 2.

Once the teacher and PAIR Specialist broke down the expectations of the activity, helping the students through this first equation, the students were able to do the following equations faster and with less assistance. At this point, the teacher was able to say “make this equation…Now solve for x…” Making the students more self sufficient.

Notes:

The set up to this activity is key! With a strong set up of instructions, the lesson should run smoothly.

6th Grade: Measurement, Pineapple Rhinoceros

Richards Middle School

Ledwick – Meagan Cascone

Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:

Students will be able to talk about different ways to measure items.
Students will be able to compare measurements of multiple different items.
Students will be able to show with their bodies the difference in size of multiple items.

Integration Area/Subject:

Math & Dance

State Standards:

MGSE6.SP.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context, such as by:

Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement.
Relating the choice of measures of center and variability to the shape of the data distribution and the context in which the data was gathered.

MSD.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

Compare and contrast abstract and literal movement.
Explore the qualities of expression in performance.

Materials/Playing Space:

Students can stand by their desks for this activity

Description:

This activity was used as an intro to a measurement unit. The PAIR Specialist first asked the students what they thought of when they heard the word “measurement.” They threw out words such as “inches, feet, meters, liters, pounds, grams, centimeters, etc.”

The PAIR Specialist then introduced the arts strategy, Pineapple Rhinoceros. The PAIR Specialist explained that when she said 10, the students would be 100% pineapple and when she got to 1, the students would be 100% rhinoceros. The numbers in between would be their process of morphing from one shape to another.

Once we went from 10-1 and 1-10 with movements, we talked about what we would use to measure 100% pineapple and 100% rhinoceros and how those units of measurement were different. We continued this process two more times and the teacher was able to step in and take over the game. The students were able to talk about measuring things by both size and weight.