Weather Lesson Plan

Theme: The Environment

Subject: Science

Grade Level: Third Grade

Language Level: Intermediate Fluency

Background:

Students will have had previous introduction the concept of weather and have been accustomed

to the teacher asking them “How does it feel outside today?” at least a week before the lesson of

weather is introduced, having the class fill out the This Week’s Weather worksheet. Using

Weather.com the class will be able to determine the temperature in degrees for that day. Students

will also be familiar with calendars, as one should be posted in the classroom at all times.

Students will also be aware from previous lessons that weather is in relationship to the

environment; different environments have different kinds of weather.

Preparation:

Content Objectives: Using resources provided to them, students will allot data in tables and

graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.

Language Objectives: Students will be able to describe the weather during each season using key

vocabulary in the lesson: sunny, cloudy, rain, snow, cold, hot, degrees.

Materials:

 Calendar

 Vocabulary Flashcards with Pictures

 This Week’s Weather Sheet

 Clouds Worksheet
  Weather Forecast of the week (The Weather Channel)

Motivation:

The students will be asked “How does it feel outside today?” As they respond, the teacher will

begin to write the adjectives they share on the white board. If students in the classroom are non-

native English teachers, the teacher should provide a translation in their language alongside the

English translation; these translations can come from stronger English learners working with

their native tongue speaking peers, or by the teacher’s own translating.

Presentation:

As a class, the objectives will be shared and explained to the students. The vocabulary words will

be written on the board. Students will be broken up into groups of 5 or 6, ensuring that there are

stronger ELLs working with struggling ones, as well as native English speakers in each group.

Each group will be given flashcards of the vocabulary that are descriptions of the weather. The

task is to create illustrations for each vocabulary word. Circulating the room, check for

understanding within the groups based on the illustrations representing the vocabulary words

accurately. At this time, if students are struggling with the meaning of the words provide the

extra individual guidance needed to bridge their understanding of the real world to the language.

Practice/Application:

Coming back as a class, the clouds worksheet will be distributed and discussed to the students.

Speaking clearly and keeping a constant attention on the visuals connected the different names of

the cloud, the teacher will explain how the different clouds can be a distinguisher of the weather.

To provide an example, the teacher should invite their students to look outside and describe the

clouds that they see, writing their characteristics on the board. Once the class has come back to

their seats, the students should write the name of the cloud type, allowing them to speak to each
other. After a few minutes, and checking to see that everyone has written something down the

teacher should instruct the students to hold up their notebooks with their answer. This provides

an easy way for the teacher to assess if the students are understanding the differences in cloud

types, and can determine if individual students/the whole class still needs more practice.

The focal activity for this lesson is for students to create a graphic that is similar to the

weather.com graphic of a week’s weather forecast. The students will create this graphic based on

their This Week’s Weather sheet. Students can work in pairs or individually, although the teacher

should make sure that the students working individually have a conversation with them so that

the students are practicing using the lesson vocabulary and ensure understanding of the material.

The students should include in their graphics: the date, the temperature, a description of the

weather that day using the lesson vocabulary, and a picture that correlates with that description

(i.e. the sun fully out, the clouds that accompany certain weather patterns).

Once the students have completed the activity, the teacher should have students direct him/her on

how the fill out the week’s weather graphic that the teacher should have displayed on large

screen. To check for understanding, the teacher should ask the class “Does anyone else’s weather

forecast look different than this one?”

Review:
As a review, the teacher will assign a journaling activity for the class based on the prompt:

“Describe today’s weather and how it makes you feel. Are you warm or cold? What kind of

clouds do you see? The teacher should have the prompt clearly written on the board, as well as

reading it out loud, annunciating clearly each part of the question. The teacher should explain to

the class that their journal response should include at least three of the vocabulary words, and to

underline them in their journal.

While students are writing, the teacher should circle the room, making sure each student

understands the prompt and that the vocabulary words are being used correctly. If a student who

is struggling with their writing skills, the teacher can have the student respond to the prompt by

speaking it, and together they can guide the student on how to write this response.