ORIGINAL LESSON PLAN

Science Unit: Lesson 1: Weather and Seasons: Winter

Season
Objectives
1.

Learn about the effects of winter on animals and plants.

2.

Discover how to make frost and compare frost and dew.

3.

Look at adaptations of Inuit and First Nations to winter (snowshoes, snow

goggles)
Background Information
Many places on Earth experience four seasons each year. Seasons occur
due to the tilt of the Earths axis as it revolves around the sun. In the
temperate and polar regions seasons are marked by changes in the
intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface. As parts of the Earth
are tilted away from the sun, they become colder and darker and
experience winter. At the same time, the opposite sides of the Earth are
tilted toward the sun, receiving more light and heat, which is summer.
During the winter months, decreases in temperature and light intensity can
cause some animals to go into hibernation or to migrate, and some plants
to die or become dormant. In tropical and subtropical regions, there are two
seasonsper year: the rainy and dry seasons.
Vocabulary
Tilt: To lean to one side.
Seasons: Four periods of the year, each with specific weather conditions,
called spring, summer, fall and winter, experienced in the temperate and
polar regions.

Atmosphere: The envelope of gases that surrounds a planet. Earths

atmosphere is made up of mostly nitrogen and oxygen.

Weather: Condition of the atmosphere in a specific place at a particular

time.
Climate: The average weather in a region over a long period of time.
Frost: Light deposit of small thin ice crystals on cold objects. Formed when
water vapour sublimes.
Dew: Water droplets formed when atmospheric moisture condenses on
cool surfaces.
Hibernation: State of deep sleep of animals for the winter, during cold
weather when there is very little to eat.
Dormancy: A period of inactivity in an organisms lifecycle, winter dormancy
is seen in some plants and animals due to lack of light, heat and available
food.
Snowshoes: Traditional footwear for distributing ones weight over a large
surface to prevent sinking into snow. Inuit and First Nations snowshoes
were traditionally made from hardwood and rawhide lacings.
Snow goggles: Traditional Inuit and First Nations eyewear to prevent snow
blindness. These goggles were carved of bone, shell or wood.
Mukluks: Traditional Inuit boots made from sealskin or reindeer skin, very
light and warm, ideal for hunters to move quietly.
Weather and Seasons_Lesson 1 1 SRP0196

Materials

Plastic cups or clean, empty tin cans

Rock salt

Stir sticks

Crushed ice

Magnifying glasses

Egg cartons

Decorative material (beads, sequins, feathers, waterproof paint)

Knife

String

In the Classroom
Introductory Discussion
1. What makes seasons? When we have winter, what season is the
southern part of the world experiencing? What do we do to prepare for
winter? What about Inuit or First Nations people, long ago? What do
animals do in the winter? What about plants?
2. What do you notice about your breath on cold mornings? (Your breath
comes out like little clouds of mist.) What about when we breathe on cold
windows? We can try it in the classroom.
3. On some mornings grass and leaves may be very damp even though it
hasn't rained during the night. Where does this water come from? (It
comes from the air. As the air cools, moisture in the air also cools and
condenses as dew.)
4. On some cold winter mornings you have to scrape ice off your cars
windshield. Where did the ice come from? (moisture in the air, freezing on
contact with the cold windshield).

5. We are going to make frost. Does anyone know what we might need to
make frost in the classroom?
Science Activity/Experiment The students will be doing two activities: 1.
Making frost and 2. creating snow goggles to take up to Mt. Seymour on
the winter snowshoe field trip.

1.

Stud
ents
will
work in pairs. Each student pair will need a plastic cup or tin can, crushed
ice to fill the cup 3/4s full, 4 Tbsp rock salt, stir stick, and enough water to
fill up the cup. Before students begin, they can make predictions about how
long it will take to make frost, and what will their cups look like?

2.

Students will fill up their cups with ice, then add in salt and water and stir
mixture quickly. Cups should then be left on the desk for observation. As
the cups are getting cold, the students can breathe on the outside of the
cups

3.

After about 20 minutes, students can observe frost on the outside of their
cups. They can use magnifying glasses to look at ice crystals.

4.

While students wait for the frost to form, or after making frost, students can
begin making snow goggles using egg cartons. Each student will get two
adjoining egg cups, cut from the carton. Using a pair of scissors they can
poke a thin slit across each egg cup (eye slits). Then cut out a triangle
between the cups so the goggles can fit over the nose. Poke holes at the
edges of the goggles to tie on a string or elasticized string.

5.

Now the goggles can be decorated or painted with waterproof paint,

sequins, feathers, ribbons, etc. These goggles can be brought up the
mountain (Lesson 2) or used on a snowy day, outside.
Closure Discussion
1. Were your predictions correct? Why did the frost form on the outside of
the cup? Where did the water droplets come from on the outside of the

cup?
2. What did you learn? What surprised you about making frost?
References:
Levine, Shar and Leslie Johnstone. 2003. Wonderful Weather: First
Science Experiments. Sterling Publishing Co. New York.
VanCleave, Janice. 1995. Weather: Spectacular Science Projects. John
Wiley and Sons, Toronto. Wyatt, Valerie. 1990. Weather Watch. Kids Can
Press, Toronto.www.bom.au/Student_Teachers

MakingFrost
NameofWeather
Scientist_______________________________
Date:__________________________
Ineed:

Ipredict:

Iobserved:(drawandlabel)

Ilearned:

ALTERED LESSON PLAN

Science Unit: Lesson 1: Weather and Seasons: Winter
Season
Grade Level: Grade 4 (adapted from K-2 lesson)
Objectives
1) Explain what causes summer and winter
2) Compare the adaptations required by animals, plants, and people
(including First Nations) in the winter in Canada and one other
country

This is an integrated lesson plan with Learning Outcomes from

several subjects.
Grade 4 British Columbia Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Science:

Earths axis, rotation, and orbit cause changes locally: annual

seasons, plants and animals respond to the seasons (drop leaves,
change colour)

Science/ Social Studies:

The ways organisms in ecosystems respond to their environment

(structural and behavioural adaptations, Aboriginal worldview with
respect to the environment)

Language Arts:
Using oral, written, visual, and digital texts, students are expected
individually and collaboratively to be able to:

Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding

Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after

reading, listening, or viewing to construct meaning from text

Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create texts
for a variety of purposes and audiences

Communicate in print, using letters and words and applying basic

conventions of English spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Background Information
Winter Seasons
Many places on Earth experience four seasons each year. Seasons
occur due to the tilt of the Earths axis as it revolves around the sun.
As parts of the Earth are tilted away from the sun, they become colder
and darker and experience winter. At the same time, the opposite sides
of the Earth are tilted toward the sun, receiving more light and heat,
which is summer.
During the winter months, the weather is often cold and snowy.
Decreases in temperature and light intensity can cause some animals
to adapt to winter by going into hibernation or migrating, and some
plants die or become dormant. People also adapt to weather. For
example, Inuit and First Nations people have traditionally made and
worn mukluks, snow goggles, and snowshoes during the winter
months.
In tropical climates, there are only two seasons per year: the rainy and
dry seasons.

Vocabulary

Materials
Word Wall
Other posters about weather, plant/animal adaptations, or
First Nations adaptations to winter
Classroom globe(s)
Flashlight(s)
Cloze passages adapted for different ELL levels
Overhead of cloze passage for discussion
Video recording device/iPad
Weather books and videos
Venn diagrams adapted for different ELL levels
Large chart paper for teacher modeling of comparison
language
Criteria rubric for cloze passage
Peer/Teacher/Self-assessment sheet for Venn
diagrams/comparison sentences

In the Classroom
Lesson Flow
*Please note that I chose to change most of the lesson, and
provided detail regarding two of the activities they are
highlighted in yellow.
1) THINK/PAIR/SHARE Discussion: Why do we have
seasons?
Discussion will assess prior knowledge
Follow-up Resources: Video, Weather Books
2) DEMONSTRATION: Seasons on a Globe (Class Experiment)
Teacher/student volunteer turns off lights
Student volunteer finds Canada on the globe
Teacher/student volunteer asks class, What will happen if I
shine this flashlight on Canada and the surrounding
countries?
Teacher will incite discussion regarding Summer in Canada,
Winter in countries not illuminated by the flashlight.
Repeat with Canada in winter/not illuminated.
Repeat several times using students home countries
illuminated/not illuminated
Discuss the tilt of the Earths axis and the reason for the
seasons

3) CLOZE READING ACTIVITY: Winter Season

After our discussion and demonstration about how the
seasons change, students will be given a cloze passage
with important vocabulary deleted.
The cloze passages will be scaffolded in that each ELL level
(and mainstream students) will receive different supports,

ie. more complex or simple English constructions, more or

less help from the Word Bank, and more or less visual
information. Please see examples below.
Students will be encouraged to work in pairs or small
groups and discuss the reasons for their word choices.
The teacher will be circulating, asking questions, and
taking informal observations of students understanding,
participation, and reasoning for their word choices.
ELLs will be encouraged to utilize the Word Wall, peer
mentors, visual clues, dictionaries, and Weather books to
aid them in completing the passage.
Quadrant A (ELs with Limited Proficiency of English) are
given the first letter of each word and may copy from the
board when the class discusses their answers.
The teacher will record the class discussion of their word
selections for assessment.
Each student will meet with the teacher to discuss and
defend his/her word choices.

Scaffolded Cloze Passages for Each Quadrant

Assessment: Reading/Viewing Strategies in Cloze Passage

Assessment Contexts:
Informal observation of students completing the Cloze Passage
o How did students use environmental print (World Wall,
Posters) and other resources (Dictionary, Textbook,
Weather books) during completion of Close Passage?
o How did students interact with others during the
completion of the Close Passage?

Videotaped discussion during class completion of Cloze Passage

o How did students participate in discussion?
o How did they defend their word choices?

Reading Conference with Teacher to discuss strategies used

o How did student explain their word choices?
o How did they explain their reading strategies (ie. using
context clues, reading before and after the word, looking
for word bank words used in other parts of the passage)

Assessment Documents

4) VENN DIAGRAM: Adaptations to Winter in Two Countries

Teacher will lead a short discussion regarding
adaptations to winter
o Teacher will show pictures/videos of plant, animal, and
human adaptations
Students will create a Venn Diagram that compares
adaptations to winter in Canada and a country of their
choosing

o ELLs will compare Canada and their home country

o This activity will be respect the cultural diversity of all
learners and wil make ELLs experts in this field
o The activity will be scaffolded to meet all ELL needs (ie.
lower level ELLs will use pictures with home language
captions, mainstream students will be expected to write
in detail see more information in the images below)

Teaching and Learning Cycle

View Teacher Modeling and Deconstruct the Genre
o Teacher will model 5 sentences that compare the
information in her Venn Diagram
o Teacher and students will deconstruct comparison
language, such as same, different, alike, similar,
dissimilar, unlike, both, is like, is unlike, likewise, on one
hand, on the other hand
Complete a Joint Construction
o As a class, together write 5 comparison sentences about a
sample Venn Diagram
o Try different comparison language throughout
Develop Independent Writing
o Students will develop their own comparison sentences
about their Venn Diagrams
o Scaffolding such as fill-in-the-blanks will be provided for
Quadrants A + B
o Quadrant A will be asked to simply use the words same
and different to compare the pictures/captions from their
Venn Diagrams
Practice Reading Independent Writing with a Peer
o Peer assessment
o Student will read or share independent writing with a peer
and the peer will answer the questions on the rubric (see
below)
Participate in a Writing Conference with the Teacher

o Self and Teacher Assessment

o Student will highlight areas where student included aspects
of comparison language and also areas where he/she
would like to improve
o Teacher will use the rubric to provide supportive feedback
and constructive feedback for their next piece of writing

Assessment Documents

References
British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2015). Building
Student Success: BCs New Curriculum. Retrieved from:
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum
Coelho, E., & Rivers, D. (2004). Adding English. Toronto:
Pippin.
Cummins, J. (2006). Multiliteracies and equity: How do
Canadian schools measure up? Education Canada, 46(2), 47.
Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.sfu.ca/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=eue&AN=507882706&site=ehost-live
Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding language scaffolding
learning: Teaching English Language Learners in the Mainstream
Classroom (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Merriam-Webster.com. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.merriam-webster.com.
Scientist in Residence Program. (2009). Weather and
Seasons: Winter Season. Retrieved from:
http://www.scientistinresidence.ca/pdf/earth-science/Weather
%20and%20Seasons/SRP_Weather%20and%20Seasons_Lesson
%201%20WF.pdf