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LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Ellie Ellison
4th Grade
2/26 from 11:05-11:35 am

(Include the title of each of the following sections in your written plan.)
A. Lets Predict the Weather!/Predicting Weather
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON AND UNWRAPPING OF THE STANDARD

The fourth grade students are wrapping up their unit on weather. They have learned about the
atmosphere, clouds and weather associated with different clouds, instruments used to measure
different weather characteristics and what they mean, and about air masses and fronts. They
have completed multiple readings, instructions, activities, and quizzes on each subtopic. The
students will now put together all of their knowledge they have acquired during their weather
unit towards actually being able to predict the weather though given information. The
students should be in a stage of Concrete Operational thinking because they are capable of
using logic, understanding of cause and effect, and classification abilities. These milestones
are critical in fully understanding and being able to predict the weather, and the students
should be able to apply these skills to the topic.
C. UNWRAPPING THE VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING and the NEXT GENERATION
SCIENCE STANDARDS (NATIONAL STANDARDS)

D. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand what are the
Know what are the facts,
broad generalizations the
rules, specific data the students
students should begin to
will gain through this lesson?
develop? (These are typically
(These knows must be
difficult to assess in one
assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)

How different

How to read the

Do what are the specific thinking behaviors


students will be able to do through this lesson?
(These will also be assessed in your lesson.)

Students will interact with a weather

characteristics of

symbols on a

map on

weather interact

weather map

http://www.edheads.org/activities/weat

How to recognize

her/

trends in weather

over a week

Students will predict how weather


moves across a map using the online
program

Students will make predictions on the


weather through the program

E. ASSESSING LEARNING
What will your students do and say, specifically, that indicate every student has achieved your
objectives? Remember every objective must be assessed for every student! DATA COLLECTION
SHOULD BE VERY SPECIFICWHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO HEAR/SEE/BEHAVIOR?

Objective
Read a weather map

Assessment
Students will identify different

Data Collected
I will walk around the room,

aspects of the weather map

prompting students to explain to

presented in the simulation

me different symbols shown such


as: high vs low pressure units,
fronts, temperature, wind arrows.
I will collect data on the chart
below. I will attempt to get
information from as many students
as possible.

Predict the weather

Students will look at the trends

Students will work through the

from the week of weather and

simulation to make a few days

make a prediction

worth of predictions. Their final


predictions of temperature, wind
speed, precipitation, clouds, etc.
and what the correct predictions
should be will be automatically
entered into the simulation and
analyzed, and then printed out on
a certificate, and those certificates
will be collected.

Student:

Identify
Temp:

Identify
Identify
Coverage: Percip:

Notes on Prediction:

F. MATERIALS NEEDED

We will be in the computer lab, and all computers, smart boards, printers, etc. will be taken
care of! Mrs. Stilwell has already booked the room. If the computer lab fails, we can go back to
the classroom and complete the simulation together on the smart board in the classroom.
G. MISCONCEPTIONS or ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS

I think students could have a hard time with putting everything together and remembering
what different combinations indicate. The simulation does a great job breaking everything
down, but I will also have a cheat sheet for the students to use.
H. PROCEDURE
(Include a DETAILED description of each step. Write what you will SAY and DO.)

Preparation of the Learning Environment

We will be in the computer lab for this lesson, so having the URL written on
the board for them to access the site. I will also have the website on the smart
board in the room to go through the simulation once as a class.

Engage -Introduction of the Lesson; How will you prepare students to engage in the
lesson?

As we wrap up math, we will instruct the students to put away their things and
walk over to the computer lab (it is just the next room over) and have a seat at
a computer. I will be sure to have the URL written up as well as bring the
website up on the smart board. I will also have the weather channel up with
the days forecast. I also have a screen shot of the weeks predicted weather
from the week before the class. We will discuss the weather and how we think
meteorologist predicted the weather, and the accuracy of the predictions. We
will then go onto the http://www.edheads.org/activities/weather/ and walk
through the instructions and level one together. I will read aloud the quotes
and have students come up to the board to pick answers. I will have them
explain why they picked their answer, but will not tell them if they are right or
wrong, as the simulation will in a moment. If something is wrong, when we
find out together, we will go over why it was wrong and how to get to the right
answer. After we work through level one once, the students will be free to try
level one on their own.

Implementation of the Lesson (specific procedures and directions for teacher and
students)

I will instruct the students to try level one on their own. They can print off
their scores when they are done. When they only get more than two full days
correct they can move onto the next level, printing their predictions as they
move along. I will be circling the room, asking them to tell me how they are
making their predictions, and helping when needed.

Closure

I will bring up a current weather map with ten minutes left of class (and give
them a warning five minutes previous to that). We will look at the symbols in
the map and make predictions for the next few days as a class, and see if they
match up with the meteorologists predictions.

I.

Clean-Up (if required)n/a

DIFFERENTIATION
Describe how you have planned to meet the needs of all students in your classroom with varied
interest and learning readiness, English language proficiency, health, physical ability, etc. How will
you extend and enrich the learning of students who finish early? How will you support the learning of
children struggling with your objectives? Hearing/vision impairments. Quick vs slower learners.

Content

Process

Product
Students will see their
predictions and how they

Students will actually be

line up with the actual


They will be using

able to put all they have


Interest

weather. Students may


their knowledge in a

been learning together and

explore the actual weather


real life application.

predict the weather.

map and made real


weather predictions in
their area.
Students will move on to
There will be a cheat
higher levels if they are

Readiness

Reading the first run

sheet provided

through together out loud

showing the symbols

ready, or jut continue to


improve the score at the
and what they mean
current level.

J. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

The students could become very frustrated with the program and confused. In that event we
would switch from working individually to bringing the program up on the SMART board
and working through a few scenarios as a class. If the students are moving through the
program too easily we can switch from level one to two or three. If it is still too easy we can
pull up real weather maps up on the SMART board and predict the actual weather for the next
few days and check to see if they align with what the professionals predict.

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