Bridgewater College Teacher Education Program Lesson Plan Date: Subject Area(s):Science VA SOL:

Name Ashlie Carr

Title of Lesson: Ben Franklin and Lightening Grade Level(s): 4

th

4.3 The student will investigate and understand the characteristics of electricity. Key concepts include f) historical contributions in understanding electricity. (Ben Franklin and his lightening experiment) In order to meet this standard, it is expected that students will explain how static electricity is created and occurs in nature. (Lightening)

Content Objective(s): The student will be able to identify Benjamin Franklin and his contribution to electricity by listening to the lesson and taking interactive notes. IEP Goal/Objective: Same as above, but accommodations can be made to the interactive notes to fit their needs. I can/I will statement(s) of the day: (cover the statement up until after the game show Accommodations/ activity) Differentiation I can tell you who Benjamin Franklin is, what experiment he did and why it is important. Assessment (based on objectives): Students can have the The Benjamin Franklin entrance and exit pass will be my assessment of the days lesson. assessment read to them if they have a reading IEP. Materials: If student has trouble reading, they can have a completed Five boxes labeled with numbers 1-4 and one box with question marks on it interactive notes sheet and Game show music and playback devise can highlight the information A kite, a key, an IPad/Kindle/phone playing a thunderstorm clip or a picture of the other students are writing. lightening, a +/- sign on a piece of construction paper that says positive and negative charges, and a picture of Ben Franklin Miniature pictures of Ben Franklin to glue onto the Ben Franklin entrance and exit pass(one per student) Glue stick (one per student) Ben Franklin video Benjamin Franklin entrance and exit pass/Mystery box paper (one per student) Integration of technology: We will be watching a movie about Ben Franklin, so the promethean board will be used to display it. No assistive technology An IPad/Kindle/a phone will be used during the anticipatory set to show a lightning storm. needed. Alternative Plan: If the promethean board will not work, we will display the movie on the TV. If the IPad doesnt work, have cell phone ready. Accommodations/ Time Differentiation Planned ***As students come in the room, hand back graded papers. Go over answer #4 on the Different Strokes worksheet. Do a short review of static electricity by telling students there are 3 steps to 5 min getting static electricity: 1. Friction 2. Charges 3. Static electricity. Use the balloon to demonstrate. Anticipatory Set (Hook & Agenda): 1. Have the blue cabinet rolled in front of my desk in the back of the room. Place the kite, key, lightning storm video clip and positive/negative charge sign under the four boxes on top of the cabinet; one item under each box. Under the fifth box, there should be a picture of Ben Franklin with the miniature version for the students to glue on their note sheet. The Ben Franklin box is the mystery box. 2. After the review of the previous lesson, tell them we are going to play a game called, The Mystery Box in order to figure out our topic of the day. 5-7 min 3. A student will come up and lift a box up. Everyone is to draw and write what was under the box in the boxes on their interactive note sheet. After all the boxes have been lifted except the mystery box, have the students make a guess. Once someone has guessed or nobody knows, lift the last box and tell the class that the topic of the day is Benjamin Franklin and what contributions he made to electricity. Pass out the miniature picture for them to glue in the mystery box on their interactive note sheet. They are not to right anything else on their sheetonly glue. Then, tell them to make a pile in the middle of their desks of their papers.

Access/Review Prior Knowledge: 4. When we look at all the clues we have under the boxes, they really dont look like they have anything to do with one another do they? Not to mention, what does a kite, a key and a thunderstorm have to do with electricity? Which box had something under it that we have already learned about that we know for sure has to do with electricity? (The students should answer the +/- sign) 5. Point to the + and ask what that means or stands for. Point to the and ask what that means or stands for. Ask what charges attract and which charges repel. What does like or unlike charges have to do with electricity? 6. Well, we are going to find out what the story is behind all these objects and how the other objects relate to electricity. Teaching Process (Content is presented, accessed, or built): 7. Instead of me standing up here telling you the story, how about we watch a movie instead? 8. Watch Ben Franklin movie. During the movie, stop it at certain points to further explain information when needed. Guided Practice & Checking for Understanding: 9. 10. After the movieexplain further about Ben Franklins experiment and why that is important. Ben Franklin started a volunteer fire department since he was concerned about all the houses that burnt down. He realized that lightening could be the cause of the fires. So, he went outside with his kite and a key tied to the end of it in the middle of a lightning storm. When the lightning struck kite, he proved that electricity can be controlled. Not only did he discover that lightning is static electricity in nature, he found out that we can control where electricity can go. What the movie didnt tell you is what causes lightening. Remember last lesson when we talked about static electricity? What is static electricity? (Have them say the three steps: friction, charges, electricity. Then go over that charges attract/repel and electrons jump from one object to another) Well, that is what causes lightening! (On the chalkboard, draw two clouds. Put + signs on one cloud and put signs on the other cloud) Explain that lightening happens when there are positive and negative charges in the air/sky and they create static electricity. The lightening is just that electricity jumping from the sky to the next object. When you have a charge and you touch the door, the charge jumps onto the door handle. The same thing happens with lightening. When there is a charge up in the clouds, air or sky, the charge wants to jump somewherethe ground. We will learn more about this in another lesson, but Ben Franklin was preventing fires because the lightening was attracted to the lightning rods he put on the houses. He learned that lightning is just electricity and we can try to direct where it goes so it doesnt catch our homes on fire! Do the closure and declarative statement

30 min

10 min

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The teacher can write the answer for students who cannot write it on their own, but the student must dictate the answer.

5 min

Independent Practice: (This should be done after the closure and declarative statement) Before students can leave, they must complete the back of the Ben Franklin entrance/exit pass independently. Closure: So, how do you feel about the I can statement of the day? Do you think you can tell me who Ben Franklin is, what his experiment was and why it is important? (Thumbs up/thumbs down) 30 sec

Declarative Statement Summary: Ben Franklin was important because his kite experiment proves that electricity exists in nature and we can control electricity. Positive and negative charges and attracting and repelling in the sky which makes lightening (static electricity)! I want to see if you really can tell me who Benjamin Franklin is, what he did and why it is important, so before you can leave you have to complete the back of your mystery box paper. (They can be dismissed when its time and they have completed it.)

2 min

Post-Lesson Assessment 1. Were the lesson objectives met? Yes No By 100%_____ By 60%_______ By less than 60%______ Based on the assessment I gave, my objectives were met by about 95%. 20 of my 21 students in this block answered the question correctly, but they didnt all give me the exact answers I was looking for. Only 7/20 (35%) of my students got what I considered an A on this assessment and told me Ben Franklins experiment and what that experiment was important. 13 students told me correct answers about Ben Franklin, but didnt go into as much detail as I was hoping. One student gave poor answers (mainly because the writing was illegible.) 2. How do you know? What evidence do you have to show the lesson objectives were met? Again, my assessments were not very reliable. Although they were more rigorous than a normal multiple choice quiz, I got a lot of answers that were relevant, but not what I was looking for. My questions were too broad and open ended. I know the students understood more of the information than what I graded on their exit passes, but since my question was so open ended, it was hard to judge. This proves to me that rigorous is the goal, but I need to figure a way around the open ended/broad questions to assess the objectives more clearly.