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Weather Conditions Lesson Plan
Types of Precipitation
Nicole Faracca
Medaille College
EDU 502
Dr. Susan Dunkle
August 13, 2013
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Weather Conditions Lesson Plan
Medaille College
School of Education
Forms of Precipitation
I.
LESSON DATA
A. Candidate’s Name:
Nicole Faracca
B. Subject/Content Area: Science
C. Grade Level:
2
D. Lesson Topic:
Forms of Precipitation
E. Duration of Lesson:
40 minutes
F. Unit Title:
What’s the Weather?
G. Standards:
New York State Elementary Science Learning Standards
Standard: 4. The Physical Setting
Key Idea: 2. Many of the phenomena that we observe on Earth involve
interactions among components of air, water, and land.
Performance Indicator: 2.1. Describe the relationship among air, water, and
land on Earth.
Major Understandings: 2.1b. Weather can be described and measured by:

Temperature

Wind speed and direction

Form and amount of precipitation

General sky conditions (cloudy, sunny, partly cloudy).
Weather Conditions Lesson Plan
H. Materials
1. Pens or pencils
2. Worksheet #1 (see appendix)
3. PowerPoint of pictures showing rain, snow, hail, sleet, thunderstorms, and
flurries.
I. Essential Questions
1. What is precipitation?
2. What are the different kinds of precipitation?
3. Why is precipitation important?
II.
INSTRUCTIONAL DATA
A. Objective
1. Given a lesson on precipitation, students will be able to define precipitation.
2. Given a lesson on precipitation, the students will identify different forms of
precipitation by completing Worksheet #1.
B. Assessment Plan
1. The teacher will formatively assess the students’ knowledge of precipitation
through discussion and by asking the essential questions throughout the
lesson.
2. The teacher will summatively assess the students by having them complete
Worksheet #1.
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Weather Conditions Lesson Plan
III.
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INSTRUCTIONAL PROCESS
A. Opening/Anticipatory Set
1. Teacher: “Good morning boys and girls, today we will be continuing our unit
on weather. Who remembers what weather conditions we have learned about
so far?” Students: “”Temperature, and wind.” Teacher: “Very good! We have
learned about the temperature and wind so far in our unit.”
2. Teacher: “Today, we are going to learn about a new condition of weather. But
first, I’d like you all to look out the window, and think about what you see.”
3. Teacher: “Is there anything wet falling from the sky?” Students: “Yes, it’s
raining out!”
4. Teacher: “Great observation! It is raining out. Rain is a form a weather
condition called precipitation. Today we are going to learn about the different
forms of precipitation. We will see pictures of each one, and you will be able
to identify different kinds of precipitation. We will also learn about the
different forms of precipitation that happen in different areas of the country.”
B. Main Body/Procedure
1. Teacher: “Precipitation is any kind of moisture that falls out of clouds. It can
be rain, drizzle, snow, hail, sleet, flurries, or thunderstorms.”
2. Teacher will open PowerPoint and show a picture of each condition as it is
described.
a. Rain – liquid precipitation in the form of water drops that falls from
clouds.
b. Drizzle – light rain consisting of water droplets that are very small.
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c. Thunderstorms – a storm produced by a cumulonimbus cloud and
always has lightning and thunder. Rain, hail, and high winds may or
may not occur. The teacher will explain to the students that they will
learn about clouds later in the unit.
d. Hail – A mixture of liquid and frozen precipitation. Hailstones are
composed of layers of ice and can become quite large when strong
gusts of upward-moving air keep them inside the cloud. As they move
around inside the cloud they collide with raindrops, adding layers and
growing before they fall to earth.
e. Sleet – Solid precipitation in the form of ice pellets. Sleet forms when
raindrops, originating in warmer air in the clouds, freeze as they fall
through subfreezing air neat the surface of the Earth.
f. Snow – Precipitation that is composed of white ice crystals that falls
from clouds. Snow may stick together to form snowflakes.
g. Flurries – A brief instance of light snow, with very little to none of the
snow sticking to the ground.
3. Teacher: “There are many different forms of precipitation, as you can see.
Here in Buffalo, we see all of these different kinds of precipitation! But in
other parts of the country, there are more common forms of precipitation than
others.”
4. Teacher: “Precipitation is influenced by the temperature of the air. Do you
remember learning about temperature earlier this week? Well, the temperature
of the air determines what kind of precipitation is going to fall.”
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5. Teacher: “When it snows outside, is it warm out or very cold?” Students:
“Cold!” Teacher: “Right! Because the air is very cold, the precipitation
freezes and we see snow. It can’t snow in warm or hot areas because the air is
not cold enough to freeze the precipitation.”
6. Teacher: “In areas where it is always very warm, like Florida or Texas, it
almost never snows. And in areas where it is always very cold, like Alaska or
Antarctica, it hardly ever rains. In areas in between, like where we live in
Buffalo, we see lots of different forms of precipitation, because the
temperature of our air changes with the seasons.”
7. Teacher: “Why do you think it is important for precipitation to happen?”
Students: “When it rains, it helps things to grow!” Teacher: “Great answer!
Precipitation helps all the plants to grow. When it rains, all the trees, grass,
and plants get the water they need to survive. If it didn’t rain, farmers
wouldn’t be able to grow all the food that we need to eat!”
8. The teacher will briefly go over the different forms of precipitation again, and
ask if there are any questions.
9. The teacher will hand out Worksheet #1 to each student.
10. Teacher: “Now that we have learned about all the forms of precipitation, I’d
like you to work on this worksheet. Use your map reading skills to identify
what kind of precipitation is falling in each state. Please work independently. I
will be walking around if you have any questions.”
11. The teacher will allow at least 10 minutes for students to complete worksheet.
The teacher will walk around the classroom to make sure that all the students
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understand what is expected of them, and to help with any student who has
questions.
12. Teacher: “Is everyone finished? Good. Please pass your sheets forward and I
will collect them.”
C. Closure/Ending
1. Teacher: “We learned a lot about precipitation today! There are a lot of
different types of precipitation.” The teacher will go over the different types
of precipitation again and make sure that there are no remaining questions.
2. Teacher: “You are all able to identify the different types of precipitation now!
This is a useful skill to have when someone asks us what the weather is like
outside.”
3. Teacher: “In our next science class, we are going to learn about how
precipitation is measured, and we are going to make our own rain
measurement instruments!”
D. Accommodations/Adaptations for Diverse Learners
Material and information from previous lessons will be reviewed at the
beginning of this lesson and integrated throughout the lesson to make sure that the
students remember what they have learned and be able to use that knowledge and
apply it to the new information. All the materials for the lesson will be provided
for each child so that they can work independently on the worksheet and be
challenged appropriately. Students who need extra time will be given it, and if it
is appropriate for the student to take the worksheet home to complete it for
homework, it will be allowed.
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Enriched students will be given more information on precipitation, including
the evaporation process. They will have the opportunity to create a poster that
illustrates the steps of evaporation and how that leads to precipitation. ELL
students will be given printed out notes ahead of time so that they can read along
with what the teacher is saying. Students with vision impairments will also be
handed notes ahead of time so that they will be able to read along.
The teacher will read aloud the directions on the worksheet and be available
for any questions during the time that students are completing the worksheet. The
PowerPoint of the different forms of precipitation shows visuals, so that students
will be able to see each kind of precipitation.
IV.
PROCESS ANALYSIS
A. Reflection
This lesson is an introduction to precipitation. Creating this lesson plan was
interesting, because I had to come up with ideas for a standard that I was given,
instead of coming up with a lesson plan and then finding the standard that
corresponds with it. It was not as difficult as I thought that it would be, although I
felt pressured to complete it on time. Once I thought of what I wanted to focus on,
I searched for activities that went along with teaching the different types
precipitation but there were none that were feasible or appropriate for the
elementary classroom. I was disappointed at first because I love hands-on learning
and want to incorporate it into my classroom as much as I can, but I realize that
not every lesson can have a hands-on activity.
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Because this lesson is introductory, I wanted to keep it basic and simple. I
thought that the PowerPoint was a good way to show each type of precipitation
without being too overwhelming, and the worksheet helped incorporate how
temperature influences what type of precipitation occurs. Even though this lesson
was simple, I believe that it is effective in teaching precipitation and is a good
foundation for future lessons in measuring precipitation and the process of
evaporation.
B. Culturally Responsive Teaching
The rules of respect for all students will be upheld throughout the lesson. The
classroom expectations that have been established from the first day of school will
be kept and followed. Students will be expected to treat their peers the way that
they would want to be treated. If a student has a question at any time during the
lesson, they may ask it. There will be no discrimination.
This lesson addresses various learning styles and intelligence levels. There are
visuals on the PowerPoint, a lecture, and a worksheet. The visuals will assist those
who are visual learners, and those who come from regions or countries where
there is not much precipitation or limited forms of precipitation. Students from
other countries or regions will be encouraged to share what forms of precipitation
they see where they are from.
Students who are ELL will be given the notes ahead of time. If necessary, the
notes will be translated into that student’s native language. The teacher will
discuss with the student’s ESL teacher to make sure what is appropriate for that
student to be given.
Weather Conditions Lesson Plan
C. Overall Effectiveness: To be completed by the instructor or college
supervisor, not the teacher candidate. The teacher candidate should have
these component integrated throughout the lesson plan.
All components of the lesson are connected to the objectives.
Effective lesson plans include:
-
Clarity of ideas
-
A logical Flow
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Developmentally appropriate activities
-
Grade level appropriate activities
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Weather Conditions Lesson Plan
Appendices
Appendix #1: Worksheet 1
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Weather Conditions Lesson Plan
Appendix #2: PowerPoint
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References:
Worksheet #1:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CGEQ
FjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fteacher.scholastic.com%2Flessonrepro%2Flessonplans%2F
profbooks%2Fprecipmap.pdf&ei=CYQKUuGPHITYyQH73YCYDg&usg=AFQjCNFbCIjxpmfJGHSnVT9aOOIqWmedQ&bvm=bv.50500085,d.aWc
Weather Vocabulary:
www.weatherwizkids.com/weatherwords.htm