USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Grade Level Being Taught:

Subject/Content: Earth
1st
Science
What Standards (national or
state) relate to this lesson?

Essential Understanding

Objectives
Rationale

Evaluation Plan

What Content Knowledge is

necessary for a teacher to
teach this material?

Group
Size:19

Name: Rachael Doyle

Date of Lesson: 11/17/2015

Lesson Content
SC.1.E.6.3 Recognize that some things in the world around us happen fast and some
happen slowly.
SP.PK12.US.1.2c - Apply skills and strategies (scanning, predicting, paraphrasing/
summarizing, rereading, inferencing, retelling, self-questioning, note taking, outlining,
and interpreting text structure) to gain information from a variety of media sources and
instructional presentations.
Why is it important for students to know how their planet Earth changes? They will be
living on planet Earth for the rest of their lives. Some changes happen fast while others
happen slow. This connected lesson will explain the science behind the fast and slow
changes.
Students will be able to identify fast changes in Earths land.
Students will be able to identify slow changes in Earths land.
Students will be able to match items to their changed forms.
Natural disasters and weather and erosion are constantly occurring. Its important for
students to know what is the cause and result of these fast and slow changes. None of
them pop out of thin air as they might be led to believe at an early age. Natural disasters
have both good and bad results they damage the environment and can even be
deathly. But, wildfire for example, after it takes places, theres rich soil in the ground for
seeds to be planted and new life can replace it.
Pre-Assessment (11/17)
Students will be given a worksheet titled Changes. The worksheet gives the students a
definition of change (becoming different over time). The students will have to match the
five different items to what they change to over time.
Formative Assessment (11/17)
Students will be filling out a note-taking guide based off the Big Book read aloud. It will
be completed as a class as I go along and read the book.
Teachers will need to have a knowledge of how the following things are caused and the
result of:
Volcanoes
Earthquakes
Weathering
Landslides

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Grade Level Being Taught:
Subject/Content: Earth
1st
Science

What background knowledge

is necessary for a student to
successfully meet these
objectives?
What misconceptions might
students have about this
content?

Group
Size:19

Name: Rachael Doyle

Date of Lesson: 11/17/2015

Flood
Erosion
Glaciers
This is completely new content for the students. The pre-assessment will give the teacher
an idea if a student has previous knowledge of the concept of change, not necessarily
immediately diving into land changes. I have a wide range of students on all achievement
levels. With the information and activities being completed in the lessons, I believe that
regardless of their ability level, there is enough scaffolding for all of the students to be
successful.
Misconceptions about erosion:

Rocks do not change.

Weathering and erosion are essentially the same thing. The two words can be used
interchangeably.

Erosion happens quickly.

Erosion is always bad.

Misconceptions about volcanoes:

Volcanoes are randomly located across the earths surface the cause of them in
plate tectonics. Students dont learn the concept of plate tectonics isnt taught until
middle school

Volcanoes are found only on land.

Volcanoes are found only in hot climates.

All volcanoes erupt violently.

Volcanoes only erupt straight up through the top vent.

If a volcano doesnt erupt for a hundred years, its extinct.

If a volcano does not produce lava, it is not dangerous.

Misconception about earthquakes:

Earthquakes happen randomly across the earths surface.

The ground opens up during an earthquake.

Misconceptions about flooding:
It wont flood during a drought

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Grade Level Being Taught:
Subject/Content: Earth
1st
Science

Group
Size:19

This property has never flooded

Im on a hill so I cant flood

Im not on a creek or river

Im above flood level

Protected by levees

Name: Rachael Doyle

Date of Lesson: 11/17/2015

Misconceptions about landslides

Only caused by human impact

Teaching Methods

Step-by-Step Plan

Lesson Implementation
Day 1:
Direct Instruction
Recitation
10:15
Teacher &
1. Pre-assessment: Teacher will pass out Changes worksheet.

student
The teacher will explain that not everything stays the same.
10:30
In front of you is a worksheet with different changes on
them. You will have to draw a line from one side to the item
that it changes to on the other side. Dont worry, this wont
Teacher
be graded!
and
2.
The students will be called to the carpet and have a seat on
11:00
Student
their name. The teacher will sit in front of them with the Land

Teacher
and Water Big Book.
11:30
3. The teacher will connect the worksheet to the book using
examples on the worksheet (caterpillar -> butterfly, snowman
-> water). Mention the volcano -> mountain. This is an
example of a land change. Can anyone think of another land
Teacher
change before we learn about them in the big book?
4. Before we start reading, let me tell you guys some exciting
news. For this read aloud, you are going to become reporters
like the weathermen/women you see on TV? So your job is
going to be to report the information you hear about in the
Teacher
book to the teacher so she can let everyone in the school
know about fast changes and slow changes.
Teacher
5. Teacher will pass out report paper and make her own copy on

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Grade Level Being Taught:
Subject/Content: Earth
1st
Science

Group
Size:19

Name: Rachael Doyle

Date of Lesson: 11/17/2015

and
Student

What will you do if

What will you do if
Meeting your students needs
as people and as learners

the white board.

6. Teacher will read aloud the pages, stopping after the end of
each page and asking the students what would be a good
piece of information to write down on their report. The
consensus will be whats written on their report/notebook.
a student struggles with the content?
Show them brain pop videos that explain the information in a more visually moving way
maybe the pictures in the big book isnt a good enough explanation for them?
a student masters the content quickly?
Ask the students if there are any other land changes that werent mentioned in the big
book have them extend/research their learning.
If applicable, how does this lesson connect to the interests and cultural
backgrounds of your students?
Maybe there are students who want to become weather reporters when theyre older?
If applicable, how does this lesson connect to/reflect the local community?
Thankfully landslides, earthquakes and volcanoes dont happen in Plant City. But with the
amount of rain that Florida gets in the summer, its possible that some flooding can
occur! Weathering and erosion is happening all around them, slowly but surely on a daily
basis.
How will you differentiate instruction for students who need additional
challenge during this lesson (enrichment)?
For the summative assessment at the end of the connected lessons, everyone will have
to explain at least one land change. Students who need further enrichment will have to
explain land changes that werent explained in the lessons to further their thinking
(glaciers, wildfires, etc).
How will you differentiate instruction for students who need additional
language support?

Accommodations
Materials

Changes worksheet
Land and Water Big Book
Land Changes Report sheet
Pencil

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Grade Level Being Taught:
Subject/Content: Earth
1st
Science

Group
Size:19

Name: Rachael Doyle

Date of Lesson: 11/17/2015

Resources:
Changes Worksheet: Lauren Bright One Bright Classroom on
teacherspayteachers.com https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/LaurenBright-One-Bright-Classroom
http://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/earths-changing-surface/commonmisconceptions-about-weathering-erosion-volcanoes-and-earthquakes
http://www.floodvictoria.vic.gov.au/centric/faq/common_misconceptions_about_floo
ding.jsp

baby

mountain

plant

water

boy

butterf ly

Group
Size:19

volcano

caterpillar

seed

snowman

Draw a line to connect the things on one side to the things that they change to over
time.

Think about all the things you have seen today. Are they the same as they were
yesterday when you saw them? Are they the same as last month when you saw them?
A year ago? Things change. Change means becoming dif ferent over time.

Changes

Name: ________________
USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)
Grade Level Being Taught:
Subject/Content: Earth
1st
Science
Name: Rachael Doyle
Date of Lesson: 11/17/2015

Group
Size:19

F ast Changes

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Grade Level Being Taught:
Subject/Content: Earth
1st
Science

Name: Rachael Doyle

Date of Lesson: 11/17/2015

Land Changes Report

Sl ow C hanges

Reflection
My CT didnt know they needed a pencil so when I got to the classroom they were already on the floor ready for
instruction but without pencils. So unfortunately that resulted in a loss of instructional time in the already short
instruction period. Students talked a lot and that should have been expected but it wasnt! I should have given
students opportunities to talk instead of giving them information all the way through without a break. Theyre first

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Grade Level Being Taught:
Subject/Content: Earth
1st
Science

Group
Size:19

Name: Rachael Doyle

Date of Lesson: 11/17/2015

graders after all. If I were to do this same lesson with the same group of students, I would find a different way to give
students the same information. I tried making it more engaging by calling them reporters and giving them a recording
sheet but that did not work. There was one student out of the 19 that followed the directions to a tee all the way
through, which goes back to my management practices.
Analysis
The students did enjoy the lesson being delivered through a big book. They loved the real-life images of volcanoes and
earthquakes. Knowing that students need opportunities to share all the ideas theyre shouting out will help with further
instruction. I used their pre-assessment to reference their prior knowledge. There were plenty of misconceptions
revealed in this lesson. I thought that there were strict conceptions, volcano was fast, earthquake was fast, erosion was
slow, etc. But during the lesson a student threw a curveball when she said that she thought a volcano was a slow land
change. I never want to put students in a box so I was at a loss for words as to how to steer her thinking I definitely
didnt want to change it and tell her shes wrong. As long as she can justify it, there isnt a problem!