KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate:

Ashley Swier

Cooperating Teacher: ___Amy Krick

Date:__February 12, 2015___

Coop. Initials

Group Size: _26_ Allotted Time __30 minutes___ Grade Level

Fourth grade

Subject or Topic: __Climates in the Southwest___

035_

Section

STANDARD:
8.1.4.A: Identify and describe how geography and climate have influenced continuity and
change over time.
I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
The students will be able to compare plants from the Southwest versus plants from the Northeast.
II. Instructional Materials
A. Textbook
B. Chapter notes
III. Subject Matter/Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea)
A. Prerequisite skills
a. Knowledge of climate
B. Key vocabulary
a.
Arid Dr, but not desert like
b. Savanna grassy plain with few trees
C. Big idea
a. Climates in the Southwest
IV. Implementation
A. Introduction
a. The teacher will briefly show the students more pictures of the Grand Canyon to
tie in yesterdays lesson.
b. The teacher will ask the students what they learned about yesterday in class.
c. After discussing what yesterdays lesson the teacher will tell the students that
today they will be learning about climates in the Southwest region.
B. Development
a. Before reading the teacher will ask the following question.
i. What do you think it is like living in a place that has a hot and dry
climate? (Make a list on the board)

b. The students will start reading on page 308 and continue onto page 309 reading
about a region with varied climates.
c. After reading the section the teacher will ask the following questions to the
students.
i. Why do you think this region has so many different climates?
ii. What makes a desert a desert?
iii. How much rain does a desert get a year?
iv. What happens when warm and cold air meet?
d. After answering the questions the teacher will ask the students to look at the map
and notice how many temperature ranges this region has.
e. Before reading the next session the teacher will say, What types of plants do you
think grow in the Southwest?
f. The students will now read the sections about plants in the Southwest.
g. The teacher will ask the following questions throughout the section and after the
section.
i. Where is the Sonoran Desert?
ii. What is the Saguaros relationship with the animals in the desert?
iii. What are some other plants that grow in the Southwest?
h. Ask the students to compare plants from the Southwest versus the plants that are
in the area that they live.
i. The students will write one comparison about different plants on an index card
and turn it in their tables basket.
j. The teacher will write the vocabulary words on the board and ask the students to
say the definition of the words.
k. The teacher will write the definitions on the board and the students will write the
definitions in their chapter notes.
l. Once the students are finished copying the notes they may take a look at pages
312-313 about giant plants from around the board.
C. Closure
a. The teacher will ask the students what they learned during class today. Make sure
the students hit these main points.
b. The teacher will say, Tomorrow we will be looking into oil and technology of the
Southwest.
D. Accommodations/Differentiation
If a student is having difficulty understanding the topic the teacher will go back and
walk through that section step by step until the students understand.
E. Assessment/Evaluation Plan
1. Formative The students will turn in their index card which compares a plant from
the Southwest and a plant from the Northeast.
2. Summative There is no summative assessment for this lesson.

V. Reflective Response
A. Report of Students Performance in Terms of Stated Objectives (after lesson is taught)
- All students were able to compare a plant from where they live to a plant that is
found in the Southwest.

B. Personal Reflection
How can I improve this lesson?
-

Bring in an actual cactus

Split open a cactus to see what the inside looks like.

Were the students engaged?

-

The students were still very interested in the topic of the lesson. They kept relating the
information we were learning about to what we were reading about yesterday in class.

Were the students able to recall information about the previous lesson?
-

The students were able to completely summarize the lesson about the Grand Canyons.
Some students even brought in maps and pictures from when they visited the park to
share with the class so we spent some time looking at them.

VI. Resources
Scott, F. (2003). The Midwest. In Regions: Scott, Foresman social studies ([Review ed., pp.
308-315). Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman