Grade K Weather TEKS K.8B Lesson 6 Enduring Understandings Our planet is unique in that it has water and Seasons supports life. Earth’s Sun drives many of our cycles on Earth. We can observe, describe and record objects and patterns in our sky and on Earth. Patterns on Earth and in the sky are caused by Essential Questions interactions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon and What makes our planet unique? can be used to make predictions. Why does everything in our solar system center Intended Learning Outcomes around our Sun? Students will know: How do the patterns and cycles of the Earth, patterns occur in the cycle of the seasons and Moon, and Sun system affect us? day/night. What do patterns of change tell us? earth rotates causing day/night. Students will be able to: illustrate and describe/discuss characteristics of the seasons cycle.
TEKS Vocabulary K.8: Earth and space. The student knows that there autumn/ otoño are recognizable patterns in the natural world fall / otoño and among objects in the sky. The student is season / estación expected to: spring / primavera summer / verano K.8B: Identify events that have repeating patterns, winter / invierno including weather / clima seasons of the year and day and night. weather conditions / condiciones del clima
Language Objectives Use and reuse the vocabulary words in discussion and writing activities. Narrate, describe and explain patterns in the sky. ELPS: 1E Internalize new basic and academic language by using and reusing it in meaningful ways in speaking and writing activities that build concept and language attainment. 3H Narrate describe and explain with increasing specificity and detail as more English is acquired. College and Career Readiness Standards Intellectual curiosity: Engage in scholarly inquiry and dialogue 21st Century Skills ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY—Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the environment and the circumstances and conditions affecting it, particularly as relates to air, climate, land, food, energy, water and ecosystems. Prior Learning: We can observe the natural world using our senses. There are patterns in nature we can record in drawings and words.
1 Updated: JUNE 2015 TOC (Think/Observe/Conclude) or KWL (Know/Want to Know/Learned) Encourage oral language by using TOC strategies: put kids in small groups and encourage them to come up with 2-5 things they agree about the topic of study or content. Students in this small group report to the whole group in 3 minutes. The purpose of this activity is to go deeper into the subject. I think… I observed… I conclude…
Teacher Management- 5 days Day 1 Materials (Per class) Seasons Pictures (see below) Paper, markers, tissue paper, and other materials to create seasonal deciduous trees.
Day 2 Materials (Per class) 1 – Large yellow circle made from construction paper 1 – Globe or 1 set of headbands like the ones below for students to wear to represent the Earth and Sun.
Materials (per student) Metal brads Paper plates Die cut 3”or 4” circles Pre-cut paper strips 1”x 5”.
Day 3 Pre-Printed months of the year written on sentence strip Birth dates of each student Paper, crayons, markers or any other materials used to draw pictures.
Day 4 Globe and sun model from Day 2 Pre-printed signs to indicate North and South. Picture of the sun to represent the equator
Day 5 Paper, pencils, crayons, markers or any other materials used for coloring
Advanced Teacher Prep
2 Look around your campus for a deciduous tree. Reference the changes in this tree throughout the school year. Make periodic walks with your class to observe the changes throughout the seasons.
Day 2 (per class) Headbands like the ones below for students to wear to represent the earth and sun.
Day 3 (per small group) Print the names of each month on a sentence strip Print pictures for sorting. Season and Clothing Matching
Anchors of Support For Day 1, you will need to print off the Seasons pictures. For Day 3, you will need to have a globe available.
Safety Considerations None
Literary Supports The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons Four Seasons Make a Year by Anne Rockwell A Friend for All Seasons by Mei Matsuoka and Julia Hubery The Four Seasons, by Rozanne Lanczak Williams I Can Read About Seasons, by Robyn Suprancer Changing Seasons by Sian Smith Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn Branley The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
Technology http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/weather/seasons/ Weather, Clothes, and seasons Season and Clothing Matching YouTube/Animal migration weatherwizkids.pbworks.com https://getkahoot.com/ https://padlet.com/ http://www.polleverywhere.com/ Suggestions for beginning or end of unit: Create a Poll and allow student to utilize a device like an IPhone, IPad, Smartphone, etc. These sites, Kahoot, Padlet, Poll Everywhere, allows teachers to create a poll for students to respond to. Show a group of students how to respond to the poll by passing around the device throughout the day if only one device is available, these students in turn will show the rest of the class. By
3 Updated: JUNE 2015 the end of the day, as an exit slip strategy, review the poll results with the whole class. This should only take a few minutes and allows for a quick review of content learned.
Science Fusion Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Resources Big Book of Science Vocabulary, p.19 Student Edition, pp. 89-94 Science Songs CD, track 12 Assessment guide, p.AG 57 Picture Sorting Cards 39-42
Background Information for Teacher A season is a time of the year marked by changes in weather and hours of daylight. Seasons result from the yearly orbit of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth as it rotates. Seasons affect how plants and animals live.
Misconceptions There are only two seasons, Winter and Summer. The sun doesn’t have anything to do with the seasons changing.
Probing Questions What are the four seasons? ¿Cuales son las cuatro estaciones? How does the weather change during the four seasons? ¿Cómo cambia el clima durante las cuatro estaciones? What happens when the seasons change? ¿Qué pasa cuando cambian las estaciones? Is there a pattern we can see in the seasons? ¿Hay algún patrón que podamos ver en las estaciones?
All lesson resources provided within this lesson are for instruction by ALL teachers. To meet Dual Language criteria, Dual Language Activity 1 and Activity 2 have been identified for the Dual Language teacher.
Arch of Lessons Kindergarten (45 Minute Lessons)
Day 1- Directed Inquiry- Students are given the question and procedures, but make their own claims and conclusions citing their collected data as evidence.
Engage: (15 min) Teacher presents “We will be learning about the four seasons this week. A season is a time of the year marked by changes in weather and hours of daylight. Seasons result from the yearly orbit of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth as it rotates. Seasons affect how plants and animals live. Can you name the 4 seasons? Read and discuss one of the books suggested above about seasons.
Explain: (10 min)
4 Emphasize how the seasons occur in a cycle or pattern, the same way and approximately the same time every year. With students, create an anchor chart similar to the one below to show the four seasons. Have students provide labels/descriptions of each season. Add to chart.
Explore: (20 minutes) and Dual Language Activity 1 Have students create their own 4 seasons page similar to the anchor chart. Have it show the difference in how a tree could look during the different seasons. Use a variety of colors, supplies to show the differences between the seasons.
Day 2- Building Concepts and Academic Vocabulary Engage: (10 min) Watch and discuss http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/weather/seasons/. Ask students, “Why do seasons change?” Demonstrate how the change occurs.
Explain: (10 minutes) Have students sit in a circle on the carpet and choose one student to stand in the center (holding a large yellow circle) that represents the Sun. Have another student stand and hold a globe (or round shape to represent the Earth). Instead of the circle and globe, you may create headbands like the ones below for students to wear to represent the earth and sun.
Guide the “Earth” student around the “Sun” student, talking as you move (about how the Earth revolves around the Sun, slightly tilted, how the Sun’s rays hit the Earth at a different angle, how it takes a whole year for this to happen, and as the Earth revolves around the Sun, the seasons change). 5 Updated: JUNE 2015 Explore: (25 minutes) and Dual Language Activity 1 Students will demonstrate earth rotating around the sun by creating a model as shown. Explain to a partner how the model represents the seasons.
Day 3- Guided Inquiry- Students are given question, and they make a plan in their small group as to how they might answer the question. Students share out, proceed, and collect and organize their data. As they share out with their group, and make their own claims and conclusions citing their collected data as evidence.
Engage: (5 minutes) Ask students to think about the month they were born. Think aloud telling students the month of your birthday and what season that month is in. Have students share the month and season their birthday falls under. Tell students that you will be creating a chart that shows which season each month falls under.
Explain: (10 minutes) Create a chart such as the one below. (Keep in mind that the change in seasons actually falls mid-month. These charts do not reflect exact changes.) Students divide themselves into groups to show what season their birthday falls. Discuss.
Watch Weather, Clothes, and Seasons. Discuss how weather changes during the various seasons and affects the type of clothing we wear.
Explore (20 min) and Dual Language Activity 1 Give each student a paper. Have them draw a portrait of themselves on their birthday. Be sure to include the type of clothing that would be appropriate for the season their birthday falls. Have students sort their pictures according to the month they were born.
Elaborate/Evaluate (10 min) Season and Clothing Matching Students sort cards to show the types of clothing worn during each season.
*Assessment: See K Rubric 3 rd Weeks. TEK K8.A,B. At level 4, Mastery, students should be able to identify 4 seasons of the year.
6 Day 4-Full Inquiry- Students generate their own questions, plan their investigation, collect and organize their data, and make their own claims and conclusions citing their collected data as evidence. Engage: (5 min) Pose question. Now that we know how we adapt ourselves to changes in the season. What would you do as the seasons changed if you were an animal? Chart their ideas and questions. Watch video YouTube/Animal migration. Note migration is only one way that animals adapt to changes in the season. Some hibernate and some adapt. Our focus in this lesson will only be migration and how it relates to the seasons because certain parts of the earth are closer to the sun than others.
Explain (5 min) Using the globe and sun model from Day 2, review the concept of earth’s rotation around the sun. On the globe point out the North Pole, South Pole and the Equator. Explain that the equator is always closer to the sun than the North Pole or the South Pole and therefore is always warmer than the other areas.
Explore: (20 min) and Dual Language Activity 2 Reenact the story of geese migrating. Post directionality signs on the classroom walls- north and south. Post a large sun in the middle of the two to represent the equator. Have students pretend they are geese and stand in the North section of the room. Explain that it is winter and they are feeling very cold. If they would like to get warm, they will need to fly towards the equator. Geese fly in a letter V formation to save energy when flying. They will need to work as a group to create this v formation as a group. Geese also take turns being at the head of the v since flying in front consumes the most energy. Encourage students to do the same. This the hardest job. Have each student act as a goose and fly in formation to the south of the equator where the weather will be warmer.
http://www.littlegiraffes.com/animalsinwinter.html
7 Updated: JUNE 2015 Elaborate/Evaluate (15 min) Explain that animals always migrate to their home once the weather warms in the Spring. Geese are not the only animals that migrate: whales, monarchs (up to 2000 miles), frogs, caribou, salmon, etc. Have students illustrate and write about their understanding of migration in their Science Journals.
*Assessment: See K Rubric 3 rd Weeks. TEK K8.A,B. At level 4, Mastery, students should be able to identify 4 seasons of the year.
Day 5- Closure Activities Engage: (15 minutes) Read and discuss one of the books from above about Seasons. Review the names/sequence of the seasons, the reason the seasons occur and how living things are affected and adapt to each season.
Explore: (30 minutes) and Dual Language Activity 1 Choose a culminating activity for students to show what they have learned about the seasons. You may wish for students to choose their own way of showing it. Provide a variety of materials for students to use. Some suggestions are-
*Assessment: See K Rubric 3 rd Weeks. TEK K8.A,B. At level 4, Mastery, students should be able to identify 4 seasons of the year.
Differentiation: ELL: Provide students with a word bank and cloze sentences and have them fill in the blank with the appropriate vocabulary SPED Strategy: Allow students to cut out pictures to show understanding. Have students demonstrate understanding orally visually as needed.
Enrichment: Create a class survey and develop a graph to show everyone’s favorite season.
8 Las estaciones
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