Seasons,+Andrea+Sowers

=**Overview:**= This information inquiry focuses on seasons with lesson plans for 2nd and 6th graders. The main purpose is for students to question and explore seasons and their characteristics.

The lesson plan for 2nd graders is to introduce them to seasons. They will be looking into questions like: What are the 4 season? How often do they happen? Are there certain signs that let us know seasons are changing? Do seasons happen the same time every year? They will have a chance to explore seasons as well through personal observation and resources. The goal is for them to go from a limited knowledge of seasons to one where they can understand the repetitive nature of season. They should also be able to know basic characteristics of each season and be able to identify which season they are in by observing nature around them. The final project will be of a poster with pictures and information that they learned.

Because 2nd graders will have a limited experience with information inquiry, this unit will be more of a controlled inquiry. According to Callison, “questions may or may not be of general interest to students” but are still valued by teachers/learners because they address academic standards (99). Students may not be creating their own questions, but they will get a good introduction into the inquiry process for future use. The goal is to use question and exploring as a way to get the students interested and involved in the assignment.

The lesson plan for 6th graders should build upon the knowledge that they learned in second grade. In this lesson they still look at the season and their characteristics, but now they have to explore what causes it. They will be asking more questions like: What causes seasons? How does the earth’s rotations determine seasons? How is the location of the sun involved? Why do different places have different seasons at the same time? They will begin to understand why seasons happen in relation to the earth’s movement and sun’s location. Their final project will be an 8-15 slide PowerPoint presentation that includes at least one original drawing that explains the connection of seasons and the earth’s rotation.

Sixth graders should have a better understanding of the inquiry process allowing this unit to move into a guided inquiry. While the students are limited to what they can choose, they still are able to form their own ideas/questions through brainstorming and should be looking at a variety of sources to gather their information. They will still need some guidance, but will have a little more freedom then they did in 2nd grade. They will also move farther in the inquiry model as well. Not only will there be questioning and exploring, but they should be moving into assimilation possible interference as well. They will be learning new information that has to fit in with knowledge they already know, which should reinforce what they already knew (Callison, 10).

=**Grade 2**=
 * Objective:** For students to learn about seasons, their characteristics, and repetitive nature.

2.3.1 Investigate by observing and then describe that some events in nature have a repeating pattern, such as seasons, day and night, and migrations. 1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in circular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in own life. 1.1.4 Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. 1.2.6 Display emotional resilience by persisting in information searching despite challenges 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful. 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that other can view, use and assess.
 * Indiana Standards:**
 * ASL Standards**

2nd grade Lesson Handout Digital Camera Poster board
 * Materials Needed:**


 * Procedure:**


 * Day 1:** Introduce Seasons to students. Have them start thinking about characteristics and patterns in their notebook, but don’t discuss it as a class yet.


 * Day 2 -3:** For the next two days, have students take pictures of trees, plants, landscape/ground, and animals using digital cameras. Have them also write down different observations they are noticing about plants and animals as they do. Have them notice any changes they see from one day to the next (such as a bloom one day and a flower the next).


 * Day 4:** Bring photos and notes to class to share. Based on what information you have, what season are we currently in? Why? Discuss the common characteristics that help us identify each season.


 * Day 5:** Have students go to the media center/library and find various resources the answer questions on lesson handout. Since questions are basic, students should be able to find answers by using one or two resources.


 * Day 6:** Have students create a poster with pictures (their own and other they find) about what they learned about the seasons.


 * Day 7:** Share posters with the class.

__Addition by Gracia Lane__: I think that you have some wonderful ideas planned for your 2nd graders! I taught 2nd grade for 17 years and science was always something they really loved! I really like the idea of them using a digital camera to take pictures of what the trees, plants, etc. look like and then using those pictures on their posters. One **addition** that I might add, to enhance your technology component, would be to have each student create a "web" for each season using //Kidspiration//. They could put the name of the season in the center and then choose at least four different pictures to represent that particular season and link them to their season. You could also have them write a complete sentence to tell about each picture. I have included a sample for the season of __summer__ in the link below. 



Additional Idea_BWyatt_3rd of 4th grade I like your activities as well as the concept suggested by Gracia. A great introductory activity that you could do with your students is to first create a KWL chart on a sheet of paper. In the third of fourth grade, the KWL chart would be used during the first week of lesson to help the teacher understand the students understanding about seasons. The chart would also help the teacher create interesting activities based on what the students would like to know about seasons. According to Callison's book, //"graphic organizers help the students see connection patterns, and relationships, but also helps learners see personal progress and initiates self-evaluation."// The chart would help you incorporate "scaffolding" activities for your students. Callison also mentions, " //organizers are useful to the learner when in given in advance of instruction and often serve as clues to ideas that the instructor plans to introduce."//

//sample KWL chart//

Although the levels of maturation would be somewhat more complex in the third or fourth grade, based on the students understanding the teacher could incorporate a season activity where the student would research a city or country in a warm weather climate such as Cuba, or cold weather climate such as Iceland. Based on the research conducted, they would create an oral or PowerPoint presentation for the class or school. Research skills such as gathering data, finding professional sources, and understanding how to cite those sources would add to their level of learning. This scaffolding process would build on the activities, as suggested above; going to the media center to find resources and prepare the student for more comprehensive research projects in the future.

I have also included some books that would help introduce the lesson and get the students actively thinking about seasons and what they would like to know or share with the students in their class. Based on their feedback you could add to your lesson plan based on your students prior knowledge about seasons. Our Seasons by Lin, Grace

Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Bransley, Franklyn

**Grade Six**

 * Objective:** To understand how the earth’s rotation and sun’s location affects the seasons.

6.3.5 Use models or drawings to explain that Earth has different seasons and weather patterns because it turns daily on an axis that is tilted relative to the plane of Earth’s yearly orbit around the sun. Know that because of this, sunlight falls more intensely on different parts of Earth during the year (the accompanying greater length of days also has an effect) and the difference in heating produces seasons and weather patterns. 1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in circular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in own life. 1.1.2 Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning. 1.1.4 Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. 1.2.6 Display emotional resilience by persisting in information searching despite challenges 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful. 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that other can view, use and assess.
 * Indiana Standards:**
 * ASL Standards**

KWL Chart 6th Grade Lesson Handout PowerPoint Slide for paper Layout 6th Grade Lesson Checklist
 * Materials Needed:**


 * Procedure:**


 * Day 1:** Introduce the lesson of seasons related the Earth’s rotation. Have students pick a season/location to focus on and fill out the K&W section on their KWL (what they **K**now, what they **W**ant to know, and what they **L**earned) sheet.


 * Day 2-3:** Have students gather information about their season and weather/characteristics and how the earth’s rotation affects it. Students can use Lesson Handout to help guide their research. Students should have a total of 5 resources; there should be at least 3 different varieties of resources (i.e. encyclopedia, book, magazine, OL database). Have students fill out L section on KWL sheet.


 * Day 4:** Have students plan out their PowerPoint presentation on paper. Presentation should be 8 - 15 slides with an Introduction, Conclusion, and Reference slide. There should also be at least one slide that includes their own drawings explaining how the earth’s rotation affects their season. Have them use the lesson checklist to shape their project.


 * Day 5-6:** Take students to the computer lab and allow them to transfer presentation and scan drawings into PowerPoint. Have them evaluate it by using lesson checklist.


 * Day 7:** Share presentations with class.

=**Lesson Comparison**=

Both lessons focus on seasons, but a lot more is expected from the 6th graders. It is obvious by just looking at the different standards. With 2nd graders they need only understand the repetitive nature and characteristics of seasons where as 6th graders need to understand how seasons are created through rotation and the location of the sun. The lesson for 6th graders requires a deeper and more complex understanding/knowledge of how the world works.

The inquiry process requires more from the 6th graders as well. With 2nd graders the inquiry is controlled. They have little control is what they are researching. In fact, they are given worksheets have all the questions that need to be understand. Deep understanding is not the goal in this unit; a teacher should be focusing more on getting students to connect seasons to patterns an how to recognize each. When reaching the 6th grade lesson, there is more freedom. They don’t have complete freedom, but they are asked to think more about what they doing. They have to focus on how season are related to the earth’s movement and sun, but they do get a choice in which season they wish to focus on. Also, before starting their research they are asked to think about what they already know and what they want to learn. Things that they write down should help guide their research along. The 6th graders are also asked to use more resources than the 2nd graders would need to. They must have a deeper maturing in locating and handling several different resources at once.

The two different final products show a difference in difficulty as well. Then 2nd graders only need to create a poster with pictures and quick facts. Even for a 2nd grader this is not overly challenging. The 6th graders have to put a little more thought into their project as they create a PowerPoint presentation. They have to consider information order, colors, fonts, pictures, and transitions. If that wasn’t enough, they are also asked to create their own drawing of how the earth’s rotation affects seasons. This part of the project forces them to combine several skills together; they need to find the information, understand/process the information, and create an output so that others may understand it as well.

=Resources= Callison, Daniel & Preddy, Leslie (2006). **The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction, & Literacy**.