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4rd grade Science Lesson: The Four Seasons

My lesson plan is focused on third graders with a focus on the four seasons—the purpose of the assessment plan will be to have the students show their knowledge in what they have learned about the seasons.

Learning outcomes:

1. The student will graph the changes in the weather due to season change from winter to spring.

Assessment

After the introduction to the seasons at the beginning of January—learning about why seasons happen, what happen in seasons, etc., you will then graph the changes you notice from day to day from around the February until the first day of spring (March 20^th).  You may pick to start as early as January 29th, but no later than February 5th. You must journal daily the changes that you have noticed—you will need to note temperature change, flowers blooming, and leaves on trees. After March 20^th, the students must make a master graph of the temperature change, with notes of the different plants that bloom due to the temperature change. You must turn in your journal with your graph– assignments turned in with only the graph will not be accepted.

Testing Constraints:

Students with disabilities will be able to receive help from outside sources with the graphing and skills to journal the information. If they struggle with getting started on this project, communication with the other teacher in their special education class (if they have one) can help them get started on it. I also plan to email parents to make them aware of the projects and the different constraints I require, so students with disabilities can have parents help them get the project started and keep up to date on how the project is going. Some students may typically struggle with this kind of assessment because they do excel at the regular testing methods. However, I would like to expand those student’s boundaries as much as possible to help them experience something new.

The thought of writing a test myself is really scary! I have done one, however, it was done during a time in my life when my family life was turned upside down due to the death of my grandmother, and I don’t think I quite understood the thought process. Coming up with tests questions that correlate with maps I found it to be difficult, because most of the things I was asking them to do was on a map.

However, I do believe that I was successful when writing the test questions to match my objectives. The one type of test format I didn’t use was true or false, because, as the book explain, it may be the easiest to write, but depending on the wording, it can be tricky for the kids to understand. ONE word is all it takes to confuse a student to what the right answer may be. “Actually, true– false items do take less time to write than good objective items of any other format, but good true– false items are not that easy to write (Kubiszyn, Borich 2010, p.132).”

I chose to do two questions with the multiple choice form because I thought it fit well in with the geography unit much better than true or false questions. I wanted the kids to identify what city we lived in, and by giving them choices, if they had correctly followed the assignment, they should have easily pinpointed that we live in Bellevue, Washington (it is where I currently work). The other multiple choice question was to identify what city was not a city in Washington. Many multiple choice questions can end with “all of the above”, none of the above”, “both a and c”, etc., but I believe that the way that my question is worded, students will have to recall and really think of what cities are in the state of Washington, and which one is not.

I have one matching question where I wanted the students to match the correct state to a specific picture that correlates with the number on the states. I felt like if the students learned the states correctly from writing out the states as asked before, then they should be able to match the correct state to the picture on the state. “Each description in the list should be numbered (each is an item), and the list of options should be identified by letter (Kubiszyn, Borich 2010, p. 138).” The textbook makes it clear that the matching items need to be clear when matching, so I would put the numbers in the picture of the states and have the students match the correct one to it. I may even put more picture than there are options of the names of the states so the students can recall the correct state.

My essay question goes with Objective 4, and I know that I will receive different answers because wanting them to describe what their street looks like. I decided to do this objective for my essay question, because I know that most essay questions answers do not match what the other students write (unless they live on the same street). Because there will be a variety of responses it will be difficult to score, however, I am looking beyond the normal, passive response. I am looking for descriptions that will make it clear that I can imagine what it looks like. I am looking for good structure of their writing, spelling, and the words they use to describe their street.

Kubiszyn, Tom, & Borich, Gary D (2010). Educational Testing and Measurement: Classroom Application and Practice, 9th Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Danvers, MA.

Learning outcomes–Fourth grade Geography unit

• The students will identify on a map of the United States what state and city they live in.
• The students will label all of the states of the United States with a 80% accuracy.
• The students will select ten cities in their state to write on a map.
• The students will construct a map of the street that they live on.

Test Items:

Test Item for Objective 1: We live in the State of Washington, what city do we live in?

a. Bellevue

b. Olympia

c. Redmond

d. Tacoma

Test Item for Objective 2: Match the correct name to the picture of the state given, write the correct number by the name (Picture of each state would be printed on the test with numbers in it as well).

____ 1. Texas

____ 2. Washington

____ 3. Florida

____ 4. New York

____ 5. Ohio

Test Item for Objective 3: Which city is not a city in the State of Washington?

a. Seattle

b. Bothell

c. Portland

d. Renton

Objective 4: The students will construct a map of the street that they live on.

Test Item: Write a brief description of the street you live on. Give as many details as you can pertaining who lives where, if there is a park, or if there is something you think is unique on your street compared to others. (Essay).