WAYNE STATE LESSON PLAN FORMAT

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Name: Mackenzie MacDormott
School Name: Morse Elementary
Grade Level: 5th
Subject Area(s): Science
Time Needed for Lesson: 30-40 minutes
Lesson Title: Earth Processes Pieces of a Puzzle

1. LEARNERS & LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

a) Engaging and Supporting Diverse Learners: (InTASC 1,2,3)
There are 25 students in this class. Of the 25 about 6 of them are considered English
Language Learners, 3 have IEPs, and there is one student with a 504 for ADHD. This is
a very diverse class, if you were to look at the students culture and back ground. There
are many students who were born in a different country and traveled here to America
because their parents got a job. Other students were born here but face poverty and
live in other cities. There are 3 students that the teacher is trying to get tested for
Learning Disabilities due to them not being able to retain information and have trouble
with fluency, these students gets some modifications to assignments already. Learning
abilities are spread out. Some students struggle and receive intervention from the RTI
program and others go to Baker Middle school because there math level is high.
b) Universal Design for Learning (InTASC 1,2)
There are five tables in the room, each with five students at the tables. Each student
has a chair back so that they can have some of their things with them at their sits.
There is a kidney table in the back of the room near the teachers library where guided
reading lessons occur. There are plenty of group opportunities at their desks or students
can meet in the spaces around the room.

c) Materials and Digital Tools Needed (InTASC 7,8)

Activity Sheets A and B from Teachers Guide
Land Mass Pattern sheet
Scissors
4 Crayons
Bag of Fossils
Rock Types: Gneiss, Igneous, Marble, Quartzite, Sedimentary, Slate
Tape or Glue
iPads
Projector
Science Notebooks
Colored Construction Paper

2. OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT

a) State Standards and Student Outcomes Related to the Content of the Lesson (InTASC
4,5,6)

WAYNE STATE LESSON PLAN FORMAT

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S.IP.05.11 Generate scientific questions based on observations, investigations,
and research.
S.IA.05.14 Draw conclusions from sets of data from multiple trials of scientific
investigation.
L.EV.05.13 Describe how fossils provide evidence about how living things and
environmental conditions have changed.
Students will be able to understand the theory of continental drift and some of the
earliest evidence to support this theory.
Done by questioning, observing, and exploring

b) Assessment and Evaluation Evidence of Student Learning (InTASC 6)

Students will be asked exit slip questions be answer on their iPads using the
Whiteboard app.
o What does Pangaea mean?
o The theory of continental drift explains what?
o What evidence supports this theory?
o What are fossils?
The completed Pieces of a Puzzle worksheet
The exit slip questions allow me to see what information they have retained in this
lesson. I will keep an observation sheet and mark the ones who understood and
mark the ones who may need a different explanation.
The Pieces of the Puzzle worksheet I am looking for completeness. I am also
looking to see if students can get along with their table groups.

3. INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE
a) Introduction Engaging Students, Activating Prior Knowledge, and Setting Lesson
Goals (InTASC 7,8)
I will show students a globe and an online globe. They will be given a minute or two to
look at it and think about the earth. I will then ask them, If you were a scientist, what
questions might you ask about the Earth, based on what you see on the globe?
I will guide them to think about the shape of the continents. Once they discover that the
continents may have pieces that go together, I will tell them that we will be exploring
the continental drift.

b) Instructional Procedure: Engaging Students in Actively Constructing Deep

Understanding (InTASC 7,8)

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1. Write the term Theory of Continental Drift on the overhead. Explain to the
students that this is an idea that was put worth at the beginning on this century to
explain why the continents appeared as though they may fit together like a
puzzle. Tell the students that this theory proposes that the continents are not
stationary but move very, very slowly across Earth.
2. Write the word Pangaea on the overhead. Ask students if they have ever heard of
this word. Explain that scientists believe that at one point there was a
supercontinent which they called Pangaea. Pangaea means all lands.
3. Direct their attention back to the globe and ask Based on the shapes of the
continents, where else in addition to between Africa and South America do you
think todays continents may once have fit together?
4. Tell the students to look at Activity Sheet A and B and Land Mass Pattern sheet.
Have them cut out the land masses and ask the tables to work together for about
5 minutes piecing the continents together how they think they would fit. Tell them
to glue or tape the pieces down on the color paper provided. Give students a
chance to show their work on the projector. Then ask the following questions:
a. How well did the continents fit together?
b. Did everyone put continents together in the same way?
c. What clues did you use to help you decide how to arrange the continents?
5. Tell students that the shape of the continents is not the only clue to support this
theory. Then pass around rock samples and allow students to look and explore
them. Ask, What similarities and differences do you see among the rocks?
6. Tell students that scientists can test rocks to find out where they formed and
whether or not the have the same chemical make-up. Explain that rocks with the
same age and composition were discovered on opposite side of the oceans. They
think they were formed in the same place at the same time when Pangaea was
still together and the rocks got separated when the continents separated. Have
the Students look at Activity sheet B.
7. Write the word fossils on the overhead and ask, What are fossils? Have the
students look again at Activity Sheet B and explain the location of the matching
fossils. It is very similar to the rocks.
8. Tell the students that there is even more evidence that supports the theory of
continental drift. Ask them to look at Activity sheet B to find other clues.
9. Write the word glacier on the overhead and explain that it is a huge ice mass that
moves very slowly, picking up rocks and soil in its path leaving behind when it
melts. Ask, On which continents have scientists discovered glacial rocks of the
same age?
10.
Tell the students to use the 4 crayons and follow the directions in steps 2
and 3 of Activity sheet A to answer the questions. Have students share answers.
11.
Have students think about what was just discussed. Tell them to bring out
their iPads and open the white board apps. Ask them the following questions and
record answers as correct or incorrect in your check sheet:
a. What does Pangaea mean?
b. The theory of continental drift explains what?
c. What evidence supports this theory?
d. What are fossils?
c) Technology Use Technology as a Tool for Effective Teaching and Learning (InTASC
7,8)

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The computer will be used to as an extra visual aid for the globe. The computer
allows all students to view the globe at once while the actual globe is being
passed around.
This the whiteboard is covered with the smart board the overhead is used so that
all students can see what I am writing and so that they can copy.
The iPads are used to help check knowledge in an exit slip sort of way.

iPad
Computer
Overhead/ELMO

d) Closure - Students Summarize and Synthesize Their Learning (InTASC 7,8)

So today we have learned about the theory of continental drift. This theory states that
the continents are not stationary but actually move very slowly across the Earth. We
learned that scientists use the evidence of fossil discoveries, rock discoveries, glacier
evidence, and the shape of the continents to help support this theory.

In our next lesson we will discover the structure of the earth and in the future we will
discover different ways that the earths surface moves.

4. REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

Delta Science Modules. (2006). Earth Processes. 3rd Edition. Nashua, NH.
WebGL Earth. Retrived from http://education.nationalgeographic.org/mockup/

5. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
a) Teacher Reflection (InTASC 9)

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This whole lesson, to me, went very well. I was happy that the kids seems really
engaged and were learning. They participated in the classroom discussions, work
together as tables to explore how the continents might have fit together, and they did
very well on the question and answer part of the lesson.
Some of the lesson could have gone a little better. I could have pre-cut the land masses
so that they could have finished the puzzle faster and then there wouldnt have been
some frustration from a few of the kids. I also could have found an app or website of the
globe so that all students could see it, but I really liked the smartboard allowing me to
manipulate the globe and I had an actual globe to pass around.
There wasnt much I would change and there were definitely things I liked about this
lesson. I liked the conversation from the kids and how they let me learn things from
them to. I also liked that I was able to find a way to get them out of their seats and
connect their learning to other things. I didnt truly understand that I could change my
lesson from the procedures until my instructor told me that it happens all the time and
that I shouldnt worry about it too much. With that being said, I do need to be careful
about giving them too much information (because I get excited) and not confusing
them.
The kids really seemed to learn. I liked how I did my exit slip, I used a whiteboard app
and asked them questions directly from the lecture. Most students were able to do this
and the ones who didnt or couldnt I wrote down so I know who I have to work with. My
assessment also allowed me to decide that the students should record what information
they think will be needed for the final unit assessment. They enjoyed that and with it
they could connect their learning with what they already know.