Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Name: Molly Porter

Title of Lesson: Classification
Student Standards (list by numbers here, attach full
written)
2-PS1 Matter and its Interactions (Title)
2-PS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to describe
and classify different kinds of materials by their
observable properties. (Performance Expectation)
Analyzing and Interpreting Data (Practice)
Patterns (Crosscutting Concepts)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.3
Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in
order to clarify comprehension, gather additional
information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue.
Key Vocabulary:
Observe: Gathering information about the world around
us
Classify: Organizing objects according to their common
properties
Texture: How something feels
Prediction: A guess
Engaging the Learner Focus (ELF):
Engage:
Pick 5 students to come to the front of the class, standing
in no particular order. Tell students that remain in their
seats that they are going to be scientists and observe the
students at the font of the room. We are going to classify
these students based off of our observations. An
observation can be something we see, feel, smell, taste, or
hear. Since we arent going to be tasting or smelling the
students, we are going to classify them based off of the
things we see or hear. They will start by dividing the
students into two groupsex. girls and boys. Then they
will divide them again based off of a different feature
ex. boots or no boots. They will keep doing this until each
student stands alone (is not the same as anyone else).
While the students are classifying the students, make a
web that is visible for the class to see on poster paper so
that it can be used to elaborate. After every student is
classified, have them key out or say their classification
starting from the bottom of the web to the top. For
example:
Not Male----- Students----Male
|
|
Glasses No glasses
Hat
No Hat
A student who is keying out would say: I am a no
boots, male, student. After each student keys out, they
may return to their seat.

Grade:
2nd
Date:

School:
Methods Instructor:
Content Area(s): Science

Content Objective(s):
TSW be able to correctly classify (sort) objects according to
their observable features and demonstrate an understanding of
observation by using their senses to guess several objects.
Language Objective(s):
TSW will discuss and write their observations and inferences
and listen to observations and inferences made by classmates.

Teacher Materials: Assortment of 100+ buttons of different

size and color, large drawing paper
Student Materials: Writing utensils

In what way(s) will students understand the purpose and

relevancy of the lesson? What will you say to them?
Scientists work by making observations and recording their
ideas. For example, Pluto. Has anyone ever seen Pluto with their
own eyes? How do we know that its there? Scientists make
observations every day and use their observations to support
their ideas. Today, we are going to make lots of observations just
like scientists do.

Instructional Sequence- Also include written directions for your transitions

to be used in appropriate sequence.
Explore:
1. Tell students that they are going to be making the same kinds of
observations that we just made to classify objects. These are things that
we can touch (or even smell, if you really want to), so we will have
more to observe.
2. Hand out rocks (about 5 to each student) and tell students to classify,
or separate the rocks into groups according to things that they observe.
Do an example on document camera: I have two rocks that are bumpy
and three that are smooth. They can classify the rocks however they
would like.
3. Ask students some different ways that they decided to classify their
rocks. What did you observe?
4. Hand out blank organization chart.
5. Tell students that they are going to classify their rocks on the chart just
like we did with the students at the front of the classroom. The only
difference is, they do not need to write in the circles, they can just put
their rocks inside of them. The students will start with all of their rocks
at the very top of the chart and then sort them (classify) so that there is
one rock in every circle at the bottom of the chart. Every rock should
have its own unique classification.

Instruction includes:
X Differentiation for diverse needs?
X Higher level thinking (Bloom):
-highest level: creating
X Problem solving/inquiry?
__ Parental involvement?
__ Safety issues addressed as needed?
X State Assessment Indicators:
2-PS1-1
Differentiation Tools/Strategies
(list tools or strategies for scaffolding,
modifying, and/or extending
instruction)
Pre-label graphic organizers for students
who need extra support or mark on their
GO how you want them so sort with
pictures: size, color, etc.
For the sentence, have the sentence prewritten with blanks to fill in:
This is a ______, ________, rock. Put an
example underneath the sentence and
explain to the students that they will start
describing their rock from the bottom of
the GO.

6.

After the students are done, tell them to key out one of their rocks.
This is what the students who came to the front of the classroom did.
Use your example: I have a rock that is not black, not white, and not
big. Students should tell their shoulder partner the classification of one
of their rocks. For students that finish early, ask them to write the
classification at the bottom of the paper.
Explain:
7. We have been doing a lot of observing. We are just like real scientists,
because we are able to take what we observe and classify. What are
some other things that scientists classify? What about animals? What
are some different ways that we could classify those?
8. Every object that we have been observing is unique. Each student that
stood up in front of the classroom was a student, but none of them
were exactly the same. Are there two people in the world that are
identical? Two people may be identical twins, but there will be
something about them that is not exactly the same, and they go through
different experiences throughout their lifetimes. The same thing goes
for the rocks, we all had rocks, but none of the two rocks were exactly
the same, we were able to find a difference in all of them.
9. Why do you think some of the rocks were similar? Did they come
from around the same place? Do you think they are the same age? It is
these kinds of observations that scientists use to learn things about the
unknown. We can observe a tree and learn a lot about its life. What
kinds of things could we observe on a tree that would tell us about its
life?
Elaborate:
10. Display the Second Grade Students web in the classroom or hallway

so that students can use it as an example when they are classifying.

11. Every time students observe something, refer back to the GO and have
them classify using this as an example
Evaluate:
12. Have students key out their rocks and write a sentence about one of
them at the bottom of their paper. Ex: Rock Classification: This is a not
black, not smooth, rock.
13. After everyone has completed their sentence, tell students to make sure
that they have removed the rocks from their paper, and placed them in
a neat pile next to their GO.
14. Have students switch places with their shoulder partner, and see if they
can place all of the rocks in the correct circle on the GO based off of
the sentence at the bottom. Remind them that this is just for fun, but if
they can figure it out, they are masters at classification.
15. After they have finished, have students return to their original seat and
determine whether their partner was correct or not.
Closure to lesson?
40 Ways to Leave a Lesson: I Care Why? Students explain relevancy of the
concept to their life or how they might use it. Students will discuss in their pod
why classification is important and why we classify things.
How will you know what they learned (assessment)?
Informal: Students are responding to questions about classification correctly
and sorting things based on observations and not inferences. This rock is old
and this one is not is an inference, not an observation. Students are correctly
keying themselves out when they leave the front of the classroom during
engagement. Students are correctly breaking down rock types and classifying
them according to their appearance.
Formal Checklist:
Students correctly wrote a sentence classifying their rock.
Descriptors include observations and not inferences.
Students used one property at a time to sort.
Correct: Not black, not bumpy, rock
Incorrect: White, old, rock.
Reflection (What comes next? What would you do differently? What worked best?)