Lesson Plan

Grade/Subject: Grade 5 Science Unit: Weather Lesson Duration: 50 minutes OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES General Learning Outcomes: Students will: 58 Observe describe and interpret weather phenomena; and relate weather to the heating and cooling of Earths surface. 59 Investigate relationships between weather phenomena and human activity. Specific Learning Outcomes: Students will: 8. Identify some common types of clouds, and relate them to weather patterns. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Students will: 1. Describe 4 different cloud types; stratus, cumulus, cumulonimbus, cirrus. 2. Relate clouds to specific changes or identifiers of weather. 3. Identify cloud formations in our own environment. ASSESSMENTS Observations: Key Questions: I will observe during the note taking that What are four types of cloud formation? all students have the required time to take (LO# 1) down information. How do the four different clouds form? (LO#1) I will observe during interactive activities that children are understanding What type of weather or precipitation if information previously presented to them. any is associated with each cloud type? I will observe during cloud observation (LO#2) that all students understand cloud What types of clouds do we see in our characteristics to identify. environment and what they predict in terms of weather? (LO#3) Written Performance Assessments: Cloud Formation Journal LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED Resource #1 : Smart Board Presentation MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT Smart board Presentation Binder, Writing Utensil PROCEDURE

INTRODUCTION: 5 minutes
As this is the first class with the students I would like to learn names of children. I will be handing out cue cards with which they can write their name on one side. This will help me for when I need to call on names. Hook/Attention Grabber: Just to understand where the children are at in their studies I am going to ask them what they have learned about weather so far, maybe just some examples of rain or wind or catastrophes. Transition to Body: After review I will bring up the smart board and tell kids that we are going to use it interactively today!

BODY: 35 minutes
The smart board presentation starts off with a review of the water cycle. There is a drawing and it allows children to come up to the board and correctly place words where they go within the demonstration. We move on to learning about the four different types of clouds, with information and picture identifiers on each slide. These slides contain a lot of information, and students are not required to take notes just listen and be interactive; notes will be taken in notebook as a review. After the information slides are presented children will be asked to come up to the board and draw the four types of clouds, this is where they need to take notes in their binders. What are four types of cloud formation? The next interactive slide is children will come up and draw the correct clouds where they appear in the atmosphere according to height, again, taken down for notes in binder. Next is where we will write down some characteristics of each cloud, the cloud types are on the slide and I will ask for input from the children as to the information that goes with each, or if children have forgotten I will just inform them. How do the four different clouds form? What type of weather or precipitation if any is associated with each cloud type? o Stratus: Lowest clouds, 6,000ft and below, flat sheet like, forms when one layer of air rises into the atmosphere as one mass, can produce drizzle o Cumulus: 300-20,000 ft., puffy forms, fair weather clouds, form when warm air rises rapidly, and cools rapidly, can produce rain o Cumulonimbus- highest formation of cumulus cloud, forms because warm high rises fast and high, associated with drastic weather changes o Cirrus- +18,000ft. high, formed of ice crystals, thin and wispy seen in long thin streams, can predict weather changes, cannot rain

CLOSURE: 10 minutes
For kids to reinforce their knowledge of clouds, we are going to keep a log of the types of cloud we see outside our classroom. Children will grab a notebook and writing utensil and we will go outside (depending on weather severity, view out window) and look at the cloud formations present. I will be asking students what types of clouds we see in our environment and what they predict in terms of weather. In their notebooks they will roughly sketch what they see and the type of cloud they identified. Children will also be encouraged to look at clouds over the next while, and if they do see some interesting formation they can take a picture, and we can let the class view them, and they can describe the cloud to us, and what happened with the weather around it.

Sponge Activity: If we finish early I will ask children to brainstorm some examples of weather measurement instruments, and to think of some examples or ideas to bring to next class. Consolidation: Next class we will review any pictures children have taken of clouds, and then we will start on measuring and describing wind, as well as weather phenomena. Continuation of Part Two of Lesson One: We will start discussing how wind we measure wind. We will look at the anemometers that the class has made previously and we will review what they measure. We will start discussing weather vanes, and socks and how they can measure wind direction.

Reflection So this was my first lesson ever to a class, and it was nerve racking. I started off the class with an introduction about myself, and I did expect for a majority of the class to be taken up by this Q&A period, but surprisingly it was not. There were not many questions so I had to move into the actual lesson. I tried a lot of questioning with the kids, asking them what they had previously learned in other science classes and what they knew about clouds, so that I could get an understanding of what they can into with previous knowledge and the areas we needed to work on. The student seemed to enjoy the smart boar interactive perspective, which I found was very useful for getting them up and out of their seats. I found that sometimes I would lose my place in where I was explaining things and I had to pause and choose my words wisely. I also feel like I need to review cloud formations a little more in depth because when it came to explaining how they were exactly formed I stumbled because I had rehearsed the notes that I was going to be presenting. I might try and find a quick summary video. I didnt finish the lesson as I ran out of time like I expected but I feel that can pick up next class with some review, and then start with cloud observation journals. I felt that I was very attentive to the classroom behaviour. The kids were very well behaved as is to be expected in the first days. I tried to take wait time for questions I asked and sometimes it was helpful because then children that had not answered had the chance to formulate an answer and I would then choose them. I tried to let everyone in the class be interactive and participate as well. Part Two So we continued on with our notes on cloud types. I was able to use popsicle sticks to call on children and it allowed me to get a variety of children within the class to answer. Most children did remember cloud facts from last class so that was a good thing, and as well students were good at note taking. There was a rush towards the end of class for the assembly, but I did manage to get the kids to write down a template for their cloud journal, and we will see how well the children accomplish the assignment over the weekend.