Lesson Sketch for EDT 313

Individual completing this lesson plan

Emilee Downing & Gabby Gum

Lesson title: Sink & Float Classification Game

Date that lesson was taught:

Standards in 2 Domains: D: Approaches to Learning T: Planning, Action and Reflection S: Use prior
knowledge and information to assess inform and plan for future actions and learning.
D: Cognition and General Knowledge- Science T: Inquiry S: Describe, compare, sort, classify and order
Instructional objectives: list 2observable/measurable objectives for this lesson. Use precise language w/ action verbs.
The student will be able to:
1. Classify objects depending on whether they think they will sink or float in water
2.

Develop basic, beginning criteria to decide if something will sink or float

Experiences: Describe authentic (real life, hands-on not representational) materials and enticing/ creative experiences in
which children are actively engaged. Safety should be addressed if warranted.
During free play time students will be called over to a table in groups of 4, to work in pairs. Students will be given various
authentic. Amongst these materials will be authentic resources from the classroom setting and objects they may be familiar with
outside the classroom. Students will be asked to classify these objects into two groups: sink and float. Students will predict if an
object will sink or float in water and then test their predictions with the materials at the water table.
Whether an object sinks or float in a liquid depends mainly on two factors: density and buoyancy. However, at this
level, students do not need to explain why objects sink or float. They are rather to be encouraged to observe that the same objects
will sink or float every time, i.e., that there is consistency in the way the objects behave. This will help students devise their own
ideas about physical properties and how they can be used to describe and categorize objects.

Objects to test:
Block
Plastic letter
Paper clip
Pencil
Eraser
Plastic spoon
Rubber ball
Plastic bottles

Evidence of student learning: To document student learning we will use a checklist to ensure students
have met the objectives given above. We will also document language samples throughout the activity to be
used later to determine misconceptions and to base future learning off of.
Reflection: This lesson helped to put the students and their abilities into perspective. We learned that our
lessons had to be simplified in order to increase student learning. We needed to reduce the number of
objects we experimented with to 4 items, as anymore than that seemed to be a distraction. The instruction
had to be very direct and short so we didnt lose student focus too quickly. I also found that asking students
about sinking/floating in their personal lives kept them interested in the lesson.