Matter with Moxie Unit
4th Grade Science
Rebecca Cadeau
Lesson #7
Common Core Standard:
o P.PM.E.5 Conductive and Reflective Properties - Objects vary to the extent they absorb
and reflect light energy and conduct heat and electricity.
o P.PM.04.53 Identify objects that are good conductors or poor conductors of heat and
electricity.
I Can Statement:
o I can identify good and poor conductors of heat and electricity. .
Materials:
o Conductors and Non-Conductors Experiment Materials
o Conductors Reading
o Powerpoint
Preparation:
o Cue up PowerPoint
o Make copies of reading and recording sheet
Prior Knowledge:
o Energy definition
o Electricity and Heat
New Vocabulary/Ideas:
o Conductors
o Insulators
Lesson Plan:
Focus Lesson
o Anticipatory Set: Review yesterday’s material about
electromagnets with students and preview today’s topics.
o Value/Purpose: to identify good and poor conductors of heat and
electricity.
o Today we are going to be learning about good and poor conductors
Productive
Group Work
& Guided
of electricity and heat. We will be completing an experiment to
test some different materials and see if they are good or poor
conductors of electricity.
o Use the PowerPoint to give definitions and examples of
conductors and insulators of heat and electricity. Try not to give
too many examples of conductors of electricity so that students
won’t know answers to the experiment just yet.
o After going through the PowerPoint and giving the definitions start
the experiment.
o Show the materials under the doc camera and have students
Matter with Moxie Unit
Instruction (can be
separate or
together)
4th Grade Science
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Independent
Learning
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Rebecca Cadeau
predict which materials they think will be good and poor
conductors of electricity.
Test each of the materials and have students record the results on
their recording sheet.
As you are going through the materials have students think about
why certain materials work and why other materials do not.
After testing all materials have students reflect on what we found
about conductors of electricity.
Have students read the “Conductors and Insulators” Reading in
pairs.
Once students have finished reading show students the parking lot
exit slip for this lesson and have them write the answer on a sticky
note and place it on the parking lot board next to their number.
Parking Lot Exit Slip: Give one example of a good conductor of
electricity and one example of a poor conductor (insulator) of
electricity.
Close the lesson be restating the objective and reviewing examples
of conductors with students.
Remind students that this was the last lesson of the unit and we
will start reviewing tomorrow and will have the test in 2 days.
Assessment:
o Formative assessment: Turn and talks, Conductors and Non-Conductors Recording Sheet,
parking lot exit slip
o Summative assessment: Matter w/ Moxie assessment.
Higher Order Thinking:
o Kids will be connecting and synthesizing knowledge about matter with new knowledge
about conductors of heat and electricity.
Differentiation:
o Above- Students who are more advanced will be given extra readings to apply their
knowledge and asked deeper questions to guide their thinking. They may be asked to try
and think of other examples of conductors based on what we learned in the experiment.
o Below- Students who are struggling with the lesson will be given extra practice and will
be able to read with a partner. They will also be able to work with the teacher in a small
group setting to get more individualized instruction.
Reflection:
o How well did the students respond/perform to the lesson?
Students were not as engaged in this lesson as I had hoped. Materials were limited so I
was not able to have students in groups where they could test the items themselves so I
used the document camera to show the process. Students were engaged for the first few
Matter with Moxie Unit
4th Grade Science
Rebecca Cadeau
and then they started to lose interest. They understood the concept but were not engaged
during the instruction and experiment.
o Were students able to understand what a conductor and non-conductor is and provide
examples?
Yes, students understood the concept and were able to provide examples of both
conductors and non-conductors of electricity. Students showed their proficiency through
completing the exit slip correctly.
o What will I need to change to future lessons based on the students understanding and
performance during this lesson?
Based on student’s response to this lesson I believe they are ready for the test after the
appropriate amount of review. I will plan to have a day where students can work on the
review in class where they can ask questions and get the help they need before
completing it at home. Then we will have a day to go over the answers to prepare them
for the test.