USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

What Standards (national

or state) relate to this
lesson?
(You should include ALL
applicable standards. Rarely
do teachers use just one:
theyd never get through
them all.)

Name: Brooklyn Westfall

Lesson Content
SC.3.L.14.2-Investigate and describe how plants respond to stimuli (heat, light, gravity),
such as the way plant stems grow toward light and their roots grow downward in
response to gravity.

Essential Understanding
(What is the big idea or
essential question that you
want students to come away
with? In other words, what,
aside from the standard and
our objective, will students
understand when they finish
this lesson?)

How do plants respond to the temperature, sunlight, and gravity?

Objectives- What are you

teaching?
(Student-centered: What will
students know and be able to
do after this lesson? Include
the ABCDs of objectives:
action, behavior, condition,
and degree of mastery, i.e.,
"C: Given a sentence written
in the past or present tense,
A: the student B: will be able
to re-write the sentence in
future tense D: with no errors
in tense or tense contradiction
(i.e., I will see her

After completing a think aloud and reading a passage on how plants respond to stimuli,
students will be able to answer the three assessment questions at the end of the passage
with 90% accuracy.

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Name: Brooklyn Westfall

yesterday.)."
Note: Degree of mastery does
not need to be a percentage.)
Rationale
Address the following
questions:
Why are you teaching this
objective?
Where does this lesson fit
within a larger plan?
Why are you teaching it
this way?
Why is it important for
students to learn this
concept?
Evaluation Plan- How will
you know students have
mastered your objectives?

-I am teaching this objective to help students understand how temperature, sunlight, and
gravity affect plants to help them better understand why plants grow when, where, why,
and how they do.
-This lesson fits into the third grade life science unit.
-I chose to teach the lesson this way because the reading I have selected gives an
excellent explanation of how a plant responds to its environment. The questions at the
end of the reading provide sufficient data as to whether the student has understood the
content.
-Students need to learn this content in order to be ready for fourth grade science when
they explore plants more in-depth.
-The formative assessment I will be using for this lesson is observation and questioning
throughout the text.
-The summative assessment I will be collecting is the student science journals where
students will be answering the three questions at the end of the passage.

Address the following:

What formative evidence
will you use to document
student learning during
this lesson?
What summative evidence
will you collect, either
during this lesson or in
upcoming lessons?
What Content Knowledge
is necessary for a teacher
to teach this material?

Instructors need to know that plants respond to heat and need sunlight to grow. Stems
grow upwards, fighting against gravity, while the roots are pulled deeper into the ground
by gravity. A plants leaves and stem will lean towards the sunlight in order to collect
more nutrients, but their roots stay grounded.

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Name: Brooklyn Westfall

What background
knowledge is necessary for
a student to successfully
meet these objectives?
How will you ensure
students have this
previous knowledge?
Who are your learners?
What do you know about
them?
What do you know about
their readiness for this
content?

-Students have been studying plant life for the past few weeks with my CT, so they do
have the prior knowledge necessary for this lesson.
-They have been working on a LTI involving the study of how plants start to germinate
and grow in certain environments.

What misconceptions
might students have about
this content?

Some students believe that if a plant leans towards sunlight, its roots will come up.

Teaching Methods
(What teaching method(s) will
you use during this lesson?
Examples include guided
release, 5 Es, direct
instruction, lecture,
demonstration, partner word,
etc.)
Step-by-Step Plan
(What exactly do you plan to
do in teaching this lesson? Be

Lesson Implementation
This lesson will be a guided release. The read/think aloud will take place as a class and
then students will answer the proceeding questions in pairs.

Time

Who is
responsibl
e (Teacher

Each content area may require a different step-by-step format. Use

whichever plan is appropriate for the content taught in this lesson.
For example, in science, you would detail the 5 Es here

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

thorough. Act as if you needed
a substitute to carry out the
lesson for you.)

or
Students)?

Name: Brooklyn Westfall

(Engage/Encountering the Idea; Exploring the Idea;

Explanation/Organizing the Idea; Extend/Applying the Idea;
Evaluation).

2 min
Where applicable, be sure to
address the following:
What Higher Order
Thinking (H.O.T.) questions
will you ask?
How will materials be
distributed?
Who will work together in
groups and how will you
determine the grouping?
How will students
transition between
activities?
What will you as the
teacher do?
What will the students do?
What student data will be
collected during each
phase?
What are other adults in
the room doing? How are
they supporting students
learning?
What model of co-teaching
are you using?

Teacher

15
min

10
min

Teacher/St
udent

Student
Teacher

3 min

1. Introduction: Go ahead and get out your science books and

turn to page 20. We are going to be answering our essential
question for science today: How do plants respond to sunlight,
temperature, and gravity.
2. Wait for students to open to page 20, then ask students,
Look at some of the previous pages, can anyone find an
environment that a plant could live in?
3. Take 2 or 3 student responses and ask students what makes
the environment they chose suitable for plants. Answers
should include; temperature, soil, sunlight, water, etc.
4. Use the Popsicle sticks to call on student to read page 20 on
environment.
5. Ask students Why dont most plants grow in the winter?
Answers should include temperature and less sunlight.
6. Use the Popsicle sticks to call on a different student to read
page 21 on temperature and sunlight.
7. Ask students, Which season do most plants grow? Why do
you think that? Answers should include spring/early summer,
as the Earth is warming up, so leaves are big when summer
and more sunlight is around to gain the most nutrients.
8. Use the Popsicle Sticks to read page 22 on plants and gravity.
Ask students, If the sun were over there, point to a corner
of the room, Where would a plant start leaning? Students
should answer towards the sun.
9. Aske students, If a plant is leaning towards the sun, what
happens with its roots? Students should answer that gravity
keeps them in place in the ground.
10.Have students work with a partner to answer the three
questions at the end of the reading in their science journals.
11.Provide students with a wrap up conversation reviewing the
reading passage and clarifying the questions they are
answering.

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

What will you do if

Name: Brooklyn Westfall

a student struggles with the content?

Students are working with a partner to answer the questions so they have access to peer
help. I will also be available at the back table for students to come if they need help.

a student masters the content quickly?

If a student finishes quickly they can walk around the room and ask if any of their peers
need assistance. There will also be the new Scholastic Kids! Magazines on dinosaur
fossils available for reading and puzzle solving.

Meeting your students

needs as people and as
learners

If applicable, how does this lesson connect to the interests and cultural
backgrounds of your students?
N/A
If applicable, how does this lesson connect to/reflect the local community?
-This lesson provides plant knowledge that is necessary in order to help plants grow
successfully. This can give students the ability to help out at local community gardens or
farms.

How will you differentiate instruction for students who need additional
challenge during this lesson (enrichment)?
-The enrichment provided with questions that are slightly more challenging when calling
on a student who is mastering the content quickly.

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template (S 2014)

Name: Brooklyn Westfall

How will you differentiate instruction for students who need additional
language support?
-Having the students read as a class and work together in pairs helps students who are
not a proficient in English to gain experience with their peers who are native English
speakers.

Accommodations (If
needed)
(What students need specific
accommodation? List
individual students (initials),
and then explain the
accommodation(s) you will
implement for these unique
learners.)

GV will need redirecting and may possibly benefit by sitting closer to the instructor.
KD needs to sit closer to the board to be able to see well.
AB cannot be paired with RM due to previous conflicts.

Materials
(What materials will you use?
Why did you choose these
materials? Include any
resources you used. This can
also include people!)

Students will need a pencil and their science journals. They also need a copy of the
science book.