Basic Productivity Tools (BPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Weather Patterns

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 1st Grade
Content Standard Addressed: S1E1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate weather data to identify weather
patterns.

Technology Standard Addressed: 6 – Creative Communicator

Selected Technology Tool: Microsoft Excel

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ☐ Understanding ☒ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☒ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

In this lesson, students are able to have voice and choice to create a graph using choice of colors, pictures or
patterns. Students are also able to choose whatever type of graph they would like to use to represent the
weather for the week. After they have recorded the results for the weather each day they will input the
results in an Excel Spreadsheet and create a graph what that information. Students who are struggling
readers or English learners will benefit from using Excel or graphs because the information will be visually
displayed with minimal wording.
Lesson idea implementation:
The teacher will introduce the lesson by talking about the different types of weather. The teacher will ask
students to name some types of weather they have seen. Then the teacher will explain that to tell what the
weather is outside, you use a thermometer. She will then explain how to read the thermometer outside to
tell what degrees it is. The teacher may also wish to show the students a video to introduce temperature such
as a BrainPop video like https://jr.brainpop.com/math/measurment/temperature/. The students will then
investigate what the weather is outside today by reading the outside thermometer and researching the
weather online at weather.com. They will record their answers on a class chart. They will then discuss types
of clothing you wear during different types of weather. They will then decide as a class what clothing would
be good to wear for todays weather. They will do this every day for 1 week as a class. After a week of keeping
record of the temperature and what clothing to wear they will now create the chart and graph in the Excel
spreadsheet. This will be done with a lot of teacher support and possibly with partners or as a small group.
A rubric will be used by the teacher to determine if the students are able to represent the data they
collected throughout the week on the Excel spreadsheet represented in a graph. The lesson will be concluded
by each student sharing their Excel spreadsheet and graph with the class. The teacher will provide feedback
throughout the creating process through student/teacher conferences. There will also be feedback
individually after they present their graph.

Reflective Practice:
The activities provided in this lesson give the student real world experiences of recording the temperature of
outside. When students are able to apply learning to real life experiences learning can be very meaningful.
Spring 2018_SJB
 Basic Productivity Tools (BPT)
Taking that knowledge and creating a graph with student choice is also an activity that creates student choice
and higher order thinking . To extend the lesson, they could do this as a daily activity throughout the school
year and compare how much the temperature changes in a whole year. Also, they could add another level to
the chart and describe the weather characteristics of the day such as rainy, sunny, cloudy or snowy. Once
they have completed their charts and graphs they can be posted to the classroom Blog to showcase their
understanding of weather characteristics and how to graph the results.

Spring 2018_SJB