Sarah Adamson

Science Lesson Two

READINESS
I.
Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s) Students will identify proper responses and procedures to severe weather
based on each weather conditions specific dangers.
B. Objective(s)(specific terms)
Provide: Given a set of materials to work with, students will demonstrate safety
procedures based upon specific dangers of blizzards by creating a visual
representation/model.
Students will describe procedures to stay safe in a blizzard.
C.
Standard(s): 2.2.6 Learn about, report on and practice severe weather safety
procedures.
II.
Materials Time: 50 minutes total
o Anticipatory set/review: 10 minutes
o Group Discussion: 5 minutes
o Group work time: 15 minutes
o Group Presentations: 10 minutes
o Closure: 10 minutes
Materials:
o Fake snow
o Paper houses (previous lesson)
o Emergency supply bags:
Tape
Cardboard (small pieces)
String
Pipe cleaners
III.
Anticipatory Set

Show video clip: https://youtu.be/Q9COsI2cgKk

I know we already had a blizzard demonstration, but just to refresh your
memory, here is video of a real life blizzard. Can you hear the wind gusts in the
video? Is it hard to see?
IV.
Purpose: Today we are going to use what we already know about problem solving and
blizzards to make our own solutions to stay safe in a blizzard.
PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION
III. Adaptation to Diverse Students
Kinesthetic: building town safety measures, moving from seat to presenting in
front
Auditory: hearing/sharing ideas within groups, video of blizzard
Visual: video of blizzard, journaling ideas, seeing group demonstrations

IV. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

Now that we have the idea of blizzards fresh in our minds, lets review some of the
potential dangers of blizzards that we talked about last time. Have students brainstorm,
and write key words of their responses on the board. Now, using these dangers as a
guideline, I have a task for you. Remember the paper town we created in our last science
lesson? Well as luck would have it, another blizzard is coming to town, and this time the
mayor asked me to personally assign the task of preparing the town to YOU. This means,
that it is up to you to save the town, one house at a time. To do this, we are going to work
in the table groups you are already in. Brainstorm as a group some things you can do for
your town to stay safe in this upcoming blizzard. Allow groups time to brainstorm, and
circulate through to listen to and encourage different ideas. As the talk begins to die
down, pass out plastic bins with students paper houses from the previous lesson to each
group (one plastic bin per group, each of the group members houses inside the bin).

Now that you have some solid ideas to save your town, lets put them to the test. As a
group, try to decide how you are going to represent your safety procedures, or ideas. As
groups discuss, pass out the emergency supply bags. Encourage students to use whatever
they need within the supply bags, but nothing else. Allow students plenty of time to
work. When your group is done decide who is going to represent your town to talk about
your ideas. When all groups are finished, call a name from the cup of popsicles to decide
which group is presenting first. Have that group come to the front of the room, and
describe how they chose to keep the town safe. After the groups explanation, dump some
fake snow on the groups town. Did their safety procedures work? Why not? Do you
think they would have worked in real life? Repeat this for each group. Are there any
similarities that we saw that worked or did not work? Why do we think these worked?

V. Check for understanding: listen to group discussion, see application of ideas during group
demonstrations, facilitate questioning throughout lesson, read journals
VII. Review learning outcomes / Closure
We did some great work today to keep our imaginary town safe. Can we apply
these same procedures to real life blizzards? In your journal, I would like you to
answer this prompt: What can I do to stay safe in a blizzard?
PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT
Read journals for assessment of individual student mastery level
Question groups while working to assess a broader range of student mastery
REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS
1.
How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why
not?
2.
What were my strengths and weaknesses?
3.
How should I alter this lesson?

4.
5.
6.

How would I pace it differently?

Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
a.
Blooms Taxonomy
b.
Gardners Multiple Intelligences
7. Could I incorporate modeling, or did students grasp the idea on their own?

8. Based on students achievement of the objective, should I move on to another severe

weather, or review?
9. Did students need more vocabulary background knowledge to further understand this
lesson?