Developmental Lesson Plan

The Season of Trees

Teacher Candidate: Marissa Rapposelli Date: 4/14/2021

Group Size: 25 Allotted Time:60 Minutes Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Subject or Topic: The Seasons of Trees

Common Core/PA Standard(s)

● 3.3.4- A, B, and D - Biological Science: Know the similarities and differences of living
things, know that living things are made up of parts that have specific functions, and
identify changes in living things over time.
● 3.1.3.A5 Identify the structures in plants that are responsible for food production,
support, water transport, reproduction, growth, and protection.

Learning Targets/Objectives:
● Students will be able to understand ideas and techniques for identifying apple trees by
listening to the book The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree.
● Students will be able to complete a Q-Tip Painting depicting the four seasons a tree
goes through.
● Students will be able to complete an apple tree life cycle sort by using the information
they learned in class and from The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1) Q-Tip Painting 1) Observation/Completion
2) Velcro: Is A Plant vs. Not A Plant 2) Observation/Completion
3) Apple Tree Life Cycle Sort 3) Observation/Completion

Performance Assessment Rubric: Apple Tree Life Cycle:

Name:

Title/Name/Readability I have both the I have either the Title I forgot both the Title
Title and Name on or the Name on the and the Name on the
the paper. The paper. The teacher paper. The teacher
teacher had no struggled reading could not read what I
trouble reading the two or three of the wrote.
writing. words.

Classify/Understand/Ex I could classify, I could classify, I could classify,

plain Parts of The Cycle understand, and understand, and understand, and
explain all of the explain three or four explain two or fewer
parts of the cycle. parts of the cycle. parts of the cycle.

Identify Parts of The All 6 parts are Three or four parts Two or fewer parts
Cycle labeled correctly. are labeled correctly. are labeled correctly.
 Labeled Cycle Parts All 6 parts are Three or four parts Two or fewer parts
labeled. are labeled. are labeled.
Subject Matter/Content:
Prerequisites:
● Students know what plants are and how to classify them, and they are living things.
● Students know that trees are plants and are living.

Key Vocabulary:
● Seasonal Change: The change from winter to spring, spring to summer, summer to fall,
and fall to winter.
● Seed: A plant's method of reproduction that can develop into the plant it belongs to.
(lesson 1)
● Seedlings: A young plant grown from a seed. (lesson 1)
● Sapling: A young tree.
● Tree: A wood-based plant that has stems and trunks in the ground that grows from
water.
● Blossom: The flowers that grow on fruit bearing plants.
● Apples: Fruit that can grow on trees.
● Evergreen trees: A tree that does not shed their leaves/needles in the winter like other
trees.
● Pine Cone: Woody fruit found on Pine Trees with scales that open to release the seeds.

Content/Facts:
● Trees that are flowering can produce fruit.
● Apple trees will blossom before they grow into apples.
● Apple seeds that are found in the fruit’s core are responsible for reproduction of apple
trees.
● Pine cones which can be found on Evergreen trees, contain seeds inside which the cone
protects, and they are responsible for reproduction of Evergreen trees.
○ Evergreen trees are also called Coniferous trees.

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies: (10 Minutes)

● Hello friends! Yesterday we covered the parts and functions of plants! Can anyone
give me a quick recap of the parts we went over to jog our memory?
● Awesome job! Thank you for that refresher! Now I did ask a question at the end of the
class yesterday? Does anyone remember what I asked you to think about before
coming to class today?
○ Allow time for answers and questions during this time: stop once children give
answers specifically pertaining to ‘Is a tree a plant, why and why not.’
● Once the children start discussion, remind them that you asked them to see if a tree was
a plant or not before today’s class.
● Once discussing this with the students and gathering answers put up the velcro poster
on the board in front of the class. (found below in activity 2)
● Get the students attention and get them grouped together in smaller groups and give
each group 2 photos (shown below activity 2) and allow each group to figure out if
 their picture falls under the ‘Is A Plant’ or ‘Not A Plant.’ Once the students do this, ask
the group why they put the photo in each category and how they knew this.
● Once this activity is done and each group has shared, grab the book: ‘The Seasons of
Arnold’s Apple Tree,’ by Gail Gibbons.
● Prepare the students for this book with Interactive Read Aloud questions to predict
what will happen in the story.
● Once starting the book and ending it follow with recap questions:
○ What fruit did Arnold’s tree produce and in what season?
○ What happened to the apple tree throughout the seasons, what did you observe?
○ What season did Arnold like the best?
○ What is your favorite season, and why?

Development/Teaching Approaches (40-45 Minutes)

● Now that we have read our book, can anyone just give me a quick refresher of the
seasons?
○ Allow time for students to explain seasons, if they have difficulty provide help
and guidance and reshow book pages.
● Amazing job! Now I will try and trip you up: Do you know when each season is?
○ If they do not understand, allow them to guess but do not give an answer. They
will learn this later.
● Show the students an example of your tree Q-Tip Painting. (Found below: activity 1)
Explain to them they will be learning about the seasons throughout this project and will
be able to create artwork to take home as a reminder of what trees look like throughout
the seasons. Specifically, apple trees.
● The students will be given paper that has four square sections drawn with a bare tree
inside each one. The boxes are labeled winter, spring, summer, and fall.
● Ask the students to think back to the book they read in the beginning of class and go
over this each time for each of the seasons. Once finishing up one season the students
paint leaves and what the trees look like throughout the seasons on their paper. Allow
time for students to create this work.
○ On a side note, as the students if they think all trees lose their leaves.
○ Allow students to answer this question and then proceed by explaining to them
that the answer is no.
● After explaining to the students, the answer is no, explain to them that Evergreen trees
will not lose their needles.
○ Evergreen trees will always be green all year round. Hint that this is where the
name comes from.
○ The seeds they produce, unlike apple trees, produce pine cones to keep their
seeds safe and reproduce.
○ They have pine needles instead of leaves, and trees like this are called
Coniferous trees.
■ Ask students where they might have seen these trees before.
● Once covering this material on Evergreen trees, move back to apple trees and redirect
their focus back to the book.
● Then inform the students they will be completing a sheet to explain the life cycle of an
apple tree just like they saw in Arnold’s apple tree.
 ● The students then will get out their notebooks or SeeSaw notebook and the teacher will
present the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ7l40Y2zAU
○ Students will be taking notes on the life cycle of the apple tree throughout for
the paper they will be filling out afterwards.
● Once the video is over the teacher will hand out a piece of paper with pre-cut pictures
of the different cycle stages of the apple tree. The students will be instructed to lay out
their apple tree cycle and to glue them down. The students will then have to write
which part of the cycle it is: ex: Seed. They will then have to put an explanation down
of each part of the cycle. This is to help show their classifying skills, understanding,
and explanation of the cycle to show their knowledge.
● Once completing this the students will take a picture and upload to SeeSaw for
grading.
○ After every student submits: make sure to check they do!
● Once submitted the teacher goes over the model you created to do one more run
through of the life cycle of an apple tree with the students. Allow them to make
changes after this and after their submission so they have this as a resource to go back
through and look over.
● Allow students to ask any questions if they have any more confusion.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies: (5 Minutes)

● To finish up the teacher will thank the students for their hard work and provide them
with an exit ticket. It will be two questions for the students:
○ What are the six parts of the life cycle of an apple tree?
○ What was the tree we discussed in class that does not lose its leaves nor
changes color through the seasons, and how do their seeds reproduce?
■ The answers to these should be:
● Seed, sprout, sapling, tree, flowering tree, and apples on tree.
● Evergreen trees and pine cones.
● Once allowing them to answer these questions inform the students they will be learning
about color changing leaves because they saw this through the seasons of the apple
tree.
● Prompt the students for the next class to think about what season do leaves start
changing colors on trees and what colors they see.

Accommodations/Differentiation: Follow all IEPs.

● Accommodations: The student that we are accommodating for is a male ELL student
whose first language is Spanish.
○ While reading the story allow the student to have a copy in Spanish or the story
translated in front of them.
○ When watching the video turn on Spanish subtitles for the student.
○ When completing the Velcro activity make sure the group they are in helps
guide the student if she cannot tell by the Velcro photo.
○ When doing the assessment have the pictures in front of the student but allow
for them to write in Spanish or allow the student to have little slips in Spanish
for the labeling.
 ● Differentiation:
○ If a student is struggling they could have 1:1 instruction for the activities to
help break them down even more or have a student who is accelerated help the
student.
○ Students who are accelerated learners could prepare a summary on the life
cycle of an apple tree and describe Evergreen trees.

Materials/Resources:
● Book - Gibbons, G. (1995).The seasons of Arnold's apple tree. New York, NY:
Scholastic.
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ7l40Y2zAU before Apple Tree Life Cycle
● Pencils/Colored Pencils/Markers
● Notebook/SeeSaw Notebook
● Paint & Q-Tips & Construction Paper
● Velcro “Is A Plant vs. Not A Plant”
● Apple Tree Life Cycle Paper Blank

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels
Remediation Plan (if applicable)
Personal Reflection Questions
Additional reflection/thoughts

Activity Page:
Activity 1: I found this activity on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to have as a review for
the students to take home.
Activity 2: I created this picture sort for the students to be able to show the common
characteristics of plants vs. not plants. This sort does not show living vs. non-living things.

Activity 3: I found this activity on the site below to be able to sort the life cycle of an apple tree.
This directly relates to the book the children will read in the beginning of class and can be used
to sort and classify the life cycle relating back to lesson 1.
https://www.giftofcuriosity.com/apple-tree-life-cycle/?
utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_smartloop&utm_content
=smartloop&utm_term=37562072