ALEX Lesson Plan

     

The Changing Sun

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  This lesson provided by:  
Author:Kelsey Luce
System: Albertville City
School: Albertville Primary School
And
Author:Angela Lynn
System: Jasper City
School: Memorial Park Elementary School
The event this resource created for:NASA
  General Lesson Information  
Lesson Plan ID: 34192

Title:

The Changing Sun

Overview/Annotation:

Students will observe the changes of the sun over the course of a day and then over a 4 month period. Students will document these changes and then graph them. Finally, students will see the relationship between the patterns of the sun and the effect the pattern has on our daily lives. 

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.

 Associated Standards and Objectives 
Content Standard(s):
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 1
9 ) Observe seasonal patterns of sunrise and sunset to describe the relationship between the number of hours of daylight and the time of year (e.g., more hours of daylight during summer as compared to winter).


NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.1: Objects in the sky have patterns of movement. The Sun, for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. The Moon appears to move across the sky on a daily basis much like the Sun.

NAEP Statement::
E4.2: The observable shape of the Moon changes from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month.

NAEP Statement::
E4.8: Weather changes from day to day and during the seasons.

NAEP Statement::
E4.9: Scientists use tools for observing, recording, and predicting weather changes from day to day and during the seasons.


Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Planning and Carrying out Investigations
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Place in the Universe
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Make observations, firsthand or from media, to collect data and use it to describe the relationship between the number of hours of daylight and the time of the year.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • observe
  • seasonal
  • patterns
  • sunrise
  • sunset
  • describes
  • relationship
  • hours
  • daylight
  • year
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • There is a relationship between the relative length of the day and the season of the year.
Skills:
Students are able to:
    Understanding:
    Students understand that:
    • Seasonal patterns of sunrise and sunset can be observed, described and predicted.
    AMSTI Resources:
    AMSTI Module:
    Sound and Light, Foss
    Sundial, GLOBE
    Sky, Delta

    Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
    AAS Standard:
    SCI.AAS.1.9- Identify the four seasons of the year in Alabama using common representations.


    Mathematics
    MA2019 (2019)
    Grade: 1
    16. Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories.

    a. Ask and answer questions about the total number of data points in organized data.

    b. Summarize data on Venn diagrams, pictographs, and "yes-no" charts using real objects, symbolic representations, or pictorial representations.

    c. Determine "how many" in each category using up to three categories of data.

    d. Determine "how many more" or "how many less" are in one category than in another using data organized into two or three categories.
    Unpacked Content
    Evidence Of Student Attainment:
    Students:
    • will create a table or chart to organize and represent data with up to three categories using physical objects, tally mark graphs, pictographs, Venn diagrams, yes/no charts, or bar graphs.
    • analyze and interpret the data verbally and in writing by asking and answering questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, or how many more or less are in one category than in another.
    • use measurement vocabulary such as most, least, more than, less than, and similar comparison words.
    Teacher Vocabulary:
    • Tally mark graphs
    • Pictographs
    • Venn diagrams
    • Yes/no charts
    • Bar graphs
    Knowledge:
    Students know:
    • objects can be grouped into categories based on like characteristics.
    • they can gain information from graphs.
    Skills:
    Students are able to:
    • create, analyze, and interpret data.
    Understanding:
    Students understand that:
    • questions concerning mathematical contexts can be answered by collecting and organizing data.
    Diverse Learning Needs:
    Essential Skills:
    Learning Objectives:
    M.1.16.1: Define more and less.
    M.1.16.2: Describe methods for representing data.
    Examples: pictographs, tally charts, bar graphs, and Venn Diagrams.
    M.1.16.3: Locate information on data displays.
    M.1.16.4: Classify objects into given categories; count the number of objects in each category, and sort the categories by count.
    M.1.16.5: Recognize different types of data displays.

    Prior Knowledge Skills:
    • Identify more and less when given two groups of objects.
    • Identify object attributes.
      Examples: color, shape, size, texture, use.
    • Count objects up to ten.
    • Count to 10 by ones.
    • Understand a different types of graphs (ex. Venn diagram, bar graphs and pictograph).
    • Identify more and less when given two groups of objects of 10 or fewer.
    • Count objects up to 10.
    • Count to 10 by ones.
    • Understand categories.
    • Identify object attributes.
      Examples: color, shape, size, texture, purpose.
    • Count to 1-20.
    • Mimic counting by ones.
    • Recognize numerals from 0-20.
    • Understand the concept of amount.
    • Pair the number of objects counted with "how many?"
    • Understand that the last number name tells the number of objects counted.
    • Pair a group of objects with a number representing the total number of objects in the group (up to ten objects).

    Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
    AAS Standard:
    M.AAS.1.16 Sort objects or pictures into common categories (e.g., shapes, pets, fruits; limited to two categories and a combined total of 15 objects/pictures for the categories).


    Mathematics
    MA2019 (2019)
    Grade: 1
    19. Tell and write time to the hours and half hours using analog and digital clocks.
    Unpacked Content
    Evidence Of Student Attainment:
    Students:
    • tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.
    Teacher Vocabulary:
    • Analog
    • Digital
    Knowledge:
    Students know:
    • how to tell time to the hour and half hour using analog and digital clocks.
    • how to tell time to the hour and half hour using analog and digitial clocks.
    Skills:
    Students are able to:
    • accurately read and write time to the hour and half hour from analog and digital clocks.
    Understanding:
    Students understand that:
    • analog and digital clocks represent the time at any particular moment and show the passage of time with the movement of the hands or the changing of the digits.
    Diverse Learning Needs:
    Essential Skills:
    Learning Objectives:
    M.1.19.1: Describe the short hand as the hour hand and the long hand as the minute hand on an analog clock.
    M.1.19.2: Describe the first number as the hour, and the numbers after the colon as the minutes on a digital clock.
    M.1.19.3: Count to 30 by fives.
    M.1.19.4: Recognize numbers 1 to 12, and 30.
    M.1.19.5: Trace numerals 1 to 12, and 30.
    M.1.19.6: Associate digital and analog clocks with the measurement of time.

    Prior Knowledge Skills:
    • Identify numbers 1 to 12.
    • Count by 5s.
    • Identify activities on a daily schedule that come before, next, after other activities.
    • Know before, next and after.
    • Use a daily schedule containing times (in hours) and activities (in pictures).
    • Tell time in hours on an analog clock.
    • Demonstrate an understanding of yesterday, today, tomorrow, morning, afternoon, day, and night.
    • Recognize yesterday, today, tomorrow.
    • Recognize morning, afternoon, evening/night.
    • Recognize day and night.
    • Understand the concept of time.

    Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
    AAS Standard:
    M.AAS.1.19 Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of time using words such as yesterday, today, tomorrow, morning, afternoon, day, and night; identify activities that come before, next, and after on a daily schedule using a clock limited to time in hours.


    Local/National Standards:

     

    Primary Learning Objective(s):

    At the end of the lesson, students will be able to answer the following questions:

    How does the position of the sun change throughout the day and year?

    How does the length of the day change as the year goes on?

    Additional Learning Objective(s):

    The students will be able to practice their use of telling time to the hour and half hour. 

    The students will be able to graph their findings as observed over the time period. 

     Preparation Information 

    Total Duration:

    Greater than 120 Minutes

    Materials and Resources:

    Paper

    Chalk

    Pencils

    Pens

    Handout 1

    Access to a Sunny Sidewalk 

    Chart Paper (to use for graphing sunset and sunrise time)

    Crayons 

    Whiteboard

    Technology Resources Needed:

    Computer

    Document Camera

    Internet Access

    Projector

    Background/Preparation:

    -Knowledge of the patterns of the sun

    -Basic computer skills (including but not limited to knowledge of a processing software, presentation manufacturing software, etc., working knowledge of how to search using the internet). 

    -Pre-made chart of sunset and sunrise times of two different days of the year in two different seasons. Teacher may include a picture of the season of each of the days that are charted. An example has been included as "Teacher Chart Example". 

      Procedures/Activities: 

    Day 1:

    Pairs of students will go outside to a sunny area. Partner 1 will stand on sidewalk while partner 2 traces his or her shadow. Then they will switch and repeat the steps.

    Students will be given handout 1. They will go back outside in 4 hours and record how their shadow has moved by coloring in how far their shadow is over their shape, and the time that they recorded it. The teacher may guide this and tell the students what time they should put next to their shadow. 

    The teacher will discuss sunrise and sunset with the whole group. During the discussion, the teacher will highlight the differences in time during the seasons using their remade chart. 

    The teacher will create a graph and record the time of sunrise that day.

    Days 2-8

    The class will repeat the previous steps once a week every two weeks for the next month. Make sure to do it at the same two times during the day. Be sure to have students make a new chart of their own shadow changes using "Handout 1". Help students keep these in a folder for comparison at a later date. 

    The teacher will continue to document the time of sunrise each day.

    Each time they will discuss how the time of sunrise effects the movement of their shadow.

    Last Day:

    Students will view the completed chart that the teacher has created and compare it to their completed handouts from the previous activities that have already been completed. The teacher should be sure to point out the relationship between their changing shadows (housed in their folders) and the sunrise times. 


      Assessment  

    Assessment Strategies

    Informal Assessments (teacher observation, in class questioning such as "What happened to the shadow?" or "What direction is the sun moving?")

    After the progression has become evident to students (i.e. the students are able to identify that the sun is moving and what direction it is moving in), use the file loaded as "Assessment 1". Directions and an answer key are included in the assessment file. 

    NOTE: A good time for the final assessment is after students have completed many different recordings of "Handout 1" and placed them in their own individual folders.  

    Acceleration:

    Students may use online weather websites such as www.weather.com to look up the sunrise and sunset times for the days and create their own chart similar to that of the teachers.

    Additionally, you can demonstrate how the length of shadows changes using this site: http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/science/earthandbeyond/shadows/

    Intervention:

    These students may go out every two hours throughout day 1 to see a more immediate change in their shadow instead of a gradual change.

    The teacher can extend the activity over a longer period of time. 

     


    View the Special Education resources for instructional guidance in providing modifications and adaptations for students with significant cognitive disabilities who qualify for the Alabama Alternate Assessment.
    Alabama State Department of Education