LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Grace Lesniak

A. Tracking Weather Condition

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON AND UNWRAPPING OF THE STANDARD

To pre-assess my students to know whether or not they are ready for this lesson I could have a brief
conversation with them about their prior knowledge of the different weather conditions. The students
will be learning about the different types of weather conditions over the next couple weeks, so this
lesson will function as an introductory into tracking daily weather. Students learn a lot by doing and
exploring, like through play, so this lesson fits into child development because the students will be
doing their own hands on observation of the daily weather conditions they experience.

C. UNWRAPPING THE VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING and the NEXT GENERATION

SCIENCE STANDARDS (NATIONAL STANDARDS)

2.6 The student will investigate and understand basic types, changes, and patterns of weather. Key concepts include
a) identification of common storms and other weather phenomena;
b) the uses and importance of measuring, recording, and interpreting weather data; and
c) the uses and importance of tracking weather data over time.

What do students need to be able to do, understand, and know?

- Changes in the weather and its patterns.
- The different types of storms, how they form, and why.
- How to measure and record weather data and what it means.
- How to track weather over time and how the data is used.

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Processes

Understanding the Standard
(Background Information for Instructor Use Only)
 Earth’s weather changes continuously from day to day. In order to meet this standard, it is expected that students will

 Changes in the weather are characterized by daily
differences in wind, temperature, and precipitation.
 Precipitation occurs when water, previously evaporated,
condenses out of the air and changes its phase from a
gas to a liquid (rain) or to a solid (snow or sleet).
 Extremes in the weather, such as too little or too much
precipitation, can result in droughts or floods.
 Storms have powerful winds, which may be
accompanied by rain, snow, or other kinds of
precipitation.
 Weather data are collected and recorded using
instruments. This information is very useful for
predicting weather and determining weather patterns.
 Weather influences human activity.
 observe and describe seasonal weather patterns and local
variations.
 observe and record daily weather conditions, such as sunny,
cloudy, windy, rainy, or snowy.
 record and interpret daily temperature, using a graph with
numbered axes.
 measure and record weather data, using weather instruments,
including a thermometer, rain gauge, and weather vane
(standard English and metric measures).
 describe weather in terms of temperature, wind, and
precipitation.
 observe and describe precipitation in terms of evaporation and
condensation of water.
 observe and describe types of precipitation, including rain,
snow, and ice (sleet and hail).
 describe how tracking weather data over time helps scientists
make future weather predictions.
 Scientists collect weather data over time to study trends
and patterns. These trends and patterns help them to
make future weather predictions.
Green = concepts, terms, ideas –
nouns
Orange = verbs that are linked to
the concepts, terms, and ideas
 evaluate the influence of daily weather conditions on personal
activities and dress.
 identify common types of storms. Examples include
hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and thunderstorms.
 compare and contrast droughts and floods.

D. LEARNING INTENTIONS and SUCCESS CRITERIA

Understand Know Do

I am learning about the different
types of weather conditions.
I know that I will need to know how
to identify each weather condition.
I know that I will need to know how
to record daily weather conditions.
I can identify the different weather
conditions.
I can record the daily weather
conditions that I experience.

E. ASSESSING LEARNING

Learning Intention and Success

Opportunities to Respond Evidence
Criteria
I am learning about the different
types of weather conditions.

I can identify the different weather - Discussion Students can identify the different
conditions. - Think-pair-share types of weather conditions.
- Sorting
- Matching

I can record the daily weather - Fill in a table Students can record the daily
conditions that I experience. - Discussion weather conditions they
experience.

F. MATERIALS NEEDED

 Pre-made booklet
 Graph template
 Crayons

G. PROCEDURE

Activity
Element Procedures and management Students
& Time (in
minutes)
I will begin the lesson by asking the students to list The students will be getting
Engage - off all of the different types of weather conditions into the mindset of weather
Introduction (sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, and snowy). After and will be introduced into
the students have listed the different types of the activity we will be
 weather conditions I will pull up pictures depicting doing about weather
each kind and they will have to identify which conditions.
picture goes with which condition.
After I say ‘class, class’ the
I will then transition the students by using the students will respond with
Transition ‘class, class’ method into the next step of the ‘yes, yes’ and should then
activity. be quite and ready for
further instructions.
After the intro discussion about weather
conditions, the students will be given an already
folded booklet which they will have to decorate Students will be using their
the cover and five of the six pages within the book. creativity to create and
Event 1
Each weather condition will have its own page in decorate their own weather
the book which they will have to label and tracking notebooks.
decorate. On the last page of their booklet they
will glue a template of a graph into their books.
Every morning the students
Every day when the students come into school
come into school they will
they will observe the weather outside and note the
observe the weather and
Event 2 date on the page with the corresponding weather
track it in their weather
condition. The students will repeat this for about a
tracking notebooks that they
month.
created.
At the end of the month the students will take the The students will use the
Event 3 data they have collected and graph it in the graph data they collected to create
in the back of their notebooks. a graph.
I will clap a pattern and the
student will need to repeat
Once everyone has finished the activity, I will
the pattern back. Once they
transition the class into a brief conclusion
Transition have finished the pattern
discussion. I will use a clapping pattern to regain
they should be quite and
the attention of the students.
ready for further
instruction.
After the students have finished observing,
recording, and graphing we will talk as a class
The students will participate
about how our graphs may be similar to each
Conclusion: in a brief concluding
other, or how they may differ. We will also
discussion.
compare the frequency in which we observed the
different weather conditions.

H. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

Because there is a little bit of freedom with the booklet, students could lose focus of what the booklet
is really meant for and end up just focusing on the coloring part. I will try to counteract this by
providing explicit directions and walking around the classroom to make sure everyone is on task.