ALEX Lesson Plan Resources

ALEX Lesson Plans  
Subject: English Language Arts (3), or Science (3)
Title: Exploring Nonfiction Texts to Determine How Climate Impacts Different Weather Phenomenon
Description: The lesson will begin with students accessing their prior knowledge of weather and climates by completing a warm-up writing prompt. Students will then move to reading texts on the subjects of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and droughts to determine if and how climate affects these weather phenomena. In groups, students will create a half-poster that describes their findings in text and pictures. At the end of the lesson, students will view a graph to extend their learning about tornadoes and hint at a future lesson while also completing an "exit ticket" as a means of summative assessment.  This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Subject: Digital Literacy and Computer Science (3), or Mathematics (3), or Science (3)
Title: Is My State at Risk for a Tornado?
Description: This is a third-grade math lesson on the topic of tornadoes and natural disasters. Students will enter data from an internet search on the number of tornadoes occurring in each state into a spreadsheet. Students will analyze and determine which states are the most active in tornado occurrences and create bar graphs and a scaled picture graph from the data collected.  This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Subject: Mathematics (3), or Science (3)
Title: Climate Trackers
Description: In this lesson, the students will use the technology resource Mission:Biomes to research and gather data for precipitation and temperatures for assigned biomes.  The students will use the data to create a bar graph to display climate data for each biome.   This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.