READING UNIT-INFORMATIONAL TEXT

~WEATHER~

DAILY SCHEDULE:

1. Monday, 3-10-14 Introduce Twister (H), Clouds (Y), Rain
(L)/Frontload Vocabulary/ Write down key facts
(prewriting activity)

2. Tuesday, 3-11-14 Continue reading/ Collecting facts/ finish
prewriting activity (collecting evidence)

3. Wednesday, 3-12-14 Begin graphic organizer (using prewriting fact
sheets)

4. Thursday, 3-13-14 Finish graphic organizer/ begin rough draft

5. Friday, 3-14-14 Readers Theater Practice Round-Whole group

6. Monday, 3-17-14 Work on Rough Draft Writing

7. Tuesday, 3-18-14 Begin Final Draft writing

8. Wednesday, 3-19-14 Finish Final Draft writing/ start artwork

9.Thursday, 3-20-14 Polish Final Drafts/ finish art work/
comprehension assessment on Kapiti Plain

10. Friday, 3-21-14 Readers Theater Performance- Bringing the Rain
to Kapiti Plain/ Kapiti Plain self assessment?









READING UNIT LESSON PLANS~INFORMATION TEXT ON
WEATHER

Lessons 1 & 2
Language Arts
Reading Groups-Informational Text Reports
(3/10/14, 3/11/14-Grade 1- 20 min)

Standards: CCSS ELA Literacy RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a
text. RI 1.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. RI 1.4 Ask and
answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
RI 1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

Lesson Objective: BLUE I will read and write about twisters.
YELLOW I will read and write about clouds.
RED I will read and write about rain.

Materials: white board, Twisters by Lucille Recht Penner, Clouds by Marion Dane
Bauer, Rain Marion Dane Bauer

Instructional Procedure:
- Introduce topic: Twisters, Clouds or Rain
- Remind students that many of these types of weather dont happen much in Santa
Barbara/ ease students who are fearful of these types of weather
- Frontload vocabulary//write vocab words on board/encourage choral responses
o Blue: tornado, collides, funnel
o Yellow: wisps, layered, heap
o Red: wilt, bright, heavier English Language Development (Alejandro,
Angel, Ariana, Robert R) *Show visuals*

-As each student reads the book, have them keep a bookmark in their books so they can
easily write on the bookmark interesting facts they learned from the book (give evidence
and page number) *Red group will have the book read to them//they will fill out their
bookmarks as I read the story

Check for understanding questions
-Review vocab as students read
-Q: Blue-How does a tornado form? How do tornadoes affect us on land? How
long do tornadoes usually last for? Where do tornadoes usually take place?
Where do people stay during a tornado? When do they usually take place?
-Q: Yellow-What is fog? What are the three types of clouds? How would you
describe a stratus cloud? What does a layered cloud do? What are clouds made up
of? Why do we need clouds?
-Q: Red-What does is mean when the flowers wilt? What is a cloud made of?
How does the cloud make rain? Why is rain so important? Who does rain help?
Where did the puddle go?
-Remind students of different forms of water (solid, liquid, gas/ ice
crystals/water vapor)
*Students must respond to questions in a complete sentence (explain hand motion of the
letter C) Improving their academic discourse by encouraging them to speak in complete
sentences and use proper grammar

Closure: Students share one or two facts they have written by the end of the reading
rotation

Assessment: Informal assessment- as students read the story and answer comprehension
questions the teacher can monitor how well students are thinking about the text content as
they read

*Verify that Alejandro, Angel, Ariana, Robert R, Jacob are contributing to the
comprehension discussion//chorally responding to vocab/ writing facts on their
bookmarks

*Verify that Robert Z, Kiera, and Raghu are being challenged as they read and answer
comprehension questions//stretch their thinking//finding evidence in the text to support
their thinking

*Verify that Aaron does not have any distracting objects in his hand during the lesson
and that his eyes are always on the teacher or book following along/freezing finger when
the teacher asks him to

*Verify that Joel & Eli stay on task/ monitor how well they write fact ideas on their
bookmarks & recalling information that has been

*Students will be finished reading by Tuesdayif students finish before they may start
brainstorming on their semantic map worksheet



Lesson 3
Language Arts
Reading Groups-Information Text Reports
(3/12/14-Grade 1-20 min rotations)

Standards: CCSS ELA Literacy RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a
text. RI 1.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. RI 1.4 Ask and
answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
RI 1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
W.1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts
about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

Lesson Objective: BLUE I will read and write about twisters.
YELLOW I will read and write about clouds.
RED I will read and write about rain.

Materials: white board, Twisters by Lucille Recht Penner, Clouds by Marion Dane
Bauer, Rain Marion Dane Bauer, graphic organizer

Instructional Procedure:
-Introduce the graphic organizer (red, yellow, green, blue bubbles)
-Remind students that good writers plan out their writing before they can write
a book// we will be doing a report on our book and planning out our writing
(rough draft and final draft review)
-Brainstorm ideas of what students will write as students look at their
bookmark to recall facts
-Students begin working on graphic organizer


Assessment: Informal assessment- students complete the graphic organizer as the teacher
monitors how well students are thinking about the text content and apply their thinking to
their writing

Lesson 4
Language Arts
Reading Groups-Information Text Reports
(3/13/14-Grade 1-20 min rotations)

Standards: CCSS ELA Literacy RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a
text. RI 1.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. RI 1.4 Ask and
answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
RI 1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
W.1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts
about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

Lesson Objective: BLUE I will read and write about twisters.
YELLOW I will read and write about clouds.
RED I will read and write about rain.

Materials: white board, Twisters by Lucille Recht Penner, Clouds by Marion Dane
Bauer, Rain Marion Dane Bauer, graphic organizer, rough draft paper

Instructional Procedure:
-Student finish the graphic organizer (red, yellow, green, blue bubbles)
-Teacher reminds students to fill out all bubbles& use the How do you
know? poster to encourage students to look back to the text to find evidence
-If students finish the graphic organizer early, they can move on to writing the
rough draft
-Students need to be reminded that they must complete their report in order (1.
Red, 2. Yellow, 3.Green, 4. Blue) 1=topic 2=Topic are ____ 3. Text
Evidence/ Facts 4. Restate the topic


Assessment: Informal assessment- students complete the graphic organizer as the teacher
monitors how well students are thinking about the text content and apply their thinking to
their writing

Lesson 5

Language Arts
Readers Theater Prep
(3/14/14-Grade 1-15 min)

Standards: CCSS ELA Literacy RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and
demonstrate understanding of their central meaning
RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Lesson Objective: I will read Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain.

Materials: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain,white board

Instructional Procedure:
-Read Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
-Discuss relevance//relate to weather
-Explain Readers Theater project (good readers use expression when they read
aloudwouldnt it be boring and confusing if I read like this)
-Students practice their lines with their partner characters

Assessment: Informal Assessment-students listen to the story and answer comprehension
questions during and after the story is read to them


Lesson 6 &7
Language Arts
Reading Groups-Informational Text Reports
(3/17/14 & 3/18/14-Grade 1- 20 min rotations)

Standards: CCSS ELA Literacy RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a
text. RI 1.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. RI 1.4 Ask and
answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
RI 1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
W1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts
about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.


Lesson Objective: BLUE I will write about twisters.
YELLOW I will write about clouds.
RED I will write about rain.

Materials: white board, Twisters by Lucille Recht Penner, Clouds by Marion Dane
Bauer, Rain Marion Dane Bauer, rough draft paper, graphic organizer (for each reading
group)

Instructional Procedure:
-As students continue working on their graphic organizers and rough drafts,
remind students of the [red, yellow, green, blue] writing pattern
-Continue to explain the writing process (graphic organizer, rough draft, final
draft) *Writers plan out what they want to write about
-Have students edit their own papers, checking for mistakes before they
complete their work
-Brainstorm with students about what they want to write about for their blue
sentence Q: What did you talk about in your writing? What is one main idea
you want your readers to know about Rain, Twisters, or Clouds?

*Students must respond to questions in a complete sentence (explain hand motion of the
letter C) Improving their academic discourse by encouraging them to speak in complete
sentences and use proper grammar (Use How Do You Know poster-Blue & Yellow
groups)

Closure: Students share one or two facts they have written in their rough draft

Assessment: Informal assessment- as students write in their graphic organizer and rough
draft the teacher can monitor how well students are thinking about the text content and
applying what they learned through their writing

*Scaffold writing process with Robert R.

*Have Blue group use at least one of the How Do You Know sentence frames


Lesson 8 & 9
Language Arts
Reading Groups-Informational Text Reports
(3/19/14 & 3/20/14-Grade 1- 20 min rotations)

CCSS: W1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply
some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

Lesson Objective: BLUE I will write about twisters.
YELLOW I will write about clouds.
RED I will write about rain.

Materials: white board, Twisters by Lucille Recht Penner, Clouds by Marion Dane
Bauer, Rain Marion Dane Bauer, rough draft paper, graphic organizer (for each reading
group), final draft sheets for each reading group

Instructional Procedure:
-As students continue working on their rough and final drafts, remind students
of the [red, yellow, green, blue] writing pattern
-Continue to explain the writing process (graphic organizer, rough draft, final
draft) *Writers plan out what they want to write about
-Have students edit their own papers, checking for mistakes before they
complete their work
-remind students that the final draft needs to be written in their best hand
writing
-Show students their options for their drawings at the top of the final draft
-Allow students to finish their final draft and drawing the following day if
necessary

Closure: Students share their final report with the group. If time allows each group will
share their reports with other students from different reading groups and inform the other
student on the topic they just studied and wrote about

Assessment: Students will be informally assessed through their efforts during this entire
writing process; students will be graded on their final draft product using the writing
feedback stickers


Lesson 10
Language Arts
Readers Theater-Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
(3/21/14-Grade 1- 30 min)

CCSS: ELA Literacy RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate
understanding of their central meaning
RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Lesson Objective: I will perform Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain to the audience.

Materials: headbands, personal costumes, hard copies of script

Instructional Procedure:
-Go through the dress rehearsal once in the morning, with no pauses
-Teacher will film the video so the students can see themselves and make
adjustments when necessary
-Make sure all students use expression and understand the importance of
being in character (teacher models with a few of the characters lines using
expression)
-Teacher reminds students of using high volume when they speak
Right before the real performance the students listen to the different categories
they would be graded on (based off of the rubric)

Closure: Students perform the Readers Theater for their friends and family. After the
audience has left we will debrief about their performance and talk about what went well
and something they found to be challenging during the Readers Theater.

Assessment: Students will self assess themselves as they complete the worksheet. The
teacher will explain each category so the students know what they are scoring themselves
on. Then the teacher will use that self-assessment to help grade their performances based
off of the rubric.































Science Unit~ Observing Weather
Daily Schedule:

1. Monday, 3-10-14 Introduce Clouds/ Cloud Book Project/ Read
Cloud Book / Sing cirrus song/ Semantic
Map/ write cirrus section in the cloud book
*Send Kapiti Plain excerpt home

2. Tuesday, 3-11-14 Observation day-make observations outside
(possible picture taking with Ipad) describe
what we see writing activity

3. Wednesday, 3-12-14 Introduce stratus clouds/ Read Cloud Book
/ Sing stratus song/write stratus section in
the cloud book/

4. Thursday, 3-13-14 Introduce cumulus clouds/Read Cloud
Book/Sing cumulus song/ write cumulus
section in the cloud book

5. Friday, 3-14-14 Introduce nimbus clouds/sing nimbus song/
sing the entire song/Finish cloud books &
all art glued

6. Monday, 3-15-14 Read Water Way /Water Cycle Project/
Hang Zip Locs

7. Tuesday, 3-16-14 Read What Make Rain?/ Rain & Cloud
Experiment/ make water cycle
observations

8. Wednesday, 3-17-14 What happens in your neighborhood sort
worksheet/ Water Cycle Foldable

9. Thursday, 3-18-14 Writing about what kind of weather
students hear/feel/ (descriptive writing
activity)

10. Friday, 3-19-14 Review Kapiti Plain story/reviewing
weather themes/descriptions/water
cycle/types of clouds
SCIENCE UNIT LESSON PLANS~ Observing Weather (Clouds
& Water Cycle)

Lesson 1
Science-Cloud Book Intro
(3/10/14-Grade 1-45 min)

State Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment
affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, and recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will learn about cirrus clouds.

Materials: Cloud Song poster, construction paper, cloud insert papers, Cloud Book,
Semantic map on white board, cloud picture poster

Instructional Procedure:
-Introduce cloud unit
-Show the cloud book example
-Frontload vocabatmosphere, flurries, cumulus, nimbus, stratus, cirrus
*Have students chorally respond
-Sing the Cirrus part of the Cloud Song & Cloud Poster
-Show the hand motions for cirrus cloudslift hands high in the air and wiggle fingers
*Make sure all students are participating (singing & hand motions)
-Show the semantic map on the board
-Brainstorm descriptive words for cirrus clouds
-Students write cirrus description on book insert

Assessment: Informal assessment-students complete the book inserts while the teacher
monitors how well they can describe the cirrus clouds in writing

*Have Robert R. write one description of a cirrus cloud
*Monitor Aalinas writing progress
*Ask Ariana to provide a descriptive word for our word bank

*Continue to work on this book for the remainder of the week. (If students do not finish
the cirrus insert they can finish up the following day)


Lesson 2
Science
(3/11/14-Grade 1-20 min)

Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment affect the
way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and
recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will observe clouds outside and describe what they look like.

Materials: Ipad, journals

Instructional Procedure:
-Talk about clouds (review the cloud song & Cloud Book)
-Go outside with class and observe the clouds
-Take a picture with the ipads
-Come back inside and students think of describing words as they look at the cloud
picture on the ipad (think-pair-share with their table)
-Students write what they see in the picture in their journals

Assessments: Informal assessment-students writing is monitored as they write in their
journals

*Ask Angel & Alejandro to share some descriptive words with the class (encouraged to
use academic language//think-pair-share encourages communication with their peers)

Lesson 3
Science-Cloud Book Intro
(3/12/14-Grade 1-45 min)

State Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment
affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, and recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will learn about stratus clouds.

Materials: Cloud Song poster, construction paper, cloud insert papers, Cloud Book,
Semantic map on white board

Instructional Procedure:
-Remind students of vocabatmosphere, flurries, cumulus, nimbus, stratus, cirrus
*Have students chorally respond
-Sing the stratus part of the Cloud Song
-Show the hand motions for stratus cloudsFold arms across one another
*Make sure all students are participating (singing & hand motions)
-Show the semantic map on the board & cloud poster
-Brainstorm descriptive words for stratus clouds
-Students write stratus description on book insert

Assessment: Informal assessment-students complete the book inserts while the teacher
monitors how well they can describe the stratus clouds in writing
*Students finish the book for the remainder of the week


Lesson 4
Science-Cloud Book Intro
(3/13/14-Grade 1-45 min)

State Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment
affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, and recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will learn about cumulus clouds.

Materials: Cloud Song poster, construction paper, cloud insert papers, Cloud Book,
Semantic map on white board

Instructional Procedure:
-Remind students of vocabatmosphere, flurries, cumulus, nimbus, stratus, cirrus
*Have students chorally respond
-Sing the cumulus part of the Cloud Song
-Show the hand motions for cumulus cloudsmake a circle with each hand and make
popping motion
*Make sure all students are participating (singing & hand motions)
-Show the semantic map on the board & cloud poster
-Brainstorm descriptive words for cumulus clouds
-Students write cumulus description on book insert
Closure: Sing the cloud song once more and include hand motions

Assessment: Informal assessment-students complete the book inserts while the teacher
monitors how well they can describe the cumulus clouds in writing

Lesson 5
Science-Cloud Book Intro
(3/14/14-Grade 1-45 min)

State Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment
affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, and recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will learn about nimbus clouds.

Materials: Cloud Song poster, construction paper, cloud insert papers, Cloud Book,
Semantic map on white board

Instructional Procedure:
-Remind students of vocabatmosphere, flurries, cumulus, nimbus, stratus, cirrus
*Have students chorally respond
-Sing the nimbus part of the Cloud Song
-Show the hand motions for nimbus cloudswiggle fingers-making rain
*Make sure all students are participating (singing & hand motions)
-Show the semantic map on the board & cloud poster
-Brainstorm descriptive words for nimbus clouds
-Students write nimbus description on book insert

Closure: Students sing the cloud song again with all of the hand motions we have learned
this week (reviewing each cloud)

Assessment: Informal assessment-students complete the book inserts while the teacher
monitors how well they can describe the nimbus clouds in writing

Lesson 6
Science-Water Cycle Introduction
(3/17/14-Grade 1-50 min)

State Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment
affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, and recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will learn about the water cycle.

Materials: zip locs, sharpies, Waters Way by Lisa Westberg Peters, paper inserts, white
board, tape

Instructional Procedure:
-Read Waters Way
-During the story explain how water is always changing (both on land and in the air)
-Explain the water cycle throughout the story//rains, runoff, evaporation, condensation
-Draw the overall picture (clouds, rain, river, water vapor) and explain each part of the
water cycle as the story is read *Have students chorally respond once each step in the
cycle has been explained
-Show the project students will make
-Explain the directions:
1. Students get the bag 2. Students get the paper insert 3. Students color their bags with
sharpie 4. Students have their bags filled with water and tape bags to the window
-Once bags are made, students can point to different images in their picture that represent
each step in the water cycle

*Tuesday students will observe their water cycles and observe if any changes occurred

Assessment: Informal assessment-students complete their water cycle project while the
teacher monitors how well they can describe the process & provide examples





Lesson 7
Science-Rain Experiment
(3/18-Grade 1-1 hr)

State Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment
affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, and recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will see how many rain drops my cloud needs to cause rain.

Materials: What Makes Rain? By Keith Brandt, jars, cotton balls, droppers, water, trays,
saran wrap, computer and adapter for video

Instructional Procedure:
-Show the Rain drop video
-Read What Makes Rain? Q: Where does rain come from? Why do we need clouds to
give us rain? How do clouds make rain?
-Review the water cycle with the class
-Explain how each table group will get to experiment with a cloud and try to make the
cloud make rain
-Show students what materials they will need: jar, cotton balls, droppers, and water
-Every member of the table group will help make the cloud rain
-Teacher models what students will do: Take the dropper and squeeze the water into the
cloud, after one squeeze the student passes the dropper to the next student who will then
continue with squeezing one drop with the dropper onto the cloudstudents continue this
rotation until students see a drop of rain fall from their cloud
-One student from each group must keep track of how many drops it takes to make their
cloud rain

Closure: Teacher asks each table to share how many drops it took to make their clouds
rain; students discuss how this experiment helps represent a cloud making rain
(forming the rain drops and the cloud eventually becomes too heavy and burstscausing
rain to fall etc)

Assessment: Students will answer check for understanding questions during the story
and will need to explore how a cloud makes rain through the experiment and discussion
that follows. The teacher will monitor their learning throughout the experiment and story
reading.







Lesson 8
Science-Weather Unit
(3/19/14-Grade 1-45 min)

State Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment
affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, and recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will sort different types of weather between those that happen in
my neighborhood and those types of weather that do not.

Materials: construction paper, worksheets with cut outs, colored pencils, glue

Instructional Procedure:
-Continue with weather unit, explaining that the same type of weather that is happening
right now in Santa Barbara might not be happening somewhere else in the world
-There may be lots of different weather happening right now that we dont even know
about
-Show students the finished sort worksheet
-Explain to students that we are going to be sorting different types of weather, between
what types of weather happen in our neighborhood and what does not
-Directions: Students cut out the worksheet squares, sort the weather types into each
category, have the teacher check to make sure everything is in the right spot, students get
permission to glue down their pieces

Assessment: Students will need to compare the types of weather they notice in Santa
Barbara and what weather they do not see-the sort worksheet acts as a check for
understanding activity where the teacher can monitor if the students are finding
connections or patterns with types of weather seen in SB

Lesson 9
Science Writing Prompt
(3/20/14-Grade 1-45 min)

CCSS: ELA W.1.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the
book they are writing about, state opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide
some sense of closure.

Lesson Objective: I will listen to different types of weather and write about them.

Materials: writing journals, white board, speakers, computer

Instructional Procedure:
-Ask students to listen to each of these weather sounds first and close their eyes
-Then ask students to listen to each weather sound again and recognize what type of
weather it sounds like (Sounds include thunder, rain, sunny/birds chirping, windy etc)
-Students write their responses in their journals as they hear each sound
-Q: What do you feel when you hear this type of weather? Have you heard this weather
before? Describe what the weather sounds like.

Assessment: the teacher will collect 5 student journals and grade them based off of the
writing rubric; teacher will meet with those students and review their writing


Lesson 10
Science
(3/19/14-Grade 1-45 min)

State Standards: 1.2 #4 Describe how location, weather, and physical environment
affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, and recreation.

Lesson Objective: I will make a water cycle mobile using different symbols.

Materials: cut out worksheet, string, popsicle sticks, colored pencils, paper clips

Instructional Procedure:
-Ask students to recall the water cycle as the teacher draws the cycle on the white board
-Review vocabulary (condensation, evaporation, precipitation, runoff)
-Remind students that a cycle rotates in a circle
-Show students the four symbols they would be working with to make the mobile
-Ask students to think about the four words in the water cycle and which word they
would match with each symbol
-Show students a finished mobile and demonstrate how to attach the image onto the
mobile
-Send students to their seats and distribute the materials (cut out worksheet and mobiles)
-Students complete the mobile independently as the teacher walks around assisting with
the project when necessary

Assessment: Formative assessment-students will be asked to recall the four water cycle
vocab terms and match those terms to symbols; as students complete the project the
teacher will monitor if students can place the images in the correct order of the water
cycle










Reading Unit Reflection

During this particular unit, one of my unit goals was to create an interdisciplinary
unit connecting our class science weather unit with our informational text unit. I wanted
students to make connections between what we were learning about in our science
curriculum and bring that evidence to support their thinking as they wrote expository
pieces in Language Arts. Overall I believe the students were able to engage with the
material more across both content areas.
This unit allowed students to read an informational text, gather evidence from the
text, and write a well planned final draft. Students were able to understand the writing
process and appreciate the final product that they worked to hard to complete. Students
at each reading level were interested in their texts topic and were able to successfully
share their knowledge about the subject with the other classmates who did not read the
same book during the unit. I also thought the How Do You Know poster acted as a
great reference as students are beginning to articulate their thinking and use academic
discourse. The sentence frames on the poster reminded students how they can start to
speak using complete sentences. The Readers Theater also acted as a wonderful
culminating event at the end of our weather unit. Students learned how to use expression
as they read and they took great pride in their work and performance for their families.
I found that having students write down important facts from the text on their
homemade bookmarks seemed like it would help students find more evidence in the text,
but allowing enough time for the students to write down the facts took way too long. The
constant pauses to wait for students to write down facts did not seem maximize the
instruction time and most students used the graphic organizer and rough draft as a
resource, not the bookmark. In the future I will define what a fact is and explain more
thoroughly how students can find facts (not just random sentences they find favorable). I
will also stick to using comprehension questions and writing student responses on the
board, straying away from the bookmarks.



















Science Unit Reflection
This science unit reviewed both the water cycle and the differently types of
clouds. Through this unit students were able to complete experiments, sing songs, and
make mobiles and booklets. At this grade level students are not graded on performance
in this content area, just effort put forth. Through the informal assessments and projects
the students were able to demonstrate their knowledge about both clouds and the water
cycle.
I was able to get creative with my science planning so I found that this unit really
catered to the multiple intelligences. As I tried to avoid over planning each science
session for the two weeks, I was able to move at a decent pace and allow students to
grasp the material through hand motions, songs, and art projects. One strength I found
during this unit was the making rain experiment. Students were very engaged with the
experiment and they collaboratively came to scientific conclusions. I allowed the proper
amount of time needed for students to explore and discover during the experiment as
well. I believe that the closure I provided for my students was also successful because
lots of great ideas were shared and academic discourse was constantly being exchanged.
As a future goal I would try to keep reminded myself to stick with lesson
simplicity. The mobile project called for a lot of additional preparation for me and I did
not see the mobiles acting as pivotal piece for student understanding. In the future I
would like to focus on engaging the ELs in my class and familiarize them with more
advanced scientific vocabulary. As I taught the water cycle I used my own drawing of
the water cycle to explain the entire process, so I need to create visually pleasing images
so students are able to comprehend the cycle more clearly.