1st Grade Weather Unit

1^st Grade Weather Unit Blueprint

Lesson 14: Classfying Clouds

Pacing Suggestions:

Lesson to be taught following Winter Break.

See Unit Calendar for details.

Teacher Resources:

Tips

Essential & Unit Questions* ¹

Benchmarks ²

Formative and Summative Assessments ³

Using Assessments to Monitor Student Learning

How does the weather change from day to day?

What happens to clouds over time?

How can clouds be described?

4B(K-2)#1: Some events in nature have a repeating pattern. The weather changes some from day to day, but things such as temperature and rain (or snow) tend to be high, low or medium in the same months every year.

11C(K-2)#1: Things change in some ways and stay the same in some ways.

11B(K-2)#3: One way to describe things is to say how it is like something else.

4D(K-2)#1: Objects are described in terms of the materials they are made of (clay, cloth, paper, etc.) and their physical properties (color, size, weight, texture, flexibility, etc.).

Class discussion of group cloud classification schemes and class Cloud Classification Chart (See Procedure Steps 1-3 and Final Activities Steps 1-3 on page 139 in Teacher's Guide.)

Do students know that the cloud formations change from day to day?
Do students use words describing the color, size, and shape of the clouds observed?
Do students observe that clouds come in many shapes and sizes?

* Essential/Unit questions are major questions driving the unit. They are directly aligned with the benchmarks. No single lesson addresses each question in its entirety. By the end of the unit, students should be able to answer these core questions.

1. For conceptual benchmarks.
2. Bolded sections indicate portion of benchmark addressed
3. Unless noted as a Summative Assessment, the assessments are formative and should be used to guide teaching and learning.

1st Grade Weather Unit Blueprint

1^st Grade Weather Unit Blueprint