Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (DIRECT INSTRUCTION)

Social Studies--2007 ACEI Standards
Student: Timothy Eichorst
IWU Supervisor: Mrs. McCracken

School: Riverview Elementary School

Co-op Teacher: Mr. Carter
Grade Level: 4th

READINESS
I. Goal(s)/Objective(s)/Standard(s)
A. Goal Students will discover how glaciers helped form Indianas landscape.
B. Objective(s) By the end of the lesson, students will fill out a before and after diagram
demonstrating how glaciers shaped the Indiana landscape
C. Standard(s)
NCSS: III People, Places, and Environments
IAS: 4.2.2 Describe how wind, water and glacial ice shape and reshape earths land surface
by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in other areas in a process that
occurs over a long period of time.
II. Materials & Management:
A. Materials: Cake pan, sand, ice cubes, enthusiasm
B. Time: 45 minutes
C. Space: In seats (presentation), surrounding table (demonstration)
D. Behavior: Students will be informed that, should they choose to not take the activity seriously,
we can always learn about the topic the boring way.
E. Technology: SmartBoard/Projector
III. Anticipatory Set
Ask students if they have ever seen snow piled up high outside of their front door. Given that we live in
Indiana, most of the students should be familiar with the sight. I will tell them about a time when I was
younger where the snow was piled all the way to my shoulders. Even though I was much smaller then than
I am now, I still remember how it felt to see snow that deep. Following the story, I will show a few pictures
of the Blizzard of 78 and explain how my father has told me stories of how he saw snow pile up higher
than his head! Then, I will proceed to tell them that, if it werent for snow, Indiana would not look the way
it does today.
IV. Purpose: Today, we are going answer the question on all of your minds right now: how did snow make
Indiana look like it does?
PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION
V. Adaptation: (ACEI 3.2)
A. Remediation Students who struggle to meet the objective will be reminded of the lesson as best
as possible and will have the activitys connection to its real life equivalent directly explained to
them.
B. Enrichment Students with high ability will be encouraged to go more in-depth with their
responses to the Independent Practice response sheet.
C. ELL English Language Learning Students will be provided with a two column sheet with English on
one half and Spanish on the other.
D. Exceptional Needs- Students with exceptional needs will be allowed to participate as normal, but I
will keep a close eye on them throughout the lesson and will re-explain when they appear confused,
being careful to not call them out In front of their classmates.
VI. Lesson Presentation:

To start the main body of the lesson, I will show the video Glacier Formation Made Easy by Sciencedad
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqgb2OZF2Zc). Following this, I will put a brief definition of the word
glacier on the screen, explaining how a glacier is a large piece of snow and ice that builds up over time.
Following the video: Alright! Now, this video had a lot of information to process, but we can make it
through if we use our brains! Each of you should have this sheet that says Hoosier Glaciers at the top.
Now, what is a glacier? The video told us that a glacier is basically what happens when, over hundreds or
thousands of years, snow and ice pile up into what looks like a giant mountain of snow. Heres a picture of
a glacier! What would happen is that glaciers would move across the land and slowly, over several
thousand years, the glacier would move, flattening out the land as it moved along. This process is known
as erosion. Take a moment to write up a definition for these two terms in your own words! They will be very
important as we move into the demonstration portion of our lesson! Now, this process of erosion is
responsible for why Indiana looks the way it does! Most of the state is fairly flat, wouldnt you say? Really,
every part of Indiana except for the southern portion is extremely flat compared to many other states. I
wonder why that is? Come with me to the front table and find out!

Input Modeling/Modeled Practice Guided Practice

Lets come around the table. Now, as you can see with your eyes, I have this pan here that I have filled
with mounds of sand. Take a moment to write down your observations about the sand in the BEFORE
section. Is it smooth? No! Its bumpy, rough, and there are mounds all over it! Now, notice this ice cube.
This ice cube that I am holding in my hand will represent the glacier, and the pan of sand will represent the
great state of Indiana! Watch what happens when I slide this glacier across the great state of Indiana. Write
down what you observe on your observation sheet! Ill tell you what I notice! I notice that, as the glacier
moves across the state, it takes the parts where it used to be rough terrain and flattens it. This is called
erosion. Now, in real life, the process of erosion takes thousands of years. The next time you look around
and see how flat the land around you is, how you can see for miles and miles, you can thank the glaciers
for making it that way! Alright! You can now return to your seats and finish your response sheets!

Checking Understanding

Throughout the Guided Practice, I will call back to the main body of the lesson, making
sure that the students understand how a glacier modifies the landscape.

I will check the students verbal and nonverbal response to the teaching to ensure that
they are understanding the lesson.

Closure will be used to demonstrate understanding.

OUTPUT: Independent practice These last two components can be interchanged. (ACEI 2.4 &
ACEI 3.3)

Independent Practice Students will complete a response sheet that asks them to write a few
sentences recalling what each branch did in the classroom demonstration. In addition, they will
be required to make a simple before and after drawing detailing how a glacier affects the
landscape.
Closure For closure, I will ask students to remind me of the definitions of the terms erosion and
glacier, preferably by combining aspects of the real life process and the small scale
demonstration. In addition, students will have an opportunity to show their drawing under the
document camera.

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT (ACEI 4.0)

Formative: I will ask questions throughout the lesson to ensure that students understand the material. In
addition, I will monitor the students facial expression and body language in order to determine whether
they are understanding.
Summative: Students will hand in the response sheet described in the Independent Practice section.
REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
What were my strengths and weaknesses?
How should I alter this lesson?
How would I pace it differently?
Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
a. Blooms Taxonomy
b. Gardners Multiple Intelligences
7. Is there any way I could have better divided the branches to enhance the students ability to learn the
material?
8. Should I have devoted more time to the actual information? The activity?
9. Did students understand the connection between the activity and the how actual glaciers helped to shape the
Indiana landscape?
10. Is there any background knowledge that the students lacked that should have been included in the lesson?

Readiness

Needs Improvement
1

Emerging
Competence 2

Competent 3

Outstanding 4

Lesson objectives are

poorly written and/or
have little or no
connection to learning
goals or standards.
Little connection
exists between
objectives and lesson
activities and
assessments.

Lesson objectives are

correlated with
learning goals and
standards. The
connection between
objectives and lesson
activities and
assessments is weak
or unclear.

The lesson plan

contains objectives
that connect goals
and standards with
lesson activities and
assessments.

The lesson plan contains

clearly stated content
objectives. Objectives are
logically connected to
appropriate goals and
standards and are
consistent with lesson
activities and assessments.

The anticipatory set is

missing or has little or
no connection to the
goal or content of the
lesson.

The connection
between the
anticipatory set and
lesson objectives and
content is weak or
unclear.

The anticipatory set

is clear and direct
and focuses students
attention on the
lesson.

The anticipatory set

connects the current
lesson with previous and
future learning and focuses
students minds and
attention on the days
lesson.

The statement of
purpose is ambiguous
or worded so
generally that the
connection with the
content of the lesson
is not apparent.

A statement of
purpose is included in
the lesson, but has
little power to
motivate students and
capture their
imaginations.

The statement of
purpose is clearly
connected to the
content of the lesson
and is presented in
terms that are easily
understood by
students.

The statement of purpose

has the power to capture
the imaginations of
students and motivate
them to accomplish the
expected learning.

Plan For
Instruction

Needs Improvement
1

Emerging
Competence 2

Adaptation to
Diverse Students

Few or no instructional
opportunities are
included. Any
instructional
opportunities are not
developmentally
appropriate or
adapted to diverse
students.

Instructional
opportunities are
provided in this
lesson; however, they
are not adapted to
diverse students.

Instructional
opportunities are
provided in this
lesson. The
opportunities are
developmentally
appropriate and/or
are adapted to
diverse students.

Specific instructional
opportunities are provided
in this lesson that
demonstrate the
candidates understanding
of how students differ in
their development and
approaches to learning.
The instructional
opportunities are adapted
to diverse students.

The candidates
lesson plan suggests
that he or she is not
familiar with the
themes, concepts, and
modes of inquiry
drawn from the
academic fields of the
social studies.

The candidates
lesson plan suggests
emerging familiarity
with the themes,
concepts, and modes
of inquiry drawn from
the academic fields of
the social studies.

The candidate
demon-strates an
under- standing of
the themes,
concepts, and modes
of inquiry drawn from
the social studies in
his or her lesson
plan. He or she
develops experiences
to help elem.
students learn about
major social studies
concepts. The
candidates lesson
plan demonstrates an
understanding of the
major concepts and
modes of inquiry
from the social
studies, and enables
stu- dents to learn
about the major
themes that integrate
knowledge across the
social students and
helps them become
productive

The candidate
demonstrates in-depth
knowledge and
understanding of how the
major concepts and
themes of social studies
are integrated across
academic fields in his or
her lesson plan.

Goals
Objectives
Standards

Anticipatory Set

Purpose

ACEI Standard 3.2

Lesson Presentation

Social Studies
ACEI Standard 2.4

The candidate does

not demonstrate
understanding of the
major concepts and
modes of inquiry from
the social studies, and
does not promote
elementary students
ability to make
informed decisions as
citizens of a culturally
diverse democratic
society and
interdependent world.

The candidate
demonstrates limited
understanding of the
major concepts and
modes of inquiry from
the social studies, and
minimally promotes
elementary students
ability to make
informed decisions as
citizens of a culturally
diverse democratic
society and
interdependent world.

Competent 3

Outstanding 4

The candidates lesson

plan demonstrates an indepth understanding of the
social studies and a
significant ability to help K6 students learn the
essential concepts and
become productive
participants in a
democratic society.