North Park Lesson Plan 2

North Park University

School of Education Lesson Plan Template

Name: Tyler Rose

School/Class/Grade:  Evergreen Academy Middle School/ Science Standards/ 7th

Content Area: Earth Science 

Date: 2/23/2023

A.  Central Focus:  

 Students continue to investigate where the magma and sediment that formed the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains came from. They receive information that the magma that formed the Rocky Mountains cooled underground, leading students to explore how rock formations can move between the surface and Earth’s interior. Using the Active Reading approach, students read “The Oldest Rock Formations on Earth,” an article that tells the story of one of the oldest rock formations on Earth. The article introduces the concept that plate motion affects rock formations; uplift brings rock up toward the surface of Earth. Subduction moves rock down below the surface. The article tells the story of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt—how the rock formation formed and what has allowed it to stay intact for so long. The purpose of this lesson is to provide an opportunity for students to see an example of how plate motion can move rock formations.

B.  Learning Objectives

Students ask questions and obtain information as they read an article that describes the very slow process of uplift and weathering that exposed a formation of metamorphic rock that has remained stable for billions of years (stability and change; scale, proportion, and quantity).

1.     The student will be able to ask questions and obtain information by reading an article on uplift and weathering pertaining to metamorphic rocks

2.     The student will be able to answer certain questions found in a text by reading and taking notes during the reading, along with annotating.

3.     The student will be able to focus on the reading by making a plan to read and annotate for 5 minute increments with built in rests that last for 1 minute each. 

C.  Standards

1. ESS2.A: Earth’s Materials and Systems:

All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among the planet’s systems. This energy is derived from the sun and Earth’s hot interior. The energy that flows and matter that cycles produce chemical and physical changes in Earth’s materials and living organisms. (MS-ESS2-1)

2. ESS2.A: Earth’s Materials and Systems:

The planet’s systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global in size, and they operate over fractions of a second to billions of years. These interactions have shaped Earth’s history and will determine its future. (MS-ESS2-2)

3. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.

4. SEL 1C.3a Set a short term goal and make a plan for achieving it

D.  Assessments

Students will fill out a 5 question written response to the material that they read. Using words learned during the reading to accurately describe the concepts they learned. A successful assessment will look like they used concepts and vocabulary pertaining to the lesson, along with being able to ask questions to what the next step in the process will look like.

E.  Instruction and Learning – Opening

Students learn new information about the Rocky Mountains and consider what this means. This information provides motivation to learn how rock formations can move from underground to the surface.

F.  Instruction and Learning - Learning Experiences (During)

 Students read to learn about how uplift affects rock formations using the example of one of the oldest rock formations on Earth. The teacher uses this opportunity as an On-the-Fly Assessment of students’ progress in engaging with scientific texts and asking deeper questions.

Students discuss their thinking about the reading in order to share important insights and surface alternate conceptions. Students’ annotations provide an opportunity for an On-the-Fly Assessment of annotation skills, reading comprehension, and content understanding.

SEL: Students will write a timesheet outlining their plan for reading and break times.

G.  Instruction and Learning – Closure

 Students use the Plate Motion Simulation to explore plate motion and generate ideas about how plate motion can cause rock formations to move.Students will answer the 5 questions on the assessment sheet to expand upon their previous knowledge. Students will have homework to complete any plate motion assignments. Students can use this information to develop a deeper understanding of the rock transformation and where they have weakness in their current understanding.

H.  Support for Diverse Learners

 Extended modeling of Active Reading with a small group of English learners can help them surface their questions and confusions about the text within a supportive environment. Identify an idea you now understand more clearly, as well as an unfamiliar or confusing word or phrase. When you come to the end of the section you are reading with students, model creating a summary at the end of that section. Have students help you figure out what to say in the summary. Encourage students to use these strategies as they read and provide time for them to try them out on their own. After reading, you can provide additional time for the class or the smaller group you met with to share and discuss parts of the text that they found confusing.

Resources include a glossary in the Digital Resources of each lesson, which includes definitions in Spanish for primary Spanish speakers. The glossary can be especially helpful during lessons in which students are reading. If you have English learners in your class whose primary language is Spanish, point out this glossary, and advise them to use this resource as needed during the lesson.

Establishing expectations for Active Reading and building enthusiasm and excitement around this practice might take time. Students might make a strong effort to read and annotate, but run out of time before they are able to finish the first few paragraphs of the article. It is important that students who struggle or who are intimidated by reading have a strategy for feeling successful as they read, even if they do not finish the entire text. Suggest the goal of recording at least one question about the text and completing one summary. Offer to help these students with summarizing if writing a summary seems too difficult. 

I.  Instructional Resources and Materials

Needed by the teacher:   

vocabulary card: metamorphic rock

masking tape*

Needed by the student:    

 printed copy of “The Oldest Rock Formations On Earth” article*

Transformations Investigation Notebook, pages 69–72*

Chromebooks

‪States of Matter: Basics‬ - PhET