Deliverable
🌱 Root Cause Analysis
Content Expertise
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Effective Communication
Collaboration
Self Directed Learning
ESS.2.C
K-ESS3-3
ESS.3.C
ESS.3.A
LS.2.C
Big Ideas
Performance Tasks
Real-World Challenge
Learning Partners and Clients
Submission Required
Grading Required
Students revisit test trays and community source cards to decide what makes soil move most on farmland. In teams, they build a cause-and-effect picture mat with movable icons such as rain, bare soil, slope, roots, mulch, crops, and stream. Teams share their claim, give feedback to 2 peers, receive feedback, and revise their picture mat and oral explanation before a brief teacher checkpoint.
Plan day
Day 4
Duration
50 min
Grouping
Small Group
Steps
8 steps
Lesson plan
8 steps · 50 min| # | What teachers do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Gather on the rug and look at the test trays and source cards from earlier. Point, touch your head, and say what you notice: rain, bare soil, roots, mulch, crops, slope, or stream. (5 min) |
| 2 | Stand up for a quick water-move break: use your hands to show rain falling, water moving downhill, and roots holding soil tight. Then sit with your team and get your picture mat and movable icons. (3 min) |
| 3 | With your team, sort the icons into two groups: makes soil move more and helps soil stay. Put each icon on the mat and talk about what you saw in the trays or cards. (8 min) |
| 4 | Build your cause-and-effect picture mat. Place icons to show what happens first, next, and last, such as rain on bare soil on a slope leading to soil moving toward a stream. (8 min) |
| 5 | Practice your team claim with a sentence frame: 'We think ___ makes soil move most because ___.' Add one idea that could help, such as roots, mulch, or crops. (5 min) |
| 6 | Take a gallery walk to two nearby teams. Give one kind comment and one help comment using simple prompts like 'I notice...' and 'Maybe add...,' then do a stretch and return to your spot. (6 min) |
| 7 | Use the feedback to revise your picture mat and your oral explanation. Move icons, add missing causes or helpers, and make sure everyone in the team can point to the evidence. (5 min) |
| 8 | Meet with the teacher for a quick checkpoint. Show your mat, say your claim, and answer one question about what makes soil move on farmland and what could protect it. (5 min) |
Preparation (10 items)
- Set out each team's previous test trays or clear photos of them, plus the community source cards used in the last activity.
- Prepare one large cause-and-effect picture mat per team with simple spaces or arrows for first, next, and last.
- Print or laminate movable picture icons for rain, bare soil, slope, roots, mulch, crops, stream, and soil moving; add Velcro, magnets, or tape loops so children can move them easily.
- Create a visual anchor chart with two headings: 'Makes soil move' and 'Helps soil stay,' using matching icon pictures and simple words.
- Post sentence frames with picture cues: 'We think ___ makes soil move most because ___' and '___ helps soil stay because ___.'
- Prepare peer feedback cards with icons and short prompts: 'I notice...' and 'Maybe add...,' plus a smiley face and thinking face for young learners.
- Plan mixed-ability teams of 2-4 students and assign simple roles such as pointer, mover, speaker, and helper.
- Set up a short gallery-walk path so teams can visit two others safely and quickly without crowding.
- Keep a teacher checklist ready for the checkpoint with look-fors tied to evidence use, correct icon placement, and oral explanation.
- Have extra supports ready, including larger icons, fewer icon choices, picture vocabulary cards, and real samples or photos of mulch, roots, and crops.
Student-facing instructions
You will work with your team to figure out what makes soil move on farmland. You will look at your test trays or tray pictures and the source cards, then use a picture mat and movable icons for rain, bare soil, slope, roots, mulch, crops, stream, and moving soil. First, you will sort the icons into things that make soil move more and things that help soil stay. Next, you will build a picture showing what happens first, next, and last. Then your team will say a claim using the frame, 'We think ___ makes soil move most because ___.' You will visit two teams, give one kind comment and one help comment, and listen to their ideas too. After that, you will fix or improve your mat. Your goal is to make a clear picture and a short explanation you can later share with a local 4H Extension visitor or farmer about what causes erosion and what can help protect the soil.