Teacher Candidate: Erica Shuler Grade: 1st Grade

Subject: Science Date and Time of Lesson: 3/24/13 2 sessions (45 minutes each)

Learning Objective: Students will list the different physical properties of types of rock, gravel, and sand. Alignment with Standards: 1-4.2 Classify rocks and sand by their physical appearance.

Developmental Appropriateness: Previously, students have reviewed the physical characteristics of a plant. Using this prior knowledge of what a physical characteristic is, I would like for students to give physical characteristics of rock, gravel, and sand using their senses (other than taste) and a magnifying class.
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Assessment(s) of the Objectives:

Students will be asked to give examples of some of the physical characteristics of a flower to refresh their memory of what a physical characteristic is. Students will keep a record of the physical characteristics of each item (rock, gravel, sand) in their green notebooks. After examining the materials at each station, I will prompt students with questions, such as: What characteristics did you get for the rock that you looked at? Why did you put grainy down for sand? or What is another item that is smooth? I will collect students green notebooks after the lesson for post assessment. Throughout the lesson, I will walk around each station to make sure that students are staying focused and on task.

Accommodations: There are two students in the classroom who have Down Syndrome. There are not any English language learners in the classroom. I will provide manipulative items to keep
students more focused throughout the lesson. (rocks, gravel, sand, green notebooks) While students visit each station, I will walk around the room to make sure that students are staying on task and focused. While walking around, I will also stop at different groups and prompt the students with questions, such as: Why did you write this down, or Why do you think that this rock is this color? I will remind students when time is almost up so that students can transition more smoothly. Before splitting into groups, I will go over safety rules to make sure that students transition between and work at the stations peacefully. If students finish their observation before time is up, I will instruct students to draw a picture of their material or decorate the page that they are on. Depending on the amount of students absent will depend on how many students are placed into each group, numbers may vary.

Materials: Smart Board, Prezi or PowerPoint presentation, samples of rock(s), gravel, and sand, tape,
paper bags (at least 2 per student), ribbon, scissors, markers or crayons, glue, paper cutout into small to medium size squares (for each page in the green journal), trays to hold materials (rock, gravel, sand), magnifying glass (one for each group or student), group signs (group 1, group 2, group 3), clock or other time device, music playing devise (CD player, computer, Pandora OPTIONAL: Other decorative items to help decorate the green journal (buttons, stickers, ext.)

Procedures: (We split the two days into two sections; one before lunch and one after. I asked the teacher if we should do the lesson in two days, however, she told me to do it in two segments in one day) DAY ONE:
(Prior to lesson, I will set up three workstations (One with gravel, one with rock, and one with sand). Also, I will ask students to get their glue sticks, markers and/or crayons, clipboards, and pencils quietly. Lastly, I will have all of the students materials for the green journals (bags, paper cutouts, string) paperclipped together) I will pull up the Prezi slideshow. On the first slide there is a picture of the beach, the mountains, Howards Rock Can anyone guess what we will be discussing today? Students respond with, Yes! The beach or Clemson! or Mountains! Well, not exactly, we will be talking about something that you may see at the Beach, or the mountains, or even at the Clemson football stadium. I would like you to take one minute to talk to your neighbor and come up with two things that all of these have in common I will give students one minute or pull up a 60 second timer on the smart board What are some of the things that you and your neighbor came up with? I will press the next button on the presentation to show a blank page. On this page I will list the students responses. Students respond with, Rocks, Sand, they are things, they are big In these pictures there are rocks, sand, and gravel (I will hold up a small portion/example of each of the materials while saying their name) Before telling you exactly what each one is, though, I would like to tell you how we will record our information. When I say record information, can anyone tell me what I mean? Students respond with, You write it down or Keep a note! Thats right, it is when I write something down, or keep track of it. Today, you all are going to write down the characteristics of rocks, sand, pebbles, and gravel in your very own green journal! Has anyone ever made a green journal before? Students will respond with, Yes or No. (I will provide around 30 seconds for students to relieve any stories that they have about green journals or the color green, ext.) What green means is that the materials that we will use for this journal are made out of other materials. To make the journal, you will need the following materials (press the next button on the presentation screen and a slide with the materials will show up) o 2 paper bags, 2 pieces of ribbon, glue, 4 pieces of cutout paper Does everyone have all of these materials? I will look around the room for anyone who needs any of the materials to make the green journal To start, I would like everyone to hold your two paper bags up in the air. Now, what you will need to do is put them on top of each other. Make sure that the opening in the back is facing the left on the bottom bag and facing the right on the bag on top. I will look around the room to make sure that students bags are faced the correct way Now, what you will need to do is fold the bag in half After folding the bag in half, you will tie your two pieces of ribbon around the crease in the middle of the bag I will observe the classroom to make sure that everyone has tied their bag together correctly.

Now, we will make our title page. To make the title page, glue one of the cutout, square pieces of paper to the front of the bag. Inside of the square, write the words Green Journal or Green Book. Also, please write your name on the back cover of the book. Later this afternoon, you can come back and decorate your book. I will go around the room to make sure that students are staying focused/engaged Now, you will need to flip to the first page of your journal. On the right side of the page, glue another one of the cutout, rectangle pieces to your bag. I will observe the class to make sure that everyone has glued the piece into their bag Flip to the next page and glue another one of the rectangles to the right side I will observes the classroom to make sure that everyone has glued the rectangle piece into their journal Flip to the last page in your journal and glue another rectangle piece to the right side. Now flip back to the first page. On this page, I would like for you, on the left side, at the top, I would like for you to write the word Rock. (I will press next on the presentation to show students an example of what to write) Flip to the second page, and on the left side, write the word Gravel (I will press next on the presentation to show students an example of what to write) Flip to the last page, and on the left hand side, write the word Sand (I will press next on the presentation to show students an example of what to write) All of your green books look so good! Now, does anyone think that they know what we will write in our green books? Students will respond with, Yes or No Tomorrow, we are going to write the physical characteristics of rocks, gravel, and sand (I will press next on the presentation to show a picture of each) I will then ask students to turn in their green notebooks. I will look through the notebooks to make sure that students put the correct titles and words on each page.

DAY TWO: I will pass out the green notebooks. (students do not have desks; if they did I would have them prepared on their desk at the beginning of class to save time) Can anyone tell me what we said that we were going to write in our green books today? Students respond with, Rocks, gavel, and sand Yes, we will be telling about these things. We will give physical characteristics of rocks, sand, and gravel! Can anyone tell me what a physical characteristic is? Students will respond with Yes, it is something that describes, or No Physical characteristics are describing words; they are ways to tell how an object looks. Some examples of physical characteristics are size, weight, color, hardness, ext. (I will press next on the presentation to show the definition of physical characteristic Today, I would like for you to use your senses to help you write down physical characteristics of rock, gravel, and sand. ALL OF YOUR SENSES OTHER THAN TASTE! Before we break into groups, though, I would like for you to look at this picture and write down 2-3 physical characteristics of it. I will give students 1-2 minutes to write down physical characteristics Now, I would like for you to talk to your neighbor and come up with one physical characteristic of this rock that you would like to share I will give students 1-2 minutes to talk to their partners. After the time is up, I will click the next button on the power point to display a clean page to write the students responses on. Valid responses consist of answers, such as: dark, small, and rough. Thats great! All of those are really good physical characteristics. It seems that you guys are

getting the hang of this already! Now, before you all came back this morning, I set up three groups across the classroom. Each group is labeled; here is group one (walk to group one), group two (walk to group two), and group three (walk to group three). Before splitting you into groups, though, we must first go over the Safety Rules! (I will hit next on the presentation to display the rules) o 1. Talking remains softer than the music playing (Pandora music playing on the computer) o 2. Share the materials in the group o 3. Pass and Say Please o 4. Clean up any materials spilt or knocked over o 5. Walk to each group After I split you into groups, you will be instructed to go to a certain workspace. After getting to your assigned workspace, you will flip to the page in your book that contains the material at that work space. (The name of the workspace is on a sheet on the desk) After flipping to the correct page, you will take a piece of tape and tape some of the material into the left side of your journal. (I will demonstrate this by taping the material into my green journal) Next, on the right side of your journal, you will write down at least three physical characteristics of the material that you are looking at. Each group will have 7 minutes at each workstation. After the seven minutes is up, I will tell you which way to rotate to go to your next station I will split the students into three equal groups and assign them to a workstation. I will pull a clock up on the board or keep time on my watch for 7 minutes. After starting the music, I will then tell students to begin working on their journals. I will walk around the classroom to make sure that everyone is staying engaged. Also, if I see that students are finished before time is up, I will ask them to decorate the cover of their book or draw a picture of their material or decorate their book. Alright, time is up! I would like for group 1 to go to group 2 and group 2 go to group three and group 3 go to group 1 (I will repeat this step again to make sure that each group goes to all of the three workstations) I will walk around the class and ask students questions about what they are observing. For example, I will ask, How do you all think this feels? or Why did you write that in your book, what other things does your neighbor have written down? After each group has gone to each workstation, I will ask all of the students to gather back on the rug in the center of the classroom. I will press next on the presentation to display a chart with three different columns. (rock, gravel, sand) So, what were the three different types of materials that we observed today? Students respond, Rock, gravel, and sand Thats right! We observed rock, gravel, and sand (I will write the names of each to label the column) So, what were some of the physical characteristics that you wrote down about rock? I will write down the answers from students response. For example, it is dark or it is small. I will repeat this step for materials gravel and sand. These are all really great observations! So, looking back at the pictures from the beginning of the lesson, can anyone tell what was in each of the pictures that we went over today? I will pull up the pictures one by one and ask different students for their responses So, we see all of these materials every day, right? Students respond, Yes! Thats right; we do see these different materials. So, what I would like for you to do tonight is, after you go home, look in your yard for some of the materials that we observed today. If you can find any rocks, sand, or gravel, I would like for you to put a few examples in the pockets in your green journal (I will show students how the bags open to form pockets) and bring them

back with your tomorrow or Thursday.) The following day or week, students could present the items that they found at home or at the playground. Also, we could take these items to make a green picture. Students could glue the rocks or gravel to construction paper to make multiple objects or scenes.

References
Ideas for the green journals were derived from Dr. Gardner Lanceaksh. (2011, december 10). rocksforkids.com. Retrieved from http://www.rocksforkids.com/RFK/identification.html