Adapted Lesson Plan

Celeste and Kate

Class: 25 in whole class, 15 ESL (WIDA: level 1=3, level 2=8, level 3=3, and level=4), 3 IEP (1
English and 2 ESL students)
Neighborhood: Title I, Salt Lake, West Side (Fairpark)
Language background: 8 Spanish speaking students, 3 students from different parts of Africa, 1
from Thailand, 1 from Vietnam and 2 new students from Nepal (they arrived after the
earthquake)
Procedure:
Lesson Title: Intro to Rocks
Grade Level: 4th
State Standards Connection:
Intended Learning Outcomes:
1. Use Science Process and Thinking Skills
a. Observe simple objects
and patterns and report their
observations.
b. Sort and sequence data
according to a given
criterion.
Standard 3 Students will understand the
basic properties of rocks, the processes
involved in the formation of soils, and the
needs of plants provided by soil.
Objective c. Sort rocks by
appearance according to the three
basic types: sedimentary, igneous
and metamorphic
Essential Question: How can we classify different
types of rocks?

Adaptions:

Rational/Source:

Have a poster
board/word wall in
the classroom with
basic scientific terms
and their definitions.
These are words
things like: data,
observation and
prediction. These
would be things you
have gone over as a
whole class and the
students most likely
have in a personal
dictionary that they
have written. But also
having them available
all the time with
pictures when
possible to give extra
assistance.

Using academic
word lists and
personal
dictionaries help
students build a
strong vocabulary
and deeper
understanding of
the words (SIOP
ch. 3)

Allow / encourage
students to speak in
their native language
whenever helpful

Students are more

engaged with the
content when able
to speak in their
native language
once their affective
filter has

decreased.
(McIntyre et. al.,
2009, Ch. 5)

Specific Lesson Objective:

Students will be able to observe and classify
different rocks into the three main types (igneous,
metamorphic and sedimentary).
Lesson Purpose:
For students to classify and gain a basic
understanding of the three main types of rocks
Vocabulary Focus:
Igneous
Metamorphic
Sedimentary
geologist
Materials: The key with the materials for this
activity are that each group has similar items that
they are working with but they dont have to be the
same type of items. Also getting a mix of natural
and manufactured items. Below are the items I used
Pictures of igneous, metamorphic and
sedimentary rocks (3 of each category for
each group)
rocks (optional)
science journals
Anticipated Time Frame: 45-60 minutes
Engage and Launch: (5 minutes)
Tell story about going for a hike and finding
a bunch of rocks or your own rock
collection
refresh vocab and go over what we know
about the word classify and consensus
get students into groups and have them pull
out their science journals
have the students copy a table into their
books (picture will be added)

Have photos going

along with your story
of a hike on the
projector/doc cam.

Using visuals while

telling a story helps
students by
engaging more than
one way to process
information (visual
and auditory).
(SIOP, Ch. 4)
Also a story helps
students build
background, which
is important for

ESL students in
order to help them
relate and visualize
the content. (SIOP,
Ch. 3)

When going over old

vocab have students
pull out the
definitions they had
written in their own
words to make sure
they understand and
start on the same page
as the rest of the class.
Have a graphic
organizer printed for
students who struggle
creating a table on
their own. Or for kids
who tend to write
slower.

Explore/Do: (10 minutes)

Hand out a bunch of pictures to each group
with all three rock types represented
Explain that you want students to work with
their groups to separate the rock pictures
into 3 different groups.
They will be asked to keep track of all the
data they collect in the table they have in
their journals.
They must come up with categories that
every member in the group agrees with or
comes to a consensus about.
Once they have come up with a way to
classify the rock pictures have them look at
other groups and see if they are doing it the
same or different than their group.

We are splitting the

students so that they
are in groups of 4
students. Each group
will have on native
English speaker, one
WIDA level 1 or 2
and 2 WIDA level 3
or 4.

Using hard copy

pictures so every
student can touch

Using academic
word lists and
personal
dictionaries help
students build a
strong vocabulary
and deeper
understanding of
the words (SIOP
ch. 3)

Using graphic
organizers help
students who may
feel overwhelmed
by English focus on
the content instead
of how to present it
(SIOP ch. 4)

Groups are
arranged and
changed to allow
students plenty of
chances to share
their ideas, explore
more as well as
learn from each
other (SIOP ch. 6)

Allowing students
to interact lets them
practice their oral
skills which help
improve their
reading and writing
(SIOP Ch. 6)
Using pictures and
multimedia helps
build

 Bring the groups all together for a minute

and do a check in just to see how they are
classifying their photos. Introduce the idea
that you can group things based on more
attributes than just one (for example color
and texture).
Once you have heard from all the groups
allow the small groups to change or adjust
their classifications.
Once you have given them the chance to
change come back together as a group and
discuss why or why not they mixed up the
groups.
Asking questions throughout like:
1. how did you come up with those
groups?
2. what are you observing?
3. what helped you all agree on the
groups?

Explain/Summarize: (15 minutes)

gather pictures and have students move back
to their seats
Ask the students if the rocks were harder or
easier to classify than the random objects
from the classification lesson the week
before? why or why not?
Do they think geologist classify this same
way?
Explain that geologists classify by how
things are formed, ask if they would change

them and look at them

close.

understanding.
(SIOP ch. 4)

Each group can have

one scribe for this
section as long as they
are all helping
contribute to the
classification process.
During the check in
have one student from
each group present
why they grouped the
pictures the way they
did. During the
second check in have
someone else take on
this role and make
sure both of these
students are not the
scribe. The final
person in the group
will be in charge of
answering questions
(with the support of
their group). This
gives everyone a
chance to talk/write.

Allowing students
to pick their roles
within the group
lets them express
their
understandings
through multiple
methods such as
orally or written
(SIOP ch. 4)

All of these questions

will be posed as a
think pair share
within their table.
That gives them a
chance to talk with
students other than
their groups. This also
allows them a chance
to all talk and
formulate their ideas.

Allowing students
to interact lets them
practice their oral
skills which help
improve their
reading and writing
(SIOP Ch. 6)
Allowing students
to do think pair
shares allows all
students the
opportunity to use
academic language
and respond to

how they organized their pictures now

knowing that information?
Introduce igneous, metamorphic and
sedimentary as the three categories of rocks
Use the same photos the students were
working with and lay out one picture for
each category (igneous, metamorphic and
sedimentary). Explain what observations
geologist use to place it in that category and
tie it to some of the observations the
students made while classifying.
Explain your thinking reasoning for
classifying the next three and then have the
class help you classify the third picture.
Continue if they dont seem to have an idea
yet.

teachers questions.
(McIntyre, et. al.,
2009, Ch. 7)

When going over the

pictures make sure
you are putting them
on the screen so
everyone can see
them and use the
pictures they were
using before. This
way they are able to
relate to these photos.

Using pictures and

multimedia helps
build
understanding.
(SIOP ch. 4)

Elaborate/Extend: (10 minutes)

Have the students write igneous,
metamorphic and sedimentary in their
journals with a definition that the group
come up with
Student who finish quickly will come to you
and get new pictures or real rocks to bring
back to their group.
The groups will then work together to
classify the three new rocks into the
categories

Have them write this

in their personal
dictionaries instead of
their science journal.
Have them include a
sentence using the
word to help solidify
the idea.

Using academic
word lists and
personal
dictionaries help
students build a
strong vocabulary
and deeper
understanding of
the words (SIOP
ch. 3)

Preferably use real

rocks to help the
students have the
textile element for
observations.

Using real rocks

contextualizes key
vocabulary (SIOP
ch. 3)

Evaluate/Assess: (5 minutes)
Once the groups are done each student will
get their own rock to try and classify on
their own.

While students are

classifying their own
rocks you can go
around and meet with
students to double
check their definitions
and clarify anything

Performing
ongoing
assessments lets
you customize
lessons as you are
going. As well as
lets you interact

 They must put what category they think it

goes in and why they came to that
conclusion.
early finishers will get more than one rock
during = check to make sure students are
observing and applying those observations
to the groups they create. Also make sure
they are writing definitions that make sense
to them and dont just copy their friends.

they have struggled

with to give them one
on one attention.

with students in a
different capacity
allowing for
different group
dynamics (SIOP
ch. 6)

Contextualization - Bringing in pictures of rocks for categorizing, showing pictures of the hike
and give context to obscure concepts. The lesson also gives them a chance to observe/touch real
rocks for them to categorize.
Rigorous curriculum - This science lesson is challenging for the students because there is a lot
of self directed steps and they have to work in groups. They also have to use a lot of scientific
terminology while discussing their observations.
Instructional conversation - Throughout the lesson we have students paired up in groups. When
we ask students questions we allow them to do a think-pair share and interact with different peers
to help encourage them to speak up and share their ideas.
Home Language use - In our lesson we allow the students to use home language when the
students are in groups working on categorizing the different rocks.
Model vocabulary and syntax - Throughout the lesson you, as the teacher will be using the new
vocabulary words as well as reinforcing scientific language that is on the word wall in your room
and words the students have defined in their personal dictionaries. When going over the terms
and the classification of these types of rocks it will be vital that you are showing pictures as well
to cement the rather abstract concepts.
Scaffolding - Because this lesson requires so much small group work you can customize it to
each group. Allowing you to build in more supports when needed and give students extra
challenges when they are up for it.
Ongoing assessment - Throughout the lesson we use ongoing assessment by asking the students
questions, checking to see where/why they categorized their rocks group/individually, and
making sure they have definitions that make sense to them. As well as checking in and making
sure everyone is actively contributing to the conversation.