Teacher's Guide

1.

Standards:

3-LS21.

3LS44.

Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members
survive.

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the
environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may
change.*

Unit Standards/ Performance Expectations:

Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Analyzing data in 35 builds on K2 experiences and progresses to introducing
quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative
observations. When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.

Analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena using logical

reasoning. (3-LS4-1)

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Engaging in argument from evidence in 35 builds on K2 experiences and progresses
to critiquing the scientific explanations or solutions proposed by peers by citing relevant
evidence about the natural and designed world(s).

Construct an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model. (3-LS2-1)

Construct an argument with evidence. (3-LS4-3)

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem by citing relevant

evidence about how it meets the criteria and constraints of the problem. (3LS4-4)

Disciplinary Core Ideas:

LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience

When the environment changes in ways that affect a places physical

characteristics, temperature, or availability of resources, some organisms
survive and reproduce, others move to new locations, yet others move into the
transformed environment, and some die.(secondary to 3-LS4-4)

LS2.D: Social Interactions and Group Behavior

Being part of a group helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope
with changes. Groups may serve different functions and vary dramatically in
size (Note: Moved from K2). (3-LS2-1)

LS4.C: Adaptation

For any particular environment, some kinds of organisms survive well, some
survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. (3-LS4-3)

Cross-Cutting Concepts
Patterns:
Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain
change. (3-LS2-1),(3-LS4-3)

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods. (3LS4-1)

Systems and System Models

A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.

(3-LS4-4)

2.
Lesson level Science Performance Expectations and Language Objectives for
the unit (these should be more specific than the standards; you may want to think in
terms of objectives for each activity and then make a list of these.) You will want to
include the big ideas and essential questions from our earlier work with Backwards
Design template and a brief explanation as to why these are considered appropriate.
Analyzing data in 35 builds on K2 experiences and progresses to introducing
quantitative approaches to collecting data and conducting multiple trials of qualitative
observations. When possible and feasible, digital tools should be used.

Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem by citing relevant

evidence about how it meets the criteria and constraints of the problem. (3LS4-4)

Big Idea: The honeybee population is decreasing, so the students need to research and
discover a way to inform people and resolve this issue.
Students will research and explore honeybees, pollination, what is hurting the bees, and
impact bees have on humans.
Students will be able to collect information in order to create the assessment piece at the
end of the unit.
Students need to collaborate as a group and create an action plan.
Essential Questions:
What is hurting the bees?
What do we gain from the bees?
How do the bees affect humans and visa versa?
What are some possible solutions to reduce the bee death rate?

3. Teacher Background Information:

For the first required activities, the students must look at the Save the Bees website
(ci451savethebees.weebly.com). The website gives the students an overview about
bees. The students only should be watching videos or reading articles. They are not
allowed to play games. Make sure you state the challenge at the beginning of each day
so students know the end results that they are working towards. Students have worked
with and created a website in the past, so they should be familiar with this process. For
the group activities, make sure the students are collaborating and each student is
included. Throughout the unit, monitor students to ensure they are completing their
activities correctly.

4.
For this WBI we will be utilizing both formative and summative assessments.
Formative assessments will mainly be used during the individual portion of the WBI. At
this time the teacher will be checking the students science journals to make sure they
are collecting accurate information from the activities. The teacher will also be checking
for the students comprehension of the problem and the information that they are
recording.

During the group part of the WBI the teacher will continue to be formatively
assess the students work to make sure that they are on task, and understanding what is
expected from their group. The teacher will do so by sitting in with different groups as the
write the action plan for their campaign and then observing as they create their websites
and other campaign outlets.
The final assessment of the students overarching work on the WBI will be a
summative assessment at the end of the group workweek. All of the activities that the
groups to part in were tied together in a campaign so when they are finished the groups
present the campaign they have created to the class. The students will present the
website that they have created, and on the sight they will also present their other two
campaign medias to the class. The teacher will grade the group's overall performance
on each other the activities, their work as a group and the performance on a rubric that
given to the students on the Summative assessment page of the WBI.
The students will be able to earn up to 30 points, and the breakdown for what is
expected to earn these points in all explained on the rubric. The teacher will use this
criteria to assess that the students were able to utilize the information the from the first
week to creatively complete the activities in the second week of the WBI, and to be sure
that all students participated in the creation of their campaign and understood its
importance.

5. Materials:

Chrome books or tablets

Pencil

Science journals

Bee books

Juice boxes

Cheetos

Paper flowers

Video camera

Butcher paper (for posters)

Crayons

Markers

Scissors

Glue

Rulers

Editing programs on the computer

Recording program on the computer

Headphones

Web links:

*http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/honeybee/#honeybeewhitebackground.jpg

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/hubs/insects/

http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/bee-decline.html

https://app.discoveryeducation.com/search?
Ntt=honeybees#selItemsPerPage=20&intCurrentPage=0&No=0&N=18340%252
B18341%252B4294939055%252B4294939062&Ne=&Ntt=honeybees&Ns=&Nr=
&browseFilter=&Ntk=All&indexVersion=&Ntx=mode%252Bmatchallpartial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISrnYHt7AZA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S48vBHj12s

http://www.timeforkids.com/photos-video/video/bees-beware-296146

http://www.timeforkids.com/news/good-news-bees/166211

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/honeybees-food-colony-collapsedisorder_56393631e4b0b24aee47fee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JilYBVrFiLA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCI79nj4i-c

http://www.weebly.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDxSb7jhWNQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14dRueMfDjQ

http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/varroa.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5zb11HblOE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMCF0Psaf9g

6. Individual Required Activity 2

Lesson Plan
Name: Michelle Frigo, Jacqui Antonelli, Katelyn Mendez
Class/Subject: Science
Date: December 7, 2015
Student Objectives/Student Outcomes:
Students will discover how honeybees pollinate flowers through an activity in
which students will be taken through a day in the life of a honeybee.
Students will be able to describe the process of pollination and explain why it is
important by writing a one-page reflection in their science journals.
Content Standards:
NGSS.LS2.D: Social Interactions and Group Behavior Being part of a group
helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with changes. Groups
may serve different functions and vary dramatically in size.
Materials/Resources/Technology:
1 large bag of Cheetos
Juice boxes (one per student)
Different colored paper flowers (previously cut out by teacher, 2 per student)
Science Journals
Pencil
Time
5 minutes
Introduction of Lesson:
Begin the class by reviewing with students the main topic of the unit, which
is honey bees. Remind students that by the end of the unit they must come
up with a possible solution to help save the honey bees. Tell students that
in order to come up with possible solutions, they must first learn more
about honey bees. Tell them that today they will discovering how honey
bees help the earth through pollination. Ask:
What is pollination?
What type of honeybee does the pollinating? (worker bee)
Students have briefly been introduced to this topic and responses may be
limited. Explain to students that by the end of the class, they will understand
what pollination is and why it is important.
15sw

Lesson Instruction:
Prior to the beginning of the lesson, cut out paper flowers that are about
the size of a hand, using different colored construction paper. Cut enough

flowers so that there is enough for each student to have one. Also cut the
same number of flowers with a hole in the middle to be placed on top of
each juice box. Place 8 bowls filled with Cheetos around the classroom
and also distribute the flowers to various areas in the classroom.
Surrounding each bowl of Cheetos, place several juice boxes that have
straws and a flower with a hole in the center to place on top of the juice
box. Adapt the Cheetos and juice boxes to meet any dietary needs or
restrictions students may have in your class. Students will be drinking the
juice to stimulate bees drinking nectar, so an alternative solution to this is
having students drink water from a straw. Also, for the purposes of this
activity, students may or may not be allowed to eat the Cheetos depending
on the teachers opinion. The Cheetos will be used to stimulate pollen
appearing on a bee, by having cheese stuck to each student's fingers.
Explain to students that today they are honey bees. Just like honey
bees, they are attracted to different colored flowers and smells. When the
teacher says buzz they will get out of their seats and fly (walk) to a flower
that attracts them. Once they get there, they will land on the flower and drink
its nectar (juice). But wait! As they were drinking the nectar from the flower,
pollen just happened to appear on their bodies (fingers covered with
Cheetos cheese). Tell students that the word buzz will allow them to
begin flying around to find flowers. However, they need to be good listeners
because if the teacher says buzz, buzz, then they need to stop what they
are doing and listen to the next set of directions.
Ask students if they have any questions and then, if there are no
questions, say buzz. Watch as students fly(walk) around the classroom
and find a flower. Guide students to flowers that are not taken by a fellow
bee. After the students have drank a few sips of nectar from their juice
boxes, say buzz, buzz. Tell them that their is a bowl of Cheetos in the
middle of their flowers and have them each eat four Cheetos if they want to
and are not allergic. Tell them to make sure not to wipe or lick their fingers
because the cheese dust is pollen. Then, after they have eaten their
Cheetos, tell them that their job is not over. They must fly to another flower
(specify that it has to be a paper flower that does not have a whole in the
middle) and wipe their fingers on this flower. Say buzz and have students
fly (walk) to the other whole flowers around the room. Again guide students
to flowers that are not occupied by their fellow honey bees. After they have
wiped their hands on the flower, say buzz, buzz.
Tell students to look at the flower they have just landed on and talk to a
honey bee closest to them about what they see. As they are talking with
their partners walk around the room and listen to their discourse. You should
hear responses such as I see the cheese from the Cheetos on the flower
or The cheese dust, which is the pollen ended up on the new flower. Call
the students back as a whole group and ask a few students to share with the
class what they saw on their new flowers. If it is not brought up through a
student response, explain to students that they just pollinated a flower!
Honey bees help the environment by pollinating various flowers. They land
on a flower, drink its nectar and, as they are drinking the nectar, pollen from
the flower rubs onto the honey bees body. After the honey bee has drank
enough nectar, they move to another flower and the pollen on their body
rubs off onto that flower, which helps more flowers to grow.

Assessments/Checks for Understanding:

In order to assess whether students understood the concept of
pollination through the activity, have them take out their science journals
at the end of the lesson. Tell them that they are to respond to the question
What is pollination and how does it work? in several sentences. Remind
them to use examples from the activity to help them in their explanations.
Differentiate the length of student responses according to the students
level and their specific needs. For students who struggle with writing have
them write one to two sentences. For students who excel in writing,
challenge them by having them write three to five sentences. Also, allow
students with dyslexia or who have a writing disability the option of orally
responding to the question using technology, such as the microphone on
a chrome book or tablet.
Closure/Wrap-Up/Review:
Close the lesson by having students write a response in their science journals,
in order to formatively assess whether or not students understood
the concept of pollination through the activity. Tell them to leave their
science journals on their desk and review what they have written after the lesson.
For students who finish early, have them help clean up and throw
away trash from around the classroom.

7. Individual Required Activities

Research- the students will be reading through various articles. Depending on

the ability levels in the class, support for reading may be needed. If necessary
have students pair up in order to assist the struggling students. Keep students on
track by monitoring their computers. The students should be completing the
graphic organizer that is on Blendspace. They can either type their responses or
print the organizer and write on it.

Pollination Lesson- For this lesson the teacher will need to have roughly fifty
paper flowers cut out, using different colored construction paper. The teacher will
also need to buy Cheetos and juice boxes that fit the appropriate size of the
class. Provide support to students as they fly around the room in search of
flowers. Make it clear through each step what the bee is doing in the process of
pollination. As students are writing their reflections walk around the room and
provide further explanations about pollination for those who inquire about it or
who are confused and need more guidance on the concept.

Individual Optional Activities

The Bee Movie- this activity allows students to express their knowledge and
thoughts about what they have learned so far. The teacher should use

questioning in order to get the students to think about the long term effects the
Honeybees have on humans.

Books- Prior to this, the teacher should work with the school librarian and pull
books of various reading levels about honeybees. If the school does not have an
adequate amount of usable Honeybee books, check out books from the public
library. Make sure the students are choosing a book that he or she will be able to
comprehend.

The Varroa Mite- As students are watching the video clips and writing down
notes, walk around the class and determine whether or not students may need
more of an explanation as to why the Varroa mites are important and what impact
they are having on the honey bees. Provide additional guidance for students as
they are working on their haiku. Writing poetry may be difficult to some students
so provide those students with descriptive words that they may want to consider
using in their poem, such as infestation, parasite, disappearance, etc.

Compare/Contrast- These articles and videos are above grade level, however,
we believe students can understand the main idea. In the bottom circle for the
Venn diagram, some facts were provided. However, students still need to add
three additional facts to this section. Some clarification by the teacher may be
needed depending on the student.

Team Required Activities

Create a Campaign! - The students will come together in heterogeneous groups

to discuss what they have learned in the individual activities. From here they
start to create a campaign to help spread awareness about the decrease in the
bee population. They will create an action plan stating what they are going to do
for their campaign and plan out how they are going to get everything done. On
this plan they will explain their rationale behind all of their choices and talk about
how they are each going to participate in the campaign and bring in their own
ideas. The teacher should remind students to really talk through all of their
decisions and thoroughly explain why they made the choices they did for their
campaign.

Campaign Website - The website will be the compilation of everything they have
done in the WBI. The homepage will have their information about the decrease
in the bee population, and why it is so important that awareness is spread about
this epidemic. Then other tabs will showcase the different media forms that the
group decided to spread their campaigns message through. The students have
learned to use Weebly on past projects so they will be familiar to creating a
website in this format. that being said the teacher will still need to assist the
students with permitting time on the computer as well as with any technical
difficulties they may face.

Team Optional Activities

Create a PSA Video - the students will be creating a 1minute commercial about
their campaign. For this the teacher should help students borrow a school
camera, iPad, or other device to record on. The teacher should also make sure
the groups that are doing this activity are familiar with the editing systems on the
school's computers. the teacher should help with any other technological
assistance the groups have.

Create a campaign poster - For this activity the students will be creating posters
for their campaigns. They should offer that they can either create this poster with
a computer program, or with butcher block paper and other art utensils. If the
students choose to create a hand made poster make sure they take a picture of it
that they can upload onto their website for the performance and summative
assessment at the end of the WBI.

Create a Podcast - For this activity the students will be creating a 5 minute
podcasts where some of the students are interviewers and the other team
members of specialists on this topic. The groups that are doing this activity will
need a quiet place to record, so they will need to talk to the teacher about finding
a time they can go to a computer lab, or a quiet part of the school to record.
Again the students can come to the teacher for any technical assistance with the
recording equipment and they may need you to help them get started.

Create a letter & petition to send to your senators - For this activity the students
will be creating a letter and petition to send to their senators about their
campaign with facts about the decrease in the bee population asking the
senators to become involved with a solution. For this the teacher should suggest
to the students that they can look up their state senators and look up where they
tend to vote on environmental bills. This will tell the students a bit about the
people they are writing to and help them to really get into the mindset of
appealing to their senator. The teacher should encourage the students to talk to
other citizens about their concerns about the decrease in bees and work these
responses from the community into their letter.

8. The adaptations that have been made throughout the unit were differentiating
formative assessments, such as writing reflections, by altering the length of the
response, changing the format of the response (written to spoken) in order to meet the
needs of students who may struggle with writing or to address students who excel at
writing. The groups for this unit are heterogeneous, which offers differentiation in that
each group can choose what works best for them and meets the needs of all group
activities. Other adaptations may be adding subtitles in English or the native language of
the ELLs in the class on the video clips. This can also be beneficial to students with
hearing impairments in that they can still receive the same information as the other
students in the class. Modifications can be implemented in this unit to meet the needs of
all students in the summative assessment. Depending on the needs of a student, the
teacher can alter the finished product in the campaign to something that meets the
diverse needs of learners. Instead of creating a website, groups might have the

opportunity to talk to the class and present their materials as if the class was a group of
people at an event. The students would still be getting the word out about saving the
bees but would be doing so in a different format and alternative way. Because this is an
inquiry project, there are no set vocabulary terms that students need to memorize,
however, the following should be addressed and explained orally by the teacher explicitly
in the unit. These terms are also to be written for those students who are visual learners.

Pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of flowers

Colony Collapse Disorder: The mysterious disappearance of beehives and

worker bees. The disappearance of the worker bees causes the colony to
become dysfunctional.

Varroa mite: A parasite that lives feeds on the honey bees blood.

Pesticide: A chemical mixture that is used to destroy plant, animal, or fungal

pests.

Virus: an infectious, viral disease

PSA: Public Service Announcement

Campaign: A series of activities that is driven towards a specific result.

Podcast: An audio file, generally on a specific subject, made available on the

Internet.