Lesson Plan Outline

Grade/Class/Subject being taught: 3rd Grade ELL classroom

Unit/Theme of Class: Science: Climate/History: Geography
Standards Applied: ELP W.7.3.b: Collect information, take notes, and synthesize information on
a given topic from a variety of sources MDE Common Core Standard 3-ESS2-2: Obtain and
combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
Content Objective(s): Students will be able to describe the climate of their assigned region of the
world. Students will also be able to describe various other regions of the world. Students will
know various terms describing climate, and be able to use them accurately.
Language Objective(s): Students will be able to use language skills to perform research. Students
will be able to notes on the research they perform. Students will be able to use language skills to
write their findings on a poster.

Key Vocabulary to be Covered Supplementary Materials to be Used

Climate words: arid, hot, etc. Maps from climate.gov
Weather words: precipitation, snow, rain, World Climate Maps
sleet, etc. Posters
Storm words: tornados, hurricanes, etc. Markers
Projector
 Lesson Sequence

Minutes activity should Activity

take
5 This lesson will start with a short introduction activity: Show
students pictures of various places around the world, ask if
students have ever been any of those places, and ask for student
volunteers to describe each place
10 Teacher will next describe the various vocabulary words needed
to complete the activity(climate, precipitation, arid, tornado, etc.)
5 Teacher will next pull up various maps on climate.gov as well as
World Climate Maps, and describe the maps and how to use
them
2 Teacher will place students in groups of 3 or 4
2 Class will either move to computer lab or students will get out
tablets/laptops depending on resources available
5 Once students are settled, teacher will describe the activity: each
group will pick a country, perform research on the climate of the
country, and then put their findings on a poster to present to the
class
30 Students will pick their country and begin collecting research
15 Since this activity will likely take 2 class periods, give students
additional time to complete their research at the beginning of the
next class period
45 Students will spend the rest of the class period working on their
posters. They should use markers/crayons/colored pencils etc. in
addition to printing research and pictures from computer
60 This lesson will be spread across 3 class periods. In the final
class period, groups will present their poster to the class. Groups
will then hang their posters up around the class, and other
classes could be invited to view the hard work students put into
their research
*If possible, providing foods from some of the various countries
students researched for the class to eat while watching other
groups presentations would be a fun way to enhance the activity

Rational

I chose to create this activity because in general, I think that the topic of geography and

other countries is interesting to students, and particularly ELLs. It also presents a great vessel to
teach the topic of climate. Because this can be a fun subject to teach, I chose to create a fun

activity to go along with it. The objectives I chose are based directly on the standards this

activity is targeted to hit, and were chosen because they will challenge students just enough

while helping them get the most out of the activity. The content objective will make sure they

have a full and working understanding of various climates and climate words, while the language

objective will provide students with the skills they need to do research, which will be vital in

their future education. I chose the activities for this lesson so that students could focus on

research and writing, which is often an under looked skill in ELL classrooms, will giving

students a fun and different way to explore different areas of the world.

More specifically, the activities I chose to have students complete during this lesson were

chosen with TBLT and SIOP guidelines in mind. First, the focus is on meaning since students

must understand the research theyre gathering in order to put it into a poster and present the

information. Secondly, there is an information gap in the activity because the students need to

obtain information from each other and from the online resources they have. Although students

are doing research, they must find all the resources and gather all the information themselves,

therefor they must still rely on their own resources to complete this activity. Finally, this activity

finishes off nicely with students presenting their posters to the class and other classes. Besides

fitting all of the TBLT guidelines, this activity also takes into consideration some SIOP

guidelines. SIOP says that students should be given ample opportunities to interact in various

group settings, and since students will be working in groups to complete the activity, this lesson

certainly satisfies that aspect. Besides that, the scaffolding at the beginning of the lesson and the

usage of an introduction activity to build up student background knowledge also satisfy elements

of SIOP
 Careful consideration went into choosing every element of this lesson. Groups of 3 or 4

help reduce the awkwardness that pairs of students might create, allow students to help each

other, and provide enough people to split up research into manageable portions. In addition to

this, I would carefully group native speakers and ELLs together. This will allow the native

English speaking students to assist the ELLs when they struggle. Often times ELLs will form

groups with each other and study their home country for these types of projects, so putting

students in mixed groups helps eliminate this problem. It will also provide an opportunity for

native speakers and ELLs to interact, which they might not otherwise do during class.