First Grade EIC Unit 2! Wild Weather! Second Trimester!

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Focus Lesson: Floods! Essential Question: What natural systems cause a ood and how are social systems impacted ! by ooding?! Learning Objectives: ! Students will identify the characteristics of a ood and dene natural systems that cause oods.! Students will make observations and draw conclusions to explain how oods impact social systems.! PDE Academic Standards: ! Science 3.1: Know models as useful simplications of processes, illustrate patterns that regularly occur and reoccur in nature, recognize change in natural and physical systems and identify and describe what parts make up a system.! Earth Science 3.5: Know basic weather elements.! Inquiry and Design 3.2: Identify and use scientic knowledge, describe objects using 5 senses and recognize and use scientic inquiry to solve problems.! Learning to Read Independently 1.3 Demonstrate understanding of nonction, connect new information to know information, summarize major ideas and acquire reading vocabulary. Read and understand essential content of informational texts and documents.! Social Studies 7.4: Interaction Between People and Places! Identify the impacts of natural systems on people.!

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Materials: text: Wild Weather Floods, 20x40x6 rubbermaid tote, sand, 5 gallon buckets, water, rocks, house, buildings, bridge replicas, match box cars, toy animals, toy trees.! Lesson Outline:! 1.Engagement:Utilizing 2-3 illustrations from the text, Wild Weather Floods, students will participate in an opening discussion about oods, sharing observations and prior knowledge and experiences. (connect to Hurricane Sandy experiences)! 2. Read aloud the text, Wild Weather Floods and discuss key ideas throughout; track key words by listing on whiteboard as we continue to read text. ! 3. After reading book, students will create a semantic map that denes the characteristics of a ood, the causes of oods and the social impacts of oods. ! 4. Inquiry Investigation: students will participate in a simulation activity of building a town in the oodplain and experience the effects of ooding on their social system. (Students discover that building too close to a beautiful river not only impacts their town negatively after a ood, but also negatively impacts the natural systems as well.)After activity, have students explain what changes could be made to the town to avoid devastation of their town by ooding.!

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Assessment:! Students will complete a written explanation and illustration to describe the characteristics of a ood and identify different causes of ooding. ! Extension: ! Students will apply their knowledge of oodplains and impact on social systems to recreate a town safe from oods in a simulation during independent science center !