Topic: Vertebrates

Target group

4th‑grade students of elementary school

Core Curriculum

Grade 4

VI. The natural environment of the local area. Pupil

7) recognizes and names common organisms found in the immediate vicinity of the school.

General aim of education

Students call groups of vertebrates and describe their appearance.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• recognize on the basis of internal structure to which group the animal belongs;

• exchange animal groups occurring in Poland and give examples of them;

• explain that differences in animal structure result from adaptation to the environment.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• colored markers;

• sheets of paper;

• crayons;

• plasticine (play‑doh);

• rolls after toilet paper;

• weights (e.g., Jenga blocks).

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher gives the topic, the goals of the lesson in a language understandable for the student, and the criteria of success.

Realization

• The teacher, referring to the previous lesson, asks selected pupils to explain the concept of invertebrates and give two examples of animals belonging to annuli, insects and crustaceans.

• The teacher asks the pupils what associations with the concept of vertebrates. He writes down the students' associations on the board and then asks them to look up the meaning of this concept in abstract. Students write on the board those associations that correspond to the definition of vertebrates, and write them in notebooks.

• The students are paired up. The instructor recommends creating two models of a four‑legged organism, one of which is to be made of plasticine, and the other should have a body from a roll of toilet paper covered with plasticine. The teacher emphasizes that the torso of both models must be flat.

• The teacher asks students to put the same weights on the „backs” of the models. Students formulate conclusions regarding the role of the internal skeleton.

• The instructor recommends the charges to look up the names of groups of vertebrate animals in abstract. Then the students draw their hand on a white sheet and assign one group to each of their fingers. At the end of each of them they draw a symbolic image of a representative of a given group.

• The teacher displays an interactive illustration showing selected species of vertebrates found in Poland. Students determine their affiliation to the correct group and write their names on the sheet, under the finger corresponding to the group.

Summary

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

Homework

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Vertebrates

Less numerous than invertebrates, but usually significantly larger, are vertebrates. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals belong to this group. Their common trait is an internal skeleton in which a skull, which protects the brain, can be distinguished alongside a spine built of numerous vertebrae.

• The main groups of vertebrates are fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.