Spanish Lesson: La salud de los ríos
Lesson Plan
45 minutesGrades2English Language Arts
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Written by Liz Ransom, Maria Rojas, Sustainable Jersey for Schools
About this lesson
Students listen to a book about the Passaic River, learn about healthy rivers, and create the next pages of their book.
Inquire: Students brainstorm the ways that a river can become unhealthy.
Investigate: Students listen to the second chapter of a read aloud about the Passaic River and discuss their reactions.
Inspire: Students identify activities that might harm a river and create the next section of their take-home book about rivers.
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Everything you need to teach it
- Teacher SlideshowOpen
- Student DocumentOpen
- Teacher DocumentOpen
- Vocabulary CardsOpen
- E-BookOpen
- Student BookletOpen
Teaching tips
Suggestions
- This lesson is designed to be taught in a Spanish bilingual or dual language class and can be used to reinforce sentence structure, parts of speech, and singular and plural nouns, or to reinforce nonfiction reading comprehension.
- Teacher can use the terms used in this lesson, contaminar, los contaminantes, and la contaminación, to teach students about word families.
- This lesson can be taught in conjunction with a science or social studies unit.
- This lesson explores the positive and negative effects that human interactions can have on rivers.
- This discussion may bring up anxiety for some students. Consider using resources from the Climate Anxiety: SEL Resource for Teachers including a template to inform caregivers of the topics in the unit and sentence frames for discussions.
Prerequisites
- This is lesson 2 of 3 in our 2nd grade Spanish Language Unit: Biomas de los ríos.
- Before this lesson, students should have read or listened to the first chapter of the e-book, Descubriendo al río Passaic.
- Teacher should review the e-book and the speaker notes in the e-book slides before teaching this lesson.
- Students need scissors and glue for the comprehension activity in the Inspire section.
Differentiation
- Teacher can use the sentence strips found in the Teacher Document to guide student responses.
- Part 2 of the Investigate section could be optional or modified if teachers feel that students would be overwhelmed by discussions on climate change.
- In the Inspire section, students can represent their understanding of the text through their drawings only, complete the sentence stems, or write sentences or full paragraphs depending on their level or needs.
- Independent readers can be given the e-book to read on their own or in groups. The e-book can be saved as a PDF or printed out.
- Teacher can upload the e-book to a platform such as VoiceThread and record an oral version of the e-book for students to listen to independently or in groups.
From the scientist review
Esta lección permite a los estudiantes aprender sobre los ríos y sus ecosistemas, y también pueden proponer ideas nuevas para mantener los ríos limpios y libres de contaminación. Después de revisar la lección, encontramos que pasó nuestro procedimiento de revisión científica.
This lesson allows students to learn about rivers and their ecosystems, and they can also come up with fresh ideas for ways to keep rivers clean and free of pollution. After reviewing the lesson, we found that it passed our scientific review procedure.
This lesson allows students to learn about rivers and their ecosystems, and they can also come up with fresh ideas for ways to keep rivers clean and free of pollution. After reviewing the lesson, we found that it passed our scientific review procedure.
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About the teacher writers
Liz Ransom
High School Teacher
As a High School Spanish teacher and student newspaper advisor, Liz has taught for over 20 years and has served as World Languages Department Chair and K-6 summer camp activities leader. She has worked in Ohio, Maine, New Jersey, Maryland, and Chile.
Maria Rojas
Maria Rojas has 14 years of experience teaching bilingual and dual language education, specializing in Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics, World Languages, and Spanish for grades K–3 and English as a Second Language for grades K–12. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Linguistics and Spanish from Montclair State University, a Master of Education in Curriculum and Learning from William Paterson University, and a Master's degree in Spanish-American Literature and its Application to Teaching from Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca and Fidescu. Maria also holds certifications in Spanish-English Translation, English as a Second Language, and Bilingual Education (Spanish), and has been teaching in the public sector since 2013.
Sustainable Jersey for Schools
Sustainable Jersey is a network and movement of municipalities, schools and school districts working collectively to bring about a sustainable New Jersey. Acting with state agencies, non-profit organizations, foundations, academia and industry, Sustainable Jersey researches best practices for what communities could and should do to contribute to a sustainable future.
