Lesson Title: Thunderstorms Lesson Topic(s): Weather

Subject Area(s): Science STEM Grade Level(s): 2nd Grade

Time Frame: 30 minutes

Step 1: Learning Context The classroom has a promethean active board at the front of the classroom
Identify with a dry erase board on either side. The sides of the classroom include
Learners walls that display anchor charts from previous lessons. One side of the
(Classroom classroom houses 6 desktop computers for students and the teacher desk.
Context) The other side of the classroom houses student mailboxes, classroom library
bookcases and a countertop with sink. The back of the classroom includes
walls with bulletin boards to display mini posters and word walls for math,
science and social studies. Against the back wall is a writing table and
shelves for manipulatives. The middle of the classroom has two kidney
tables and two desk clusters for students sitting in groups of 6. Another
kidney table is near the teachers desk for small group instruction. A large
group area rug is located at the front of the room beneath the promethean
active board. A large easel can be moved to the front of the room for whole
group discussion in creations of anchor charts.

Learner Description The learners include 21 students identified Caucasian, 2 students identified
African American and 1 students identified Hispanic. Three students have a
504 Plan for either seizures, Aspergers or Asthma. Six students have IEP
Plans where six receive speech services, two students receive pull-out
services for 120 minutes of reading intervention daily, one student receives
pull- out services for 90 minutes of math intervention daily. One students
IEP includes ADHD accommodations. One students IEP includes a morning
pull-out service for social character development. Six students qualified for
the AIM program which is a weekly pull-out gifted service on Mondays. All
students are English as first language speakers. One student has a family
alert due to sensitivity for loss of a family member. One students has
qualified for the EIP program to receive daily early intervention services that
push-in to the general education classroom during ELA station rotations.
Cultural Resources/ Funds Students recent experiences with tropical storm Irma that affected their
of Knowledge community with thunderstorms will facilitate learning about how weather
affects the environment. Students background knowledge of hiking (many
share family experiences hiking or camping for vacations or leisure activity)
will facilitate what it could be like to be outside during thunderstorms with
no shelter. These students value time to talk with each other, watch videos
and use media to facilitate learning new information and explore learning
new information conducted through discussion. Hands on activities or
movement that connects with the content motivates these students to
process new information and allow exploration.

Step 2: Determine National/State S2E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how
Identify Standard(s) weather cause changes to the environment. b. Construct an

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Curricular explanation of the causes and effects of a change to the environment
Priorities in your community

K-ESS2-1. Use and share observations of local weather conditions to

describe patterns over time.

Unpack the Standard(s) I can describe characteristics of weather in a Thunderstorm.

I can determine effects to the environment caused by the Thunderstorm.

I can create a shelter to protect a family from the effects of a Thunderstorm.

Essential Question(s) What do you see, hear and feel every time there is a Thunderstorm?

What are some effects of a Thunderstorm to the environment you live in?

How can you stay protected from the effects of a Thunderstorm?

Scenario and Problem to You and your family are on a hiking trail and a thunderstorm is coming. How
be solved do you know the thunderstorm is coming? The thunderstorm is right over
you and your family while you are still on the hiking trail. What starts
happening? What can you do to stay protected? You must build a shelter to
protect yourself and your family from the effects of the thunderstorm.

Flexible Grouping Strategy Students will be put into heterogeneous groups with varied academic levels
and learning styles. Students with higher reading levels will aid students at
lower reading levels for task of reading procedures for STEM activity.
Students that value kinesthetic learning will be represented in each group to
foster learning of using hands on construction with materials to students
who prefer visual or auditory learning. Students who value auditory
experiences for learning will be represented in each group to aid in
verbalizing the process and creation descriptions during presentation of
shelter. Students who value visual learning will be represented in each group
to foster learning through designing before building with other students in
the group.

Identify Prerequisite The standard for first grade and weather is the following: S1E1. Obtain,
Knowledge and Skills evaluate, and communicate weather data to identify weather patterns.

Students will need to have background knowledge of sky conditions for rain
and the characteristics of the weather. Students will need to have
background knowledge of characteristics and effects of wind.

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 Know, Understand, Do Know Understand Do

Rain, Wind, Thunder, Students will Students will build

Lightning, Weather, Sky understand that a shelters to protect the
Conditions, Hiking, Thunderstorms family from the effects
Shelter, Environment
characteristics are dark of the Thunderstorm
clouds, rain, wind,
thunder and lightning
which affect the
environment with
blowing debris through
the air, blowing down
trees, makes ground
wet, slippery and
flooded and can cause
electrical shocks or fire.

Objectives/Learning Students will construct a shelter that protects the family from a
Targets (must include thunderstorm.
language objective(s))
Students will describe the cause and effect relationship between
thunderstorms and the environment they affect.

Students will write one to three or more cause and effects of thunderstorms
with a illustration.

Academic Language (What Vocabulary:

is the key language
demand? What academic Cause, Effect
language will you teach or Rain, Wind, Thunder, Lightning, Weather, Sky Conditions, Hiking,
Shelter, Environment
develop?)
Language Function: Describe

Language Supports: Graphic Organizer for Cause/Effect writing organization

and sentence frame

Syntax: Cause and Effect statements

Discourse: Writing

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Step 3: Performance tasks or
Design projects
Assessment
Framework
Oral or written prompt
Quiz or test
Informal assessments
(Formative)
Step 4: Materials Needed
Create
Learning
Activities
Differentiation Strategies
(these should be
highlighted throughout the
instructional model)
Instructional Model
(6 E model): What will you
be saying and doing? This
shows the sequence of the
lesson. The reader should
be able to get a sense as to
how the lesson will
[4402 Kelly-Jackson Fall/17]
Students will build a shelter to protect a family from a thunderstorm using a
paper family on index card and materials (cardboard pieces, paper plates,
paper, pipe cleaners, straws, aluminum foil, popsicle sticks, wax paper and
tape) to construct a shelter. Teacher will use a dropper of water to simulate
rain and blow dryer on light speed to simulate wind to test the shelter in
protecting the family from the effects of the thunderstorm.
Power Point presentation will include media in the form of audio sounds of
thunderstorm, video on thunderstorms and text information, Problem and
Challenge for STEM activity and word web to organize cause and effect.
Graphic organizer will prompt individual assessment.
Weather writing will be the assessment of understandings of thunderstorms
characteristics and effects on the environment using attached rubric.
Checklist for STEM activity
Teacher Resources: PowerPoint presentation (teacher created): Sounds
retrieved from https://youtu.be/Ult4hwTpkhg, Video retrieved from
https://youtu.be/CU0enuGnSjY , STEM activity adapted from Classroom Base
Camp retrieved from:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shelter-Building-STEM-
Challenge-2929529 , Checklist (teacher created), Rubric (teacher created)
Student Resources: PowerPoint presentation, STEM materials (cardboard
pieces, paper plates, paper, pipe cleaners, straws, aluminum foil, popsicle
sticks, wax paper and tape), Graphic Organizer and Weather writing paper.
Content differentiation includes use of PowerPoint presentation that
includes auditory, visual and text content to provide access for all learning
styles. Process is differentiated by allowing choice in creation of how shelter
should be designed and scaffolding within heterogenous groupings. Product
of graphic organizers will be differentiated for academic levels where
students with learning disabilities will write one cause and effect
relationship using sentence frame, academically proficient students will be
required to write three cause and effect relationships and students
identified gifted will be challenged to write more than three cause and effect
relationships of a thunderstorm on the environment.
ENGAGE Students will listen to sounds of thunder and see visual of
lightning in the sky with dark clouds to activate background knowledge of
weather of thunderstorms. Essential Questions and Problem is posed for
students by the teacher talking aloud. What do you see, hear and feel every
time there is a Thunderstorm? (Students Respond) What are some effects
of a Thunderstorm to the environment you live in? (Students Respond)
How can you stay protected from the effects of a Thunderstorm?
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 develop. Be sure to include
any directions you will give
and questions you will ask.
Biological Science
Curriculum Study (BSCS)
developed a convenient
format. In this models the
process is explained by
employing six "E"'s. They
are: Engage, Explore,
Explain, Elaborate,
Evaluate, and E-Learning.
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(Students Respond) Teacher utilizes Power Point slides that correspond to
the Problem and Challenge, reading aloud to provide directions for students
exploration of cause and effect relationships of a thunderstorm in the
environment.
EXPLORE Students work in heterogeneous groups to construct a shelter to
protect a paper family using supplies such as toilet paper rolls, foil and
cardboard...Teacher will monitor groups by rotating around the room,
visiting each of the groups. Teacher will provide redirection and prompting
for any misunderstandings. Students will have 15 minutes to complete their
shelter. Concluding the 15 minutes, teacher will call each group to front of
room to display and present their shelter. Drops of water and air blown from
blow-dryer will be applied to each shelter to test if it protects the paper
family, conducted during the groups presentations of shelters. Teacher will
use checklist for informal assessment of students.
EXPLAIN Class will regroup to whole group area rug for video and text on
PowerPoint presentation slide. Teacher will facilitate whole group discussion
to address essential questions and HOTQs. EQ: What are some things your
see, hear and feel during a thunderstorm? What causes you to see, hear or
feel the parts of a thunderstorm? Teacher encourages vocabulary of rain,
wind, thunder, lightning when students respond in discussion. EQ: What are
some effects on our environment from a thunderstorm? Teacher
encourages connections with HOTQ: What happens to the ground when it
rains so much? What happens to the trees and air when its windy? What
happens to the trees and buildings when lightning strikes? Teacher makes
anchor chart for EXTREME WEATHER using a mind map organization and
adds thunderstorms with branches for the effects on the environment.
ELABORATE Teacher facilitates further discussion about the STEM shelter
activity. Explain how the shelter protected or didnt protect the family from
the thunderstorm? How are you protected from a thunderstorm in your
real home? Teacher encourages use of vocabulary words and cause/effect
relationship using the sentence frame. Teacher utilizes the promethean
active board to annotate over the word web template in the Power Point
presentation as students respond with cause and effects of a thunderstorm.
Students fill in their graphic organizer during this guided practice of
describing the cause/effect relationships.
Teacher encourages students to structure language for cause and effect of a
thunderstorm by modeling the organization in the sentence frame orally to
the students. In a thunderstorm, the wind causes the tree limbs to blow
down. Highlighting sections are left blank in the sentence strip displayed as
a frame for students to choose the cause and the effect and write into the
frame in order to demonstrate their understanding of how a thunderstorm
affects their environment.
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 EVALUATE Students will demonstrate their understanding of how a
thunderstorm affects their environment by writing on the Weather Paper, of
cause and effect relationships between the characteristics of the storm and
how it affects the environment then drawing an illustration. Teacher asks
students, How can you illustrate a thunderstorm? What will you write to
tell the cause of the effects of the thunderstorm?

E-LEARNING BEST STUDENT USE OF TECHNOLOGY: A PowerPoint

presentation is used as the technology based content with media for sounds
and visual examples as well as text that is displayed on the promethean
active board throughout all stages of the lesson.

Higher Order Thinking How can you design a shelter to keep your family safe from a
Questions (HOTQs) thunderstorm?

Summarize what happens to the ground when it rains so much?

Summarize what happens to trees, people or other things when its windy?

Summarize what happens to the trees and buildings when lightning

strikes?

How can you illustrate a thunderstorm?

What will you write to tell the cause of the effects of a thunderstorm?

Re-teaching or Practice Conduct a lesson of comparing a sunny day they had with a day they
experience a thunderstorm by drawing two pictures to illustrate each day on
either side of a sheet of paper. The drawing must include people, plants and
the sky.

Extensions Assign the task for students to compare a thunderstorm with a hurricane
and describe the similarities and differences.

Lesson Closure Teacher will end the lesson by reviewing the cause/effect relationship of a
thunderstorm using the word web and describe how to stay safe in a
thunderstorm using the Power Point.

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Level 4 Distinguished
Meets all 4 proficient
criteria plus adds more
sentences for additional
cause/effect
relationships of
thunderstorm.
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Weather Writing Rubric
Level 3 Proficient Level 2 Developing Level 1 Beginning
o Writes 3 sentences Meets 3 of the Meets fewer than 3 of
proficient criteria the proficient criteria
o Each sentence
includes the cause that
is a characteristic of a
thunderstorm such as
wind, rain, lightning,
thunder, dark clouds
o Each sentence
includes an effect to the
environment that
correlates with the
cause from the
thunderstorm such as
dark sky, wet ground,
trees blown down and
electrical shocks
o Illustration shows
characteristics of a
thunderstorm such as
dark sky, lightning, rain
and wind
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