7/27/2019 Reading Enjoyment Unit

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Rebecca Van Pelt

FRIT 7734

Reading Enrichment/Enjoyment Unit

I will be working with a group of third graders. The focus of the unit will be on fossils as

evidence of organisms that lived long ago. There are 22 students in the class. The chart below

breaks down the demographics of the class.

Student Race Sex Ability Levels

1 White Female Average

2 Black Male Low3 Black Female Low (504/Bipolar/T3)

4 White Female High

5 White Male Average

6 White Female Average

7 White Male Low

8 White Male Average

9 White Female High

10 Black Female Average

(T2/Repeating 3rd

)

11 White Female Average12 White Male Average

13 Black Female Average

14 White Male Low

15 Black Male Average

16 White Male Average

17 White Female Average

18 White Female Average

19 White Female Average

20 White Male High

21 White Female Average (504/ADHD)22 White Male Average

Two of the students are on Tier 2 for remediation. One for failing 3rd

 grade last year, and the

other for performance issues in reading and math. She also has a 504 plan in place for the

diagnosed disability of Bipolar which includes, priority seating, extended time, and small group

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testing. She is on medication to control the disability. One student is ADHD and is also on a

504 plan, which includes redirection, extended time on test and assignments, and priority

seating.

Standards addressed during this unit:

S3E2. Students will investigate fossils as evidence of organisms that lived long ago.

a.  Investigate fossils by observing authentic fossils or models of fossils or view

information resources about fossils as evidence of organisms that lived long ago.

b.  Describe how a fossil is formed.

ELACC3RI4. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain – specific words and

phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

Day 1

The students will participate in story time by listening to Stone Girl Bone Girl: A Story of Mary

 Anning of Lyme Regis by Laurence Anholt. While listening to the story, students are to list all

the vocabulary words they hear that pertain to fossils. They will then get with a partner to

compare their lists. The students will then use poster board, markers, and color pencils to

create a mini word wall with the fossil words and drawings from the book. The groups will then

share their word walls with the class. The class will then make one large list of the words and

these will be added to the class wiki page for fossils.

Day 2

The students will be shown a YouTube video: What Are Fossils and How Do They Form

http://youtu.be/c_DCP4cLVNg 

Day 3 

The students will be taken to the computer lab and given a fill in the blank, follow along

worksheet as they pretend to be paleontologist and unearth a fossil using the following two

sites.

Virtual Dinosaur Dig

http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/interactives/dig/dinodig.html

Sea Monsters – Virtual Dig

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www.nationalgeographic.com/seamonsters/virtualdig/

Day 4

Students will be asked to write a “blog” on their experience of discovering fossils and what they

have learned. They will also include if they now understand the character Mary Anning a little

better after acting as paleontologist themselves and discovering fossils. These blogs will be

added to the class wiki page along with the virtual dig and YouTube video. The students will

later be shown the wiki as a review tool on fossils and will continue to add to the page as they

learn more about fossils.

Day 5

Students will be taken to the computer lab and asked to create a Prezi on fossils. They can

choose from one of the following topics.

1. How fossils are formed.

2. How to unearth/dig a fossil.

Teacher example: http://prezi.com/-

6nbxy8myrzu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share