Grade III / Elementary Science EARTH Module 1 — Me and My Environment LEARNING GUIDE

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Grade III / Elementary Science

EARTH

Module 1 — Me and My Environment

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Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) project. Prior approval must be

given by the author(s) or the BEAM Project Management Unit and the source must

be clearly acknowledged.

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Mind Map

The Mind Map displays the organization and relationship between the concepts and activities in this Learning Guide in a visual form. It is included to provide visual clues on the structure of the guide and to provide an opportunity for you, the teacher, to reorganize the guide to suit your particular context.

Stages of Learning

The following stages have been identified as optimal in this unit. It should be noted that the stages do not represent individual lessons. Rather, they are a series of stages over one or more lessons and indicate the suggested steps in the development of the targeted competencies and in the achievement of the stated objectives.

1, Activating Prior Learning

This stage aims to engage or focus the learners by asking them to call to mind what they know about the topic and connect it with their past learning. Activities could involve making personal connections.

Background or purpose

Everything around us is part of our environment. It is where we live and with whom we live. In this stage, the students will identify pictures, write its name beside each of them and form a new word (ENVIRONMENT) using the first letter of each of their names.

Strategy for Activity 1:

Small Group Discussion is a strategy used to generate ideas on a certain topic from all students in a limited time. This is done to increase the student - student interaction and to encourage participation of every student especially in expressing his/her ideas.

Activity1 — Breaking the Code

1. Organize the students into three groups.

2. Show them pictures and tell them that they are going to do an activity using the given pictures.

3. Distribute Activity 1. Please see pages 12 - 18.

4. After the activity, have them share their output to the class.

Formative Assessment

Check answers to questions in student activity sheet 1. Please see page 12. Check also the spelling of the name of each picture.

Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao

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Roundup

The students should be able to:

• identify the pictures and spell each of their names correctly.

• describe an environment.

2, Setting the Context

This stage introduces the students to what will happen in the lessons. The teacher sets the objectives/expectations for the learning experience and an overview how the learning experience will fit into the larger scheme.

Activity:

Tell the students that they will be working on different activities that will help them gain an in depth understanding of what an environment is, its components and the different life forms in each component. Through these activities, they are expected to realize the importance of each component, identify similarities and differences of home, school and other places in terms of their environment, explain the importance of each component and suggest ways to keep them safe and clean.

3, Learning Activity Sequence

This stage provides the information about the topic and the activities for the students. Students should be encouraged to discover their own information.

Background or purpose

There are three activities in this stage which you can use to achieve the goals stated above. These activities address BEC Competencies VI. 1.1-1.3

The first one is Getting To Know My School. This activity provides opportunity for the students to explore their school using their five senses. This will help them gain an understanding what the environment is, its three main components and the different life forms in each component. Words like living things, non living things, biodegradable, non biodegradable and recyclable trash are introduced here. You may also introduce the words “Aerial, Aquatic, and Terrestrial Plants and Animals” when you take up the different life forms inthe environment. This activity addresses BEC Competencies VI.1.1-1.2.This may last for two sessions.

The second activity is Frame to Frame. It provides opportunity for the students to increase their awareness on their community environment. It will help them gain an understanding that the components of the environment are the same in different places. It addresses BEC Competency VI.1.3.

The third activity is “Helping Hands Meet the Press”. This is an extension activity where students play the role of Journalists. They will listen, ask questions and note important details on the information that will be given by their guests in a talk show. The guests will be those who help in keeping the environment safe, clean and orderly like policeman, street sweeper, nurse, farmer, school head, and the like.

As a teacher, you can divide the activities into several sessions or modify them to suit the needs of your students.

Strategies for Activity 2:

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This strategy assists in the understanding of various abstract concepts. It develops science process/manipulative skills like observing, examining/investigating and drawing conclusion. Through this strategy, the students will be more engaged and motivated. It stimulates curiosity and increases student-student , student-material and student-teacher interaction.

However, careful planning should be undertaken in a field trip activity. You have to prepare the students for the location of the field trip, the tasks and the objectives. Make sure that you divide them into smaller groups and roles had been assigned to each member throughout the duration of the field trip so that they will know their responsibilities and they will be guided to learn how to learn.

2. Senses Chart – is a graphic organizer. It is a visual tool which helps the students generate and organize ideas into meaningful information using their senses. It helps students make connections of the information gathered.

Activity2 - SENSE sitivity Test

1. Before you start the activity, build the vocabulary of the words Living Things and

Non Living Things. Show them a plant on a pot and a pencil. Let them compare the two. Guide them to come up with ideas such as living thing and non-living thing. Then ask them what those wordsmean. Let them give example/s of each kind. As the lesson progresses, you may also introduce the words biodegradable, non

biodegradable and recyclable trash. 2. Organize the students into groups.

3. Inform them that they will visit and explore specific places in the school campus (e.g. canteen, playground, classrooms, garden, pond or any body of water available in your school)

4. Set safety measures specially if you let them bring sharp tools for digging and

breakable materials like magnifying lens for examining tiny objects. You may consider the following safety measures:

a. Wrap the sharp tools for digging with thick paper or cardboard.

b. Remind them not to run or push each other as they move around the school campus or when digging the ground.

c. Remind them to take extra care in handling the magnifying lens.

d. Emphasize that plants and animals should not be harmed in this activity. 5. This activity will use students' Senses. Ask them to taste only food if available. 6. Distribute Student Activity 2 and 2.A “SENSE sitivity Test”. Give them time to read

and understand the instructions. Please see pages 20 and 21 - 22. 7. Ask for clarification.

8. Lead the field trip. Take them to different places in your school. It would be better if they can bring along with them some tools for digging andmagnifying tiny objects to examine some living things found under the ground or in the water.

9. Allow them to explore the place for 20 minutes. Let them record the data on the

“senses” chart.

10. After the activity, bring them back into the classroom and have them share their experiences to the class.

11. Have enough time to process the students' answers from Student Activity Sheet 2 by asking questions.

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Strategy for Activity 3:

Small Group Discussion is a strategy used to generate ideas on a certain topic from all students in a limited time. This is done to increase the student -student

interaction and to encourage participation of every student especially in expressing his/her ideas.

Activity 3 – Frame to Frame

1. Group the students according to where they live(e.g farm, hills, plain, near the sea, by purok, etc.).

2. Have them talk about their community: the people, streets, buildings, houses, animals, plants, source of water and the like.

3. Let them create a picture on a manila paper describing their community. Guide them to use some adjectives such as narrow and dusty road, healthy plants, big and small houses, big river, etc.

4. Have them share their output to the class.

5. After the presentation of each group, have them compare their community with the other. Have them realize that their community might be different in many ways like the kind of plants and animals living there. However, they should also be able to realize that they are similar because each has the three components of the

environment: the land, the water and the air. These components make life possible for plants and animals including people in different places.

Strategy for Activity 4

A Talk Show – is a strategy which promotes discussion or interaction in the classroom. It provides opportunity for the students to connect their learning to their community or to real life situations. It gives them an opportunity to work with experts other than their teacher and learn from their experiences. It builds essential skills like listening, posing questions , noting details and synthesizing information.

A group of people who have great experiences in their work will be invited in the class to talk about their role in keeping their environment safe, clean and orderly. In this activity, we will call them the “Helping Hands”.

Activity 4 – Helping Hands Meet the Press

1. Tell the students that they will simulate a talk show in their classroom. 2. Ask them what a talk show is all about.

3. Brief them that they will be acting like journalists, listening to what the guests will be saying, recording important information and asking questions.

4. Together with your students, plan the things you will do before, during and after the talk show. Agree on the physical arrangement who will be the hosts, guests and what will each of them do during the show. The guests to be invited are those who hold certain responsibility in the school and community (policeman, postman, street sweeper, janitor, garbage collector, principal/school head, nurse, guard, etc.). 5. Divide the students into groups. The guests will take turns in explaining about their

roles in front of the whole class. In this process, each group will have a focus guest. They will take the responsibility of preparing questions and recording information given by the guest. They will then share it to the class after the talk show. The other groups will also record the information given by other guests and share this

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6. After the talk show, let each group share the things they learned from the guests. 7. Make the students understand that each person has roles and responsibilities to make

the environment safe, clean and in order.

Formative Assessment

Make follow up questions to lead them to the concept that you want them to learn. You may ask the following suggested questions:

• What is a living thing? a non living thing? Compare them.

• What is an environment made up of?

• In what way/s is the environment in different places similar? In what way/s are they different?

• What are some of the living things found in each component?

• How is each component important to us?

• How can you keep your environment safe and clean?

• Who is responsible in taking care of every component of the environment?

Roundup

– identify the three components of environment (water, soil, air);

– identify living things that live on water, land and air;

– describe some differences between living and non-living things;

– compare school, home and community environment;

– identify some helping hands in the school and community;

– explain the importance of water, soil and air to every living thing;

– suggest ways to keep the environment clean and safe.

4, Check for Understanding of the topic or skill

This stage is for teachers to find out how much students have understood before they apply it to other learning experiences.

Background or purpose

Below are suggested activities you can choose from to assess your students' understanding on the different topics.

Strategy for Activity 5

1. Small Group Discussion

2. Venn Diagram – is a graphic organizer. It is a visual tool which helps the students visualize the similarities and differences between two or more concepts. It is made up of two or more overlapping circles which show the relationship between or among the concepts.

Activity 5 – Comparing Environment

This activity allows the students see the similarities and differences of environment in different places.

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1. Let the students work in groups.

2. Provide each group with two pictures. Please see Teacher Resource Sheet for Activity 5 “Comparing Environment”, page 24 - 27

3. Have them identify the things found in each picture and describe how one is similar and different from the other and record them in a Venn Diagram. Please see Activity 5, pages 29 - 29.

Strategy for Activity 6

Picture Series – This strategy is used to assess how students see the relationship of objects in a given set.

Activity 6 – Next In Line

This is a paper and pencil exercise which assesses students' ability in identifying the relationship of pictures in a set using the concepts learned in the lesson.

1. Let the students work individually or in pairs.

2. Have them work on Activity 6 “Next In Line”. Please see pages 31 - 30.

Strategy for Activity 7

Small Group Discussion

Activity 7 – Home Base

This activity provides an opportunity for the students to classify plants and animals according to which environmental component they live or stay.

1. Divide the students into two groups.

2. Let them classify the plants and animals according to where they live. See Teacher Resource Sheet for Activity 7 “Home Base” , page 33 - 33 for sample pictures.

Formative Assessment

Check students' output. See Activity Sheets for their answers. Have enough time to process their answers by asking them follow up questions.

Roundup

– identify the similarities and differences between two places shown in the pictures;

– explain the relationship of the objects in a given set;

– identify life forms and classify them according to where they live.

5, Practice and Application

In this stage, students consolidate their learning through independent or guided practice and transfer their learning to new or different situations.

Background or purpose

Below are different activities you can choose from to let your students translate their understanding into new situations.

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Activity 8 – Say It With Picture

This activity gives an opportunity for the students to express their ideas through a drawing. 1. Have the students work in groups of three to make a poster. Let them talk about and draw how they can help in making the environment clean and safe. Please see Activity 8 page 37. 2. Set a specific time for them to work on their task.

3. Let one or two groups share their outputs.

4. Ask them to display their outputs. Please see Teacher Resource Sheet for Activity 8 “Rubric in Assessing Poster”, page 38

Strategies for Activity 9:

1. Field Trip

2. Small Group Discussion

Activity 9 – Environmental Exploration

This activity exposes the students to some environmental problems. They will then be asked to suggest ways on how these can be avoided/prevented.

1. Organize the students into groups. Let them choose their leader.

2. Take them to problem areas, it could be in your school or in the community (e.g. Dirty canal/pond, dumped garbage along the street, scattered garbage)

3. Have them observe and record the things they see. After few minutes of observation, ask them to return to the classroom and discuss things they have seen.

4. Distribute Activity 9 “Environmental Exploration”. Please see page 39 5. Sharing of output.

Strategy for Activity 10

Cooperative Learning

Activity 10 – Little Hands at Work

This activity enhances students' creativity in recycling things. There are three activities which you can let your students do.

Option 1

1. Assign students to bring empty boxes of milk or soap, cloth scraps, scissor, glue, ribbon, colored magazine/paper or any scraps that they can find in their homes. 2. Organize the students into three groups and challenge them to make a useful output (

pencil holder, decoration,, etc.) from the scraps that they brought. 3. Let them display their output.

Option 2

1. Divide the students into four groups. Let them bring scraps / any recyclable materials except steel/tin/aluminum or any sharp object.

2. Tell them that they will create an attire for girls and boys from the scraps they brought without using any needle and scissor.

3. Have them choose their models-a boy and a girl.

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4. Give them 30 minutes to plan and create an attire from the trash. After 30 minutes, have the models pose in front of the class. Please see Teacher Resource Sheet for Activity 10, page 40 for the rubric in assessing their creation.

5. You may give another task to those who do not like the above activity especially the boys. Instead, challenge them to make toys.

Formative Assessment

Move around to each group and check how they are working on their activity.

Roundup

The students should be able to translate their understanding about the topic on the activities/crafts/posters they make.

6, Closure

This stage brings the series of lessons to a formal conclusion. Teachers may refocus the objectives and summarize the learning gained. Teachers can also foreshadow the next set of learning experiences and make the relevant links.

Background or purpose

In this stage, the students will be writing a reflection about what they learned from the lesson. They will be given an assignment for the next unit as well.

Strategy for Activity 11

Reflective Writing using 3-2-1 Strategy -is a strategy for quickly assessing student's understanding of concepts during a lesson. They are asked to write 3 things they learned about the lesson, 2 things which make the lesson interesting and 1 thing they want to learn more about. In a way, it also assess how you teach the lesson to your students.

Activity 11.

1. Let the students write a reflection about the things they learned from their lesson on environment. Collect the reflection sheet and check how far did the students

understood the concepts. Check for misconceptions and be ready to explain it. Please see Activity 11 “3-2-1 Chart, page 41.

2. Assignment for the next unit of lesson – soil.

Organize the students into groups. Let each group bring soil in a glass jar. Let them specify its source by labeling the jar ( e.g. Garden, along the road, farm, etc.).

Formative Assessment

Check students' reflection sheets.

Make sure that they understood what they will bring for their new lesson on soil.

Roundup

– describe an environment;

– compare home, school and community environment;

– differentiate living things from non living things;

– identify the three components of the environment and their importance to living things;

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– use the words degradable, biodegradable, recyclable materials and give example of each;

– segregate the trash into three categories: biodegradable, non biodegradable and recyclable.

– identify environmental problems like improper disposal of waste and suggest solutions how to prevent/minimize it.

– suggest ways to keep the environment clean and safe.

Teacher Evaluation(To be completed by the teacher using this)The ways I will evaluate choose of my teaching this unit are:

1. 2. 3.

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Activity 1

Breaking the Code

Materials:

pictures of different objects, paste/glue/adhesive tape, manila paper, marker pen

(pentel pen)

Directions:

1. Paste the pictures on manila paper and write its name beside each of them.

2. A clue on the left side of the picture is given to you. Draw

a straight or

curved line

on each clue and it will give you the first letter of the name of

the picture.

3. Use all the first letters of the names of pictures (in chronological order) to

form a word.

4. Write the word formed out of the first letters of the names on the upper

portion of the manila paper.

5. Answer guide questions.

Guide Questions:

1. What were the first letters that you identified? What word can you form out

of these letters?

2. What does this word mean to you? What comes first into your mind when you

hear or read this word?

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Activity 1

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Activity 2

SENSE sitivity Test

Objectives:

1. Describe a school environment.

2. Differentiate living from non-living things.

3. Identify similarities and differences of some places (school, home

community).

4. Identify the three components of the environment.

Materials:

materials for digging the soil, magnifying glass, small pail, manila paper, marking

pen

Directions:

1. Explore the different places that you visited. Identify and describe the

things that you see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. List them on the

appropriate box in the Senses Chart and answer the guide questions, pages

21 - 22.

2. You may need to move the stones or dig the soil to find things under them.

Use magnifying glass so you can clearly see if there are living things in the

water and in the soil.

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Activity 2. A

SENSES CHART

OUR SCHOOL

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1. What are the things which make your school nice and beautiful?

__________________________________________________________________

2. What makes it ugly?

__________________________________________________________________

3. From your Senses Chart, classify the things that you listed under the proper

heading.

Living Things Non Living Things

4. How is a living thing different from a non-living thing?

__________________________________________________________________

5. What do you think an environment is? What does it include?

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6. Looking at your chart above, what are the different forms/kinds of living

things that you find in your school? In which component of your surrounding

does each of them live /stay (water, land, air)?

__________________________________________________________________

7. Can you also find these components (water, land, air) in other places?

__________________________________________________________________

8. If one of these components of your environment is missing/damaged, what

do you think will happen?

__________________________________________________________________

9. Why are the three components present in the environment?

__________________________________________________________________

10.As a grade three student, how can you help make your environment a safe

place to live?

__________________________________________________________________

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Teacher Resource Sheet for Activity 5

Comparing Environment

On the next four pages are pictures for this activity. Paste them on a

thick paper/cardboard and give each group two pictures to compare.

You may let them write their output on a manila paper or in the

activity sheet (see Student Activity Sheet 5, 29 - 30).

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Farm in San Jose

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Zamboanga City

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Activity 5

Comparing Environment 1

Directions: Use the pictures given to you. Identify each one's unique characteristics and record them in the appropriate

space under their name. Identify their similarities and record them in the space where the two oblong figures intersect.

Learning Guide, April 2010 29

Caraga, Davao Oriental

Zamboanga City

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8. Comparing Environment 2

Directions: Use the pictures given to you. Identify each one's unique characteristics and record them in the appropriate

space under their name. Identify their similarities and record them in the space where the two oblong figures intersect.

Banaue Rice Terraces

Farm in San Jose

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Activity 6

Next In Line

Directions: Examine the pictures in set A and Set B. Find and encircle the picture in Set B that belongs to Set A. Justify your

answer.

Learning Guide, April 2010 31

1.

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Teacher Resource Sheet for Activity 7

Home Base

Directions: Cut the following pictures and paste them on a thick paper. Let the students classify the organisms according to where they live/stay. Have them justify their answers.