This Week's Lesson Plan

Unit Topic: Science

Grade 3

Lesson Topic: Identifying Clouds

Lesson Objectives:

  1. Students will be able to identify cumulus, stratus and cirrus clouds by picture.

  2. Students will be able to describe characteristics of the three main types of clouds.

Instructional Technique: Discussion, independent work, group work

Instructional Materials: http://extension.illinois.edu/treehouse/clouds.cfm?Slide=4 , ID a cloud handout, and KLW worksheet

Theoretical Perspective: Students should know this material because clouds are a part of everyday life. They are seen almost every day and it is useful to know how they help the earth and what they provide for humans. Students will be able to identify the different types of clouds they see on a regular basis.

Procedure

  1. Introductory Activity: Teacher will lead a class discussion about prior knowledge of clouds. Students can go up to the board to draw what they think clouds look like and write the names of any kind of cloud they already know. Then the teacher will identify the three main types of clouds, a picture to go along with it, and some descriptive words of each cloud.

  2. Step-by-Step

  • The teacher will hand out a “What you know, What you learned, and What you still want to know” worksheet. At this point the students will be instructed to fill out the “what you know” section with their prior knowledge of clouds.

  • The Teacher will lead the introductory activity described above.

  • The teacher will lead the introductory activity, asking questions such as; What types of clouds have you seen? What do you think clouds are made of? What do clouds do?

  • The teacher will do a brief lesson, with a picture powerpoint, of the three main types of clouds. The teacher will ask the class if they can use some descriptive words to describe each of the clouds.

  • The students will be instructed to start to fill out the “What I Learned” section of their worksheet.

  • The teacher will transition to the computer activity where students will read more about what clouds do and are made of, as well as learning about the different variations of the three main types. After reading, they will complete the “ID a Cloud” activity and the students, equipped with a worksheet, will fill it out to the best of their ability. The class will do the first one together.

  • When students are done with the computer activities they will work in groups completing the rest of their first worksheet, completing the sections “what I learned and “what I still want to know”

  • When groups are finishing up discussions, the class will come back together and the teacher will listen to what the students learned, what they found interesting, and listen and answer the things they still want to know.

  1. Closure: When groups are finished with their discussions, the class will come back together. The teacher will lead a class discussion, listening to what the students have put on their first worksheet, and answering any questions. The class will then go over the worksheet they completed while doing the online activity, going over all the types of clouds. The teacher will listen to what the students learned, what they found interesting, and listen and answer the things they still want to know.

  2. Adaptations for Different Learners:

  • For students with visual impairments, the worksheets included will be available online so the student will be able to enlarge the text and type.

  • For students who are non native speakers, the computer activity can be changed to the student’s native language through computer settings. Since the worksheets are also available online, students will also be able to complete them in their native language.

  • For struggling readers, extra time will be allowed for students to complete reading the computer module.

  1. Homework: For homework, the students will be instructed to go home and look at the clouds they when they get home after school. Students will share what they saw the next day.

Evaluation

  1. We will be able to determine if we have met our objects at the end of the lesson by evaluating the students through a short quiz. Our first objective is that students will be able to identify cumulus, stratus and cirrus clouds by picture. This section of the quiz we be matching where the students will match the word Stratus, cirrus, or cumulus to the corresponding picture. Our second objective is that students will be able to describe characteristics of the three main types of clouds. On the quiz the students will have space below their identified clouds to write descriptions of each cloud that we have discussed in class. We will also have the ID A Cloud worksheet that they students will have completed to get a good sense of where they are at and if they understand, but we are not planning to base our whole evaluation on this because of the chance that the students may have just guessed.

  2. Some concerns that we have about teaching this lesson is being able to accommodate all needs of different learners. Since we cannot make physical changes to the computer activity (other than change the language/volume), we want to make sure we could adapt the lesson other ways. Another concern we have is having to rely on technology for the majority of our lesson, with the potential that the computers could not work.
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