Learning Plan: ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY1

Title of lesson Thermometers and Calculating the Difference Grade Cycle 2/ Grade 4
in Temperature. level
Subject Mathematics Topic Temperature
Relevance Understanding how to read a thermometer is a basic skill that can be applied in many
situations. For this lesson, we are focusing on how reading a thermometer can tell us how hot
or cold it is outside. However, reading a thermometer can be useful for determining the
temperature of unidentified liquids (in a safe manner), or taking one’s temperature when
someone is feeling ill. Moreover, this lesson is an informal introduction to integers.
Resources Required  SmartBoard
 Doc-Cam
 Laminated Number Lines
 Dry-Erase Markers (students)
 Worksheets on Thermometers and Temperature
QEP Subject Area Math C2: To reason using mathematical concepts and processes
Competencies  To mobilize mathematical concepts and processes appropriate to the given situation
 To apply mathematical processes appropriate to the given situation

Math C3: To communicate by using mathematical language

 To become familiar with mathematical vocabulary
 To make connections between mathematical language and everyday language
Learning Objectives The objective of this lesson is for students to become comfortable reading the temperature on
a thermometer. They will learn that when we are comparing two temperature readings, we are
looking at the temperature difference (i.e. How much one number differs from another).
Essential Question(s)  How do we measure temperature?
 How do we read a thermometer?
 What is meant by “difference in temperature?”
Lesson Introduction (hook): Student will know:
Timing
I will begin the lesson by asking the students about the As a result of this lesson, the students will
temperature outside today. know how to determine the temperature
 “What’s the temperature outside today? Did anyone indicated on a thermometer, as well as
check? Let’s check it out online and see what it’s calculate the difference between
like.” temperature readings. They will also be
o Go to Weather Network for our area and see informally introduced to integers, and
what the temperature is outside. practice calculating negative and positive
numbers.
What else can we use to measure the temperature?
 Thermometers!
5-7 mins
“Exactly! Yesterday we started looking at thermometers and
began to understand how to read them. A long time ago,
before we had the internet (or our phones) to check the
temperature outside, we used thermometers to see how hot or
cold it was outside. We actually still have one at our house.
It’s hooked on our kitchen window so when I’m making
breakfast, I can look to see how cold it is that morning.”

What is the benefit of using a thermometer?

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Based on a simplified version of Understanding by Design (UBD) and the IB Middle Year Program Planner
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  Visual – we can tell very quickly if it's hot or cold
depending on where the liquid is.
If the liquid is above 0, what does that tell me?
 Warm
If it’s below 0?
 Cold
Development (Learning activities – step by step sequential
procedure):
Phase 1: Review Previous Lesson
We are continuing our understanding of how to read a
thermometer, and to understand how the read the
difference between two temperatures.
I noticed yesterday that it was a challenge for some of us to
10 mins understand where the degrees were when the temperature
was anywhere below 0.
For example, if the temperature on the thermometer
showed this: -8 degrees Celsius, it was being read as -12
degrees.
 The reason for this is because it is natural to see the
-10, and then the lines above it to give us the
temperature -12 degrees. But remember, when we
are moving down the thermometer, it means it’s
getting colder.
o What’s colder? -8 degrees or -12 degrees?
-12 degrees. If you need a reminder, just
look at the liquid. If it's lower, it must be
colder.
 Don’t feel upset if you made this mistake because
it’s a very easy mistake to do. We are going to
practice.
Phase 2: Guided Practice
I will enlist the students responsible for passing out
materials to hand out the laminated number lines and
instruct the rest of the class to take out a dry-erase marker.
I will instruct the class to follow my directions, as I model
10-15 what to do on the SmartBoard.
mins
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Students will understand:
Students will be able to explain the
difference in temperature between two
thermometers, as well as explain how they
calculated the numbers to arrive at the sum.
Students will do:
Students will be able to communicate how
much warmer, or cooler, the temperature is
by reading a thermometer. They will also be
able to articulate by how much the
temperature increased, or decreased, by
using what they have learned in class.
Cross Curricular Competencies:
CCC 2: To solve problems
 To analyze the components of a
situational problem
 To formulate possible solutions
 To test a solution
CCC 5: To adopt effective work methods
 To analyze the task being performed
 To begin the process
 To perform the task
Broad Areas of Learning:
Citizenship and Community Life
 The students in the class need to
respect each other while they are
sharing their thoughts and/or
answers.
 Students can demonstrate the
democratic process in the classroom
by raising their hands (while not
calling out) to ask a question or
share a different opinion or point of
view.
Universal Design for Learning/
Differentiation:
 “Let’s imagine that we flipped the thermometer on its side,
and we were reading it from left to right instead of up and This will be our second lesson on
down.” calculating the difference in temperature. I
 Write the number 0 in the center noticed in the previous lesson that many
 On the right side, in the space above the line, put a students struggled with the concept of
negative degrees and then determining the
large plus symbol. difference between two different degrees.
o This will remind us that we are at a warmer For this reason, I felt it was necessary to
temperature. take a more engaging approach, and practice
 On the left, put a minus symbol. using laminated number lines so they can
o This will be anything below 0, which is manually count the numbers.
colder.
 From the 0, going to the right, make 4 small lines,
and then make a larger line with the number 5.
o Continue this way until we get to 20 on the
right.
 Do the same on the left side, this time going down to
-20.

“Practicing this way will help us keep track when we are

looking at the difference between two temperatures.”

With each of the following examples, I will give the students

approximately 1 minute to use their number lines to find the
temperature difference.

Examples of differences in temperature:

 Last night it was -5 degrees, but this morning it's 4

degrees. What is the difference in temperature?
Remember, I’m not looking to see which one is cold
and which one is hot. I want to know how many
degrees the temperature went up by.
o (9 degrees)
 Imagine we just had a snowfall, and it’s now -12
degrees outside, but tomorrow it’s going to go up to
3 degrees. What’s the difference in temperature?
How much is it going to go up by?
o (15 degrees)
 The weather person lied to us! It was -12 outside,
but now it’s only at -3 degrees. Here is a question:
Did the temperature go up or did it go down? It still
went up – but by how much?
o (9 degrees)
 Now imagine that it’s a beautiful day outside with an
outdoor temperature of 18 degrees. Now you go
inside your house and the temperature is much
cooler because the air conditioning was left on at 15
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 degrees. What is the difference in temperature?
o (3 degrees)

Phase 3: Individual Work

10 mins After practicing with our number lines, I will explain to the
students what they will be working on individually. They will
each receive two activity sheets that deal with temperature.

 They must identify the temperature indicated on

several thermometers.
 Calculate the temperature differences.
 Answer a few word problems involving temperature.

I will explain what they need to do for each of the problems

by showing them under the Doc-Cam and then allow them
time to work on the problems.

Closure (transition): FORMATIVE - Assessment FOR learning:

In the last few minutes of class, I will ask the students to put
down their pencils and listen to me. I will ask a few students
to share with me what they know about temperature and
reading thermometers.
 I’m looking to see if they understand the difference
between temperature in the negatives and
temperature in the positives.
 How do we calculate two temperatures if one is a
negative and one is a positive?
o Both positives? Both negatives
Temperature worksheets. The responses in
these sheets will allow me to assess their
understanding of the content taught during
the lesson.
FORMATIVE - Assessment AS learning:
Observation of students as they work with
their number lines. Should a
misunderstanding arise during the Guided
Practice phase, I can address it and help the
class work through it.

“How do we feel about what we learned today? Give me a SUMMATIVE - Assessment OF learning:
thumbs up for good. Thumbs down for ‘not so good.’
Sideways thumbs for ‘could be better.’ No summative assessment for this lesson.

I will ask the students assigned to collecting this week to

collect everyone’s papers and bring them to the bin at the
front of the room.

Further considerations (follow up activities)

Professional Competencies:

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PC 4: To pilot teaching/learning situations that are appropriate to the students concerned and to the subject content with
a view to developing the competencies targeted in the programs of study.
 Many students were either unsure of themselves regarding how to calculate the temperature difference, while a
few did not understand how to calculate negative temperature readings. Therefore, I plan to focus on my
delivery of the content knowledge in this lesson to maximize student understanding. There will be plenty of
guided practice and talking about the concepts so that I can ensure we reach these goals.

PC 5: To evaluate student progress in learning the subject-specific competencies and mastering related competencies.
 Since this is the second lesson that I will be teaching on temperature, I will gather the work that the students
produce to help me identify any gaps in their knowledge or minor misunderstandings regarding how we
calculate negative numbers. This work will not be graded in any way, it will only be used to inform myself on
student understanding of the content, as well as inform my teaching practice.