Germs and Handwashing Unit
One of my favorite science units to create was the Germs and Handwashing unit. Our school was working to meet some of the health frameworks through our science classes. Each class in the school completed a four week unit on a single subject and then presented their topic at a community-wide Health and Safety Fair. My class learned about germs and handwashing. Although it is important to meet the state standards when teaching students with special needs, it is also important to incorporate their goals and objectives while teaching content. Through the Germs and Handwashing unit, I was able to meet the curriculum frameworks for goal area 8 while working on the study skills my students needed to practice such as note taking, highlighting, completing labs, following directions, answering questions using a text, and using technology. Below you will find examples of my lesson plans and individualized worksheets and labs.
During the first week of the unit, I introduced the concept of germs and we discussed the importance of washing hands in order to reduce the spread of disease. The students were able to use the Smartboard to sort handwashing steps. They also had the opportunity to watch a Brain Pop video and answer questions collaboratively. As you can see, my students required a great deal of collaborative work and teacher guidance. They also benefitted from many attempts to work on the same activities and concepts. It is important when working with special needs students to set high standards, but to also move slowly enough for them to be successful.
In the sheets above, you can see how I tailored information to meet the needs of my students. One skill we were working on was answering questions from a text. Our first step toward working on this skill was to color code each question as we pre-read them. As we read, the students highlighted or underlined the answers to go with each question (with teacher guidance). The students were then able to answer the questions more independently. Throughout the year, we progressed by highlighting the answers in the same color, and having the students independently highlight the answers.
We completed a lab to see if washing your hands made a difference in how quickly germs spread.
The above lab was a virtual lab that I created to go with a Mythbuster's video. The students were very engaged in the lesson because they really liked the video that went along with the lab. They were also able to experience a more technologically advanced experience because of the equipment that our school has.