edTPA Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan

Day and Night

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Central Focus/Big Idea: Day and Night
Subject of this lesson: The Causes of Day and Night
Grade Level: 4th
NC Essential Standard(s): 4.E.1 Explain the causes of day and night and phases of the moon.
Clarifying Objective: 4.E.1.1 Explain the cause of day and night based on the rotation of
Earth on its axis.
Next Generation Science Standard(s): 5-ESS1-2: Earth and the Solar System
The orbits of Earth around the sun and of the moon around Earth, together with the rotation of Earth
about an axis between its North and South poles, cause observable patterns. These include day and
night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and different positions of the sun, moon, and
stars at different times of the day, month, and year.
21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: 4th grade: OUTCOME: Students construct
their own scientific understanding and develop their scientific process skills by asking scientific
questions, designing and conducting investigations, constructing explanations, from their observations,
and discussing their explanations with others. Students complete this assignment by exploring and
investigating the causes of day and night and construct their own explanations in their projects.
Communication: 4th grade: OUTCOME: Students prepare and interpret a variety of methods for
demonstrating understanding and explaining the results of investigations including charts and graphs,
diagrams and illustrations, photographic images, and informal and procedural texts. Students are
responsible for teaching other 4th grade students and creating a lesson plan about day and night.
Academic Language Demand
Language Function: Students are required to teach and explain the cause of day and night by
creating a lesson plan and assessment, hypothetically teach to other 4th grade students. It is
important for the students to understand the content before explaining it to other students.
Analyze

Argue

Categorize

Interpret

Predict

Question

Compare/contra
st
Retell

Scientific Vocabulary: Day and night, axis, rotation

Describe
Summarize

Explain

Instructional Objective: The students will be able to identify the causes of day and night and be able to
explain the process using specific detail. The students will be able to complete the PBL with a given
rubric receiving a score of at least 10 out of the 12 points maximum points.
Prior Knowledge (student): The students should know and understand how to complete a KWL chart
and know basic information about space or the causes of day and night. The students should have a
good understanding of how to research a topic. The students should be familiar with how to use
PowerPoint.
Content Knowledge (teacher): The teacher should have already previewed the videos and websites that
are provided for the students to look at throughout the project. The teacher should also know specific
details about the causes of night and day and should know why we have night and day. The teacher
should know the expectations he/she wants to hold the students to before asking them to complete the
project (the rubric). The teacher should know what questions to ask students to activate knowledge and
facilitate discussion during activity.
Accommodations for special needs: I would make sure that students with visual or auditory disabilities
were close to the front of the room to be able to hear instruction and watch video, and or listen to
instructions. For ELLs, if additional instruction is needed to understand assignment, directions would be
shortened and the activity would be modeled. Students, in this particular activity, can refer to their
peers/teacher for help if there is a lack of understanding. If a student is unable to work or collaborate
with other peers, the teacher would provide assistance to them while completing the assignment.
Materials and Technology requirements:
Smartboard/ Projector
Video (https://museumvictoria.com.au/education/learning-lab/little-science/day-and-night/ included in
PowerPoint).

Suggested Websites (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWkKSkI3gkU,

http://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/day-and-night)
Chrome books (1 per student)
Rubrics (1 per group)
Brainstorming sheet (1 per group)
Pen/ Pencils
PowerPoint to show students
Science Journals (individual notebooks; 1 per student)

Total Estimated Time: about 3 or 4 class periods (roughly 1 hour 30 minutes each class)
Source of lesson: Planning guide for Patriots STEM fourth grade teachers
Safety considerations: When researching on Google, the students are not allowed to scroll once they
have typed something in the URL. They must stay on the first page only.

Content and Strategies (Procedure)

Engage: Start the lesson by asking the students if they have experienced anything science related over
the past couple of days outside of school. This gets students in the mindset of thinking about science.
Facilitate discussion and ask questions to further explore the answers the students give. Introduce to the
students that they will be completing a project over the next couple of days about the causes of day and
night. Before beginning instruction, ask the students to open up their science journals and turn to their
standards page:
Do you see any standards that we have previously learned in class?
If so, and you feel like a master of that topic, cross it out.
Do you see the standard for day and night that we are going to master next?
Can someone read that standard aloud to the class?
Explain to students that by the end of the unit that they will be able to explain the cause of day and night
based on the rotation of Earth on its axis.
To activate prior knowledge, students will make a KWL chart (slide on PowerPoint) with anything they
know about space. This can include the Earth, sun, moon, day, night, planets, etc. Ask the students the
following questions:

What do you already know about space? Fill in the K section of the chart.
What do you want to know about space? Fill in the W section of the chart.
Can you fill out the L section of your KWL yet? Why not?

After students have filled out the K and W section of their charts, ask the students to share what they
wrote. Facilitate discussion without leading the discussion; should be student led.
Explore: Once the students have completed their KWL charts, they will be presented a PowerPoint. On
that PowerPoint the students will first be asked what they may know about the causes of day and night
and then shown a video explaining why we have day and night
(https://museumvictoria.com.au/education/learning-lab/little-science/day-and-night/). Encourage the
students to contemplate the following questions while watching the video:

Does the Earth move? Rotate? Spin?

Does the Sun move? Rotate? Spin?
How much of the Earth is covered by the sun at any given time?
What causes night and day?

After the video, gather students for a large group discussion about the concepts they just discovered.
Discuss the questions you asked them to contemplate before watching the video. After completion of
the discussion, explain/show PowerPoint slides to the students that they will complete a PBL (project
based learning) where they have to teach the causes of day and night to another 4th grade class at another
school (hypothetically). The students are required to brainstorm four ways they like to learn, write an

objective statement, create the assignments to teach the students, create an assessment to assess what the
students have learned, and create at least a four slide PowerPoint presenting their lesson plan to their
peers. The students will be given a rubric, which lists these expectations and requirements. The
students may work with partners for this project, and may choose their partners wisely. The students
also have the choice of working alone to complete the project.
To begin the project, students will first brainstorm a list of ways they like to learn and write a paragraph
stating the objective of their lesson. Once checked by the teacher, the students will then individually
and/or with their partners begin to work on their Chrome books to research the causes of day and night.
The students will be given a couple of websites they can look at to get them started researching.
Explanation: After exploring and learning about the cause of day and night from investigating and
researching, students will collaborate with their partners and come up with assignments for their lesson
plans. The assignment must work towards the students learning the objective of the lesson. The teacher
will walk around and ask the following guiding questions:

How do you and your partner learn the best?

Do you think you should teach your lesson that way? Why or why not?
Do you feel confident explaining day and night to me? Tell me about something you know.
How are you going to present information for the causes of day and night?

The answers to the questions above will vary depending on the students preferences. Walk around and
ask the students the following questions to check for understanding and clarification:

Does the sun move or does the earth move?

How much of the world is covered by the sun at all times?
Does the earth rotate?
What is the Earths axis?
So what exactly causes day and night?

The students, after completing the assignments for students they will be teaching, will come up with
an assessment. The assessment will be used to test the students they will be teaching on content that
was learned. The assessment must work towards the students learning the objective of the lesson. The
students can either make up the assessment or find one online (if use on online, must cite source).
Monitor the students progress on the project at all times. Have checkpoints during the project for the
students to check with the teacher to make sure all work is being completed correctly.
Elaborate: After the completion of brainstorming, writing an objective, and creating assignments and
assessments, the students will then make a power point to present to their fellow classmates and teacher
about how they would teach their lesson. The students will use the information they collected to make a
lesson plan, and present it in at least a four slide PowerPoint. The teacher will pose the following
questions for the students to consider when making each slide:

How will you introduce/engage the students in the topic?

How will you teach students about day and night?
What assignments will you do with the students?

How will you assess the students?

After completing their PowerPoint including all their information on it, the students will get it checked
by the teacher. After the teacher has checked their work, they may share it with the teacher via Google
share. When all groups are finished, they will take turns sharing their lesson plans with the class and
will be graded using guidelines on the rubric. While waiting for all groups to finish, the students will fill
out the L section of their KWL with things they learned.
Evaluate:
Formative Evaluation:
The questions the teacher asked throughout the lesson and the observations they made while walking
around the classroom during the completion of activities. The students will also complete the L part of
their KWL chart and will be checked by the teacher.
Summative Evaluation:
To check for understanding, the students will be given a rubric for the PBL. The students will be asked
to follow the rubric for all parts of the assignment. The maximum points a student can get is 12/12, and
the minimum is 4/12. The rubric is as follows:

To be completed after the lesson is taught as appropriate

Assessment Results of all objectives/skills: There were 10 groups completing the project, 2 people in
each group. There were 7 groups who met the objective which meant the received at least 10 out of the
12 points given the requirements on the rubric provided. The remaining 3 groups lost points for either

not being clear when explaining their assignments and assessments, or had less than 4 slides when
presenting to the class how they would teach.
Reflection on lesson: See Weebly under lesson plan reflection
CT signature/confirmation: Savannah Parrish Date: 3/17/16