ALEX Lesson Plan Resources

ALEX Lesson Plans  
Subject: English Language Arts (3 - 5), or Science (3 - 4)
Title: Animal Adaptions for Grades 3-5
Description: HyperSlides are digital lessons/units that help students learn the material in a way that is engaging and inquiry-based. Students will work together to complete a HyperSlides unit centering around animal adaptations for standards in grades 3-5. Students will work creatively and collaboratively with a variety of Course of Study standards that engage students through using Google Slides and Hyperlinks to assist in the understanding of animal adaptations. This project will take several class periods to complete. After an introduction to the Hyperslides, students are encouraged to work at their own pace, but Hyperslides can be assigned on a daily basis. This Lesson Plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.

Subject: English Language Arts (3), or Science (3)
Title: Diverting Disaster With Lightning Rods
Description: Students will use a Venn diagram to compare lightning and static electricity. Then, students will experiment with static electricity and read nonfiction passages about lightning and lightning rods. Finally, they will apply their learning to construct a model of a lightning rod system that protects a house from a lightning-induced fire. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project. 

Subject: English Language Arts (3), or Science (3)
Title: Can an Animal's Traits be Influenced by the Environment?
Description: The lesson will begin with the teacher leading a discussion related to animal traits and the environment using a T-chart graphic organizer. The students will have the opportunity to discuss their ideas with a partner, and then the teacher will introduce the essential question of the lesson: “Can an animal's traits be influenced by the environment?” Next, the teacher will show students a video clip and nonfiction text related to the arctic fox, which is an animal that experiences a seasonal change in its fur color, and record information about the fox’s traits and habitat on a T-chart graphic organizer. Then, students will research a different animal to determine how its traits can be influenced by its environment using digital or print sources and take brief notes. Lastly, students will develop an explanatory text in a claim-evidence-reasoning format that includes an illustration to help convey their scientific ideas clearly. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Subject: English Language Arts (3)
Title: Primary Sources: Making Meaning From Photographs
Description: This lesson introduces students to the world of primary sources.  Students will analyze two photographs concerning Alabama's second governor, Thomas Bibb, in order to construct meaning.  Students will analyze a primary source from their past and present it to the class.  This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Subject: English Language Arts (3), or Social Studies (3)
Title: Mapping the Travels of Paul Bunyan Through Alabama, Too!
Description: During this lesson, students will recount a Paul Bunyan tall tale, an entertaining way to identify bodies of water and landforms in the United States. Although Paul Bunyan's Tales did not focus on Alabama, students will create their own narratives after viewing photographs of major mountain ranges, rivers, and lakes throughout Alabama (ACOS 3.2). This lesson will utilize older maps of the United States and Alabama, which are used to remind us that this folk tale was handed down orally until the early 1900s when a newspaper printed several accounts of the tall tale. This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Subject: Digital Literacy and Computer Science (3), or English Language Arts (3), or Science (3)
Title: Engineered Solution Dam Evaluation Journal and Presentation
Description: Students will create a Google Doc utilizing their school-based account or the class-created account provided by the teacher. Students will electronically journal their thinking throughout the process of the hands-on group science activity about designing and evaluating a dam to reduce the impact of a flood. Once the activity is complete, students will share their Google Docs with a peer or assigned group in order to discuss the findings of the experiment and clarify any unclear statements claimed in his/her journaling. Students will compile journal entries to create sequential writing appropriate to the task. Students will then create a presentation of their journaling with Google Slides, Prezi, Animoto, or a similar electronic presentation tool. This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Subject: English Language Arts (3), or Science (3)
Title: Exploring Nonfiction Texts to Determine How Climate Impacts Different Weather Phenomenon
Description: The lesson will begin with students accessing their prior knowledge of weather and climates by completing a warm-up writing prompt. Students will then move to reading texts on the subjects of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and droughts to determine if and how climate affects these weather phenomena. In groups, students will create a half-poster that describes their findings in text and pictures. At the end of the lesson, students will view a graph to extend their learning about tornadoes and hint at a future lesson while also completing an "exit ticket" as a means of summative assessment.  This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.