Name

Lesson Plan for March 24, 2015

Madison DeWeerdt

Name of the Lesson

Ground Water

Date

March 24, 2016

Grade

4th

Estimated Time

30 min

Content Area

Science

Teacher Materials

Tin Pan, Dirt, Rock, Gypsum, 5 plastic cups per

group (The empty cup will have four holes on the
bottom), Sticky Notes, Science notebook sheet
Pencil, Science Notebooks

Student Materials
Standards

S4C3PO1 Describe ways various resources are

utilized to meet the needs of the population.
S4C3PO2 Differentiate renewable resources from
nonrenewable resources.
S4C3PO3 Analyze the effect that limited
resources may have on the environment.
Objective
Students will be able to see the different layers
in the ground and how this impacts the flow of
water.
Anticipatory Set (The To start the lesson, each student will receive a
Hook)
sticky note. On their sticky note, they will be
given 1 minute to write as many things as they
can think of that is below the ground or in the
ground. After the 1-minute is up, students will
share the different things they listed. Then the
teacher will talk about how a lot of our water is
stored under ground.
Modeling
The teacher will pass out their science notebook
(Information)
worksheet they will use for the following activity
and ask students to clear their tables. The
students will be told that they will be working
with their table groups. Each group will receive a
tin pan, a plastic cup for water, a cup with dirt, a
cup with rock, a cup with gypsum, and an empty

cup that will have four holes at the bottom. The

teacher will explain that gypsum is very fine
sand mostly used for gardening. The teacher will
model to each group that they will be filling the
empty cup with the three different layers. The
teacher will say, Think about the layers of the
ground. What order do you think the dirt, rock,
and gypsum should go in? Each group will
decide how they want them to be layered. They
cannot mix them; they should each be very
obvious different layers. The teacher will model
how to do the different layers in a plastic cup
Guided Practice
The students will fill up their cup with the
different layers. It is okay if they layer them in
different ways. When they are finished, then
they will pour water through the cup with the
layers until all the water goes through onto the
pan.
Independent Practice After they have watched the water go through,
they will leave their items inside of the pan.
They will work as a group to answer the
questions that on the observation sheet that will
go inside their science notebook.
Closure (Check for
To check for understanding, the teacher will
understanding)
have a discussion at the end about what their
observations were based on the questions on
their sheet. Then the students will clean up their
area and get ready for rotations.
Assessments/Evaluat What students write for what goes in the ground,
ion (Must relate to
their discussions about the groundwater while
objective)
walking around and talking to individual groups,
and lastly the final discussion and what they
observed.
Accommodations/
Certain students may need to be moved to a
Modifications
different group to be able to be more engaged.
Extensions

We would research all the different ways we use

ground water.

ELL Strategies

Hands on experiment, visuals, working with

others.

Groundwater
1. Why did you put your layers in
the order that you chose?
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
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2. Was there a layer where the
water seemed to flow through it
slower? Why do you think that
happened?

Use a different color for

each layer and label the
layer by writing if it was dirt,
sand, or gypsum.

___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
_____________
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3. What is our desert ground
mostly made up of? Do you think
it takes a long time or a short
amount of time for water to get
down into the ground?