LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

The following information should be included in the header of the lesson plan:
Maci Dyer
Maddie Holt
Wenonah Elementary School
Monday April 14, 2014
Monday April 21, 2014 @ 10:30

A. Finding Energy: Renewable & Nonrenewable Resources

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON AND UNWRAPPING OF THE STANDARD
By observing the students throughout their simple machines unit I saw that they were low
readiness learners, but when interested they are invested in learning. When my cooperating
teacher introduced simple machines she used machines that were not relevant to the students,
but as a follow up activity she used relevant simple machines. The students were engaged in
the follow up activity. Allowing the students to learn the simple machines successfully, based
on the simple machines test that I graded.
I had a conversation with different levels of readiness learners about energy. What do you
know about energy? I can run fast when I have a lot of energy! This stood out to me,
because the student was able to see how it is used. When asked where it came from the
student had no clue.
Students use so many energy resources in their day-to-day lives; it is time for them to
understand where it comes from. Every time they turn the switch the lights go on or off it uses
energy; yet the students dont know why. The students just finished learning about simple
machines and what a better time than now to introduce energy: the renewable and
nonrenewable resources all around us. We use simple machines to build tools to obtain our
resources for the energy we use. This is appropriate for the students to start making
connections in their day-to-day lives as they are developing from pre-operational stage to
concrete.
C. UNWRAPPING THE VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING and the NEXT
GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NATIONAL STANDARDS)
VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING: SOL 3.11
Strand: Earth Resources
The student will investigate and understand different sources of energy. Key concepts include
a) Energy from the sun;
b) Sources of renewable energy; and

c) Sources of nonrenewable energy.

NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NATIONAL STANDARDS)
3-

LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

3-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics: Engaging in argument from evidence
in 35 builds on K2 experiences and progresses to critiquing the scientific explanations or
solutions proposed by peers by citing relevant evidence about the natural and designed
world(s).
Construct an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model. (3-LS2-1)
Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. (3-LS2Articulation of DCIs across grade-levels: 1.LS1.B (3-LS2-1); MS.LS2.A (3-LS2-1);
MS.LS2.D (3-LS2-1)
Common Core State Standards Connections:
ELA/Literacy
RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to
the text as the basis for the answers. (3-LS2-1)
RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or
concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time,
sequence, and cause/effect. (3-LS2-1)

D. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand what are the broad
Know what are the facts, rules,
generalizations the students should specific data the students will gain
begin to develop? (These are
through this lesson? (These
typically difficult to assess in one
knows must be assessed in your
lesson.)
lesson.)
Students will understand what
The students will start to identify
renewable and non-renewable
objects that are renewable and
energy resources are.
non-renewable.
The students will be classifying
and communicating their
classification of the nonrenewable and renewable objects.
The students will be identifying,
describing, analyzing, and
explaining renewable and nonrenewable energy through this
activity.

Do what are the specific

thinking behaviors students will be
able to do through this lesson?
(These will also be assessed in
your lesson.)
The students will be able to do:
Identify (1)
Describe (2)
Explain (2)
Compare & Contrast (2,3,4)
Analyze (4)
Design a basic investigation (6)

E. ASSESSING LEARNING
Objective
The students will start to identify
objects that are renewable and

Assessment
Data Collected
The students will be creating a
Collecting flipbooks to assess,
flipbook with two flips. One of the then handing them back.

non-renewable.
energy is.

The students will be classifying

and communicating their
classification of the nonrenewable and renewable objects.

The students will be identifying,

describing, analyzing, and
explaining renewable and nonrenewable energy through this
activity.

flips will be non-renewable and

the other will be renewable. They
will be looking for the resources in
Easter eggs and they will be able
to identify the objects as nonrenewable and renewable. They
will then draw and label pictures
of each one they identify.
As the students participate in the
egg hunt they will find all of the
resources that I hide and they will
work in their groups to classify
what they found. Not only do they
have resources, but they have clue
cards that they have to match up
with the correct resource.
The students will have to identify
energy resources as nonrenewable and renewable. When
matching the clue cards up as a
group they will have to analyze,
explain, describe, and compare
and contrast in order to come up
with a common answer. Then they
will have to draw it in their
flipbooks to show that they know
different non-renewable and
renewable resource.

I will be able to here discussion as

they are working hands on.

I will be able to here discussion as

they are working hands on. I can
also see the ones who are
struggling based on their
flipbooks.

F. MATERIALS NEEDED
Flipbook (provided by: Maci)
o Paper (provided by: Maci)
Markers/ writing utensils (provided by: Maddie)
Eggs (provided by: Maci)
Nonrenewable and renewable visuals (provided by: Maci)
Who am I? Descriptions for visuals (provided by: Maci)

G. MISCONCEPTIONS or ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONSI think the students will respond to the activity very well. There are many possible misconceptions for
this topic. For example, Students may think that the resources are kinds of fuel that do the work
rather than assisting. Another question students may have is a source of force or activity stored in
objects; for example, water has energy in it so it can turn a water wheel. I need to make it clear that
we use these resources for fuel to assist other machinery, for example a windmill cant produce
energy without wind. Giving this as an example might help them understand what the resources do. I
will ask students to give me an example of a resource and how it is use. As they draw an example in
their flipbook I will be circling to see what they came up with. After doing so I will get a few students

to share and explain their thinking. Also I need to make it clear that it cant be stored like a battery
and that is why they are so valuable to us and that is why we need to conserve our resources.
H. PROCEDURE:
Preparation of the Environment: I will have to section the room off into five parts. I
will use the back room for one group and four corners for the other four groups. I will
hide eggs that have non-renewable and renewable resources, along with the clue cards
prior to the lesson.
Engage -Introduction of the Lesson: I will start off asking help from my electrician.
Where is my electrician at? The student will raise his or her hand. I will then ask
them to turn the light on and off. By doing this I will pose a question, what do you
think causes the light to come on and off. The students will respond with electricity.
I will then continue to ask the students, Where does the electricity come from? Most
of the students will have no idea. That is where I will introduce resources that are used
for the energy we need. All the energy we use comes from the earth. The electricity
we use every day doesnt come directly from the earth, but we make electricity using
the Earths resources, like coal or natural gas. For example JMU, the school I go to,
uses windmills and wind to generate electricity, which is a renewable resource. There
are many resources that we use in our day-to-day lives and we are going to go over a
two different types: Renewable and Non-renewable.
Implementation of the Lesson: I am going to start out reading to the students an
article that is short, but explains what renewable resources and fossil fuels are. Each
student will have a copy of the article to follow along with. Then I will turn it over to
the students. In the middle of your tables there are flip books for each one of you. On
the top tab write Renewable and on the bottom write non-renewable. After we go over
what renewable and non-renewable resources are we are going to do something fun.
Can anyone tell me what a renewable resource is? The students will find it in the
reading what a renewable resource is and highlight it. Renewable resources are
resources that can be replaced; as we use them they are continuing to renew. Can
anyone think of a resource that renews just as fast as we use it? The students would
respond with, Water. I will agree, but not tell them many of the others until we do
the activity. Then I would say, Find what a non-renewable resource is and highlight
it and someone share what they highlighted. A student will respond with, resources
that run out. That can be true, Non-renewable resources are resources that do not
renew themselves quickly enough to rely on them fully, it has taken many year
(millions) for the nonrenewable resources that we use today to even exist. Once you
have written this down in you flipbook, make sure your name is on it and put in the
middle of your table. Once your group is finished stand by your chair. Once they are
finished I will ask, How many of you went to an egg hunt this past weekend? Most
of the students will raise their hands, because Wenonah had a school wide Easter Egg
Hunt on Saturday. We are going to have another egg hunt today. Each group will be
in a different section of the room. Table one will be in the back room, table two corner
two, table three corner three, table four corner four, and table five corner 1. Before you
go to your corner remember you are working as a group, there are 12 eggs in each
section. Make sure you find them all once you have found them all go back to your
seats to open them. There will be directions waiting at your table when you are
finished hunting. The students will then go to their places and I will say, On your
mark, get ready, set GO! After the students finished hunting and are back at their
seats they will have to work as a group to match the energy resources up, they will

have to raise their hand and get me or the cooperating teacher to check their work
before they can write it in their notebooks.
Closure: Each group will finish up at different times; I will have them go to their flip
book and draw examples of each resource they have found as they were hunting. And
asks the students to give examples. This will allow me to see what they got out of the
lesson. Also I will be giving them homework. It is a tree diagram that they will have to
fill out; as well as answering three question: What are some things that waste energy?
What can you do to conserve energy? Why is it important to conserve energy?
Clean-Up: As the students are finishing I will go around and collect the eggs.
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?
If I were able to do this again I would have the lower readiness students to draw pictures but I
would have the words cut out and ready to paste by their picture. According to Tomlinsons
equalizer bar I would say I would use single facet to multiple facet and more structured to less
structured. The reason I say that is the lower readiness students need the single step, whereas
the higher readiness can do more steps. That is the same for the more structured vs. the less
structured. Lower readiness students in this class couldnt handle less structure.
Content
Process
Product
The process is
presented as a game,
which encourages
teamwork in order to
complete the task. In
the process of learning The students will be able to
The students love games. Therefore, what non-renewable
write their findings in their
I chose an egg hunt. Each student
and renewable energy notebooks. While drawing
Interest
will be engaged, because it is an
resources are. I gave
pictures of examples in their
activity that they like.
clues to match up with flipbooks.
each resource. My
If
students are always
looking for the correct
answer and the clues
will help them in the
right direction.
Since my students are low readiness Four of my students
Working in groups students
learners, I will be reading allowed
that are low readiness will have to read the clues
as they follow along. The students
learners will be
out loud, so everyone can
Readiness
will then be able to hear the
integrated with higher match the resources up.
message as they are following
readiness learners.
along.
They will be able to
Lower readiness students
If my higher readiness students
participate, because
will be able to write what I
finish early I have a worksheet that
there is minimal
project as a whole group,
they can fill in once they finish that reading, which allows then draw pictures of their
is split in two groups renewable
them to fully
examples.
energy resources and nonrenewable participate in the full

resources and asks what does it

mean? Examples, advantages, and
disadvantages of both types of
energy resources. This is another
thing they can input in their
interactive notebooks. At the bottom
of the page it asks what are fossil
fuels?

process.
If the lower readiness
learners are still
having difficult time I
will work with them. I
will have an extra set
of matching card and I
will read them aloud,
because their ability to
read is what is holding
them back.

J. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT
IT?
The students may not be able to match up the correct resources, if this is so I
will adjust and do a whole group discussion to figure them out.
The lower readiness students may take longer than the higher readiness
students; I will encourage the students to read the clues aloud, so they can
contribute to the conversations.

Lesson Implementation Reflection

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts
below to guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your
insights.
I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes
and explain why you made them.
My actual teaching of the lesson differed from the original plans slightly. We were able to go
through all of the sources and a few people were able to share how they use them at home. I was
able to extend my lesson and we talked about how renewable resources are better for the
environment and non-renewable resources are the main source of energy now. My teacher stepped
in and reiterated their vocabulary word conservation, so we spent a few minutes on how we could
conserve energy. Someone said turn the lights off when you leave the room; at Wenonah the lights
have a sensor, so if there is no movement in the room the lights will turn off automatically. It was a
good discussion that all students were able to participate and relate to. I ruled out giving them
homework, because we were able to spend time going over everything that was on the sheet. The
students were engaged and worked well, so I thought they had enough for the day.
II. Student Work Sample Analysis: Based on the assessment you created, what can you
conclude about your impact on student learning? Did they learn? Who learned? What did
they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are valid?
Based on the flipbooks I collected and the conversations that I heard for assessment I would say the
majority of students learned what renewable and non-renewable resources were. They were also able
to comparing and contrasting different resources, as well as renewable and non-renewable resources.
Students were able to make real life connections. I had one student that chose not to participate. Her
aid came in and neither her nor the cooperating teacher could get her to do anything, so I gave her my
flipbook with pictures in it. I purposely asked the students to draw pictures and label them with one
word, because there are a handful of students that have a hard time doing more than that in the time
frame given. All of the students who participated got a few confused, but after they worked as a class
they sorted them out. I can tell based on the placement of resources in the flipbooks.
Look at the assessment data and identify 2 students who appear to fall into these 3
categories: (1) Gets it; (2) Has some good ideas, but theres stillroom for learning and (3)
Does not get it. Organize your responses to the following questions in a chart/table form
similar to the one below.
Gets it
Student A
a.
Tay
Understands understands
energy
resources
and how
they are
renewable or
nonrenewable.

Has some good ideas, but

Does not get it

Student B

Student C

Student D

Student E

Student F

Michael
understood
what a fossil
fuel was
from the
article we
read in the
beginning.
He was able
to classify
all of the

Amy
understands
the material.
She
understands
the
resources
and was able
to match up
the clues.

Bryan
understood
that
renewable
resources
renew and
nonrenewable
resources
dont.

Bell
understands
the different
energy
sources. She
knows what
nonrenewable
and
renewable
resources are,
but lacks the

Erin
understands
nothing about
nonrenewable
and
renewable.
She knows
some
examples.

resources
and clues
correctly.
b. Confused
about

connection
between the
two
Confused on
fossil fuels
being nonrenewable.

Confused on
fossil fuels
being nonrenewable.

Connection
between the
resources and
if they are
renewable or
non
renewable.

The different
between nonrenewable
and
renewable
resources.

c. Questions to What are

ask to clarify
some energy
what I know
resources
that you
use? I use
electricity at
home and
solar on my
calculator.

Why do you
think coal is
nonrenewable?
Because
after we use
it, it is gone.
Why is solar
renewable?
It is sunny a
lot and we
can use that
energy from
the sun.

Well you
know some
examples of
energy
resources.
Can you
describe
them? She
will and
together we
could pick out
characteristics
that make
them
renewable of
nonrenewable.

Well you
know some
examples of
energy
resources.
Can you
describe
them? She
will and
together we
could pick out
characteristics
that make
them
renewable of
nonrenewable.

d. Ideas to
work on next

Further
explore the
resources
they use.
Work with
other
students to
help them.
Then move
on.

Talk with her

more
individually.
Going over
the material
together
might help
her focus on
the material.

Try to find
her
motivation.

Further
explore the
resources
they use.
Work with
other
students to
help them.
Then move
on.

III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a
better or more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
If I were to teach this lesson again I would group based on ability, so I could focus more on
assisting my lower readiness students. During the lesson I was going back and forth trying to help
my lower readiness student and it made it harder on me. Not only that in one of my groups the
two higher readiness students pushed the lower readiness student to the side even though he was
trying to help too. Once I spoke to the group he was able to contribute just as the higher readiness
students.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the
classroom teacher?
I would continue integrating energy resources in reading and writing for a few more days to make
sure that the students fully understand how important energy resources are. Once they have a full
understanding of energy I would slowly move into life processes. I would use what they learned
from soil and energy to go over the plant cycle.
V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about young children as learners?
Students are so much smarter than we give them credit for. When students are engaged they are
learning; learning is fun when it is presented based on their interests. Discipline issues tend to
fade away when they are busy participating.
VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about teaching?
Knowing your students and being fully prepared is key! I didnt know if my cooperating teacher
was going to cut my lesson short or if she was going to extend it like she did. Regardless I was
fully prepared, which left no time for the students to be doing something they shouldnt be doing.
VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about yourself?
I have reinforced how well I know my students, by the activities and the success of the lesson. I
planned this lesson based on discussions I had with my students, which also tells me that I am a
good listener. I tend to over think and in this case I did, which led me to over prepare for the
allotted time. It was a good thing being that my teacher didnt have anything prepared for writing,
so I was able to extend science and extra 30 minutes. I have learned that I need to differentiate
more for the one student who refused to do anything; I am not even sure how to go about it. But
overall I felt really good about my lesson and the thought that went into this process.