ALEX Lesson Plan Resources

ALEX Lesson Plans  
Subject: English Language Arts (2), or Science (2)
Title: Lesson 1 - If We Ran the Zoo: How Do Animals Impact Our Environment?
Description: A brainstorming activity and class discussion will begin the lesson and provide the background knowledge students have regarding zoos and how the animals in zoos impact our environment. Students will select an animal for further research using an online survey created by the teacher to determine their research group. Afterward, students will view an informational video about the origin and purpose of zoos, and complete an exit slip stating new learning that has been added to their background knowledge. This lesson was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Subject: English Language Arts (2), or Science (2)
Title: Lesson 2 - If We Ran the Zoo: How Do Animals Impact Our Environment? Research/Zoo Book
Description: The lesson will begin by reviewing the groups and animals assigned to each group. Students will begin working in their Zoo Booklets by discussing vocabulary that is associated with their animal. Students will use various types of text and other resources to find the information needed to learn more about their animal. Students will work cooperatively in groups to complete their animal research and complete their final project.  This lesson was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Subject: English Language Arts (K - 2), or Science (K - 2)
Title: Amazing Animal Adaptations for K-2
Description: This is a multi-session interactive lesson plan about animal adaptations for kindergarten through second-grade students. The goal of this interactive digital lesson plan is to guide students through activities that help them understand how characteristics such as body covering, body parts, and behaviors help animals survive. These lesson plans also build cooperation and communication skills for students. There are additional resources provided for the teacher to use before or after using the HyperDoc.  This Lesson Plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.

Subject: English Language Arts (2), or Mathematics (2), or Social Studies (2)
Title: Time After Time: How Can We Use Timelines to Reconstruct the Past? Part 3
Description: The lesson will focus on creating a timeline. The teacher and students will work together to collect data from teachers around the school. Using this data, students will work to complete a class timeline and formulate questions to ask others about their completed timeline. This lesson will require four 30-45 minute sessions to complete. This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Subject: English Language Arts (2), or Mathematics (2), or Social Studies (2)
Title: Time After Time: How Can We Use Timelines to Reconstruct the Past? Part 2
Description: The lesson will focus on observing and creating timelines. The teacher will show students example timelines. Students will state things that they notice from the sample timelines. The teacher will read American Symbols: The Lincoln Memorial by Terri DeGezelle. The teacher and students will work together to create a timeline based on American Symbols: The Lincoln Memorial by Terri DeGezelle. Finally, students will break into groups and work to create a timeline with other American Symbols books. This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Subject: English Language Arts (2), or Social Studies (2)
Title: Time After Time: How Can We Use Timelines to Reconstruct the Past? Part 1
Description: The lesson will focus on ordering common events by times, days, months, steps, or events. Students will work collaboratively in groups to organize five child-focused events, steps, or times. These titles, events, steps, days, and times will be cut apart so that students need to organize them into a logical sequence. Groups will rotate through the five events to practice daily schedules, holidays, school schedules, weekly events, and procedural texts. Groups may take a picture of completed events as a digital copy or the teacher may check each group for formative assessment. This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Subject: English Language Arts (2), or Science (2)
Title: Can You Form a Landform?
Description: The students will create a landform using modeling clay in a small group setting.   This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Subject: Character Education (K - 12), or Counseling and Guidance (K - 12), or Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2), or English Language Arts (2), or Social Studies (2)
Title: What Makes a Leader?
Description: In this lesson, students will learn about various leadership qualities and historical American leaders. Each student will research an American leader of their choice and create a presentation about their life and impact on our country using the iPad app Educreations. Students will then participate in a class discussion about their thoughts on the researched leaders and how they can show leadership in their everyday lives. 

Subject: English Language Arts (2)
Title: Giddy Up Cinderella
Description: Students will read two different western versions of the story, "Cinderella." They will engage in activities where they will compare and contrast different versions of the story. Students will participate in listening, speaking, and writing activities that require them to reflect on the stories. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.