Bluefield State College

Daily Lesson Plan

Name: Amber Shirley Date: 4/17/16

Subject: Social Studies Topic: Seasons

and Climate

Grade: 1st Grade Length of

Lesson: 30 to 40 minutes

Introduction (Essential Question): How does location affect how people live? How does climate affect the
way people live?
Standard: Social Studies
Cluster: Geography
Objective: SS.1.G.2 describe how climate and location affect the way people live, work, and
play.

Specific Objective: Students will understand how location and climate affects the way
people live such as the clothes they wear and what they do for fun. Students will complete a
lesson review with 90% accuracy.

Method(s): Preteach vocabulary, discussion with visual cues, guided practice, lesson review, independent
practice activity

Materials: vocabulary words, student edition book, lesson review page

Direct Instruction: The teacher should begin by preteaching vocabulary words location, seasons, weather,
and climate. The teacher will tell students that the word location means place where something is. The
teacher will point out on a map the location of their community. The teacher will have the students
practice saying, West Virginia is the location where I live.

The teacher will explain that there are four seasons, or times of the year: spring, summer, fall, and winter.
The teacher will have the students name what season it is currently.

The teacher will tell students that the word weather means the way the air feels outside. The teacher
will ask the students how they would describe the days weather.

The teacher will explain to students what the word climate means: the kind of weather a place has over a
long time. The teacher will discuss West Virginias climate.

The teacher will ask students to think about how where they live affects what they wear and what they do
for fun. The teacher will show the students a picture of a children playing in the snow. The teacher will
point to the picture and ask students if their community has heavy snowfalls in the winter or are
snowstorms rare. The teacher will explain that winter is not the same in every place. The teacher will ask
students what types of clothing theyd wear in winter weather and what theyd like to play.

Guided Practice:
Next, the teacher will show the students a picture of the four seasons. The teacher and students will
review each picture and point out different kinds of clothes people are wearing and the different activities
people are doing for fun. The teacher and students will talk about how the activities are related to the
season. Then, the teacher will have the students talk about their favorite season and what they like to do
during that season. The teacher will point out that the location where people live may help them decide
what activities they can do. The teacher will also tell them that location also affects the foods people eat,
the clothes they wear, and the kinds of houses they build.

The students will circle their favorite season of the year in their student edition book.
Now the teacher and students will discuss why seasons change. The teacher will explain that the seasons
change because part of the Earth tilted toward the sun changes, and that the season a place is having
depends on how Earth is facing the sun. The teacher will explain that it takes one year for the earth to
travel around the sun and that the earth leans or tilts to one side as it moves around the sun. Because of
the tilt, the sun shines longer on some parts of the earth at different times of year. When a place is tilted
to face the sun, it has summer. When it is tilted away from the sun, it has winter.

The teacher will ask students, Have you gone outside to play after dinner? Was the sun shining brightly,
or was it already starting to get dark? The teacher will explain that the sun shines longer during a
summer day than on a winter day.

Next, the teacher will teach students about weather. The teacher will explain that weather, in any location,
can change from day to day. Weather is the way air feels outside. On one day, the weather may be sunny
and warm. On another day, it may be cloudy and cool. A seasons weather is different in different places.

In the student edition book, the students will circle the season that West Virginia is currently in, which
will show them that weather changes with each season. Summer can be hot or warm, spring can often be
rainy, fall can be windy and cool, and winter can be cold and snowy.

The teacher and students will talk about how the clothing people wear can help determine what kind of
weather is typical in each season.

Next, the teacher and students will discuss climate. First the teacher will ask, How is weather different
from climate? The teacher will answer that weather is the way the air feels outside and climate is the
kind of weather a place has over a long time. The teacher will explain that each location on Earth has a
different climate. The climate of a place affects the clothes people there wear and it also affects what
people do for fun. The students will look at pictures of Seattle, Washington, Phoenix, Arizona, and Key
West, Florida to compare the different climates.

Differentiation: For help with the independent practice activity.

Tier 1 students can draw a picture of themselves doing a fun activity in their favorite season. These
students will write a caption or simple sentence to explain their picture.

Tier 2 students can make a list of things that they might wear during each of the four season. For
example, students might list hat, gloves, and scarf for things they wear in the winter. Students can
illustrate their lists.

Tier 3 students can think about their favorite season and write down words and phrases to describe the
season. They will then use these to write a poem about their favorite season.

Lesson Closure: The teacher will once again review the following:
People live in many locations on Earth. The location of a place affects the kind of season it has.
Earths tilt causes seasons to change.
A seasons weather, or the way the air feels outside, is different in different places.
Climate, or the kind of weather a place has over a long time, also differs by location.
Climate affects what people wear and what they do for fun.
Independent Practice:
The students will be assigned an activity which goes as follows:

Be a weather reporter. Tell people what clothes to wear for each kind of weather you report.

Assessment:
The students will be asked three questions which will be on their lesson review page.
Students will be graded on their responses to the pages in their workbook that we did during
guided practice.
The students will also be graded on their independent practice activity with the following rubric:

Activity Rubric:
Score 4-
Chooses appropriate clothes for the weather
Describes the clothing clearly
Speaks very clearly and at an appropriate volume

Score 3-
Chooses mostly appropriate clothes for the weather
Describes the clothing fairly well
Speaks fairly clearly and at an appropriate volume

Score 2-
Chooses somewhat appropriate clothes for the weather
Describes the clothing somewhat clearly
Speaks somewhat clearly and at an appropriate volume

Score 1-
Chooses inappropriate clothes for the weather
Does not describe the clothing clearly
Does not speak clearly or at an appropriate volume
 Lesson Review

1. SUMMARIZE How does location affect the way people live?

(Answer: The clothes people wear and what they do for fun is affected by where they live.)

2. What is the climate like where you live?

(Answer: Our climate is cool in the winter and warmer in the summer.)

Circle the letter of the correct answer.

3. How many seasons are there?

A. Three

B. Six

C. Four

D. Two

(Answer: 4)