LONG FORM LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Name:

Luz Renteria Gomez

Content Area(s)
Grade(s):

Date:

12/5/14

Science
K4

Rationale/Context
(What do I know about the
students in this class that will help
me plan the lesson?)

Lesson Domain(s)

This is a K4 classroom.
As far as I have heard, all of their science lessons have
been exploratory/discovery learning so far

Cognitive, Aesthetic, Physical

WMELS, Kostelnick

Learning Goal(s)/
Standard(s)
(WMELS)

Instructional Objectives
(observable behaviors
(WMELS)

IV. Approaches to Learning

A. Curiosity, Engagement, and Persistence
EL. 1. Displays curiosity, risk-taking, and
willingness to engage in new experiences.
C. Diversity in Learning
EL. 3. Uses various styles of learning including
verbal/linguistic, bodily/kinesthetic, visual/special,
interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
V. Cognition and General Knowledge
A. Exploration, Discovery, and Problem Solving
EL.1. Uses multi-sensory abilities to process
information.
C. Scientific Thinking
EL. 1. Uses observation to gather information
EL. 3. Hypothesizes and makes predictions.
EL. 4. Forms explanations based on trial and
error, observations, and explorations.

Students will observe the objects that sink or float and

will discuss their observations with the small group
Students will be able to talk about the fact that the same
object will sink or float every time (consistency in the
way the objects behave)
Students will hypothesize whether they believe an object
will sink or float

Assessment
(Criteria/Look Fors)
(WMELS)

If I wanted a more formal assessment for the students, I

wouldon the following day or some time laterbring in
more items to put on each table and have the students
draw on a Sink or Float assessment sheet whether they
think the items will float or sink.
For now, the way this lesson will be set up will just be as
an introductory/exploratory lesson for the students, so it
will just be observing.
I will be observing for

o
o

students who are just not understanding that if an

object sinks once, it will sink each time
Students who after a few tries are not guessing
sink or float correctly (if they believe that the
dense things will float)
students who are guessing correctly each time
(extension)

Content
( Concepts & Academic
Language Focus)
WMELS, Curricular Resource)

Questions
(Kostelnick, Based on lesson,
goals, knowledge of students)

Instructional Strategies
(Kostelnick May include but are
not limited to: Task Analysis,
Scaffolding, Behavior Reflections,
Paraphrase, Modeling, Effective
Praise, Telling, Explaining,
Questioning, and Turn &Talk/Pair
Share.)

Materials
DAP

Academic Langauge focus will be on the words sink and

float
Dense, heavy, light, buoyant are words that might come
up as well
Focus on the science aspect of observing and
hypothesizing

What do you predict is going to happen?

What do the objects that sank have in common?
What do the objects that floated have in common?
Will this float/sink every time?
Why do you think these things floated and these didnt?

Questioning
Modeling
Telling
Explaining

buckets to fill with water

apples, pens, blocks, balls, sponges, rocks, other items
lids with labels and pictures (WILL FLOAT) (WILL SINK)

Start lesson out with whole group discussion.

Bring the bucket full or water to front or have students
turn to the back table to see the bucket of water.
Tell students that today, we will be doing a science
project.
We are going to find out what kinds of things sink and
what kinds of things float when we put them in water.
Ask students what the words float and sink mean
Explain that when something floats, it means that it
comes up to the top of the waterlike when we have
floaters in the pool
When something sinks, it means that it goes all the way
down to the bottom of the waterlike when ships throw
that heavy anvil off the ship to make it sink down and

Instruction Procedures
(w/Time - Total & by section
Kostelnick)

Introduction
Demonstration
Participation
Practice

stop
Explain that today, we are going to be predicting.
I brought a lot of different objects to observe today, but
we are each only going to pick out two that we are going
to put in the water during play time. That way everyone
will get to predict and observe if their objects sink or
float.
For right now, lets do some together
Pick out something that will float.
Observe it closelythinking aloud and asking students
what they observe about the object. Ask students to
predict whether they think it will sink or float. Place
object in water and watch it float
Do the same for an object that will sink
Pick out the apple and observe it the same way as the
other ones.
When it floats, explain that even though it is a pretty
heavy and hard object, it does not sink. Ask students
why they think that is.
Explain that some objects are more dense (hard,
packed) than others and so they sink.
And some objects are more buoyant (the material that
they are made of floats easier) and so they float.
example: adults are heavy and dense, but they can float
on water because they are buoyant.
Just explain the dense and buoyant part quickly and
explain that some predictions will be wrong even if you
really think they will be right (like the apple), but thats
okay. Thats why we are observing like scientiststo see
what kinds of things will float or sink.
Move on to play time and allow each student to pick out
two objects from the bin to put in the water.
Have them place it in the float or sink pile
Ask a few questions about why they think certain things
will float or sink
Let them put their objects in the water and observe
At the end of the observations, do the closing questions.

Closure
(Summarize the lessons learning,
connect to objectives, foreshadow
next day)

Student Accommodations

At closing during the play time groups, ask about how

their predictions worked out.
Which were the things that seemed to float and which
one were the ones to sink?
Why do you think that happened?

For students having a hard time making predictions, tell

(Modifications to support students

who are challenged to understand
the content or have an advanced
understanding)

them to tough the object and feel itif it feels a little

heavy and hard, then it might sink. If its a little lighter,
than it might float. Help them, but also let them explore
the items and observe the sinking and floating.
For more advanced students that are doing really well on
their predictions and can understand why something
would sink or float, extend the idea in the lesson by
asking the studentis there any way that we can
change this sinking object into a floating object?
(building a boat out of it for wood)

Self-Reflection
(How well did my lesson support
students understanding relative to
the objectives? What worked, did
not work? What adjustments
might be made in the future?)

I believe that not only did the lesson go really well, but it also
supported the students extremely well in understanding and
meeting the instructional objectives. In our whole group
discussion, first we discussed what kind of things floated and
what didnt. I was also able to explain through different
examples the way that the process at the small group table
was going to work. Studenst got to see me try out things that
floated and sank. I also mentioned that even when we make
wrong predictions, they are still important because as
scientists, we need to know those things.
In the small groups, the students were able to hypothesize and
make the predictions that they wanted to make about what
they thought would float or sink. I really think that the students
were not only engaged in the activity, but they were also able
to make really good predictions about the objects that they
chose. They explained why they believed things would float or
not and then if their predictions were wrong, they went back
and looked at it again to try to figure out why they could have
been wrong.
I think that the only thing that did not work that was in the
original lesson plan was having them group the things first and
then try them out one by one. They were too excited form the
start and the labels were getting all wet anyway, so I changed
the procedure after the first group. Instead, each student
picked out two items and we tried to go around one by one
everybody made a prediction about the items. I believe that in
the end, that was a better procedure anyway for their level and
it peaked their interest when they got to see another students
items go in the water.
In the future, I might make it a rule that everybody has to have
different items from one another because sometimes they tried
out the same one all at once since they all had the same thing

which did help with the objective of consistency, but it was

still more interesting also when they were all different and
THEN we all did one together as a group.
Overall, I would say that the lesson went really well and that
the students all met the instructional objectives.
Just in case, here is a link to the video of this lesson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4BjoA456sk&list=UUkn8kS9zRAY2Kh4eh_SbJA