Magnets and Magnetism
Resource ID#: 36075
Primary Type: Lesson Plan
This document was generated on CPALMS - www.cpalms.org
This lesson demonstrates how students can apply the process of identifying main idea and supporting details to show how the force of magnetism
works and how it can be useful in everyday life. The lesson provides an opportunity for students to interact with informational text and participate in a
jigsaw learning activity.
Subject(s): English Language Arts, Science
Grade Level(s): 4
Intended Audience: Educators
Instructional Time: 1 Hour(s)
Resource supports reading in content area: Yes
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: magnets, magnetism, main idea, details, electromagnets, iron, steel
Instructional Component Type(s): Lesson Plan
Instructional Design Framework(s): Direct Instruction, Cooperative Learning
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
ATTACHMENTS
Rubric for lesson 36075.docx
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Learning Objectives for the Teacher: By determining the main idea and supporting details, students will be able to summarize how magnets can attract and repel
materials.
Student-Friendly Essential Question: How can finding the main idea and supporting details help me summarize text about how magnets attract or repel materials?
Student-Friendly Objective: I can explain magnetic attraction through determining the main idea and supporting details in the text.
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students will need to have background knowledge about informational text (to convey information, importance of text features, factual information).
Students need to understand how to determine main idea and supporting details.
Students need to understand how to summarize information learned from text.
Students need to know about physical properties of matter (attraction to magnets is one physical property).
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
1. What does it mean to find the main idea and details?
2. How can I use main idea and details to help me understand informational text?
3. How do you define magnetism?
4. What causes magnetism?
5. What did I learn from reading this text?
6. Can I make any text to self connections?
page 1 of 4 7. What are some every day things that use magnets?
8. What types of metal are attracted to magnets?
9. What are the two poles and what are their functions?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
Hook: To activate the lesson, the teacher will provide examples of kitchen magnets and ask the students, "Do you use magnets on your fridge at home?" The teacher
will then ask the students, "Have you ever wondered how the magnets stay on the fridge?" The teacher will then give students a minute to discuss their answer to the
question. The teacher will then tell the students that they will find the main idea and supporting details in informational text to learn how magnets are able to attract
and repel.
To begin the lesson, the teacher will show the students the essential question and tell students that they will learn how to answer it by the end of the lesson.
The teacher will read aloud text from book Magnets by Steve Parker (Lexile 990L).
1. What is a Magnet (p. 6-7): The teacher will display text using document camera and read the text aloud to students, including the subtext with the illustrations. The
teacher will have students listen for the following information (display these questions on chart or board and refer to them before reading the text):
What are magnets made of? (iron or steel)
What is magnetism? (invisible force that can pull things to itself)
How does something become magnetic? (the micromagnets have to be lined up)
What are micromagnets made of? (groups of atoms).
After reading the text, the teacher will quickly go through the questions one at a time. Students will write answers down and discuss answers with table group. Ex:
The teacher will say, "You have 30 seconds to write down your answer to [this question]." Teacher will do this for each question. Then the teacher will say, "You have
1 minute to share your answers to these questions with your table group." Teacher will call on random table groups to share answers to questions and discuss the
information with the class.
2. The students will now review main idea and details. The teacher will show students the details they have gathered from answering the questions about the read
aloud text and model how to fill in a tree map. (The tree map will be used in this lesson to show the different sub areas of this topic. The sub area for this part of the
tree map should be labeled "What is Magnetism?" The teacher will talk with students about the details of this section and record the information under the "What is
Magnetism" heading on the tree map. As the teacher models filling in the tree map, the students will write the information on their tree maps as well.
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
Teacher will label the second sub area of the tree map "Variety of Magnets" and explain that students are going to read about a variety of magnets and how they can be
used. The teacher will label the tree map with each type of magnet: bar, rod, horseshoe, disk, and ring.
The teacher will model how to fill in the information for the first type of magnet, bar magnet. For the bar magnet, the teacher will list information from page 6 to show
the students how to gather information using the text and text features. The teacher will then list descriptive words such as: rectangular, flat, lifts heavy metal objects
in the column. The teacher will then tell the students that they will continue to fill in the tree map using the information they read on pages 4-7 in the text.
Table groups will read and discuss pages 4-7 in the book The Science of Magnets by Jonathan Bocknek (Lexile 750L) and write down information about the types of
magnets and how they can be used. Teacher will give students a few minutes to read and take notes on their tree maps (teacher will be monitoring the room and
discussing text with table groups).
When students have completed the tree map, the teacher will call on groups to share out information they learned from the text. As groups share, students will
provide the information to record on the tree map under the second part labeled "Variety of Magnets." As the teacher writes the student responses on the tree map,
students can also add additional information on their tree maps.
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
Students will complete a jigsaw activity for some remaining parts of the book, The Science of Magnets by Jonathan Bocknek (Lexile 750L) in order to fill in the last
section of the tree map, labeled "Everyday Uses of Magnets."
Part One of the jigsaw activity: Table groups will be assigned one of the four remaining areas: Electromagnets- p. 16-17, Finding Directions- p. 22-23, Magnets
and Medicine- p. 26-27, and Magnets in Unexpected Places- p. 28-29.
The groups will work together to read their assigned section of text and record any information they would like to teach to the other groups (students are not filling in
their tree maps until after the second part of the jigsaw activity).
Part Two of the jigsaw activity: Students will then breakaway from their Part One table group and get into groups of four (one student to represent each area)
and will discuss the information from their previous group. Therefore, each group of four should include a student that can discuss Electromagnets, one that can
discuss Finding Directions, one that can discuss Magnets and Medicine, and one that can discuss Magnets in Unexpected Places. The students will be expected to teach
the information from the Part One task. While each student is sharing, the other three students should be taking notes. All the information will be used to fill in the last
part of the tree map entitled "Everyday Uses of Magnets." Using the details from the tree map, students should now be able to determine a main idea (Ex: Magnetism
is an invisible force that attracts metals made of steel or iron and can be used to help us in everyday life.)
Students can use the graphic organizers, text, and discussion notes to summarize the information and answer the essential question.
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
To wrap up the lesson, students will complete a Round Table discussion about the information presented in the lesson. The Round Table discussion will provide students
an opportunity to discuss the information they have learned with their classmates before completing the summative assessment. The teacher will ask the students this
question: "How did finding the main idea and details help you better understand informational text about magnets and magnetism?" Students will discuss information
with their table groups. After the Round Table discussion, the students will complete the summative assessment.
Students will be encouraged to apply the information learned in this lesson to read and understand text related to other scientific areas where identifying main idea
and relevant details is important for comprehension.
The students will understand that identifying main idea and details is an important component in understanding science concepts. The ability to identify the main idea
and the supporting details will help the reader make the necessary connections in order to understand topics in all content areas.
page 2 of 4 Summative Assessment
In order to answer the essential question, students will take the information from the graphic organizers and text to write a summary about the learned information.
Using the information from the updated KWL chart from the formative assessment and the information learned from the text, students should be able to determine a
main idea about magnets and magnetic attraction using the details from the texts.
The students will use the attached rubric to guide them as they answer the essential question. The rubric provides guidelines to help students best explain their
summary answer to the essential question.
Formative Assessment
1. Students will use main idea and details during this lesson to understand the concepts presented. The teacher will need to make sure that the students have an
understanding of main idea and details before beginning the lesson.
One way to gather information about student understanding of main idea and supporting details is to have students participate in an activity such as using a
"reverse exit slip" (Usually exit slips are used at the end of a lesson for students to give information about what was just learned). In this case, the "reverse exit
slip" will be used to find out what the students remember about main idea and details. Teacher will ask students this question: "How would you describe/define
Main Idea and Supporting Details?" Students will write their answers on their slips. This will provide a quick way for the teacher to determine if any students need
extra support in finding the main idea and supporting details.
2. Students will then complete a KWL chart for the topic of magnets. Students will list what they already know in the "K" column and some things they want to know in
the "W" column. The KWL activity will help inform the teacher about information students may already know as well as help the teacher understand any
misconceptions students may have before teaching the lesson.
The KWL chart can be used throughout the lesson as students acquire new information about magnets. Students will be encouraged to add to the "L" column of the
chart as they learn new information about magnets and magnetism.
Feedback to Students
Throughout lesson the teacher will stop, tell students to turn to their partner, and answer a question or discuss a concept. As students are doing this, the teacher is
monitoring.
For example: "Turn to your table partner and discuss what types of materials are magnetic."
Also, teacher can revisit the KWL chart from the formative assessment to reinforce or reiterate some of the information the students discussed. Students are
encouraged to correct any misinformation they listed on the KWL and rewrite/discuss how to make the statement true and accurate throughout the lesson.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
Students working below grade level or who have difficulty reading the text can partner read or listen to recording of the text.
Students working below grade level may work with a partner to fill in the graphic organizer.
The teacher can provide a "word list" for the student to use.
The teacher can provide the main idea and have the students find the supporting details.
The teacher can provide the supporting details and have the students identify the main idea.
Extensions:
Students working above grade level can be given text at a higher reading level.
How can scientists use the process of determining the main idea and supporting details to understand scientific concepts?
Think about a time when you tried to place a magnet on something and it wouldn't attract. What are some possible reasons for the lack of magnetic attraction?
Special Materials Needed:
Magnets by Steve Parker (for the read aloud), The Science of Magnets by Jonathan Bocknek (enough copies for each table group, if possible), paper for graphic
organizers and discussions.
Further Recommendations: Since the lesson focuses on identifying main idea and relevant details, other forms of informational text that show these concepts
can be used to teach or extend the lesson as needed. Also, the lesson focuses on using a tree map graphic organizer, however, any graphic organizer that helps
students understand the concept of main idea and details can be used. It is recommended that the teacher first completes a lesson about the properties of matter to
support the scientific topic presented in this lesson.
Additional Information/Instructions
By Author/Submitter
The ability to understand and identify the main idea and details in scientific text will help with comprehending scientific topics and methods. The application of this particular
language arts strategy can also help in understanding informational text. By integrating science (and other content areas) and reading, students will be able to understand how
to apply the strategies.
The science standard(s) aligned to this lesson were chosen because the reading material contains content related to the science standard(s). This lesson is not intended to
replace a science lesson aligned to these standard(s) or directly address the core intent of the science standard(s). This lesson should be used in conjunction with science
instruction related to the science standard.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Monica Clark
Name of Author/Source: Monica Clark
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Orange
page 3 of 4 Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
LAFS.4.RI.1.2:
LAFS.4.RI.4.10:
SC.4.P.8.4:
Description
Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.
By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical
texts, in the grades 4–5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Investigate and describe that magnets can attract magnetic materials and attract and repel other magnets.
page 4 of 4