Kimberly Gleason

ELL Methods
SIOP Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan # 1: Listening/Speaking
Rationale: I decided to make my lesson on weather because it is a very abstract concept
that students can understand. Since weather has multiple components to it, and students
can experience many weather types, it would be a topic that is not terribly difficult to
teach. I also found weather in the Iowa Core standards, so I know that at some point I
would have to teach a weather unit to these grade levels. I also thought that the language
objectives were relevant to the content being taught. Students will use language,
speaking, listening, and writing to talk about the weather. I will be able to provide various
models, pictures, videos, and take students outside to experience the weather and to help
them understand it better.
Relevant Student Factors (Chapter 1, Fairbairn): No matter where students came
from, they all have experienced weather. I thin this unit will also give students the
opportunity to share weather experiences they have had in other places that we may not
experience here in the Midwest. This unit also gives students many opportunities to work
both independently and among their peers. This way if the students come from a
collectivistic or individualistic culture, they will partake in a multitude of groupings. In
order to properly teach my students, I will assess their background knowledge and see
what they know about weather before giving them too much information. We will
brainstorm their ideas and experiences, watch videos, and discuss different types of
weather to prepare them for our weather unit. I will only teach what is appropriate for
their age and language level. Checking their background knowledge and knowing the
student will assist me in my planning for this class.
Plans to manage classroom:
-Classroom Rules: In the beginning of the year, I will create a list of classroom rules
with my students. We will have a short discussion and come to a consensus about what
our rules should be. I will have a basic idea in my head of where I want to gear the
conversation, but I want my students to have a voice and be able to share what they think
their classroom experiences and environment should look like. Once we come up with
our classroom rules, I will have them posted somewhere in the classroom where they are
easily seen. I will also provide each student with a sheet of paper with our rules on it.
They will sign this paper and anytime they go against our rules, we will pull out the sheet
and discuss what they did. This will help hold them accountable and responsible for
acting in accordance to our classroom expectations/goals.
-Classroom routines: Students will be well aware of the classroom routines. I will
follow a routine that will give the students expectations for each day. We will never do
anything, nor will I ever ask them to do anything, that we/they are not expected to do. I
will make sure to have a focus statement on the board each day so students know what

we will be focusing on/learning for that day. I will visually display this and verbally tell
students what our focus is for each subject. Students will always have the same
consequences for not following rules/expectations. I will make them well aware of my
expectations in the beginning and I will make sure that I am consistent with my actions
and strategies. Students will be expected to turn in assignments on time, unless they have
an accommodation for extra time. I will allow students to re-do work and I want them to
always feel comfortable asking my questions and for advice/input. Students will feel
welcome and comfortable in my classroom and I will do everything that I can to assure
this.
-L1/L2 differentiation/work time: I will make sure that I differentiate according to all
students needs. I will give students opportunities to work in small groups, partners, and
alone. I will plan this so that I can spend conference time with certain students when
needed. Students will always be on task and if they are not, I will discuss our
expectations. Students who need extra support or aid will be given it. I will be willing to
meet during class when other students are working alone of with partners (not during
whole-group time), I will also make myself available during lunch, recess, after school
and before school. When making my assignments/lessons, I will assure that students have
choice and work in a variety of different settings and groupings.
-Problem behaviors: There will always be students who have problems with their
behavior. As I mentioned above, I will make sure that I am always consistent about
handling these issues. Students will never receive consequences without expectation. My
classroom will be founded on respect and all the students will be expected to respect
themselves, their peers, and their teacher. If a student is misbehaving, I will try my best to
never call them out. However, I will subtly talk with them or have warning cards that
will not make a scene or cause a student to be embarrassed. Students will be given first a
warning, then they will have to fill out a reflection sheet that causes them to acknowledge
and reflect their poor behavior. They will also state how they could change it and why it
was wrong. I will not kick kids out of my classroom, but instead I will try my best to deal
with tem inside the classroom. My classroom will have a reward system and if students
are behaving well each day they will have the chance to get a Good Behavior Ticket. At
the end of the week, if they have 4 or more of these tickets (they can get 1 per day), they
will receive an award or prize. This will serve as an incentive for students to behave well.

SIOP Lesson Plan

Class/Subject: 2nd/3rd Grade Date: Spring 2015
(Earth Science)
Content Objectives:
Language Objectives:
-Students will use actions, sounds, and
-S.35.ES.4: Understand and apply knowledge
pictures (that they create) to demonstrate
of weather and weather patterns.
various weather types.
-Students will verbally state different types
Topic: Weather

- Focus objective (on board):

Students will be able to identify different types
of weather.

of weather in small groups.

-Students will work with a partner to create
a weather book.
-Students will be able to share describing
words for given weather. (This may be my
pointing to a word or giving the teacher
thumbs up or thumbs down).
-Student will listen to their peers read the
sentences they created in their weather
book.
-Student will read to a partner the sentences
they created in their weather book.
Key Vocabulary:
Materials (including Supplementary and
-Temperature, warm, hot, cold, chilly
Adapted):
-Rain, lightning, hail, hurricane, tornado
-Science books on weather: Oh Say Can
-Snow, blizzard
You Say Whats the Weather Today?: All
-Cloudy, sunny
about Weather. (Cat in the Hats Learning
Library) By: Tish Rabe
-Different pictures and clips of weather
types
-Flash Cards for students to take home or
use at school
-Colorful paper for weather books
-Thumbs up/thumbs down cards
(agree/disagree)
-Pencils, markers, crayons
Essential Question:
Additional Notes:
**(In their weather journals we will focus
What are characteristics of different types of
on specific grammar. For example, we will
weather?
write: Today is _____. Tomorrow will be
How can we tell about weather using descriptive ____. Yesterday was ____. The students
will be familiar with the is/was/will be
words and pictures?
grammar and will use it correctly. I will
explicitly teaching this when I model the
journal in the beginning of the unit.)
-Students will keep a weather journal, each
day we will discuss the weather outside.
Students will then write a journal entry or
draw a picture describing the weather.
(During this time, I will also pull up the
temperature outside for students to record)
I may also remind them of how the
weather affects what we wear.
SIOP Features/Reflection
Preparation
Scaffolding
Grouping Options

X__ Adaptation of Content

X __Whole Class
X__ Links to Background
X __Small Groups
X __Links to Past Learning
X _ Partners
X__Strategies Incorporated
X __ Independent
Integration of Processes
X __ Reading
X __Individual
X__ Writing
X _ Group
X _Speaking
X __ Written
X __ Listening
X __ Oral

X _Modeling
X __ Guided practice
X__ Independent Practice
_X__ Comprehensible Input
Application
X_ Hands-on
_ X __ Meaningful
_ X __ Linked to objectives
_ X __ Promotes engagement
Lesson Plan

Building Background:
Everyone, look at the board. I have written our daily focus or objective. Who can tell
me what an objective is? Why do I put it on the board everyday?
Then I will have students read aloud (with me) our objective. They will again be made
aware that sometimes we call our objectives todays focus, or our learning goal.
First I will show the students a short clip of different types of weather. After I show this, I
will ask them what they saw or heard. Students can answer me in pictures, sounds, or
words. When they give me their answers, I will write them on the ELMO for all to say.
(Not student answer will be denied or shut down).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu-GDrrUTxo (This is a compilation of weather
clips!)
Students will be given a graphic organizer (a very simple one) where they will write
down exactly what I write down on this G.O displayed on the ELMO. I will walk around
to make sure students are writing the write things. For those who need help, I will ask
them to try their best or partner them up with a peer who can help them. For children who
are proficient at writing in their L1, they may also write the ideas they have in their first
language, which later will be translated.
Next students will be read a story about weather. Oh Say Can You Say Whats the
Weather Today?: All about Weather. (Cat in the Hats Learning Library). I will read this
book to students and we will discuss important pages, vocabulary, pictures and ideas that
can help us with our weather unit. I will also print out picture from this book to display
and occasionally we will refer back to the pictures and talk about what happened in the
book we read and students will describe the picture from the story.

Throughout the book, I will ask questions to check for comprehension. Students will have
the opportunity to participate in a think pair share. This will keep all students engaged
and help them practice their speaking skills
Comprehensible Input:
This will have two parts to it. For the weather types that can be heard, a clip will be
played, but only the music. I will play the sound of this and they will tell a partner how it
sounded or what it sounded like. Students will also be given the option to act out what
they heard. This can by punching/kicking the air (without people around), twirling in a
circle, making certain facial expressions, or speaking in anyway they feel comfortable
with. After each clip, I will ask students to volunteer to share what they did, or I will
point out what I saw students do or what I did myself. After each clip I will also tell
students the vocabulary term for that word. I will write it on the board as we go. During
this time, I will teach students how to write a complete sentence.
______ (type of weather) is when ______________________ (I will tell students to
notice the descriptive words (adjectives) and how they help us understand or visualize the
weather happening.
For the weather that is without sound, I will show a picture or a 10 seconds or less video
clip. Students will respond in a similar way. I will first have the students do this as a
group, then with partners, and then we will quickly go around and have everyone do it
independently.
I will also ask that students write down these vocabulary terms, but we will not write
definitions of draw pictures quite yet.
Lesson Delivery (Teacher Modeling):
I will show this video to the students. Students will listen and take notes accordingly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dxbC4-nlEc
After we watch this video together, we will have a short discussion of what students
noticed. Students will be able to share their observations and listen to their peers
responses. They will be given a sheet with the sentence starter. In the video, I noticed
_______. We will discuss what the word notice means.
The next activity students will do if be given a set of weather pictures/photographs.
Students will also be given a set of corresponding vocabulary terms. Students will be
matching the term with the picture, and later they will be given simple describing words
to put with the picture and its weather name.
I do: I will model this with one of the simpler terms. For example- I will show a picture
of the sun without clouds. I will ask students what they see. I will do a think-aloud and
say: I see the sun shining and there are no clouds. The sky looks very clear. I think this
picture should be matched with the sunny vocabulary term.

We do: Picture number 2: cloudy. What do you notice about this picture? Turn to a partner
(during this brief time I will circulate), we will come back together and students will
volunteer and tell me what they see. Againfor lower leveled students, they can tell me
in their language (to build confidence) or show me using actions, sounds, etc.
You do together: Picture number 3: rainy. Students will be asked to get with a partner of
whom I will have prepared beforehand. I will put higher-level language learners with
lower for support and assistance. Students will talk about what they see in the picture and
predict what vocabulary term the picture goes with.
You do alone: Students will be given time to complete the rest on their own. I will walk
around and conference with the students to see how they are doing. For students who
finish quicker, I will ask them to read their answers to me and then re-write the weather
vocabulary terms. For even higher students, they will be asked to try to write describing
words for the picture.
During this time, I will assist students who need it and ask them clarification questions
during their process, but I will not tell them they are wrong. After everyone is finished,
students will be paired with another partner to compare their answers. They will then
need to come to an agreement to show me.
For students who are not grasping the concept, I will provide the necessary support. I will
have books for each weather term and students can look through these at any time. These
books will have a lot of pictures and easy words, so students can understand. I will have
many cookies so all students can view them.
Guided Practice (Constantly checking for understanding):
Charades (type) game/activity: Students will be asked to go back to their seats. They will
come up 1 or 2 at a time (depending on their language level and understanding) and they
will pick a vocabulary term (on folded sheets of paper) from a jar. They will then have to
act out or use words to describe this type of weather. The class will raise their hand when
they think they know what weather they were modeling. For the students who have their
hand raised, they will be given an index card. On this index card they will write the
weather that their peer just acted out/modeled. Next, the students will be given the
opportunity to confer with another classmate (different each time). They can either keep
their answer or change it after conferring. Then all the students will hold up their
notecard at the same time and we will discuss student answers. Students will be expected
to have reasons and use complete sentences to support their argument/opinion about
which weather type was modeled.
For this unit, there will also be a word wall with all of the vocabulary terms on it. This
word wall will also include pictures to remind students what the words mean for each
weather type. Students will be reminded to refer back to the word wall if they are having
trouble remembering a certain weather type, or if they need assistance with spelling.

Students will go outside a couple times a week and write down observations or choose
pictures to help describe what the weather was like. As weeks progress, they will be
expected to incorporate the use of academic vocabulary about weather.
Independent Practice (or partner practice)
For the independent practice, students will be given a set of pictures that have
corresponding word cards and definition cards. Students will be asked to match these
cards and I will come to each student for a mini-conference and they will read the term
card and the weather word out loud to me. This will also help me assess where students
are at in their understanding. If they get some of the pairings incorrect, I will ask them
guided questions to get them to the right answer. I will have visuals, books, videos, and
sounds to show them if they are having trouble grasping the concepts. I will also tell the
student he/she needs to verbally ask me 1-2 questions during each conference. I will
provide sentence starters on a sheet of paper to give them ideas for questions they can ask
me about the different types of weather.
If students finish quickly, they will move on and be asked to write sentences about the
weather with a visual support in case I cannot comprehend their writing. Students will
then be asked to read their sentences to a partner for practice. They will use these
sentences as examples for each weather type in their weather flip book. The weather flip
book will also include a definition that they will re-write (copy) from a typed example
they are given. Students will be assessed on their sentences, and if I have trouble
understanding them, I will have them explain the weather to me in an alternative way.
Review/Assessment:
-Students will be assessed individually. I will play a recording, clip, or show a picture
(depending on the weather type) and students will verbally tell me what that weather is. If
a student cannot say the word, they will have to act it out and tell me in another nonverbal way. (A picture may be acceptable if it demonstrates understanding).
-Illustrate weather terms to create a flipbook dictionary
-Teacher will conference with the students individually and assist them in creating this
weather book if needed. Student will have the opportunity to ask questions or explain
concepts to the teacher during this time.
Strategies Used:
-Think Pair Share
-A word wall
-Sentence frames/starters
-Collaboration with peers, partner work
-Journaling
-Timed quick writes
-Conferences
-Thumbs up/thumbs down
-Check for comprehension

-Scaffolding (teachers think aloud)

-Higher ordered thinking- answers are not right or wrong, but they can use multiple ways
to explain their thinking/knowledge
Students worked in a variety of ways. They have the chance to interact with their peers in
partner groups, small groups, whole class, and independently. Students who may speak
the same language could assist each other or explain their thoughts to another in their L1.
I will always strive to give students choice. They will work in a way that will benefit
them most as a student and as a learner.