SETON HILL UNIVERSITY
Lesson Plan Template
TOPIC DETAILS CK
Name Miss Shoemaker
Subject Science
Grade Level 2nd grade
Date/Duration 20 Minutes
RATIONALE The students will understand the water cycle, particularly, how precipitation comes to
be.
Standards:
3.2.2.A.6 Participate in simple investigations of matter to answer a question
or to test a prediction.
INTRODUCTION Activating Prior Knowledge
The teacher will ask the students what they remember about the water cycle. They will
label the water cycle independently and then as a group. Once it is labeled, the teacher
will go over each stage and end with asking the students about types of precipitation.
Suzanne may become bored and act out once she completes her labeling of the water
cycle. To deter the child from acting out, the teacher can provide additional activities to
a child who is finished early.
Hook/Lead-In/Anticipatory Set
The class will read the book Down Comes the Rain by Franklyn M. Branley.
If the class is sitting in a whole group setting, Suzanne will be in close contact with
peers causing opportunity for inappropriate behaviors. To deter the child from acting
inappropriately during the story, the teacher can have sit spots on the floor for reading
times to prevent students from being in the personal space of others. The social skills
lesson with arms length activity can be incorporated, as well.
EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION Big Idea Statement
There are different stages in the water cycle.
Essential Question Statement
What causes precipitation to fall from a cloud?
Objective Statement (Audience, Behavior, Condition, Degree)
The 2nd grade students will correctly label the water cycle independently with 100%
accuracy.
Vocabulary
Evaporation: The sun heats up water in rivers, lakes, or oceans and turns it into vapor
or steam.
Condensation: The water vapor in the air turns into liquid form (rain drops) creating
clouds.
Precipitation: The forms of condensation falls from the clouds (rain, snow, hail).
Collection: Water that falls from the clouds is collected in different forms, (rivers, lakes,
oceans).
Water Cycle: The water cycle is make up of evaporation, condensation, precipitation,
and collection.
Transition
The students will stay in their seats to transition from the introduction of the lesson to
the experiment. All materials will be at the tables to begin the experiment.
Suzanne may become bored from lack of movement and amount of time sitting causing
inappropriate behaviors. The teacher can allow Suzanne to take a break/walk around
the classroom to prevent her from becoming bored and touching other children.
LESSON PROCEDURE Pre-Assessment of Students
The students will be pre-assessed during the opening of the assignment when
discussing the water cycle.
Modeling of the Concept
The teacher will model the concept by going over the experiment that the class will be
doing and the importance of the experiment.
Guiding the Practice
The teacher will guide the practice by providing the students will a lab sheet and going
over it before beginning the experiment
Providing Independent Practice
The teacher will allow the students to complete the experiment My Cloud in a Jar. The
students will fill a cup 2/3 of the way full of water and then add shaving cream. The
students will add food coloring to another cup 1/2 way full of water. The students will
use a dropper to place drops of dyed water onto the shaving cream cloud. The
students will determine how many drops of water it takes before the cloud releases the
drops as a form of precipitation.
Suzanne may be in close contact with other students during the experiment while
sitting at the lab tables, this may cause her to be in the personal space of others. If she is
in the personal space of others, she may be tempted to hit her peers. If Suzanne finishes
before her peers, she may act out. To prevent Suzanne from being in the personal space
of others, the teacher can allow empty seats on both sides of Suzanne. The social skills
lesson with arms length activity can be incorporated, as well.
Transition
The teacher will walk around and observe the students completing the experiment.
When she sees that they are finishing their experiment, she will give them an exit slip to
answer to wrap up the assignment.
Sitting for the experiment and the exit ticket may cause the child to become bored and
act inappropriately. The teacher can allow Suzanne to have a break between completing
the experiment and answering the exit ticket.
READING MATERIALS, Down Comes the Rain by Franklyn M. Branley
TECHNOLOGY, AND Cups
SUPPLIES Shaving Cream
Food Coloring
Dropper/Pipette
EVALUATION OF THE Formal Evaluation
LEARNING/MASTERY
OF THE CONCEPT The formal evaluation is in the beginning of the lesson during the labeling of the water
cycle. It was used as a review of the information previously provided.
Informal Evaluation
The informal evaluation is an exit ticket at the end of the lesson.
CLOSURE Summary and Review of the Learning
The students will share any feedback on the experiment.
Homework/Assignments
None
