#1210. The Seasons

Science, level: Elementary
Posted Wed Jul 28 17:53:41 PDT 1999 by Jennifer Passmore (jsp141@psu.edu).
Penn State University, State College, PA USA
Materials Required: fallen leaves, computer access, internet capability, garbage bags, library access
Activity Time: 3 class periods
Concepts Taught: observation of the seasons changing, scientific concepts behind the changing of the seasons

Lesson Plan #1

Grade: 2
Lesson Topic: Seasons
Lesson Objective(s):
Students will be able to determine the ways in which deciduous trees lose their leaves by investigating fallen leaves and how the weather changes throughout the seasons.
Students will obtain knowledge about why and what causes the weather to change throughout the seasons.

Resources Required:
Leaves
Internet access
Computers
Plastic garbage bag
Rake

These sites tell why leaves change color
http://www.rapidweb.com/leaves/
http://www.cgs.clemson.edu/leaves.htm
http://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/leaves/leaves.htm
http://www.esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/leaves/leaves.htm
http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/education/colorchange.html

I like the last site the best.

These sites are about trees
This first site tells about tree related resources on the web:
http://web.reed.edu/academic/departments/biology/trees/resources.html

and this next site is with regard to the homepage that I found the first site
http://web.reed.edu/academic/departments/biology/trees/index.html

this site is very informational
http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hort/plants.html

I will use the PRESENT, ACTIVE LEARNING, AND COLLABORATIVE methods of teaching for this lesson plan. I also used the FRAME and EXPLORE models.

LESSON ACTIVITIES:

- PRESENT: have a pile of leaves on a garbage bag located in the middle of the floor in the classroom. When all of the students are in the room, the teacher will jump into the big pile of leaves causing excitement among the children.
- ACTIVE LEARNING: Offer the children the chance to play in the leaves. Have them compare the leaves and separate them into similar characteristic categories.
- Ask students what the trees look like when all of the leaves are gone, when new leaves will form, the colors that they will be before they fall off of the trees and when they are growing back on, the types of weather that occurs during the times that the leaves grow, fall, and are not on the trees, and how the weather changes or how it might play a role in the process of the leaves.
- Have children use the internet to locate sites in which they can obtain information about leaves, trees, and the weather.
- Children can work in small groups of 2 or 3 in order to investigate this topic
SITE ELEMENTS:
Show an animation of trees through the seasons growing leaves, changing colors, and losing their leaves.

ORGANIZED SITES:
From the internet, locate sites about trees, weather, and leaves (look above)

NETWORK ELEMENTS:
The information will be given by scientific experts from the sites and other resources that the students used to locate information.