Art, Design, and Biology

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 25.01.12

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. Background Knowledge & Content Objectives
  4. Teaching Strategies
  5. Classroom Activities
  6. Annotated Bibliography
  7. Appendix and Implemented District Standards
  8. Notes

Analyzing Avian Adaptations through Art

Courtney White

Published September 2025

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Teaching Strategies

Vocabulary Routine

When teaching new vocabulary, it is so important that students get a chance to practice that vocabulary and time to use it in context. While this certainly applies to academic vocabulary, it also applies to vocabulary that native English speakers might take for granted. Inspired by the LETRS vocabulary routine, teachers can explicitly teach vocabulary and require that students use that vocabulary in multiple ways across multiple contexts. Teachers can have students use the words in sentence frames, act out the words, or even draw words.42 These routines allow students to become comfortable with the new vocabulary and create a space where they will use the vocbaulary throughout the unit.

Comprehensible Input

Students must be able to understand the information that is put in front of them. For young students, this cannot be only through text and listening to a read aloud. For students with disabilities and students learning English, teachers must figure out a way to make sure they are understanding what they see and hear. This unit does this mostly in multiple ways: connecting to student experiences, using visual media, and modelling the use of academic vocabulary.43

Universal Design for Learning

In the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach, educators plan for the diverse learners in their classroom. This typically looks like planning multiple ways for students to engage in the content, multiple ways to represent the content, and multiple ways for students to respond.44 In using this approach, teachers make sure that all students, regardless of factors like learning disabilities or learning English as a second language, have a way to access content. Planning with all learners in mind “accounts for the variability among learners, minimizes barriers to learning, and assures successful learning for all students within a classroom.”45 This unit incorporates multiple ways of presenting content, as well as multiple ways for students to interact with and engage in that content.

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