Who: First Grade ESL and native English speakers, early intermediate proficiency level

Subject: Science
Lesson Title: The Four Seasons
Students Background Knowledge: This is a one day introduction lesson teaching the different characteristics of the
four seasons. This lesson could be extended into a several day or week long lesson depending on the depth and detail
covered. In this case, students are familiar with basic seasons vocabulary terms such as weather, snow, and rain
as covered in previous grades, however this is the first introduction to seasons lesson plan they have ever seen.
In the Future: Subsequent lessons would go further in depth and teach concepts about the causes of the changing
seasons such as earths rotation and evolution around the sun as well as gravitational pull and concentrated sun
emissions focusing more on earth science.
Language Objectives: Students will be able to read, write out, aurally recognize, and orally state the names of the 4
seasons. They will be able to aurally identify and read the descriptions and/or definitions of each season and match
corresponding vocabulary as well as recognize pictures of the named season.
Content Objectives: Students will be able to name and put in order the various phases of the changing seasons,
naming associated aspects along with way. Students will be able to recognize, match, and spell seasons as well as
make connections between differences in humans as well as nature when the seasons change.
New Vocabulary Terms:

Spring- The season following winter where flowers begin to bloom and nature becomes green again due to
heavy rain. Warmer weather emerges which melts the winter snow, frozen bodies of water melt and animals
that have been in hibernation emerge.

Summer The season following spring where the weather is sunny and hot, reaching the highest
temperatures of any season.
Fall The season following summer where temperatures cool. Nature becomes less apparent, leaves turn
brown; animals begin to gather food supply for the upcoming winter. Cooler air, wind, and clouds are
associated with this season.
Winter The season following fall where temperatures reach their lowest point, animals go into hibernation,
and snow is apparent.
Hibernation When animals go into hiding over the winter months to survive the harsh weather.
Months of the Year- January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October,
November, December

Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, and writing about the 4 seasons

Supplementary Materials: seasons centers with associated setting and weather surroundings as well as
supplemental season attire, seasons worksheets, calendar, seasons and activities board games and associated tokens,
Cloze worksheet, CD players and associated songs to accompany season centers.
SIOP Features:

Lesson Preparation teacher would prepare vocabulary, materials, activities; content and language
objectives clearly stated, adaptation of content to ESL students by starting with the basic differences in
seasons and repeating them throughout the lesson; meaningful activities that teach the concepts, appeal to a
variety of learning styles, and are engaging and fun.

Building Background links made between past learning about the four seasons and their common weather
and characteristics, vocabulary emphasized and repeated throughout the lesson.

Comprehensible Input speech appropriate, clear explanations, make content concepts clear through
modeling by teacher, using body movements in centers activities, visuals (calendar, centers, worksheets).

Interaction interaction between teacher and students as well as student interaction during group activities
and teacher clarification of key concepts through repetition.

Strategies scaffolding techniques by teacher-led group discussion using calendar, students given an
assigned season center where they complete the rest of assigned tasks, students demonstrate what they
learned through seasons cloze quiz. Finally, concepts are reviewed and solidified with seasons and activities
board game.

Meaningful Activities- calendar review, seasons centers with associated settings and attire, seasons and
activities board game, cloze review
45 Minute Lesson breakdown:
Part 1 - (10 minutes): Calendar Review

Teacher leads circle time warm up review of calendar and months.

Begins by asking students what day it is today and what the weather is like outside.

When students name the days date, talk about the weather associated with this date, and lead into discussion
about current season

Continue discussion on seasons by discussing months in sequence as well as weather in those months. Talk
about associated season. Repeat names of seasons and write them down on the board as discussed.

Individually hand each student a photo of a season without its name. Each student will independently identify
their pictures season and locate that seasons associated center (4 corners of the room, each decorated as
spring, summer, fall, or winter). Four to five students will be in each group.

Part 2 - (10 minutes): Seasons Centers Group Work (half circle shaped tables) meaningful and task-based
activity

Each center will have a CD player and associated CD to play. Winter will have Let it Snow, spring/summer
will have Here comes the Sun etc.
Let students explore their centers together for approximately 30 seconds. Centers will be decorated with items
associated with each season (ring classroom bell or clap hands to get students attention after exploration)
o Spring-cover in greenery and flowers
o Summer- Have large sun be the focal point, include flowers and grass, summer items such as empty
sunscreen bottles and water bottles
o Fall- cover in autumn leaves and clouds
o Winter- cut out snowflakes and white clouds, snow shovels, winter hats and gloves
At each center, have the four seasons writing worksheets as well as the four seasonswhen do?
worksheets in a pile on the table.
Instruct two students to complete one of the named worksheets and other students to complete the opposite
worksheet. Pair and share after completion.

Part 3 - (15 minutes): Seasons and Activities Board Game

After completion of centers worksheets, have students find a partner and play the seasons board game.
Provide different colored tokens or pennies/dimes as board markers

Part 4 - (10 minutes): Review Cloze quiz and Wrap-Up

Once students finish board game, have them return to their desks and administer Cloze quiz review
o Do not grade as a quiz, just use to assess students knowledge

Part 5- If there is time leftover

Fly Swatter game!

o
o
o
o

Write new vocabulary terms on the board

Have students line up in two lines, one fly swatter at the beginning of each line
Describe a given scenario (this season is very cold and there is snowfall on the ground)
When the student recognizes the vocabulary term, they swat the correct

Lesson Rationale

Based on what we have covered in class over the SIOP model for teaching ESL learners, I wanted my lesson
plan to reflect characteristics of the SIOP model including activities, objectives, and students needs.

I chose the objectives I did for my lesson because I felt that it covered a wide range of important aspects which need to
be covered in L2 learning. These topics include how students will be able to read, write out, aurally recognize, and orally
state concepts and vocabulary associated with the lesson. They will be able to aurally identify and read the descriptions
and/or definitions of each lesson topic and match corresponding vocabulary as well as recognize pictures of the named
topic.
My content objectives were quite similar in relation to being able to apply learned materials from the lesson. What
motivated my choice of activities was the hands-on and total physical response aspect of the lesson as well as
discussion based learning versus closed ended, less meaningful tasks. My activities met my lesson objectives because
the activities are associated with listening, speaking, writing, and applying the knowledge of the topics covered as
discussed in detail throughout the lesson plan. I organized my lesson in what I thought would be the most logical,
helpful and prepared way for students to get the most out of this lesson. I begin the day as any other normal day while
going over the calendar and weather and then casually transitioning to the topic of seasons which is the reason for the
changing weather. By then giving each student a picture scene to identify as Summer, Spring, Fall, or Winter they split
off into separate centers to complete their more academic curriculum based activities such as the worksheets provided
in my presentation which cover the reading and writing aspects of my objectives. I then wanted to conclude the lesson
with a wrap up activity which is engaging and solidifies the students newly learned course material. An additional aspect
of my lesson plan that I chose to include at my seasons centers was the season specific music playing at each
appropriate station which I adapted through the audio-lingual learning method. I chose all of these materials based off of
age and grade appropriate lesson plan ideas as well as referring to the lesson planning article as well as assessment
development articles covered in class. I grouped students for my activities according to our classroom season centers
which would have four to five students at each center. I thought this would be the best layout for my students
considering it is a combination of L1 and L2 speakers which could facilitate student-student teaching and interaction as
a small group with specific focus. The ways in which a teacher could assess the students learning through this lesson
plan included the cloze test presented following the seasons reading and writing worksheets as well as the game at the
end of class which covers the vocabulary terms used in the lesson. My knowledge of language learning and teaching
influenced my choices for this lesson based off of the course readings as I mentioned earlier as well as the SIOP model
videos we viewed in class, specifically Barb Formosos lesson plan which focused on lesson planning and objectives as
well as Angie Aldrichs lesson which was helpful in planning meaningful activities and assessments. Through the articles
covered in class as well as the SIOP model videos, I was able to obtain helpful information surrounding the topics of
language learning which will guide my decisions as a future educator.

Four Seasons

leaves change color

kids make sandcastles

tulips bloom

people wear gloves

people go swimming

kids start school

kids have snowball fights

acorns fall to the ground

people eat watermelon

farmers plant crops

farmers harvest crops

The Four Seasons

Practice writing the names of the seasons.

Write the name of the season under each picture.

Name: _____________

Seasons
There are four seasons. The first month of the year, _________, is in winter.
Mindy likes winter because she can go __________ with her friends. On the
__________ they play outside in the _______.
Mindys mom, Lisa, likes ________ because thats when flowers and ______
start to grow and bloom. Lisa loves planting colorful ____________. Mindys

dad, John, likes to plant ______________ for them to eat. Lisa and John work
in the garden ___________.
Mindys brother, Tommy, likes summer because there is a ____________
vacation. He goes to the ________ and swims with his friends. They play
_________ at the playground every day.

They all love

because thats when football season is.

spring

flowers

games

January

together

school

skiing

vegetables

fall

snow

weekends

trees

pool

My Teaching Philosophy
As a special education teacher specializing in Language Arts and learning disabilities with a minor in teaching English as a
second language, I hope to exhibit a curiosity and passion for teaching that can be clearly seen by my students as I express
my passion for learning in the classroom. As a pupil in elementary and middle school, I was never a huge fan of school, but
I specifically remember those few teachers that made a difference in my learning and made school that much more
engaging, meaningful, and enjoyable for me. As a future teacher, I hope to instill that same excitement in my students as my
previous favorite teachers did. What I want to be able to do is make school a safe, engaging, and enjoyable learning
environment for my students. If I can do that, I will feel confident that Im making a difference in my students lives. By
assessing where my learners are with their comprehension in a target subject, I hope to create a plan that benefits my
students struggling areas as well as further my experiences and knowledge as a teacher. From personal experience, I
believe it is vital to include each student in all lesson activities and assessments with adjustments as necessary. I strive to
have an open classroom while focusing my teaching strategies on group discussion as well as meaningful curriculum which
my students will walk away from knowing they have gained knowledge in a subject area. Encouraging exploration and
curiosity in my classroom has always been a strong point in my teaching career. By allowing students to ask questions
without feeling ostracized will reinforce their desire to learn and solidify as well as review important course concepts in a way
that benefits the class as a whole. I will create a supportive literacy environment for my students by providing a range and
selection of curriculum materials, as well as make myself available and flexible if and whenever help is needed. My goals
and expectations of myself are to put my best efforts into creating a positive classroom environment in order for my students
to enjoy the time they spend in it as well as approach each school year with a positive attitude and an open door policy. I
want my students to know I am a supporter of their learning and I hope to see each and every student progress and achieve
beyond their own expectations.