Blended Learning Lesson Plan

Lesson Title:

KINDERGARTEN EARTH SCIENCE: EXPLORING WEATHER PATTERNS

Objectives:

Students will be able to analyze and interpret local weather condition data (including precipitation,

wind, temperature, and cloud cover) to describe weather patterns that occur from day to day, using simple

graphs and pictorial weather symbols.

Students will be able to demonstrate and communicate information to support claims about how

changes in seasons affect plants and animals.

Students will be able to interpret the ways in which humans and animals are affected by weather

patterns.

State Standards:

Standard K.E.3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of daily and seasonal weather

patterns.

K.E.3A. Conceptual Understanding: Weather is a combination of sunlight, wind, snow or rain,

and temperature in a particular region at a particular time. Scientists measure weather conditions
to describe and record the weather and to notice patterns over time. Plants and animals (including

humans) respond to different weather conditions in different ways.

Context: This lesson is for Kindergartners to be able to distinguish the difference between

weather patterns as well as the factors and impacts weather comes with. I am teaching this lesson

because I believe that this lesson is extremely important for Kindergartners, so that they can

develop the mindset of knowing the differences between certain weather patterns and the impacts

it has on plants, humans, and animals in the world that they’re living in. The students will

demonstrate an understanding of seasonal weather patterns and how they affect the environment

in which we live in. The understanding of organisms found in the environment and how these

organisms depend on the environment to meet those needs comes before this lesson in a larger

unit. The previous knowledge that students will be bringing into the lesson is that the

environment consists of many types of organisms including plants, animals, and fungi, and how

organisms depend on the land, water, and air to live and grow. I’m teaching basic earth science

strategies and lessons to prepare students for the next lesson topic to better understand what

information they’re learning.

Data: The students will be divided into three groups, consisting of a low, middle, and high

group depending on how well the students learn earth science material. The choosing of the

groups will be based on how well the students did on their last earth science exit slip from the

previous lesson that was based on the information revolving around organisms and the

environment that they lived in, and how well the Kindergartners understood the material. On the

exit slip there was a blank piece of paper that consisted of a question asking the students to draw
two examples of a living and non-living to test their understanding of the lesson. The purpose of

these drawings was to serve as “pretest” questions so I can see what my students knew and what

they are struggling with in earth science. The exit slip data will be interpreted to create the three

groups. At the end of this lesson, the students will complete another exit slip of drawing

examples of the weather patterns that they’ve learned. I will gather data from this assignment for

future groupings by looking at how well the students understand the concept of weather patterns

and if their drawings correctly correspond to the questions being asked. This will be helpful to

the students because they can learn from their mistakes or understandings of the lesson and

figure out the answers and questions once the exit slips are passed back for any questions that

they might have.

Materials:

Part of Lesson Material Used

Introductions SmartTech, Cards with Weather

patterns on them

Link https://suite.smarttech-prod.com/share/d173ba8e-f739-48d3-afc1-9f328f6011dc

Teacher Directed Chromebooks (YouTube) Paper

and colored pencils

Link https://youtu.be/N3ySpHlNTh8
Collaborative iPad (App) Video

Link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.justinweather.kidweather

Independent Digital iPad (Song) Worksheet and pencil

Link https://youtu.be/6MGRkUlFZws

Closure Smart Board iPad (Kahoot)

Link https://kahoot.it/

Procedures:

Introduction (20 minutes): I will start the lesson off by asking the Kindergartners what

their favorite type of weather pattern they enjoy the most whether it’s the sun, rain, snow, fog,

etc. Once the students reply, I will ask them why that specific weather is their favorite and how it

affects them. I will begin to review what I taught in the previous lesson, especially on living and

non-living things, plants, humans, and animals in the environment since the weather patterns

affect all of them. Then I will use the SmartTech Lesson, linked in the materials, to give a brief

presentation about the weather patterns lesson and material that we will be going over. After this

I will explain each station to the students and get the three groups situated together. I will group

students probably 5 to 6 at each station depending on who’s absent or in class. I will give all the
groups a random weather pattern, this weather pattern will tell the groups where to start first. The

groups that receive the sun will go to teacher instruction, groups who receive the rain will do

collaborative work, and groups with the snow will work in the independent workstation. In

addition to telling them where to go, I will give brief explanations and demonstrations on how to

use each of the tools.

Teacher Directed (15 minutes): In this portion of the lesson, I will start by talking about what we

already know about weather patterns. I will ask the students to draw a picture of their favorite

weather pattern and their least favorite weather pattern. They would use their picture to see if

they drew everything correctly and fix or add onto their drawings as they watch the video. After

the students share what they know and their pictures as well, we will begin to watch the

YouTube video “Simple Drawing for Kindergarten Step by Step”. This video shows the specific

weather patterns that happen around the world and how to draw them. I will then ask students

about what different weather patterns they learned from the video, and if they learned any new

ones. I will also ask them what the different weather patterns do to our environment and the

living things in our environments well. I will then explain to them what the weather patterns

specifically do in the environment and how they affect plants, animals, and humans.

Collaborative (15 minutes): In the section the group of students will create multiple outfits on

their characters depending on their characters daily weather patterns on their iPads while using

The Kid Weather app. The Kid Weather app consists of weather patterns going from sunny,
rainy, snowy, or even foggy with temperatures being cold or hot and even more for the students

to choose from. At this station the group of students will compare and contrast their outfits on the

seasonal weather patterns for what they’d personally choose to wear on those days. They will be

allowed to choose any weather pattern that they would like. At the end of the lesson, the group

will be asked to tell the class, using their Kid Weather app, what they would personally wear on

these specific weather pattern days.

Independent Digital (15 minutes): At this station, students will work independently on

their iPads. The students will listen to a song about weather patterns called “How’s The

Weather?”, and after listening to the song the students will write about the differences between

the weather patterns in their journals. They should use the song to help them with this, so this

means they can watch the video again if they need to. The students will then complete a

worksheet to show that they can pick out the key details between certain weather patterns like if

they happen when it’s cold or hot outside. This worksheet is located on the students’ personal

desks. This worksheet will help them distinguish the certain characteristics among the weather

patterns. The students will then use their journals again and write why certain weather patterns

happen and how the effect living things in the environment. They can even draw a picture to

explain this if they want to. This station is going to show me if the students can do it by

themselves because in other stations they aren’t working independently, so I will look at their

worksheets to see what they understand and what they do not understand for future help and

assessment.
 Closure (20 minutes): At the end of the lesson the whole class will play a Kahoot game

about the specific weather patterns they’ve learned about. The top three students with the highest

scores will receive any prize that they want out of the prize back. They will use their iPads to

join and play Kahoot when I send them the class code to join. Kahoot will be played at the very

end of the lesson that way I can see which of the students understood the concept of weather

patterns and which students still need help. After playing Kahoot, I will ask the Kindergartners if

they have any questions about weather patterns and if they’ve learned anything from this lesson

that they enjoyed.

Rationale:

SmartTech Lesson:

This lesson tool is interactive and provides the students with a simple understanding of the lesson

plan centering around weather patterns, or how weather patterns effect plants, humans, and

animals in the environment. The smarttech lesson provides a brief explanation about everything

revolving around weather pattern changes and the effects it has on the environment. There are

models to predict seasonal weather patterns and changes. A slide about how changes in the

seasons affect both plants and animals. As well as symbols incorporating how to know and learn

the differences between weather patterns, as well as the cause and effects associated with

weather patterns. A short video about weather patterns is also included to help students learn the

material. There is also a game where students come up and play memory match with the specific

weather pattern symbols and pictures. I would make a few changes to the appearance of the

presentation by adding a better background to keep the students more engaged. The tool can be

reused due to its information usage that is easy to manage which provides the teacher with
instant feedback on whether the students understand the material being presented to them on

seasonal weather patterns. This multimedia differentiates instruction for students who learn best

through physically having hands on activities, watching videos, and playing learning games. The

Smartboard providing SmartTech provides a more easily viewable enlarged screen for students

who struggle to see or have vision problems or concentration problems for the lesson material

being presented to them.

“Simple Drawing for Kindergarten Step by Step”:

This YouTube video is a drawing video that teaches students how to draw different weather

patterns with upbeat music in the background to draw in their attention. The video teaches the

students specifically how to draw the sun, clouds, rain, lightning, wind, rainbow, etc. You can

tell that the video knows how to capture early childhood students with the creative drawings and

soundtrack. The video is high-tech quality and shows clear content in the video on how to draw

out and distinguish the difference between weather pattern symbols. Early childhood education

students enjoy watching educational for a fun way of learning new material. This multimedia

helps all learners because the drawing steps in the video can be paused so that the students can

go at their own pace and follow along step by step while drawing the weather patterns on their

paper.

Kid Weather App:

This app is useful to the students because it allows them to creatively pick out the outfits that

they would wear for different weather forecasts and helps them build a sense of independence

and ideas for dressing themselves by depicting their own ideas and thoughts on which outfits

work best for them. This app can be used for multiple teaching lessons within the classroom and
is free on all Apple products. Students will be using the app to discuss in their groups what

outfits they’d personally wear for different weather scenarios depending on the temperature,

season, and specific weather pattern being shown to them. The students are using the app hands

on, and this tool allows them to creatively express how they’d personally dress and gives them

an understanding of reality for how to dress during certain weather patterns throughout the year.

This app is extremely easy to manage and was created for children six years and older, which

allows them to be more familiar with weather patterns and how to properly dress. This app could

be helpful for students who work better while using technology sources by typing or touch

screen rather than writing with a utensil because of difficulty with motor skills.

“How’s The Weather?” Video:

This video is a sing along song that has the verses “how’s the weather?” repeated asked

throughout the video giving different weather patterns throughout the video. The song video

teaches students what the weather patterns looks like and how it effects living things in the

environment. The video is completely free, with high-tech quality pictures, cartoon video

footage, and upbeat music for young students to be engaged in. The closed captions are

highlighted throughout the singing video, and this specifically could be used for hearing-

impaired students, or just students who understand material better by reading the information to

themselves.

Kahoot Game:

Kahoot is an excellent game used as a quizzing tool for all grades that keeps the students

engaged and on task. While using Kahoot the teacher can see the students’ names as well who

answers what questions right or wrong. I will personally create a Kahoot game myself so that I
know it has questions based off weather patterns, symbols, and how it affects plants, humans,

and animals that are customized by me. This game will act as a quiz and review to see if the

Kindergartners understood the lesson plan revolving around weather patterns. It will help me to

distinguish which students understand the lesson material and who’s still personally struggling.

Kahoot is an extremely competitive game that helps motivate students to get the questions right

and to get a chance to be on the leader board to win prizes out of the prize box.