Name: Victoria Koone

Class: ELED-3221 Tuesday 11 am

Date: November 11, 2014
edTPA Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template
Life cycle of a Snowman
_____________________________________________________________________________
Big Idea: The big idea of this lesson is the three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. Students
will learn about the three states by seeing first hand all three stages. Each state of matter has is
different, and can change into another state with help of other properties such as temperature.
Students will see this by exploring the snowman throughout the day. This lesson could be
extended by having the students compare and contrast the three states of matter on their own and
coming up with examples of each state.
Grade Level: 2nd grade
NC Essential Standard(s): 2.P.2 Understand properties of solids and liquids and the changes
they undergo.

2.P.2.1 Give examples of matter that changes from a solid to a liquid and from a liquid to
a solid by heating and cooling.
2.P.2.2 Compare the amount (volume and weight) of water in a container before and after
freezing.

This third grade objective also fits: 3.P.2.2 Compare solids, liquids, and gases based on their basic
properties.

Next Generation Science Standard(s): 2-PS1-4. Construct an argument with evidence that
some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
[Clarification statement: Examples of reversible changes could include materials such as water
and butter at different temperatures. Examples of irreversible changes could include cooking an
egg, freezing a plant leaf, and heating paper.]
Four Strands of Science Learning: This lesson emphasizes strand four: participating
productively in science. Students are working in groups to categorize the three states of matter
using their scientific knowledge and schema. They have to explain when coming up to the board
why they think a picture should be under a certain state of matter. Students predict what they
think will happen to the snowman by using their knowledge of ice and what happens to it.
Students have to give why they think their prediction is correct.
21st Century Skills: Creativity and innovation is one 21st century skill this lesson has because
they come up with ways to change a solid to a liquid, a liquid to a solid, a solid to gas, or a liquid
to gas. They use creativity to come up with how this is done. Collaboration is another 21st

century skill the students use because they collaborate together when trying to decide which
pictures are solids, liquids, or gases.
Academic Language Demand
Language Function: In the table below highlight the one most important language
function for your lesson. Explain why you chose this.
o Predict: Students will be predicting what they think will happen to the snowman
throughout the day.
o Categorize: Students categorize different pictures into solid, liquid, or gas.
o Compare/contrast: Students are comparing and contrasting how the snowman
changes throughout the day.
Analyze
Interpret

Argue
Predict

Categorize
Question

Compare/contrast Describe
Retell
Summarize

Explain

Scientific Vocabulary: Matter, solid, liquid, and gas.

Instructional Objective: Students will be able to identify the three different states of matter.
Students will predict, observe, and explore the stages in a group by watching how a snowman
changes throughout the day. Students who receive one hundred percent accuracy on their
independent worksheet will be considered meeting the objective.
Prior Knowledge (student): Students should already have an idea of what a solid, liquid, and a
gas is. Students should know examples such as: water can turn into ice and ice melts and become
water.
Content Knowledge (teacher): Teacher should know the three states of matter thoroughly.
Teacher should know various example of each state and examples of how they can change into
different states. Teacher should be prepared to provide the students with examples and
explanations of all three states of mattersolid, liquid, and gas.
Connections to Students Lives: Students will connect to this lesson in various ways. One way
of connecting it is that when it snows, they may make their own snowman. As the temperature
outside begins to get warm the snowman will melt and they will see this first hand. Students may
see someone cooking and see when they add water to a hot pan some of the water will evaporate
and make gas. Some students may have to make their own ice cubes therefor they will fill up and
ice-cube tray with a liquid (water) and see that it comes out as a solid (ice cubes).
Accommodations for Students with Special Needs (individual and/or small group): Students
with needs will be grouped during the engagement activity with others who can help them. I will
be walking around during the explore phases to see if anyone has questions or needs any help.
Students will be provided with extra materials or examples that might better help them
understand if they do not fully grasp the topic.
Materials and Technology Requirements: For the snowman: three round latex balloons, three
bowls (large, medium, and small), two plates, 1 medium sized tub, salt, and small pieces of felt

(whatever color you may have I used: black, pink, and orange). For lesson: life cycle of
snowman recording sheet for each student, a piece of white paper that it folded into three
sections, the book Matter by Becky Manfredini, packets for 5 groups of students and one teacher
that include: the words solid, liquid, and gas and two pictures that go along with each, and an
electric skillet.
Total Estimated Time: The overall lesson will take all day due to observing the snowman, but
the initial lesson will take 40-45 minutes.
Source of Inspiration for the Lesson: My cooperating teacher gave me the lesson dealing with
the snowman, which she found on Pinterest: www.frugalteacher.com/2011/09/life-cycle-ofsnowman.html. I then took the lesson and added too it.

Safety Considerations: I will make sure that the students do not get near the electric skillet
when I am putting the snowman on it.
Content and Strategies (Procedure)
Before lesson preparation: THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE 24hrs before lesson is taught. Fill
water balloons up with water. The first balloon should be large enough to fit in the large bowl
tie it up and place in bowl with a plate on top to make the top of the balloon flat when frozen.
The second balloon should be big enough to fit into the medium bowltie it up and place in
bowl with a plate on top to make the top of the balloon flat when frozen. The second balloon
should be filled up enough to fit into the small bowltie it up and place in bowl this one does
not need a plate on top of it. Before the lesson put the snowman togethertake the balloons off
each snowman part, place the large frozen circle in the tub put salt on top of it then place the
medium one on top of that, then put some salt on the medium one and place the small one on top
of that. Place the felt onto the snowman (two eyes, carrot nose, and buttons).
Engage: I will begin class by saying Class we have a very special guest with us today. Our
guest is very excited to be here today. He has come to teach us about matter. Before I bring him
out do any of you know anything about matter? Allow time for students to answer. There are
three states of matters: solid, liquid, and gas. I am going to bring our friend out and I want you
to be very kind to him. Bring out the snowman and set him where students can see but will not
mess with. Now everyone say hi to our friend! What state of matter do you think he is in? Allow
time for students to answer. Right, he is currently in the solid state. I am going to pass out a
sheet of paper, wait patiently while I do this. Pass out the life cycle of a snowman worksheet.
Lets come up with a name for our friend. Who has an idea for names? Allow 4-5 names to be
given and then have a class vote on what name the snowman should have. I think ________ is a
great name for our friend! Write down ______ by question number one. Now lets look at
question number two, what do you think is going to happen to our snowman by the end of the
day? Without talking I want you all to quietly write down what you think is going to happen to
him along with a sentence as to why you think your prediction is correct.
Explore: Now that you have made a prediction I am going to break you off into five groups.
Once you are in your groups I want one person to come up and get a matter packet from me

along with a sheet of blank paper that is divided into three parts. Get one for each member in
your group. Divide the students up and allow them to get their paper and packets. Now in each of
your packets you should have the words: solid, liquid, and gas. You should also have a total of
six pictures. In your groups I want you to look at each picture and decide if it is a solid, a liquid,
or a gas. Do this by thinking of schema you have and things you have experienced. While
working with your groups to decide what picture goes under what state think about what a solid,
liquid, and gas is. Look at the picture and ask yourself which state of matter is this? Try using
deductive reasoning as to why one may not be a certain state. While you are working with your
groups I am going to call up one group at a time to come explore our snowman. When your
group is called you need to measure him with a ruler and write under question number four by
morning how much water was in the tub. I also want you to write Morning at the top of the
first column of your divided sheet of paper and draw a picture of what he looks like along with a
sentence. While you are up here you may feel him and the water and discuss with your group
what you think will happen to him. Do you think he will change into a different state of matter?
Is this possible? Allow time for students to explore.
Explain: Place on the board the words solid, liquid, and gas from the teacher packet. Now let
come back together as a group. I want us to talk about how you categorized the pictures in your
small group. I am going to hold up a picture and then allow you to come up and place it where
your group put the picture and explain why you put it there. Hold up the pictures (picture of
water, ice cube, brick, liquid soap, steam coming out of a pot, and smoke coming out of a
factory) and allow time for students to come up and explain. Before we go over which picture
goes where I am going to read you a book the Matter by Becky Manfredini. While I am read I
want you to think about what you are hearing about each state. I will read the book. Now lets
write out the definitions of each state on the board according to the book. A solid takes up space
and has a shape of its own. Write this by the word solid on the board. A liquid takes up space but
down not have a shape of its own but it takes the shape of its container. Write this definition on
the board by the word liquid. A gas takes up space but it does not have a shape of its own, it
takes the shape of its container. Write this on the board by the word gas. Now lets take a look at
where you placed your pictures on the board. Are there any ones you would change? Allow time
for students to come up and change pictures if need. Okay so for the picture of a brick, what state
of matter is it? Allow time for students to answer. This would be a solid. Why do you think it is
that state of matter? Allow time for students to answer. Right, because it takes up space and has
a shape of its own. What about for the picture of a steam coming out of a pot, what state of
matter is it? Allow time for students to answer. This would be a gas. Why do you think it is that
state of matter? Allow time for students to answer. Right because it takes up space but does not
have a shape of its own. What about for the picture of an ice cube, what state of matter is it?
Allow time for students to answer. This would be a solid. Why do you think it is that state of
matter? Allow time for students to answer. Right, because it takes up space and has a shape of
its own. Okay so for the picture of someone pushing out soap, what state of matter would the
soap be? Allow time for students to answer. This would be a liquid. Why do you think it is that
state of matter? Allow time for students to answer. Right because it takes up space but does not
have a shape because it takes up the shape of its container. What about for the picture of a
smoke coming out of a factory, what state of matter is it? Allow time for students to answer. This
would be a gas. Why do you think it is that state of matter? Allow time for students to answer.
Right because it takes up space but does not have a shape of its own. Okay so last one, for the

picture of water, what state of matter would this be? Allow time for students to answer. This
would be a liquid. Why do you think it is that state of matter? Allow time for students to answer.
Right because it takes up space but does not have a shape because it takes up the shape of its
container. Now lets talk about matter in regards to our snowman, we learned that certain
properties could change the state of matter. One property that does this is temperature. Can you
tell me what state of matter I started out with to make the snowman and what property helped
him turn into the state he is in now? Allow time for students to answer. Right, he started out as
liquid inside balloons and once I froze him, which is using the property of temperature, he
became a solid. What is happening to him now that he is in a warmer temperature in our
classroom? Allow time for students to answer. Right, he is starting to melt from a solid back into
a liquid because of the temperature in the classroom. We are going to keep an eye on our
snowman throughout the day to see how he changes and at the end of the day we are going to see
if your predictions came true!
Elaborate: When it is lunchtime, I will say. I am going to call your group up one at a time, I
want you to measure how much water is in the tub, write how much is in there on question
number four by after lunch and in the second column of your piece of white paper write
lunch at the top and draw a picture of what our snowman looks like now and write a sentence.
At the end of the day have the students gather on the carpet in their groups. Have the electric
skillet on. Ask, What two states of matter have we seen _____ in today? Allow time for students
to answer. Right, we have seen him in a solid state and he is melting and turning into a liquid
state. I want you to turn and talk to your group members about our friend and talk to them about
your predictions, while you do that I will call one group at a time to come up and measure the
water in the tub. You will record how much water is in there on question number four where it
says end of the day and you may feel our snowman and the water. Call up students and allow
them time to measure. Now lets look at question number five, it says to circle if your prediction
was either the same or was not the same as the outcome. I want you to look at what you
predicted above and then circle the corresponding answer. Where your predictions correct?
Allow time for students to answer. If we were to leave our snowman here over night what do you
think would happen? Allow time for students to answer. Youre exactly right he would melt and
he would then be in what state of matter? Allow time for students to answer. He would then be in
the complete state of liquid matter. We have seen our snowman in both a solid state and
somewhat in liquid state but we havent seen him in a gas state. So after reading our book about
matter what do you think will happen to _____ if we put him on this electric skillet? Allow time
for students to answer. Okay lets see what happens to our friend. I will carefully place the
snowman on the skillet, the students should be able to watch the snowman melt and see the
steam going up in the air. What state of matter is our friend in now? How do you know? Allow
time for students to answer. He is a gas. We have seen our friend in all three states of matter
todaysolid, liquid and gas. I want you to take you paper you have been drawing you snowman
on and on the last column write end of the day then draw a picture of what he looks like now
and write a sentence. Allow time for students to draw. Now I want you to go back to your seat
and answer question number six and seven at your table by yourself. Once you are done you may
turn it in to me.
Evaluate: I will assess my students informally by seeing how they categorize the states of
matter when exploring. They will be assessed during the explain phase when allowing them to

come up and change around any pictures. I will also assess them while asking them questions
about what they think will happen to the snowman. Students will be formally assessed based on
the answers they give to the final two questions on their worksheet. Students must achieve a one
hundred percent accuracy when answering question number seven or they will not be considered
meeting the objective.

To be completed after the lesson is taught (if applicable)

Assessment Results of All Objectives/Skills: There was not an overall assessment for this
lesson.
Reflection on Lesson: Reflection will be found on Weebly.
CT signature/confirmation: _________________________________ Date: ________________

Graded Elements

Developing (Level 1)

Acceptable (Level 2)

Exemplary (Level 3)

Initial Planning
Several required components are
missing. The components presented
do not align well with the lesson.

Most required components are present.

One or two may be missing, require more
detail, and/or not be completely aligned
with the lesson.

All required components are present and align with the

lesson.

(0-1 point)

(2 points)

(3 points)

One or more required components

are missing. The components
presented do not align well with the
lesson.

All required components are present. One

or two may not be completely aligned with
the lesson.

All required components are present and align with the

lesson.

(0-1 point)

(2 points)

(3 points)

Identification of academic
language demand (both
language function & vocab),
instructional objective, and
content knowledge

Several required components are

missing. The components presented
do not align well with the lesson.

Most required components are present.

One or two may be missing, require more
detail, and/or not be completely aligned
with the lesson.

All required components are present and align with the

lesson.

(0-1 point)

(2 points)

(3 points)

Identification of connections
to students lives, prior
knowledge, and
accommodations for special
needs

One or more required components

are missing. The components
presented do not align well with the
lesson.

All required components are present. One

or two may require more detail or not be
completely aligned with the lesson.

All required components are present and align with the

lesson.

(0-1 point)

(2 points)

(3 points)

Identification of central
focus, lesson subject, grade
level, materials, time, lesson
source, and safety

Identification of NC
Standards, NGSS, 4 Strands
and 21st Century Skills

Lesson Introduction

Engage

Engage stage states pre-skills rather

than using questions to gauge
readiness and generate curiosity.
Misses opportunity to motivate
students and help them make
connections to their lives and prior
knowledge.

Engage activity somewhat sets the stage

for attending to the lesson, but important
connections to students lives and/or prior
conceptions are missing.

(0-2 points)

(3-4 points)

Engage activity creates interest and generates curiosity in

the topic by connecting it to students lives. Identifies prior
conceptions to gauge readiness for the lesson. Clear
connections made to prior learning or knowledge. Provides
focus for the remainder of the lesson. Highly relevant and
compelling questions are present.

(5 points)

Lesson Development

Explore

Explain

Elaborate

Students are given a limited

opportunity to explore with materials
or phenomena. Not clear how the
exploration will provide a common
experience for students to build
conceptual knowledge and
communicate their ideas with others.

Students have the opportunity to get

directly involved with phenomena and
materials. They are provided with a
common experience so they can share
and communicate their ideas about the
core concepts addressed. Teacher
direction may drive instruction rather than
student inquiry.

Students have the opportunity to get directly involved with

phenomena and materials. Students are provided with a
common experience that assists them in sharing and
communicating their ideas about the core concepts
addressed. Student inquiry drives the instruction. Highly
relevant and compelling questions are present.

(0-2 points)

(3-4 points)

(5 points)

Explain stage does not introduce

students to common language, terms,
or vocabulary, and is entirely teacherdirected. No opportunities are given
for students to communicate their
ideas with others through writing,
drawing, or speaking, and/or the
product or activity does not relate to
stated objective(s).

Students have some opportunities to

explain concepts, but this process may be
primarily teacher-directed. There may not
be sufficient opportunities for students to
communicate with others to develop and
demonstrate their mastery of new
vocabulary or terms through writing,
drawing, and speaking.

Students are encouraged to explain concepts in their own

words based on what they did in the Explore phase.
Teacher introduces common language, terms, and
vocabulary and helps students build on their initial
explanations to construct more accurate and sophisticated
explanations. Some form of writing, drawing, or speaking is
used to assess students development, progress, and
growth with the new information presented. This stage is
predominantly student-led, with the teacher asking highly
relevant and compelling questions to guide the process.

(0-2 points)

(3-4 points)

(5 points)

Activities are unrelated to concepts

learned and/or do not facilitate deeper
understanding in students.

Activities provide some opportunity for

students to expand their understanding of
the concepts or to make connections with
related concepts.

Activities allow for students to elaborate on the concepts

learned, make connections to other related concepts, and
apply their understandings to the world around them.
Highly relevant and compelling questions are present.

(0-2 points)

(3-4 points)

(5 points)

Lesson Evaluation
Assessment is limited to one form in a
single stage and does not relate to
the objective(s).

Assessments gauge student learning of

the objective(s) but may not directly align
with the conditions or behaviors of the
objective(s). Only formative OR summative
assessments (not both) are used and are
not fully incorporated through all stages of
the lesson.

Candidate effectively proposes multiple strategies for

determining levels of mastery of lesson objective(s).
Assessments are clearly aligned with the objectives of the
lesson. Both formative and summative assessments are
seamlessly incorporated throughout all stages of the
lesson.

(0-2 points)

(3-4 points)

(5 points)

Evaluate

Additional Lesson Components

Alignment/structure of
lesson

Accurate science content

Communication of ideas

Lesson focuses on how to complete

an activity, rather than on developing
student understanding of content and
skills.

Lesson sequence is clear and time is

allowed for student questions and practice,
but important details regarding some
segments may be missing from the lesson.

Sequence and organization of lesson is effective, logical

and structured to increase student understanding. Lesson
sequence allows for student questions, practice and
success during each important segment.

Several key activities do not align to

the objective(s) and standards.

Most activities align to the objective(s) and

standards.

All activities align to the objective(s) and standards.

(0-1 point)

(2 points)

(3 points)

Science content is not accurate.

Science content is accurate in most of the

lesson plan.

Science content is accurate throughout the entire lesson.

(0 point)

(1 point)

(2 points)

The plan is difficult to read or hard to

follow because of excessive
mechanical (spelling, grammar)
errors.

Ideas are communicated somewhat

clearly, with some mechanical (spelling,
grammar) errors found.

Ideas are communicated clearly, with no mechanical

(spelling, grammar) errors found in the lesson plan.

(0-1 point)

(2 points)

(3 points)