Lesson Planning Form for Accessible Instruction — Calvin College Education Program

Teacher: Emma Gontjes

Date: __04/06/2020_____ Subject/ Topic/ Theme:____Introduction to the Rock Cycle___Grade: ___4th grade____

I. Objectives
How does this lesson connect to the unit plan?
This lesson is introducing the idea of categorizing rocks which connects to learning how rocks are categorized and the rock cycle.
cognitive- physical socio-
Learners will be able to: R U Ap An E development emotional
C*
 Label different kinds of rocks R
 Distinguish between differences in rocks U
 Consider the footprint on the world around them and come to a better understanding that their footprint matters. X
 Describe rocks that they see in their world and share their knowledge with peers and family members R
 Make observations on the characteristic of rocks. X

Common Core standards (or GLCEs if not available in Common Core) addressed:

4-ESS1-1 Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils

(Note: Write as many as needed. Indicate taxonomy levels and connections to applicable national or state standards. If an objective applies to particular learners
write the name(s) of the learner(s) to whom it applies.)
*remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create

II. Before you start

Identify prerequisite knowledge Students will have to know what it means to sort object, describe object, and find rocks in
and skills. nature.

Pre-assessment (for learning)(if applicable):

Asking about their knowledge of rocks.
Formative (for learning):
Outline assessment activities
If they can sort their rocks to the criteria I have made.
(applicable to this lesson) Formative (as learning):
Looking over their paper and making sure they sort their rocks to look like my criteria at the
end. Also, to see that they spelled the words out correctly.
What barriers might this lesson Provide Multiple Means of
present? Engagement
Provide options for self-
regulation- expectations,
personal skills and strategies,
What will it take –
self-assessment & reflection
neurodevelopmentally,
- Clear instructions
experientially, emotionally, etc., when describing rocks.
for your students to do this lesson?
Provide options for sustaining
effort and persistence- optimize
challenge, collaboration,
mastery-oriented feedback
- Having them
describe their rocks
and seeing how
unique they can be.
Provide Multiple Means of
Representation
Provide options for
comprehension- activate, apply
& highlight
- Have the kids sort
their own rocks into
the categories I have
listed.
Provide options for language,
mathematical expressions, and
symbols- clarify & connect
language
- Vocabulary of the
three words; Igneous,
Metamorphic, and
Sedimentary.
Provide Multiple Means of
Action and Expression
Provide options for executive
functions- coordinate short &
long-term goals, monitor
progress, and modify strategies
- Students will be
making their own
observations and
participate in
conversation that
supports the goal of
categorizing the rocks.
Provide options for expression
and communication- increase
medium of expression
- Write out description
words on their own
sheets.
 Provide options for recruiting
interest- choice, relevance,
value, authenticity, minimize
threats
- They get to choose
their own rocks
from outside.
Students will need access to the outdoors, a pencil, and paper.
Materials-what materials (books,
handouts, etc) do you need for this
lesson and are they ready to use?
Provide options for perception- Provide options for physical
making information perceptible action- increase options for
- Get to see different interaction
examples of the - Go out and look for
rocks. rocks.
- Write down
descriptions.

Students will be at their own desk. The teacher will be at the front of the class with the board.
For this specific lesson online, we will all be at tables. We will also be spending part of the class
How will your classroom be set up period outside.
for this lesson?

III. The Plan

Describe teacher activities AND student activities
Time Components for each component of the lesson. Include important higher order thinking questions and/or
prompts.
0:00 Welcome to class! Students sit and participate in starting
Motivation conversation.
(opening/ Today is our first lesson on the rock cycle and
introduction/ learning about rocks.
0:04 engagement) What are objects in your house that could be
made out of rock? (Countertop, Pencil, Salt,
Concrete structure, Ect)

Rocks are used in our lives for many different

things. All these objects in our houses are made
from different types of rocks. The same rock
that your countertop is made out of is a different
rock than a pencil is made out of.

Have you ever seen two rocks that look the

same? Rocks are so different just like you and
me. A rock has a life of its own and we are
going to go on an adventure to learn about their
lives.
0:05 Everyone lines up and get ready to go outside. Students will line up and get their shoes and
coats on to go outside. Once all students are
ready, they will stand patiently by the door to
wait for everyone else to be ready.
Development
(the largest Proceed to bring class outside.
component or main
body of the lesson) Once the whole class has made it outside, gather Students will listen carefully to instructions.
0:06
the class in a circle and explain to them what we
are going to do.
“I am going to have you all go out and look for
different kinds of rocks. I want you to try and
get five different rocks; big ones, small ones,
 pretty ones, colorful ones, and more. Whatever
you want. Meet back here when you all are
done. Fourth Graders will have about three
minutes”
Students will then go out to the surrounding
area to find rocks. They are going to look
everywhere to find four or five different rocks.
Once students are done gathering rocks, they
will come back to the door and wait in line for
the other kids.

0:10 Students gather back by the door and head to

Gather student back up and line them up to go their desks.
inside. Lead students back to the classroom with
their rocks. Have the students lay the rocks out
on their desks for them to see.
0:11 Students listen to instructions at their desks.
Once all of the students are seated with their
rocks in front of them, give them instructions.
Have them take out a piece of paper and a
pencil.
“I want you all to inspect your rocks. On a piece Students do instructions that teacher has just
of paper, I am going to have you write down described. Students will be describing the rocks
characteristics of your rocks. Use adjectives or in front of them and writing it down on a piece
describing words. Tell me what the rocks look of paper.
like and different things about them. What is
similar and what is different?”

Teacher will demonstrate the task and go around Students will participate in instructions.
looking at what the students have written.

“I want you all to get in groups of three and talk

0:17 about the words you used to describe your
rocks. Show your rocks to your groups and talk
about how different your rocks are from each
other”

Once students have shared in their groups,

gather then back at their desks.
0:18 CLOSURE

Closure
 Once everyone is done, teacher will gather
students back together. Students will listen and sort their own rocks
Have students walk around the whole classroom according to the categories of the teacher.
0:20 now and look at the different ways that other
peers have described their rocks. Once they find
a seat continue. “As you can see from your
classmates, there are many different kinds of
rocks and different ways to characterized them.”
Students respond and come up with different
“Now I want you to think of ways that we can ideas.
sort the rocks. What different ways could that
be?”

“Although there are many ways we can sort

rocks, we are going to focus on one specific
way. That way is how they are formed or in
other words, what part of their life they are in. I Students will sort their own rocks.
want us to sort our rocks in front of us in three
separate groups; all one-color rocks, rocks with
many different rocks within them, and rocks that
have different colors, but the colors are blended
together” Students will turn to a neighbor first to tell
(conclusion, them, then will talk about it as a whole class.
culmination, wrap-up) “Now that you have sorted your rocks into these
groups, why do you think some rocks are just
one color, multicolored and blended, or have
little rocks within them?”

“These three different categories that we have

sorted our rocks have really big scientific words
for them. The big words are sedimentary,
metamorphic, and igneous. Sedimentary rocks
are rocks that that have little specks in them that
you can tell are separate little rocks,
Metamorphic rocks are rocks that have little
rocks in it but also melted in a way that just Students write out words.
looks like one rock, and igneous is a complete
solid color rock. Can you write those three
words on your paper, then write the description
of each rock?”
GIVE STUDENTS TIME

“How do you think these rocks get like this?

How do little rocks make up one big rock?

Now we have learned these big words and how

they describe rocks. Next class we are going to
learn a little more about these three different
kinds of rocks.

Your reflection about the lesson, including evidence(s) of student learning and engagement, as well as ideas for improvement for
next time. (Write this after teaching the lesson, if you had a chance to teach it. If you did not teach this lesson, focus on the
process of preparing the lesson.) (SCROLL DOWN)
 After finishing my first real lesson and teaching it to my peers, I feel as though I have learned so much.

Through my own self-reflection, I learned to improvise, to manage my time, and to give clear instructions. These

are three areas that seem to have shown up in my first lesson that I noticed. The first was improvising. While I

was doing my lesson, my internet had been going in and out. I was supposed to go outside with my students, but

my internet ended up cutting out. I was going to talk to them outside and do part of my lesson outside, but I

quickly had to change that. I ended up grabbing some of the rocks and going back to my desk to connect my

computer. It took away some time I had planned for my lesson, but I ended up making it work. Time

management was another topic that seemed to affect my lesson. Gaging time seems like the hardest thing for me

to do. Even when writing my lesson, I just have no idea how long one activity will take. Although my lesson did

adjust considering the circumstance, it went by a lot quicker than I thought. I have extra time that I could add a

few more questions to my lesson. A final thought that I can work on, is giving clear instructions. I am sure this

will come with practicing my lessons a little more but making sure my students are following really closely is

very important. I caught myself having to rephrase a sentence just because it did not sound right. Although these

are all things that I found that I have to work on, I do think my lesson went well. I thought it was creative and

engaging, but also incorporated the outdoors and hands on activities.

My peers were also able to give me a lot of helpful feedback. The feedback that I received was to have the

rocks inside, give more clear directions on how the students are to participate in class, maybe make it a little

longer, and add open ended questions. I chose to change my lesson plans based on some of this feedback and I

chose to not change other things. One of my peers suggested to have the rocks inside, but that is something I am

not going to change. Bringing the kids outside, helps them get some movement but importantly helps them

connect the unit to the real word. They are doing the hands-on work with finding the rocks. They are becoming

the scientists, instead of me feeding them the information. The next piece of advice I got was to give clear

directions for students to participate in class. I did notice this is something I should change. I added clearer