Developmental Lesson Plan

Weather Unit: Day 4

Teacher Candidate: Kaitlyn Johnson
Date: Group Size: 22 Allotted Time: 30 minutes Grade Level: K
Subject or Topic: Precipitation
Common Core/PA Standard(s):
3.3.K.A Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
7.3.K.A Describe how weather affects daily life.

Learning Targets/Objectives:
● Students will be able to explain what precipitation is and name the four types of
precipitation.
Assessment Approaches: Evidence:
1. observations during reading 1. Students will give a thumbs up
when they hear a type of
precipitation
Assessment Scale:

1. n/a
Subject Matter/Content:

Prerequisites:
- weather terminology from days 1, 2, and 3 of the unit
Key Vocabulary:
rain: liquid form of water
sleet: frozen rain drops
snow: a form of ice
hail: small lumps of ice
precipitation: water that falls from the clouds

Content/Facts:
Water droplets in a cloud get big and heavy
these water droplets fall to the ground as precipitation
Four different types of precipitation:
rain: liquid form of water
sleet: frozen rain drops
snow: a form of ice
hail: small lumps of ice
can cause damage to plants, animals, and buildings
Different types of precipitation happen depending on the weather and season
Anticipatory Set

1. The teacher will start the lesson by asking the students to turn and talk with a friend to
share something they learned about clouds from yesterday's lesson
a. Some things students might talk about is that clouds are made of tiny droplets
of water, there are different types of clouds, etc.
b. The teacher will have the concept map for the unit up on the easel
2. The teacher will call on a few students to share what they learned and the teacher will
add it onto the weather unit concept map
Development/Teaching Approaches

1. After filling out the concept map, the teacher will say, “Scientists, what falls often and
never gets hurt? Raise a quiet hand if you think you know the answer to my riddle”
2. The teacher will call on a few students to see if anyone will get the answer (rain!)
3. The teacher will give the answer if no one gets it and then ask the students, “what is
rain? Where does it come from?”
4. Students will turn and talk about the questions and the teacher will listen in and join in
on some conversations
5. The teacher will have 2 or 3 students share their thoughts about what rain is and where
it comes from
6. The teacher will then explain to the students that rain is water that falls from the clouds
and that this is called precipitation.
7. The teacher will then tell the students that rain is just one form of precipitation and ask
if they can come up with anything else that falls from the clouds
8. The teacher will allow students to turn and talk for about a minute before calling them
back by saying, “ready hands in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”
9. The teacher will say, today we are going to learn more about precipitation and the
different types
10. The teacher will explain that they are going to read a story called, Types of
Precipitation by: Nadia Higgins and their job is to listen to find out what the four types
of precipitation are
11. The teacher will say, “when you hear a new type of precipitation, water that falls from
the clouds, I want you to give me a quiet thumbs up”
12. As the teacher reads, they will stop at each type of precipitation and discuss what it is
a. rain: liquid form of water
b. snow: ice crystals
c. sleet: raindrops that freeze on the way down
d. hail: rain that freezes in the clouds and turns into balls of ice
13. The teacher will also record the four different types of precipitation on the concept map
as they go along
14. The teacher will then say, “scientists, today we are going to get to do an experiment
where we make our very own rain clouds”
15. The teacher will explain to the students that they are going to come back to the kidney
bean table in small groups again and will each get to participate in making their own
rain cloud
 16. The teacher will then tell them they will need their toolboxes out and will dismiss them
back to their seats
17. While they are waiting to be called back, the students will each receive their weather
journals and will be instructed to make their drawing of the weather for the day
a. The teacher will have the date filled in along with the temperature and this will
be displayed on the smartboard for students to use as a model
18. After students are done drawing and coloring the weather and filling in the date and
temperature, students are to place their weather journal on Miss Johnson’s table
a. If students finish early before special they can have a bathroom break and go
on IXL on their iPad.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:

1. The teacher will call the students back to the kidney bean table in groups of about 7
students each.
2. Each student will receive a cup with some water in it and the teacher will squirt some
shaving cream in each student's cup.
3. The teacher will ask the students what they think the shaving cream is representing (the
expected answer is clouds)
4. Each student will then receive a dropper with some food coloring in it and the teacher
will explain that the food coloring is going to represent the water droplets up in the sky
and that when they get to heavy in the cloud, it will produce the rain
5. Each student’s job will be to count how many drops it takes for their cloud to get too
heavy and begin to have rain fall from it
6. The teacher and students will discuss why each student's cloud held more or less drops
of “rain”
7. The students will then go back to their seats to either finish their weather journal or go
on IXL on their iPad if they are already done
8. After everyone has gotten a chance to make their rain cloud, the whole group will come
together and record what happened in their cup by drawing a picture to explain with
support from the teacher

Accommodations/Differentiation:

● Follow all IEPs and 504 plans

● calling the students back in smaller groups to help students better
understand the concept.
● There will be an example on the board of the journal to help students who
may need extra support.

Materials/Resources:
- anchor chart paper
- markers
- weather journals
- Rain Cloud Experiment
- cups
 - shaving cream
- eye droppers
- food coloring
- water
- weather unit concept map anchor chart
- book: Types of Precipitation by: Nadia Higgins

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels

Remediation Plan (if applicable)

Personal Reflection Questions

★ Were the students able to remember things they learned about clouds from the previous
lesson?
★ Did the students seem engaged throughout the entire lesson?
★ Did they understand the idea of precipitation by the end of the lesson?

Additional reflection/thoughts