LESSON PLAN Teacher: Vianna Hong Lesson: 1 out of 5

Subject: Science Unit 2: Changes to Land Over Time

Objective
SWBAT list natural events that occur on Earth by identifying change on Earth’s surface.

Science Standard Math CCLS

ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.MD.A.3:
● Some events happen very quickly; others occur Estimate lengths using units of inches, feet, centimeters,
very slowly, over a time period much longer than and meters.
one can observe. (2-ESS1-1)

Materials Vocabulary
Worksheet for Mini-Lesson (copy for each student) Tier 3:
Colored markers Hurricane - Strong storms that can be very dangerous
Erosion - Moving of small pieces of Earth’s surface from
one place to another
Volcano Eruption - Blast of lava and magma from a volcano

Tier 2:
Change - Make something different
Earth - The planet we live on

Time Connection/Motivation
5 minutes When I was a kid, there was a time a hurricane happened and it affected my neighborhood. Our
neighborhood is located near the water, which means we were at risk for some serious damage.
When the hurricane arrived, there were very strong winds and a lot of water everywhere. Water
started rising up fast and was almost at the top of our staircase which is at least 7 feet! The strong
winds were blowing everywhere and a few trees had fallen down. Since the water was rising up
quickly, some cars even started to float away! The next morning, I looked outside and it was a mess.
There were still a few feet of water still there, large branches were scattered everywhere, garbage
cans were filled with water and floating away from their houses, and cars were damaged by the
falling branches.

The hurricane is an example of a natural event. Natural events are events that happen on Earth and
can change the Earth’s surface. So the water rising, trees falling down, and cars being damaged are
all changes to Earth’s surface as a result of the hurricane.

Mini-lesson
15 minutes Today we’re going to be listing natural events that happen on Earth by looking for changes they
created on Earth’s surface. I’ll be handing out a worksheet that we’re going to be doing together. I’ll
also be handing out colored markers we can use to do the worksheet.

Let’s read the directions first. After reading the directions, we know that we have to match the
picture with the correct event.

Let us look at the first question. Can one of our friends tell us what event is pictured here? (Ans:
Volcano eruption)

Now that we know the natural event pictured is a volcano eruption, let's match it to its word. We’re
going to start our line from the picture and then we’re going to drag it all the way to the word
“volcano eruption.” Great!

Now to the next question.

Can another friend tell us what event is pictured in the second question? (Ans: Hurricane)
 Since we know it’s a hurricane, can anybody guess what we need to do now? You got it, we’re
going to draw a line from the picture to the word “hurricane.”

This third one is a bit of a tricky one. We see there’s a picture of a beach but what does that mean?
Well, beaches are formed by a natural event called erosion. This event is similar to volcano eruptions
and hurricanes because they all change the Earth’s surface. Let’s draw a line from the picture to the
word “erosion.”

Now that we finished the worksheet together, can one of our friends list the three natural events we
just talked about? (Ans: volcano eruption, hurricane, erosion)

Independent/Partner/Group Work
15 minutes Students will be put in groups of 4 to identify and discuss how the natural events we listed during
the mini-lesson changed Earth’s surface. After they identify and discuss, we will share answers as a
class. Identifying and discussing the changes these events create on Earth’s surface will help the
students recognize and list natural events.

Teacher will be circulating the classroom to ensure students are on task or if there are any
questions
Possible guiding questions that will help further students thinking:
- What do these events all have in common?
- How are these events different?

Share/Closing
10 minutes Students will share their answers with the class and will be encouraged to go into detail on what
specific changes occurred after these natural events. Discussion with the class should guide
students to recognize and list natural events that occur on Earth by identifying the change they
create on Earth’s surface.

Homework
List 3 different natural events that happen on Earth that were not discussed in class.