Lesson Plan #1

Grade: First Grade Social Studies Strand: Geography

Submitted By: Michele Arnold

EDEL 453: Teaching Elementary School Social Science Nevada State College Spring 2014 Instructor: Karen Powell

Lesson Plan #1 - Geography

B. Summary of the Lesson Plan:

submitted by:

Michele Arnold

This lesson teaches first grade students the basic ideas about weather and seasons. This lesson uses the Houghton Mifflin Social Studies Textbook Weather and Seasons (pg. 9699). Basic Information: Grade Level: First Grade Time to Complete this Lesson: About 50 minutes Groupings: whole class reading textbook & discussion, groups working on poster board, and individual writing sentences.

C. Materials: Houghton Mifflin 1st Grade Social Studies Textbook: School and Family, pages 96-99 Poster Board Pencils and markers D. Objectives: o NV State Social Studies Standards o G8.1.1 Tell how the physical environment affects activity at school, i.e., inside/outside recess.

Student-Friendly Standards

I understand and can describe the different types of weather, their traits and the different seasons. E. Vocabulary Weather-the air and moisture outside Seasons-the different times of year Traits-quality that makes one thing different from another

F. Procedure: 1. As a class, read page 96 of textbook about weather. Teacher asks questions about the weather today and what is their favorite weather. Also use the TE questions #2, Name some different types of weather. Also #3, can it snow when it is hot? 2. Continue as a class reading page 97 about seasons.
Nevada State College EDEL 453 - Spring 2014 Karen Powell- Instructor page 2

Lesson Plan #1 - Geography

submitted by:

Michele Arnold

Teacher asks students what season they think it is now and do they have a favorite season. As a class, talk about weather in Nevada and when we have PE inside and why. Also talk about where it snows and how those schools have snow days. As a class we will build a word web about weather on the smart board. Teacher writes the word WEATHER in the center and students name all different adjectives describing the weather. This creates a big word web on the board for students to see. 3. Continue reading page 98 as a class. Teacher asks TE #6 how does weather change the way people live. 4. Students are divided into four groups and assigned a season and given a poster board. They write descriptions of the season, of the typical weather and what activities and clothes are most likely worn. Teacher walks around from group to group and checks for student understanding. Each group shares their poster with the class.

G. Assessment: What will you use to measure student understanding? I will assess as I monitor each group as they are working on their posters and as they share with the class. I will also assess their closing sentences they will turn in. Explain how you will know students understand the concepts from the lesson. If the students have the appropriate weather within the correct season and if they understand that weather changes, I will know they understood. H. Closure: Students will write two sentences using any of the vocabulary words; weather, seasons, or traits.

I.

Reflection: 1. Which part of the lesson do you think will be the easiest for you to teach? The word web will be fun to do as a class and is always easy to teach because kids love raising their hands and offering their opinions. 2. Which part will be most challenging for you to teach? I think explaining that the weather affects how people live might be a little confusing for some kids. 3. How will you follow up or extend this lesson? Students will continue to monitor the weather each day and as the seasons change we will continue discussing it. If a weather condition takes place somewhere (hurricane, tornado) we will take time out to discuss it.

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2014

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 3

Lesson Plan #1 - Geography

submitted by:

Michele Arnold

4. What can you do for students who dont grasp the concepts? There are many childrens books about weather that I can read to students and also many videos on the internet. When there is a drastic change in weather I can make sure to help those certain students see and understand the change. 5. Which part of the lesson, if any, do you think might need to change? I like it how it is, but it could always be lengthened to several days. 6. When you were writing this lesson plan, what was the most difficult part? I am used to the Nevada State College format and coming up with my own lesson. Using the textbook was a bit difficult for me to write a lesson plan around. It seems teachers would just use the textbook and be done with it. I found it a little hard to put it in lesson plan format if that makes sense.

Nevada State College

EDEL 453 - Spring 2014

Karen Powell- Instructor

page 4