How the Wind Blows

Introduction:
How the Wind Blows is a lesson designed for students between the ages of three and
four. This lesson can be taught to all of the students at one time for circle time, or can be divided
into smaller groups for stations. The purpose of this lesson is to provide the students with
knowledge about the wind. The students will be able to also use their bodies to represent how
the wind moves, and how it carries certain objects in the air. The curriculum area of this lesson is
science and it focuses on the physics aspect. In addition it also focuses on verbally
communicating certain aspects so the children are practicing their English in a verbal way.

Content Standard/s:
PA.S.3.2b.6 Unifying Themes
Predict a reaction based on previous experiences

Language Standard/s:
PA ELPS
4: ELLs communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic
success in the content area of science.
Content Objective/s:
Students will be able to demonstrate what wind looks like with their bodies.
Students will be able to describe the difference between objects than can be carried with the
wind and items that cannot.

Language Objective/s:
Students will be able to verbally communicate their understanding of the vocabulary words and
difference between objects the wind can and cannot carry.
Students will be able to verbally explain what the wind looks like.
Key Vocabulary:
Predict- making a good guess
Weight- how heavy or light an object is.
Materials, Including Supplementary Materials Specifically Chosen to Increase Comprehensible
Input for ELLs:

the book The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins

Piece of laminated paper with the word Predict on it

Piece of laminated paper with the word Weight on it

Material Adaptation for Language Proficiency Levels:

Original Text: The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins
Lower Proficiency Adaptation Example: The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins
Higher Proficiency Adaptation Example: The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins
***This book is a perfect medium for students with low proficiency and for students with
high proficiency. It is repetitive enough for lower proficiency students to understand and
progressive enough for more advanced students to remain interested. In addition, the teacher
will be reading the book to the students so the children will not be forced to read the story
themselves. However the teacher must be clear and concise so the lower proficiency students
can listen for the main ideas and be shown pictures to help understand more difficult concepts.
Learning Strategies:

Previewing the story before reading

Making connections between personal experiences, beliefs, and feelings and what is
learned while reading
Reading aloud for clarification
Predicting
Using questions to guide comprehension
Purposefully grouping and labeling words
Hands on activities

Procedures and Presentation*:

Warm-Up:
Teacher: Good Morning boys and girls, today we are going to talk about the wind. Lets take a
look at our objectives today. Lets turn on our listening ears all the way up! Our first objective is
to show what the wind looks like with our bodies. Can anyone tell me how they think the wind
moves?
Teacher: Call on a student with their hand raised
Student: Student will explain or demonstrate how he or she thinks it moves (fast, slow, big,
small, all over, crazy, any response given shall be accepted and discussed)
Teacher: Our second objective is to describe the difference between the objects that are carried
by the wind and the objects that are not carried. Our Language objectives are to be able to speak
about weight and whether we think certain items will be carried by the wind or not and, to
explain how the wind moves.
Teacher: Okay friends, now that we have read our objectives, we will now take a look at our
vocabulary words.
Teacher: places the word predict on the wall
Teacher: Repeat after me, Predict.
Students: Predict.
Teacher: Predict.
Students: Predict.
Teacher: The word predicts means to make a good guess. For example I predict today will be a
nice day because it is sunny outside. Miss Gavalla is making a good guess about the weather
based on what I know.
Teacher: places the word weight on the wall
Teacher: repeat after me, weight.
Students: Weight
Teacher: Weight

Students: Weight
Teacher: The word weight means how heavy or how light an object is. For example this feather
is very light so it does not weigh a lot. However this rock is very heavy and weighs a lot.
Teacher: Okay friends, now we are going to read a story about the wind and it is called The
Wind Blew. Lets take a look at the pictures before we begin reading and lets PREDICT what
the story will be about. Who remembers what predict means?
Teacher: calls on a student with their hand raised, scaffold and review as needed.
Student: responds to teacher by explaining what predict means
Teacher: Flips through the pictures in the story, showing the book to the students
Teacher: Okay friends, who wants to predict what the story will be about?
Teacher: call on a few volunteers and listen to their responses, giving words of encouragement
good idea, good thought, wow lets see if thats true
Teacher: read the story to the students. After reading ask a few follow up questions.
Teacher: Were our predictions correct?
Teacher: Wait for students response.
Students: respond
Teacher: Why do you think the wind was able to blow away the newspaper, the clothing, and the
hat and not a rock? Everyone think about it in their head, and when you have an idea, raise your
hand.
Teacher: allow students time to think, and then call on a student with a raised hand.
Students: respond
Teacher: Nice job everyone! Those were great ideas. So lets think about this. Like you all
described, the wind was able to lift those objects because they werent heavy. They did not
weigh a lot so the wind was able to lift them up high. The rock weighed a lot so the wind could
not pick it up.
Presentation:
Teacher: Boys and girls, now that we have read about the wind, we are now going to become
the wind by using our bodies. So will everyone please stand up and peanut butter jelly, spread
out!
Teacher: allow students a few seconds to stand up and spread out so they are not near anyone,
guide as necessary.
Teacher: Lets pretend we are a tree that is swaying in the wind. Lets raise our arms up high and
move them slowly and loosely side to side.
*30 seconds
Teacher: Now what shall we be?
Allow students to volunteer and demonstrate, with your body, the idea they have. For example a
hurricane.
Student: A hurricane
Teacher: Good idea! Lets be a hurricane! Does anyone know if a hurricane moves fast or slow
and smooth or rough?
Allow students to think and call on a student with a raised hand.
Student: Fast and Rough
Teacher: Great! Without bumping into anyone, lets move quickly around the room with our arms
waving rough in the air.
*30 seconds
Teacher: Now lets pretend we are a leaf slowly falling to the ground on an Autumn day in
October. Slowly waves your hands up high then slowly make your way all the way to the floor and
lay down.
*30 seconds
Teacher: Now what shall we be?
Allow students to volunteer and demonstrate, with your body, the idea they have. For example a
tornado.
Student: Tornado

Teacher: Thats exciting! Lets be a tornado! How does the wind make a tornado move?
Allow students to think and call on a student with a raised hand.
Student: In a circle
Teacher: Right! They move in a circle. Lets spin quickly in a circle like a tornado.
*30 seconds
Wrap-Up:
Teacher: Great imagination boys and girls! Have a seat and we will review our objectives to see
if we met them.
Allow students to get settled and ready to learn.
Teacher: Okay our first objective was to show what the wind looks like with our bodies. Do you
think we did that?
Students: respond: yes
Teacher: Yes we moved our bodies like tornados, trees, hurricanes, and leaves. Nice job! Our
second objective was to describe the difference between the objects that are carried by the wind
and the objects that are not carried. Did we do that?
Students: respond: yes
Teacher: Right, we did! We talked about how the rock was too heavy to be lifted but the
newspaper, hat, and clothing were light so they were carried.
Teacher: Great job friends, now we are going to move into our art lesson and paint a picture of
the wind!

Assessment:
Formative: By asking the students the difference between objects that are light enough to
be carried by the wind and the objects that are too heavy, the teacher is checking for their
understanding based on their answers.
Summative: Since preschoolers cannot read to take a test, the teachers summative
assessment is to observe their listening skills when told to do a certain movement with their
body. If the student is following along they are engaged and understanding the material. If the
student is not following along, be sure to move around the room and help any struggling student.

Conclusion:
Since I have previously written and used this lesson plan in a real preschool classroom it was
very easy for me to see what I needed to differentiate and what I could keep the same.
Surprisingly I was able to keep a lot of my lesson plan the same for example, I was able to keep
the content standard, the objectives, the materials completely the same and I relatively kept the
warm up, presentation, wrap up, and assessments the same. However, I did not have any
vocabulary words in my original plan. I added the vocabulary words so that my ELL learners
along with my other students could actually see the words that they were learning. In addition I
made them repeat the vocabulary words twice so that they could say it more than once before I
explained what it was. I also added language standards and objectives because I needed to help
my ELL students to meet certain goals to help make progress in speaking English. One thing that
was largely different in this lesson plan was writing out a script. This helped me make sure I did
not use any sarcasm or difficult language that would trick or confuse the ELL learners.