Kelly Baucom

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LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
JMU Elementary Education Program

Kelly Baucom
Ashley Clifton, Wilson Elementary School
March 17th, 2016: 2:00-2:25 p.m.
March 10th, 2016

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON
Exploring Tornadoes/Science Lesson Plan (Unit: Types of Weather)
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON AND UNWRAPPING OF THE STANDARD
This lesson will be taught in the middle of a unit focusing on types of weather. This particular
unit (and SOL) covers a variety of different topics including types of clouds, weather
instruments and measurement and types of storms. This particular lesson will focus on the
general topic, types of storms. More specifically, I will be discussing and modeling a
particular type of storm: the tornado. The students will have been quizzed throughout this
unit; however they will not have been quizzed on the different types of storms specifically.
This lesson will occur directly after the discussion of the different types of storms on the
previous day.
C. UNWRAPPING THE VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING and the NEXT
GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NATIONAL STANDARDS)
4.6 The student will investigate and understand how weather conditions and phenomena occur
and can be predicted. Key concepts include
a) weather phenomena;
b) weather measurements and meteorological tools; and
c) use of weather measurements and weather phenomena to make weather predictions.
Unwrapped Concept
(nouns)

Unwrapped Skill (verbs)

Taxonomy Level
(Blooms, SOLO, DOK)

Types of weather

Differentiate

Levels II, IV

High and low pressure air

masses
Warm and cold fronts

Differentiate
Illustrate
Label

Levels I, II, III, IV

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Different types of
precipitation
(rain, snow, sleet, hail)

Compare and contrast

Level IV

Cloud types
(cirrus, stratus, cumulus,
cumulo-nimbus)

Differentiate

Levels II, IV

Storm types (+ weather

conditions)
(thunderstorms, hurricanes,
tornadoes)

Recognize
Describe

Level II

Temperature and
precipitation on weather
maps

Analyze
Report

Levels IV, VI

Changes in air pressure over

time (barometer)
Changing weather patterns

Analyze
Predict

Levels IV, V

Investigation: use a
thermometer to compare air
temperatures over time

Design
(Compare)

Levels IV, VI

Investigation: weather data

is gathered using
meteorological tools, charted
to make predictions

Design
(Chart/Graph, Predict)

Levels V, VI

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Wind speed
Anemometer

Measure

Levels III, VI

Precipitation
Rain Gauge

Measure

Levels III, VI

D. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand
Know

Do

-the students will understand why

storms occur and what effects
storms have on the environment
(tornadoes, hurricanes,
thunderstorms)

-the students will make their own

tornado and understand why this
modeled version of a tornado
represents the tornadoes that occur
in the natural world

-the students will know how a

tornado occurs and what happens
to the environment when a tornado
occurs

E. ASSESSING LEARNING
What will your students do and say, specifically, that indicate every student has achieved your
objectives? Remember every objective must be assessed for every student!
I will be assessing the students based on their ability to complete this activity and follow
directions. This will include a checklist of the steps that the students will have to go through
in order to successfully complete the activity (I will attach this checklist at the end of this
lesson plan). The students will also answer a series of short questions after constructing the
tornado in a bottle that prove their understanding of the assignment and prove that they have
grasp the concepts that are being modeled through this activity (I will attach this worksheet at
the end of this lesson plan).
Objective
The student will be able to
understand the introductory
PowerPoint and the content that is
presented within it.
The students will complete the
tornado in a bottle activity based
on the directions that are presented
to them prior to completing the
activity.

Assessment
Supplementary worksheet that
directly follows the information
presented in the PowerPoint
Directions checklist

Data Collected
I will study the answers that the
students provide on both the
information recall and reflection
portions of the worksheet.
I will assess the students based on
their ability to adhere to the
direction checklist, because this
activity involves a step-by-step
process, I will expect the students
to follow the directions in a
precise manner.

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F. MATERIALS NEEDED
List all materials that will be needed to teach this lesson.
Who will be responsible for securing each item?
Material
-water
-glitter (silver)
-plastic 2-liter bottles
-dishwashing detergent
-food coloring (blue, green)
-duct tape (blue, green)
-directions checklist
-worksheet

Amount
-enough to fill the plastic bottle three quarters
of the way full
-1 tsp per bottle
-22 (two bottles per group of two students)
-4 drops per bottle
-4 drops per bottle
-enough to tape the two bottles together
vertically
-23 copies
-23 copies

G. MISCONCEPTIONS or ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS

Anticipate how your students will respond to the tasks and activities of the lesson. Identify
the possible misconceptions or alternative conceptions about the lesson content. Where do
you think students will have difficulty? What questions will you pose or changes will you
make to help nurture student thinking and understanding of the content?
Because this activity will serve as somewhat of a review for the students, I believe that
they will do very well with the first portion of this lesson which will include an introductory
PowerPoint (I will attach this PowerPoint at the end of this lesson). The students will have
already learned about all of the different types of storms and my cooperating teacher asked me
to choose one of the types of storms and make it the focus of the lesson. For this reason, I
chose to focus on tornadoes so that I could involve the tornado in a bottle activity that very
closely adheres to my SMART Goal criteria. I think that the portion of the lesson involving
the tornado in a bottle activity will be the biggest challenge because there are so many
components involved in order to make the lesson successful. One of the most important parts
of this lesson will be explaining how the tornado in a bottle that the students make mirrors the
type of tornado that could be seen in nature. It will be crucial for me to highlight the
similarities and differences between this tornado in a bottle and a tornado that could be seen
in nature. I think that students may have difficultly making comparisons between real
tornadoes and the model that they are making. If this happens, I will be prepared to assist the
students in addressing these similarities and differences. I think that the students will be very
successful in completing the supplementary worksheet that will be passed out after the
tornado in a bottle activity has been finished, especially since the students will be able to work
with partners when completing this worksheet. There are a variety of questions that I will be
asking the students throughout the lesson in order to nurture the thinking of my students and
understanding of the content. The questions I am planning to ask throughout the lesson are as
follows:

What are the different types of storms that you have learned about so far?

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What is a tornado?
What do you know about tornadoes?
How is this tornado similar to real tornado?
How is this tornado different than a real tornado?
What did you learn from this activity?

H. PROCEDURE
-Introduce the lesson: types of storms
-Start PowerPoint: Types of Storms
-Briefly review the types of storms (tornadoes, hurricanes, thunder storms), ask questions that
prompt the students to express their current knowledge about the different types of storms
-Begin focusing on tornadoes; explain the tornado in a bottle activity
-Choose partner groups
-Pass out the materials that the students will be working with: plastic bottles (the rest of the
materials will be set up on the round table across from Ms. Cliftons desk: water, glitter, food
coloring, detergent)
-The partner groups will approach the round tables individually and prepare their tornado in a
bottle (the groups will be given their materials and then be asked to return to their desks)
-Ms. Clifton and I will come around to the groups and assist them in duct taping their two plastic
bottles together
-Each partner group will be given paper towels that they can use to clean up their workstation
-After all of the tornadoes have been assembled and modeled, I will ask the students a series of
questions that will prompt them to compare the tornadoes that they have just made at tornadoes
that occur in the natural world
-The students will then receive an outline (guided notes) reviewing tornadoes and the factual
information associated with this particular type of storm
-The students will receive a half sheet including the directions necessary to complete this activity
and the materials needed to complete this activity encouraging the students to recreate it with
their parents/families at home
I. DIFFERENTIATION
Describe how you have planned to meet the needs of all students in your classroom with
varied interest and learning readiness, English language proficiency, health, physical ability,
etc. How will you extend and enrich the learning of students who finish early? How will you
support the learning of children struggling with your objectives?
I have had the privilege of working with a class that has a wide variety of readiness levels in
addition to a wide variety of disabilities and special accommodations. I will use this matrix to
illustrate my plan for differentiation in each of these areas.

Interest

Content

Process

ELL Student:
Content will be modified
based on interest by involving
pictures and videos throughout
the lesson so that the ELL

ELL Students:
Process will be modified
based on interest by allowing
this student to be paired with
other students that have a

Product
For each of these groups
of students, the product
will be modified based on
interest by including an
analysis of their process
method. The product,

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student in the class can follow
along with the content without
feeling a significant amount of
confusion or exclusion.
Learning Disabled Students
(ADD, ADHD):
Content will be modified
based on interest by including
a fast paced learning
environment. This does not
mean that I will speed up the
presentation of the content,
however, I will make certain
that this lesson involves many
different components that will
keep these students interested
and engaged throughout the
entire lesson. In addition, the
content itself will be engaging
in order to hold the attention of
these students.
Severely Learning Disabled
Student:
Content will be modified
based on interest by including
ample opportunities for these
students to ask questions and
be involved in the class
discussion. During the class
discussion that will occur
throughout the introduction
and closing of the lesson, I
will call on these students and
encourage them to share their
ideas whether or not they are
raising their hands to answer
questions. That being said, I
will not in any way make these
students uncomfortable during
the class discussion. Instead, I
will prompt them to expand
their realm of thought and
participate in the conversation
to the best of their abilities.
Gifted Students:
Content will be modified
based on interest by prompting
these students to answer
challenging questions

thorough grasp of the

outlined process and will be
able to help this student
when he does not understand
what he is supposed to be
doing and what his role is as
a student.
Learning Disabled
Students (ADD, ADHD):
Process will be modified
based on interest by
providing several different
portions of this activity that
include different instruction
styles. This will allow these
students to be engaged
throughout the entire lesson
due to the fact that they will
not lose focus during any
part of this fasts-paced
lesson. This lesson will
already be taught in a very
short period of time (25
minutes), so the three
components involved with
this lesson will be more than
adequate in terms of holding
the attention of these
students.
Severely Learning
Disabled Students:
Process will be modified
based on interest by proving
these students with engaging
activity that does not involve
a significant level of
difficulty. Although this
tornado in a bottle activity
will administer to the interest
of all students, I believe that
it will be particularly
exciting for these students in
particular because it involves
hands on manipulation of
materials and resources.
Gifted Students:
Process will be modified
based on interest by giving
these students an opportunity

which in this case will be

the tornado in a bottle,
will be examined based
on the level of effort that
these students put into the
execution of this activity
based on the group that
they belong to. With that
being said, I will not
expect for a certain
groups product to be
better than anothers.
Instead I will look for the
ways in which the
modifications that were
applied for that particular
group were translated and
whether or not they were
successful examples of
differentiation.
ELL Students:
Product will be
modified based on
interest by giving these
students an opportunity
to complete a fun and
engaging activity that
provides a physical
representation of the
content that we will be
discussing. In doing so,
these students will be
able to take away more
from the activity than
if each part of the
activity only involved
lecture and text
components.
Learning Disabled
Students (ADD,
ADHD):
Product will be
modified based on
interest by providing
an opportunity for
these students to use
kinesthetic and hands
on skills during this
activity. I believe that

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throughout the lesson. This
will ensure that these students
are applying their upper level
thought process to the activity
that we will be completing.

to sue their creative skills

when making the tornado in
a bottle; I will have different
colors of duct tape and food
coloring that these students
can use. In addition, I will
ask these students to
compare and contrast the
differences between these
tornado models and real-life
tornadoes.

these students will be

more engaged because
I am giving them an
opportunity to increase
their level of
understanding about
the content with a
hands-on activity.
Severely Learning
Disabled Students:
Product will be
modified based on
interest by encouraging
these students to
increase their use of
interpersonal skills
during this activity.
The student that I will
be working with that
has a severe learning
disability is pulled out
of class for
approximately 90% of
each school day, I want
to give her the
opportunity to make
connections with other
students in the class
during this activity
since I know that this is
something that she
thoroughly enjoys and
does not get to do as
often as her peers.
Gifted Students:
Process will be
modified based on
interest by giving these
students the
opportunity to prove to
me that they have a
more developed level
of understanding than
the rest of the class. I
will ask these students
to reflect upon the
work that they produce
and analyze their
reflections in addition

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Readiness

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ELL Students:
Content will be modified
based on readiness by
delivering the information to
this student in ways that do not
involve text. For example, this
student will be able to look at
pictures and videos in order to
absorb the content that I will
be reviewing along with the
text that will be presented
simultaneously.
Learning Disabled Students
(ADD, ADHD):
Content will be modified
based on readiness by giving
these students the opportunity
to ask questions and ask for
assistance when completing
this activity. These students
will struggle the most with
paying attention during the
lecture-heavy portions of the
lessons including the portion
of the lesson during which I
will be explaining the
instructions for the tornado in
a bottle activity. In order to
compensate for this possibility,
I will have the directions of the
activity written on the
whiteboard so that these
students can follow along and
be successful in completing
this activity.
Severely Learning Disabled
Students:
Content will be modified
based on readiness by offering
significant peer and instructor
assistance to these students. I
will be sure that these students
understand each portion of the
activity and are aware of what
is happening during the
beginning, middle and end of

ELL Students:
Process will be modified
based on readiness by
providing these students
with partners that will
understand the process of
the activity and the
supplementary assessment
activity. This will allow
these students to feel
included in the lesson and
ready to perform to the best
of their abilities due to the
fact that they will
thoroughly understand what
is happening during each
portion of the lesson.
Learning Disabled
Students (ADD, ADHD):
Process will be modified
based on readiness by
providing these students
with opportunities to
consistently switch gears
throughout the lesson. This
will encourage these
students to stay engaged
throughout the lesson so that
they do no lose focus and
have a decreased level of
understanding as a result.
This fast-paced environment
will provide these students
with the tools they need to
succeed throughout his
lesson.
Severely Learning
Disabled Students:
Process will be modified
based on readiness in a
similar way to the way that
it will be modified for the
ELL students. Each student
with a severe learning
disability will be partnered
with a student that has a firm

to my analysis of their
assessments as
individual students.
ELL Students:
Product will be
modified based on
readiness by allowing
this student to answer
the reflection questions
with words, pictures
and other methods of
response. I will offer
this student the
opportunity to use any
skills that he has to
complete the
supplementary
worksheet. In addition,
this student will be
paired with a student
that fully understands
the process of this
activity and will be
able to assist this
student in achieving
the product criteria.
Learning Disabled
Students (ADD,
ADHD):
Product will be
modified based on
readiness by allowing
these students to
answer the reflection
questions with bullet
points that represent
complete thoughts
instead of sentences or
paragraphs. This will
help these students
organize their thoughts
and avoid repetition or
confusion.
Severely Learning
Disabled Students:
Product will be
modified based on
readiness by pairing
these students that are

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the activity. Before beginning
the lesson, I will explain what
the class will be doing during
each portion of the lesson and
outline the tasks of the class.
This will help these students
feel more at ease when moving
through the lesson and provide
a structure for them to adhere
to throughout.
Gifted Students:
Content will be modified
based on readiness by giving
these students a less strict
outline for their tasks
throughout the lesson. This
does not mean that these
students will not have to meet
the same expectations as the
other students; however, it will
provide these students with an
opportunity to be creative and
imaginative throughout the
lesson. I believe that the
tornado in a bottle activity is
suited for all levels of
readiness because it will help
students better understand and
visualize this particular type of
storm. I will also prompt these
students to assist other
students that might be
struggling throughout this
lesson. By using their skills to
teach this information to their
peers, these students will be
able to share their personal
understanding of the content,
which will then allow them to
attain a better grasp of the
content.

grasp on the content as well

as the expectations for this
particular activity. Even
though these students will
have partners with a
relatively high level of
readiness, I will be sure that
these students are equally as
involved throughout the
lesson and that their partners
are giving them the
opportunity to participate
and be successful when
doing so.
Gifted Students:
Process will be modified
based on readiness by
allowing these students to be
creative during the lesson
while still adhering to the
same criteria as the rest of
the class. My goal is to
challenge these students
throughout this lesson in
order to broaden their
current level of
understanding. In order to do
so, I will frequently ask
these students to explain
their process of thought
throughout the activity and
respond in a way that
encourages them to expand
their current method of
execution.

at a high level of
readiness for this
tornado in a bottle
activity and
supplementary
worksheet. This will
help these students stay
on task and will allow
them to create their
own relevant
conclusions based on
the conclusions made
by their peers. I will
make sure that these
students are not simply
copying the work of
their partners and
actually coming up
with their own original
thoughts and
conjectures.
Gifted Students:
Product will be
modified based on
readiness by prompting
these students to reflect
on this activity and the
lesson as a whole in a
sophisticated and
scientific manner. I
will challenge these
students to make
relevant and
meaningful
connections to other
lessons, activities and
areas of content that
they have explored in
their science class and
otherwise.

J. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO
ABOUT IT?
Potential Problem
-the students will get off task during the
completion of this activity

Solution
-use the class class whole brain teaching
strategy to get the students attention and be
sure that they are on task and completing the

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-one partner will try to overshadow the other
by completing the entire activity themselves
-the students will make a mess while
completing this activity and leave the
classroom in disarray

activity as a group
-inform the students that they must take turns
completing the steps during th6e activity or
they will not be able to complete it at all
-be sure that the students are being careful
with the materials that they are provided with
and organize the materials necessary to
complete this activity before the beginning of
the lesson
(if a mess is made, make sure it is fully
cleaned and that the room is left in the
condition that it was in prior to the start of the
lesson)