Goals:
1. Students will develop better listening and comprehension skills.
2. Students will develop conclusions about water pollution and various possible solutions.
3. Students will develop better writing and reflection skills by writing their thoughts in a daily journal throughout the ocean pollution unit. Students will decide whether or not to help prevent pollution in today's global society.
Resources:
1. Come Back, Salmon (1992) by Molly Cone. Sierra Club Books for Children: San Francisco.
2. Materials
a. Loose leaf paper
b. Stapler
c. Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
Time:
Lesson will take approximately 3 hours: 20 minutes per day - approximately ten minutes to read the chapter aloud, (chapters are relatively short and easy reading), and ten to thirteen minutes to write a reflective entry. *Note: Day One may take a little longer if the students are given in-class time to decorate the cover of their reflective journals.
Procedure:
Background Information-
The book Come Back, Salmon is about Mr. King's fifth grade class and Pigeon Creek, a creek which runs behind Jackson School. Mr. King tells the class that the creek is much dirtier than it was when he was young. The class takes a stroll along the creek and discovered that the water runs muddy and there is pollution scattered everywhere. Words like silt, watershed, environment, and pollution become a part of the classes' vocabulary as they clean up the polluted river. Not only does the class want to clean up the river, they want to bring back the salmon which once made the river sparkle red.
Procedure:
Step 1- Read a chapter a day aloud to class.
Step 2- After each chapter, pose questions to stimulate thinking and problem-solving skills.
Step 3- Students may write, in their journals, in an allotted ten to thirteen minutes of class time.
Step 4- These journals can be used for students to write down what they learn, or anything in response to listening to the oral reading.
Step 5- Students must write at least two supplementary entries on ocean/water pollution in their journals throughout the unit.
Assessment:
1. Students will write eight journal entries (six journals on Come Back, Salmon reflection questions, two extra entries on the ocean or water pollution) in a manner that shows some critical thinking and personal thought. Students will be assessed in accordance with "Writing Rubric".
Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:
1. Language Arts- critical thinking skills, listening skills, writing skills, and vocabulary development.
2. Mathematics- problem solving, reasoning.
3. Science- predicting, inferring, communicating.
4. Social Studies- time, continuity, change, people, place, environment, individuals, groups, institutions, global connections, civil ideals, and practices.
Possible Extensions:
1. Take a field trip to a local fish hatchery. A field trip would allow students to see a salmon's development and what happens before it is released back into nature.