UNLV/Department of Teaching & Learning

Elementary Lesson Plan Template

UNLV Student: Haley Jackson PSMT Name: Vicki Vesp

Lesson Plan How do the spheres Lesson Plan Earth’s Spheres
Title: interact? Topic:
Date: 4-8-18 Estimated Time: 45-50 minutes per
lesson
Grade Level: 5 School Site: Vassiliadis E.S

1. State Standard(s):
5-ESS2-1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere,
biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere interact
W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information
from print or other sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and
finished work and provide a list of sources.
W.5.10 Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a
range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

2. Teaching Model(s): Whole group, collaboration, interactive

3. Objective(s):
Monday: SWBAT identify the function of each of the Earth’s four spheres
(geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere)
Tuesday: SWAT identify the impact the biosphere has on the hydrosphere
Wednesday: SWBAT model and explain the impact the hydrosphere has on the
geosphere.

Thursday: SWBAT model and explain how the atmosphere, hydrosphere and
geosphere interact in the form of the water cycle.

Friday: SWBAT demonstrate their knowledge on the interaction between the 4

spheres on Earth.

4. Materials and Technology Resources

Monday:
- Earth’s Spheres presentation
- Earth’s spheres booklet (for note-taking)
- Butcher paper
- Markers
- Pencils
Tuesday:
- Pencils
- Students’ booklets (from Monday)
- Cups
- Coffee filters
- Paper towels
- “polluted water”
Wednesday:
-pom poms
- play doh
- Construction paper
- Landform note taking sheet

Thursday:
- Water cycle note taking sheet
- Lab sheet
- 2 liter bottles
- Ice
- Hot water

Friday:
- Hurricane Katrina Sphere Interactions activity

5. Instructional Procedures:

Day 1:
Motivation/Engagement: (10 minutes)
- Write the names of each sphere on the board
o Ask students “Using Greek roots, what do you believe each of these spheres
are referring to on Earth?” (DOK 2)
o Allow a few moments for discussion at tables, then take volunteers to share
- Introduce that each sphere is responsible for different impacts on Earth’s environment
- Pass out Booklets for students to take notes during presentation and group discussion
throughout presentation

Developmental Activities or Learning Experiences: (30-40 minutes)

- Pull up presentation
- Atmosphere
o After presenting definition to students… “What do we know about the
atmosphere in our everyday life?” (DOK 1)
o “What sphere relies most on the atmosphere, after using Greek roots to
determine the Sphere’s definitions?” (DOK 1)
 Biosphere
- Biosphere
o Begin Biosphere section of presentation
  Present definition along with examples of living things on earth
 On 2nd slide, “How can we predict that one little animal, such as a
beaver, can change how our Earth looks?” (DOK 2)
 Play Beaver changing Earth video on slide
 4th slide: How can humans affect how the Earth looks? Brainstorm in
your groups before we share as a class” (DOK 2)
 Have students record answer in their booklet
- Hydrosphere
o Begin Hydrosphere section of presentation
 Present definition
 Looking at bar graph on next slide: “Looking at the distribution of
Earth’s water, what do you think this means to life on Earth?” (DOK
3)
 “How are some ways the biosphere interacts with the hydrosphere?”
(DOK 3)
 Many organisms live in or around water
 Humans impact quality of water
 Building on prior knowledge, “What is climate?” (DOK 1)
 “What are some changes in climate or weather that are caused by
interactions between spheres?” (DOK 3)
 Continue onto next 3 hydrosphere slides after students discuss as
groups
 Thunderstorms
 Closeness of water to a mountain range
- Geosphere
o Continue onto geosphere section of presentation
o Present definition
o Discuss layers of the Earth
 Have students add layer to their notes on geosphere
o Discuss rocks, minerals, and soil
 Why is soil important to the biosphere?” (DOK 2)
- Once presentation is over, butcher paper (labels below) will be placed around the
room.
 How do the hydrosphere and geosphere interact?”
 How do the biosphere and geosphere interact?
 How do the atmosphere and biosphere interact?
 How does farming affect the Earth’s spheres?
o Students will conduct an interactive gallery walk with the anchor charts.
o As they walk around, they will be asked to either write an explanation or
example answering the question on the chart.
o Split class into 4 groups, and place them at starting anchor chart.
o Allow about 3-5 per anchor chart, then announce time to switch charts
Review and Closure: (5-10 minutes)
- When all anchor charts have been completed, call students back to seats for whole
group discussion.
- Allow students time to share what their group discussed at specific anchor charts
Extension:
- If students finish, they can draw a model of how two spheres interact with one
another. This will be added to an anchor chart upon completion.

Tuesday: Hydrosphere/Water filter challenge

Motivation/Engagement: (10-15 minutes)
 Pass out Earth Spheres interaction booklets (from last week) back to students.
 Ask students to refer back to hydrosphere page in booklet
o Allow students a few moments to discuss what they learned about the
hydrosphere
o After discussion, take volunteers to share
 Ask students “How much water is available on Earth for humans to drink?” (DOK 1)
o “What are some problems with having such little water to drink?” (DOK 2)
o Listen for “pollution” in our low supply of water or introduce it to class.
 “What are ways our water is being polluted?” (DOK 2)
o A students share, write on the board
 Introduce our challenge for the day: Filtering polluted water
 Explain challenge to students:
o Students will work in teams to create a water filter using their choice of the
following materials
 Cups
 Paper towels
 Coffee filters
 Gravel
 Sand
 Marbles

Developmental Activities or Learning Experiences: (30-40 minutes)

 Pass out engineering design process worksheet
o Students will have approximately 10 minutes to plan and come up with a diagram
of their invention to filter water.
 Once students are finished planning, they can get their materials to design a water
filtration system
o Students will have 20 minutes to build a successful filtration system
 Throughout the building process, students can use polluted water (from supply in bucket)
to test their design and make adjustments if necessary.
 Throughout design and building time, teacher circulates and asks questions to each group,
such as…
o “What makes you think your design is going to be successful?” (DOK 2)
o “What can you do differently to make your project successful?” (DOK 2)
o “How does pollution affect the biosphere?” (DOK 2)
o “How do filtration systems, such as yours, affect our biosphere?” (DOK 2)
 Once time is up, students will visit other groups to experience other designs.
o Students will be asked to take note on which designs were successful
 “How can you tell the invention was successful?” (DOK 2)
Review and Closure: (10 minutes)
 Ask students “What was the purpose for this experiment today?” (DOK 2)
o “Was this a simple task?”
o “Would this task be simple when used for all of the available freshwater on
earth?”
o “Is it simpler to filter all our drinking water that has been polluted, or prevent
pollution in the first place?”
 Have students discuss in groups why is it important to prevent pollution of our water
sources?
o Students will write answer on sticky note and place on “What stuck with you
today?” anchor chart on their way out of the class
 Teacher collects work for use in future class

Extension: When students finish project, they will be asked to answer on the back of their
planning sheet, “What made our design successful?”

Day 3: Geosphere/Landform modeling

Motivation/Engagement: (10-15 minutes)
 Introduce objective: “Today we will be learning about the hydrosphere assists in making
changes to the geosphere in forms of landforms”
 Watch video on landforms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN6QX43QB4g
 Hand out “ Landform note page” to students
 Begin landform presentation
o Throughout presentation, students will take note of landform definitions
 “Which landforms are impacted or have an impact on the hydrosphere?” (DOK 2)
o “In what ways does the hydrosphere affect the landforms in the geosphere?”
(DOK 2)

Developmental Activities or Learning Experiences: (30-40 minutes)

 Students will have 30 minutes to construct a model of at least 5 landforms using provided
materials.
o Pom poms
o Construction paper
o Playdough
o Crayons
 Models must show impact of hydrosphere on the geosphere
o “Which landform is created by water in the hydrosphere?” (DOK 2)
o Canyons must show river running though
o River must lead to an ocean
o Mountains must have valleys in between
 During construction, teacher will circulate to provide necessary assistance

Review and Closure: (10 minutes)

  “What impact does the hydrosphere play on the geosphere’s landforms?”
o Students will discuss in groups, then we will take volunteers for discussion whole
group
 Teacher collects work for use next class

 Extension: On the back of the notetaking page, students have a prompt to answer once
they finish their model.
o “Please give at least 3 examples of how you know the hydrosphere and geosphere
interact with one another.”

Day 4: Atmosphere and Hydrosphere/ The Water Cycle

Motivation/Engagement: (10-15 minutes)

 Open Water cycle powerpoint
 Hand out Water Cycle vocabulary note sheet
 Allow students to “Think Pair Share” what they already know about the water cycle
o Discuss as whole group after a few moments of group discussion
 As we go through the powerpoint, students write down definitions and sketch pictures in
designated boxes on vocabulary note sheet
 Water Cycle Slide
o Discuss definition
o “What landforms do we notice are a part of the water cycle in this illustration?”
o “How do these landforms impact the Water Cycle?”
 Precipitation slide
o Discuss definition
o “What qualifies as precipitation?” (DOK 2)
 Rain, snow, sleet, hail
 Condensation slide
o Discuss definition
o “How does the atmosphere play a role in this step of the Water Cycle?” (DOK 2)
 Evaporation and transpiration
o Discuss definition
o “What difference do we see between transpiration and evaporation?” (DOK 2)
 Runoff slide
o Discuss definition
 o How do we know that specific landforms play a role in the Water Cycle by
learning about runoff?” (DOK 3)

Developmental Activities or Learning Experiences: (30-40 minutes)

o We will be modeling how precipitation occurs in the water cycle
o Groups of three will receive materials to conduct experiment
o Both parts of 2-liter bottle (top is cut off)
o Warm water
o Ice
o Lab sheet
o Step 1: Students place the cut off top of bottle upside down so it’s sitting at the top, inside
the bottom portion of the bottle.
o Step 2: Students place ice cubes in top portion of the bottle
o Step 3: Students will hold topo portion with ice cubes so teacher can pour hot water into
the bottom of the bottle.
o Step 4: Students replace the top of the bottle
o Step 5: Observe
o Students will watch to see if condensation of precipitation occurs as a result of the
combining of warm and cold air
Review and Closure: (10 minutes)
o Once students have made observations, they will fill out lab sheet with what they saw,
and why these events occurred
o Teacher collects worksheets for use next class
o Extension: While students are observing their experiment, they will answer (on lab sheet0
o “How does the geosphere impact the water cycle?”
o “How does the atmosphere impact the water cycle?”
o During work time, teacher will circulate to groups to provide discussion and
support with these two questions.

Day 5:

Motivation/Engagement: (5-10 minutes)

 State objective: Today you will demonstrate your knowledge of each of the four spheres
by analyzing a real life event and determining how each sphere was affected as a result of
it.
 “Who has heard of Hurricane Katrina?” (DOK 1)
 Introduce Hurricane Katrina
 Hurricane in 2005 (one of deadliest storms in U.S history)
 Affected each of Earth’s spheres in some way
 View Hurricane Katrina Day by Day mini documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbJaMWw4-2Q

Developmental Activities or Learning Experiences: (35-40 minutes)

 Hand out Hurricane Katrina : Sphere Interactions explanation page (With brainstorm
page)
  Explain that students will analyze the passage about Hurricane Katrina and record their
answer in paragraph form (2-3 paragraphs) to explain how each of Earth’s spheres were
affected by it.
 Students will have about 40 minutes to complete their response

Review and Closure:

 As students finish, they turn their papers in to the teacher
 We will discuss as a class the effect Hurricane Katrina had on Earth’s Spheres

Extension: As students finish, they may meet with others who are finished to collaborate and
explain their thinking of how each sphere was affected.

6. Accommodations, Modifications and Differentiations for Diverse Learners:

Monday:
 Accommodations: Students with attention or eye sight difficulty will be sat
closest to the board.
 Modifications: Students who need more time for note taking can be given a print out of
the presentation.
 Differentiations:

Tuesday:
 Accommodations: Students with difficulty paying attention or eye sight difficulty
will be sat closet to teacher desk for extra structure and encouragement during
group activity.
 Modifications: Students with difficulty coming up with an idea for invention will
be given extra guidance by the teacher in terms of questioning and collaboration.
 Differentiations: Students with difficulty understanding the Earth’s spheres will
be pulled as a whole group to revisit booklet form Monday to provide extra
assistance on definitions and interactions.

Wednesday:
 Accommodations: Students with attention or eye sight difficulty will be sat
closest to the board.
  Modifications: Students with difficulty finishing projects in a short time period
will be paired with students who stay on task well. This will provide extra
encouragement to stay on task.
 Differentiations: Students with difficulty understanding the Earth’s spheres will
be pulled as a whole group to revisit booklet form Monday to provide extra
assistance on definitions and interactions.

Thursday:
 Accommodations: Students with attention or eye sight difficulty will be sat
closest to the board.
 Modifications: Students having trouble finishing lab write ups, will be expected to
bullet point answers to get their point across, rather than write in complete
sentences.
 Differentiations: Students with difficulty understanding the Earth’s spheres will
be pulled as a whole group to revisit booklet form Monday to provide extra
assistance on definitions and interactions.

Friday:
 Accommodations: Students with attention or eye sight difficulty will be sat
closest to the board.
 Modifications: Students with attention difficulty will only be expected to write 1-
2 paragraphs rather than 2-3.
 Differentiations: Students with difficulty understanding the Earth’s spheres will
be pulled as a whole group to revisit booklet form Monday to provide extra
assistance on definitions and interactions.

7. Assessment and Evaluation of Learning:

a. Monday
 Formative: Formative assessment notes on struggling students interaction anchor
charts

b. Tuesday
Formative: Formative assessment notes on struggling students and lab write up

c. Wednesday
d. Formative: Formative assessment notes on struggling students and lab write up

d. Thursday
e. Formative: Formative assessment notes on struggling students and sphere interactions
question sheet

e. Friday
-Summative: Hurricane Katrina sphere interactions activity
8. Homework Assignment: N/A
 9. Reflection:
a. Strengths:
b. Concerns:
c. Insights: