Teacher: Jaylyn Thrower                                           Subject: Science Grade Level: 5th grade

Overall Goal of Lesson: The purpose of this lesson is for students to be able to distinguish the difference between weather
and climate within our world and apply such knowledge through pinpointing the attributes observed within a week’s time period. 

Instructional Objectives:
•      TSW be able to identify the characteristics of weather and climate throughout the week by evaluating, measuring and
recording such statistics on a weather data sheet. 

•      TSW be able to collect weather and climate information by measuring and calculating temperatures as well as classifying
precipitation, cloudiness and/or wind.

•      TSW be able to define scientific terminology by retrieving information from a video and through class discussion over key
concepts.

Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) & ELPS: Key Vocabulary:

112.16
(8) Earth and space. The student knows that there are recognizable Weather
patterns in the natural world and among the Sun, Earth, and Moon Climate
system. The student is expected to:
(A)  differentiate between weather and climate;
Precipitation
 
 (2)  Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student uses
scientific methods during laboratory and outdoor investigations. The
student is expected to:
(C)  collect information by detailed observations and accurate
measuring;
ELPS (5.B) Write using newly acquired basic vocabulary and
content-based grade-level vocabulary

Higher Order Questions: How are weather and climate alike and different? Does one change more frequently than the
other? Can we have climate without weather?

Student Activities: (Keep in mind the following: Scaffolding, Independent or Cooperative activities, Groupings, Reading,
Writing, Listening, Hands-On/Minds-On, Connections to previous knowledge, etc)

These activities are primarily independent or involve partner work, but is hands-on so they are able to
make connections based off of information obtained.
Modifications/ELL Strategies: Anticipatory Activity for Lesson:
The teacher will place glow-in-the dark planets and stars around
1.     Special Needs- paired partner note taker; the classroom. Upon entering the classroom, students will notice
captioned video the glow in the dark galaxy stars and planets placed all around
the room as well as hear different instrumentals (thunderstorm,
2.      ELL- paired partner; word wall birds chirping, wind, etc.) play. As an extra attention grabber, the
focal point will be the Earth structure hanging from the ceiling,
(directly in the center of the class.) Above each desk will hang
either a sun, cloud, rain, or snow. 
  The teacher will 1st start off by asking a student to raise their
hand and share how they knew what specific type of clothes to
wear this morning. Do they just pick any type or do they have to
rely on certain information to determine what to wear? This will
be their introduction into weather and climate. In order to begin
instruction, the teacher will have the students utilize a KWLH
 chart. The class will write down what they already know
regarding the definition and differences between weather and
climate as well as recap on how they will determine the weather
and measure temperature (students should already know how to
use a thermometer). Secondly, they will write down what they
would like to learn more about pertaining to weather and climate
or write any questions or concerns they have. 

Time Teacher Input/Lesson Activity: Once completed, students will be introduced to a Climate
vs. Weather video and record information that they believe is important in their journals. As
part of their learning, the teacher will go back to the video and pause throughout or rewind to
discuss key details and introduce definitions of vocabulary words which will not only be
written in students journals to refer back too, but information will also be displayed on the
whiteboard (word, definition strip, and picture). 
In order to make sure that students comprehend the information that the teacher is telling
them, students will use their green, yellow, and red cups that will be placed in the front of
their desks at the beginning of class. During information giving, if at any time a student is
confused while the teacher is going over definitions or key concepts from the video, the
student will flip a specific colored cup (the top of the cup faced down on the table) to display
20 min that they either don’t understand at all (red cup flipped down), kind of understand the
material, but may need some extra help, given an example or more detail (yellow cup flipped
down), or they fully comprehend the definition/material (green cup flipped down). If time
permits, the teacher will go back and specify or use the time for peer teaching with someone
that does understand the material. 

Example: if a teacher is going over the definition of precipitation or climate and notices that 8
students flipped over their red cup upon concluding his/her teaching, the teacher can have a
peer teaching moment and allow 4 students to go to a classmate and another group of 4 go to
another classmate that can explain to them the definition, or explain how they themselves are
able to understand the term. 
 
Students will also go back to their KWLH chart and write down a couple of things that they
learned after information giving and/or peer teaching has concluded before independent
practice takes place.  

 
 
Modeling: How to measure temperature and converting to Fahrenheit.
5 min

Guided Practice: As a part of guided practice, the teacher and class will work together on
the first day of the week to calculate the weather temperature ONLY outside. This will
include: reiterating how to measure temperature with a thermometer if need be, where it might
be best to stand and place a thermometer outside, and what to look for when outside. The
teacher will answer any questions the student may have regarding the weather data worksheet
as well as walk around and monitor students’ progress when recording information. If teacher
notices that for instance math calculations are incorrect when converting Celsius to
5 min Fahrenheit, they will step in and assist to break down the mathematical steps so the student
can find where mistakes were made. 

The teacher will also implement (along with checking students comprehension cups) the
beach ball brain tool. Questions will be taped around the beach ball and the teacher will toss
10min the ball to a student. Wherever the student’s hand or finger lies, they will have to answer that
question, such as “what is climate?” What are some characteristics of weather?” Thereafter,
 the student will toss the beach ball back to the teacher and the method will be repeated as a
form of checking that the students have learned what has been told to them.

Independent Practice: Following the teachers instruction, students will be paired with a
classmate and provided with a weather data sheet for each day of the week that requires them
to collect statistics such as the temperature (students will already know how to measure using
a thermometer as well as convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit or vice versa), the cloudiness of
the sky, the precipitation, and wind speed or intensity. Once data is recorded, students will
hypothesize what they believe the weather will be like the following day and why. Hypothesis
can be recorded individually by students in their own journals.

 
KWLH chart recordings will also be a form of independent practice. The know and what will
be recorded during the beginning/introduction part of class, the learn and how part will be
recorded both after information giving and at the end of the class period.
Lesson Closure: To wrap up the lesson, the students and teacher will meet to discuss and
recap on what they learned, by sharing their statements written in their KWLH chart under the
“L” tab. Students will also refer back to our first question pertaining to how we determine
what type of clothes to wear, and share what they enjoyed most about the lesson. 

5min An exit ticket could be completed as well for students who don’t feel like sharing during class
discussion.
5min

Assessment Methods/Strategies:  Once students’ experimentation is complete and the

groups and teacher head back to the classroom, each group will share with the class what they
observed and recorded. The following day before data is collected again, groups will share
with the class, what their hypothesis was that was written the day before. (Students are not
allowed to change their hypothesis or written data during sharing time. Only during outside
observations are taken place). During this time, the teacher will be listening to students’
responses and conclusions to see if they are applying their knowledge to their experimentation
activity and written conclusions.

The teacher will also walk around the classroom during the time period of the students
recording their statements and answers in their KWLH chart.

Students Weather Data worksheet as well as journals will be turned in at the end of the class
period each day of the week for assessment and evaluation purposes as well. 

Resources (supplies, equipment, software, etc.):                      

  Construction paper

 Scissors

 Markers/Pencils
 Glue
 Journal 
 Beach ball
 Red, yellow and green cups
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbAWny7FV3w (information giving)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr29YJ7TswA (enrichment)
 Quiz (enrichment)
 Climate and weather worksheet; pg. 5 (http://science-class.net/archive/science-
 class/Lessons/Weather/climate_weather.pdf)
 http://worldweather.wmo.int/en/home.html 

 
 
 
Reflection: The teacher will reflect by evaluating and assessing students’ recordings on their weather data worksheet that
will be turned in, as well as listen and assess during students’ presentations, describing their findings and predictions of
climate outside throughout the week. During partner work, the teacher will walk around to listen for the vocabulary
terminology from students as they engage in the outside activity. While walking around, the teacher will monitor a variety
of things such as students written responses in their KWLH charts as well as each groups measurements and ask students
how they came to write their recordings on their data sheets.