Sheila Brune Language Arts Lesson Plan, Thematic Unit, Activity, Worksheet, or Reading or Writing Teaching Idea

A SPECIAL INVITATION FOR TEACHERS...

LessonPlansPage.com would like to take a moment to let you know about Concordia University's new Master’s Degrees in Education that you can complete online in just one year!

Available Master's Degrees in Education include:

Curriculum & Instruction: Reading
Curriculum & Instruction: Methods & Curriculum
Curriculum & Instruction: English to Speakers
of Other Languages
Educational Leadership

These programs can help you:

Open the door to a variety of school leadership career opportunities like higher education teaching, department chair, ELL consultant, literacy coach, or curriculum coordinator
Complete your degree in one year, on your schedule,
from the comfort of your home
A Master's Degree could mean an automatic salary increase in your school district!

A national university system with 10 campuses throughout the United States, Concordia was founded more than 100 years ago and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

Today the students were going to do an experiment to see what happens when rocks are heated and then cooled. Therefore, the question of the day that was written on the overhead was, What happens when rocks get hot and then suddenly cold? Now Laura had explained to the class last time that this was the fourth graders favorite experiment last year so they were all looking forward to doing this experiment.

For this experiment, Laura really got the students excited about the experiment by telling them a few days before class that they were going to be frying marbles in class. Laura created a sense of mystery about the experiment because the students did not really know what they were going to be doing. However, Laura did explain to her students how important this experiment was. She told them that it would be fun for everyone but if someone was acting up they would not be able to participate in the experiment. The children were aware of the fact that they were going to be working with fire and that alone gave them a sense of excitement. I think another important concept that kept the students enthusiastic was the fact that they knew they were going to be actually performing the experiment. Laura could have merely made this experiment into a display but she knew that it would not have been as effective. The children were aware of the sense of danger and knew that they would have to be cautious when performing the experiment.

Another motivational strategy that Laura uses is the question of the day. She writes it on the overhead, and then before anything else is discussed, the students get to jot down their ideas about the subject at hand. After they have recorded their ideas, they get to share them aloud as an entire class. This not only allows them to think critically about the topic but also gets them involved in what they are going to be experimenting with. Many times their answers are not pertaining to the topic at hand but Laura records them anyway so the students can look back at their ideas after they have completed the experiment. I think this is a vital part of any lesson because children need many opportunities to discuss and write their ideas and not just merely record their answers. Laura called on one little girl for her ideas and she could not think of an answer. Therefore, Laura told her that she was a scientist and they make guesses and then test their guesses later so it is all right if her answer was not correct.

Some of the students educated guesses were: The rock would shrink, melt, change color, smoke, creak, explode, etc. Laura wrote these on the overhead and then introduced the materials that were going to be used. When she showed the students the sterno she explained how the students were suppose to handle it. We were going to light the sterno for them, but they were to extinguish their fire. Instead of telling them how they were going to do this, the students brainstormed ideas and discovered that they could extinguish the fire by holding the lid with a clothespin. Another precaution that Laura talked about was that the can of sterno would be hot, therefore the students could not touch the can. She also asked them what they could do to protect themselves from the fire. One student suggested that everyone raise their sleeves because he knew someone who's sleeve had caught on fire before. The students were also instructed that they were to wear their goggles at all times and they discussed several reasons why this is true.

Once all the precautions were discussed, the materials were listed and then gathered by the appropriate students.

Materials: 1can of sterno per group, matches, aluminum cup, marbles (1 per student), cup of ice, Bunsen burner (homemade of wood and metal), goggles,

Laura explained that the sterno was made of alcohol and wax which made it possible to burn. The students had trouble seeing that the sterno was actually lit so Laura turned out the light and let them view the flame.

Laura explained to the students that if they could not work well together as a group they would miss out on the activity. Laura passed out the job cards and the students were assigned jobs accordingly. The principal investigator was the leader of the group. This meant that if the group had any questions, they had to consult the PI. The material manager got the cups, clothes pin, and the Bunsen burner. The maintenance director was in charge of getting enough goggles for all the members of the group and the recorder got one marble for each member in the group. We handled the sterno because Laura did not want anyone playing with it. I think that assigning jobs is a great way to pass out and retrieve materials. Even though there is only one material manager, Laura told me that one student can not be responsible for gathering all of the material so she makes sure that each child gets to participate.

The students were excited that they were getting to burn a marble for five minutes but they contained this excitement well and watched the marble as it cooked. Some students wanted to see the marbles close up but Laura had already foreseen this problem and told the students that they were to keep one leg on their chair. There was no arguing over who got to do what because each child had been assigned a job.

Once the marbles got finished burning, the principal investigator dumped the marbles into the water using the clothespin. Then everyone was given an opportunity to look at the marbles because the cup of ice was passed on to every student. Some students were excited to see that the marbles had formed many cracks. Each student recorded what they saw and then there was a group discussion. The materials were then put away in the same fashion that they were passed out.

I think this is a great activity to show how temperature can cause weathering of rocks and other material. Laura included examples such as the heating up of a concrete patio and then a sudden cooling by a downpour. At the end of the lesson, the students knew that when rocks were heated and then cooled they cracked.

LessonPlansPage.com would like to take a moment to let you know about Concordia University's new Master’s Degrees in Education that you can complete online in just one year!

Find Out More!