Disciplinary Unit: Lesson Plan Format

I. General Information:
Grade Level:3
Discipline: Social Studies
Unit Topic: Geography Weather in Geographic
Locations
Time Frame: Day 1 45 minutes
Text: Weather by Seymour Simon
The United States of America: A State by State
Guide
Other Materials:
Paper dolls with climate appropriate clothing
Poster paper
II. Essential Understanding/Questions:
What is the weather like in our geographic location,
annually?
III. Standards/Indicators
Social Studies
3.0 Geography
B. Geographic Characteristics of Places and
Regions
1. Compare places and regions around
the
world using geographic
characteristics.
d. Describe how geographic
characteristics
of places and
regions change
over time
and influence
the way
people
live and work.
CC.3.W.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the
development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
CC.3.W.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with
reasons.

CC.3.R.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the
words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and
how key events occur).

IV. Lesson Objectives:

Students will identify different weather climates
throughout the
US.
Students will choose which climate is most attractive to
them,
and justify to others why their climate is the best.
V. Evaluation/Assessment:
Students will be assessed on their ability to identify
climates through the activity of dressing the dolls to fit the
weather in a particular area.
Students persuasive writing will be assessed through
their travel agency poster.

VI. Procedures:
The teacher will dress up in winter clothes (hat, scarf,
mittens, boots, coats, etc.) and ask the students why they
think I might be dressed up in these clothes.
The teacher will then ask students where they think they
might wear this type of clothing year round?
The teacher will then introduce the vocabulary by using
sentence strips and placing them into the pocket chart.
The teacher will then explain why each climate is particularly
hot, or cold YEAR ROUND. The teacher will then ask the
students about their climate. What is Allegany County like?
Does it have a hot climate, a cold climate, or a mixed
climate?

The students will then be shown a slideshow of different

places throughout the world. The pictures will include places
such as Alaska, and India, where there is a consistent
climate. The climates must be apparent in the pictures.
Then, the students will be broken into 6 groups. Each group
will get an envelope and a paper doll. Then, the teacher will
show the smartboard map game, and give students the
name of a location, and a picture of the climate. The
students must then dress their doll to live a typical day in
that climate. While the students are dressing their dolls, the
teacher will walk around the room to make sure students are
dressing their dolls correctly.
After all groups have dressed their dolls, the students will
hold up their dolls for the other groups to see. Then, the
teacher will call on a group and have them explain why they
dressed their doll the way they did. The students must be
able to reason or explain that people must adapt to their
environment.
Briefly review adapting. If our doll is dressed to live in the
cold, what other things might we do to adapt to the colder
climate. (Example: have a woodstove in our house for heat,
make sure we keep food on hand for when we get snowed in,
etc.)
Finally, the students will choose which climate they would
most like to live in. The will then create a poster, much like a
travel brochure, advertising their climate for their location.
Where its located, why you should move there. What
benefits this weather has to your daily life, etc.

Closure:
Students will then post their posters around the room and
vote on which climate they would most like to live in,
EXCLUDING the one theyre advertising for.