LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Natalie Scholberg
Ms. Dean, Second Grade, Magaheysville Elementary School
Wednesday, October 30th 2013 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Wednesday, October 23rd 2013
A. WHAT WILL STICK TO A MAGNET? / SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY THROUGH MAGNETISM
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON AND UNWRAPPING OF THE STANDARD
Pre-assessments are done to give teachers a way to know the readiness, interests, and/or learning
preferences of students in a classroom. For the past month, I have had a great opportunity to observe,
participate, test, and lead in my second grade practicum classroom. During this time, I have been able
to get to know my students very well and observe many things such as the behavior in the classroom
to the classs daily schedule. From my observations, I am very aware of what learning styles my
students tend to favor over others and I know the broad spectrum of academic abilities. Knowing that
my students vary in academic levels and knowing that there are two autistic children in my classroom
has played a part in my decision for picking my lesson. Besides observing, other pre-assessments that I
have done that tells me the students readiness, interests, and/or learning preferences are helping
students find books on their reading level, watching AR book tests, and participating in a magnets
lesson given by my teacher.
From talking to my cooperating teacher, I know that the students will be familiar with magnets by the
time I teach them my lesson because magnets will be covered in science in the weeks beforehand. My
lesson fits in the second grade curriculum sequence because magnets will be covered in two weeks in
October, before I will be able to teach my lesson. This is a great way for my teacher to introduce the
subject to students before I teach them about what kind of objects stick to magnets. The unit that my
cooperating teacher will teach will introduce students to magnets. It will provide an overview of what
a magnet is, what kinds of objects are magnetic, and how magnets are used in everyday life.
My lesson is appropriate for these students at this time because magnets are a piece of the overall
second grade science curriculum. Students will build on previous knowledge of the scientific
procedure, specifically focusing on (1) making predictions, (2) conducting and experimenting as a
means of answering a specific question, (3) recording results, and (4) discussing and organizing
conclusions. From my understanding, this lesson fits with what I know about child development
because students will be able to use their previous knowledge to grow as learners. Children remember
better if information is repeated again and again. My lesson serves that purpose. Because students will
be learning magnets beforehand, my lesson will act as a review. In addition to being a review, students
will participate in hands-on activities, using the scientific process to discover answers to their
questions about magnets.
C. UNWRAPPING THE VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING and the NEXT GENERATION
SCIENCE STANDARDS (NATIONAL STANDARDS)
Grade Level and Content Area: 2nd Grade Science
Standard(s) and Indicators:
Force, Motion, and Energy
SOL 2.2 The student will investigate and understand that natural and artificial magnets have certain
characteristics and attract specific types of metals.
Key concepts include:

a) Magnetism, iron, magnetic/nonmagnetic, poles, attract/repel; and

b) Important applications of magnetism.
Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) that aligns with SOL: 3-PS2 Motion and Stability: Forces
and Interactions (more specifically 3-PS2-3)
(There was not a NGSS about magnets in 2nd grade so I chose the closet standard about magnets which
is in 3rd grade.)
The concepts that second grade students need to know from the 2.2 SOL Standard are:
north and south poles
magnets
magnetic compass
directions of north and south poles
materials attracted to magnets
materials not attracted to magnets
which poles of magnets react to poles of other magnets
application of magnets to everyday life (refrigerator magnets, chalkboard letters, toys, door
latches, paper clip holders, computers, motors, and credit card magnetic strips)
natural magnets
lodestone
magnetite
artificial magnets
new applications for using a magnet
The concepts that are focused on in my lesson are:
magnets
materials that are attracted to magnets
materials that are not attracted to magnets
The skills that second grade students need to be able to do from the 2.2 SOL Standard are:
identify
use
determine
predict
test
create
classify
conduct
compare
The skills that are focused on in my lesson are:
*I ranked Blooms Taxonomy skills from 1 to 6 (6 being the highest and 1 being the lowest).
6. create (creating category: generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things i.e.
constructing, producing, inventing, etc.)
5. predict (evaluating category: justifying a decision or course of action i.e. checking,
hypothesizing, etc.)
3. test (applying category: using information in another familiar situation i.e. implementing,
carrying out, executing, etc.)
2. classify (understanding category: explaining ideas or concepts i.e. interpreting, summarizing,
classifying, explaining, etc.)

According to Blooms Taxonomy, the skills that are focused on in my lesson promote higher-order
thinking. Some skills are better than other skills but overall, each skill is valuable for students
learning.
Sequence of Teaching Magnet Topics (I will be teaching the highlighted topic)
I will be teaching at the end of the magnets lesson which is why my lesson is a review for the students.
Thus, the chart below follows my teaching sequence, not my cooperating teachers teaching sequence.
Identify the
north and
south
magnetic
poles of
magnets.

Use magnetic
compasses to
determine the
directions of
north and
south poles.

Predict which
materials will
be attracted to
magnets, test
the
predictions,
and create a
chart that
shows the
results,
classifying
materials as to
whether they
are attracted to
magnets or
not.

Conduct an
investigation
to determine
how the
different poles
of magnets
react to the
poles of other
magnets.

Identify
important
applications of
magnets in
everyday life:
refrigerator
magnets and
chalkboard
letters
toys
door latches
paper clip
holders
computers
motors
credit card
magnetic
strips.

D. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand what are the broad
Know what are the facts, rules,
generalizations the students should
specific data the students will gain
begin to develop? (These are
through this lesson? (These knows
typically difficult to assess in one
must be assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)
The student will understand that
The student will know that magnets
certain materials attract to magnets
have a north and a south pole.
while other materials do not attract to
magnets.
The student will know that magnets
can attract to objects made of iron,
nickel, or cobalt.
The student will know that magnets
can be artificially made from special
metals or can occur naturally.
The student will know that magnets
have important applications and uses
in everyday life.

Compare
natural
magnets
(lodestone or
magnetite) and
artificial
magnets.

Create a new
application for
using a
magnet.

Do what are the specific thinking

behaviors students will be able to do
through this lesson? (These will also
be assessed in your lesson.)
The student will be able to predict
which materials will be attracted to
magnets.
The student will be able to test the
predictions that he/she made about
magnets.
The student will be able to create a
chart the shows the results of his/her
predictions of magnets.
The student will be able to classify
materials as to whether they are
attracted to magnets or not.

E. ASSESSING LEARNING
Objective
The student will understand that
certain materials attract to magnets
while other materials do not attract to

Assessment
These objectives will be assessed
through the classroom discussion that
will take place after reading the

Data Collected

magnets.
The student will know that magnets
have a north and a south pole.
The student will know that magnets
can attract to objects made of iron,
nickel, or cobalt.
The student will know that magnets
can be artificially made from special
metals or can occur naturally.
The student will know that magnets
have important applications and uses
in everyday life.

The student will be able to predict

which materials will be attracted to
magnets.

The student will be able to test the

predictions that he/she made about
magnets.

Magnets book. This type of

assessment is a formative assessment.
After reading the book, I will ask
students tell me something new that
you learned! I will write down
students answers on the white board.
I will be listening to see if children
use the vocabulary from the book. To
further students thinking I might
guide them by asking, what types of
materials attract to magnets? What
types of materials do not attract to
magnets? What are the two poles that
magnets have? Magnets can attract to
objects made from what? Where are
magnets found? What are examples
of magnets at school and at home? I
will observe and record students
answers. *If I notice that some
students did not participate in the
classroom discussion, I would later
on ask students these questions while
doing their sorting table.
I will use a think-aloud assessment
for this objective. I will listen and
observe for language that students are
speaking relating to which materials
are attracted to magnets. This
assessment is a formative assessment
because it will be assessed during the
fishing pole activity. First, I will ask
students what materials will be
attracted to magnets? I will
especially take note to words such as
iron, steel, nickel, cobalt, paper clips,
etc. I will also ask students to predict
which materials in my paper bag will
be attracted to magnets. I will
observe students who say answers
such as paper clip, refrigerator
magnet, pen, etc. I will record any
predictions that children make.
Observations will be the assessment
for this objective. After making
predictions, students will use my
fishing pole and test to see if their
predictions are in fact correct.
Students will test their predictions by
fishing for each object in the paper
bag such as the sea shell, paper clips
(2), magnet, pencil, pen, refrigerator
magnet, quarter, penny, thumb tack,
and eraser. I will record and listen to
the language they use when finding
out their test results made about

Notes through observation during

classroom discussion.

Notes through observation and thinkaloud during fishing pole activity.

Notes through observation during

fishing pole activity.

The student will be able to create a

chart the shows the results of his/her
predictions of magnets.
The student will be able to classify
materials as to whether they are
attracted to magnets or not.

magnets.
Students will create a table showing
objects that are magnetic and objects
that are not magnetic. They will cut,
glue, and sort all of the 12 objects
that either belong in the magnetic or
the nonmagnetic column. While
students create their sorting tables I
will observe the language they use
that relates to magnetic and
nonmagnetic objects. Once students
are finished with the sorting table of
magnetic and nonmagnetic objects, I
will collect the table and I will count
up the number of objects they
classified correctly and/or incorrectly.

Magnetic/Nonmagnetic Sort Table

worksheet

F. MATERIALS
Magnets (Young Explorer: My World of Science) by Angela Royston - Natalie
Royston, A. (2002). Magnets (Young explorer: My world of science). Chicago, IL: Heinemann
Library.
1 paper bag - Natalie
Objects in paper bag: sea shell, paper clips (2), magnet, pencil, pen, refrigerator magnet, quarter,
penny, thumb tack, and eraser - Natalie
Fishing pole: pencil, string, and magnet tied to the end of string - Natalie
White board cooperating teacher
Erasable marker cooperating teacher
Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table - Natalie
Scissors cooperating teacher/students
Glue sticks cooperating teacher
Pencils cooperating teacher/students
I am providing everything on the materials list except for the white board, scissors, glue sticks,
erasable marker, and pencils. My cooperating teacher will have the white board in her classroom as
well as scissors, glue sticks, pencils, and an erasable marker. The students in my class will have their
own scissors and pencils.
G. MISCONCEPTIONS or ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS
Misconceptions are always something that teachers should be thinking about when teaching. Not only
do teachers have to know and teach content but they have to make sure that the students they are
teaching understand the information being taught. Additionally, teachers are responsible for
identifying students misunderstandings and changing the students thinking in a conceptual way.
Magnets and magnetism are topics that can be easily confusing or hard for students to understand. As I
teach my lesson about magnets I will anticipate my students reactions and responses to the tasks and
activities given to them. I anticipate that my students will all be able to contribute to my lesson by
participating and have prior knowledge of magnets (since they will be learning about magnets before I
teach my lesson). There are several common misconceptions that students may have about magnets
and magnetism. Possible misconceptions or alternative conceptions students may have about magnets
are: all metals are attracted to a magnet; all silver colored items are attracted to a magnet; all magnets
are made of iron; and larger magnets are stronger than smaller magnets. I believe these misconceptions
are the misconceptions that my students will have about magnets. When addressing these
misconceptions it will be vital for me to change the students thinking by showing them something that

goes against their thinking. For example, I would address the misconception of all silver colored items
are attracted to a magnet, by bringing in a piece of aluminum foil and trying to connect it to a magnet.
This would show students that the color or amount of shine an object has is in no way related to
whether or not it is magnetic.
One difficulty that I think students may have, is classifying objects as magnetic or not magnetic. In my
lesson, students will be able to predict what objects stick to magnets but I do not know if they will
know the reason why the objects stick or do not stick to magnets. If students do not know the reason,
then I will explain to them in the best way that I can. If questions come up during the lesson, I will try
to challenge the students thinking first and then answer them to the best of my ability. Another way
that I can answer students questions is to show them how to look up information if they do not know
it. My teacher shows students how to look up questions they have by using Google. As a helper in her
classroom, I am sure that my cooperating teacher would be happy to see me using one of her teaching
techniques.
From a teachers perspective, there are many questions to ask myself before teaching a lesson for the
first time about magnets. However, the main questions that I will ask students will be to nurture their
thinking. One of the first questions that I will pose to students is: What do we know about magnets?
This makes students think about what magnets are and how they all relate to one another. Students will
hopefully recognize something that is a magnet and something that is not a magnet. Other questions
that I will ask students to challenge their thinking are, what are some objects that are magnetic? What
are some objects that are not magnetic? In the end, my goal is to teach students something new and
engaging about magnets that will challenge their thinking.
H. PROCEDURE
Essential Question: What is the difference between a magnetic object and a nonmagnetic
object?
Preparation of the learning environment
(I will teach my science lesson in my cooperating teachers, Ms. Deans, second grade
classroom.)
Bring all the materials I need to Ms. Deans second grade classroom.
Make copies (one for every student plus a couple extra) of Magnetic/Non-magnetic Sort Table
worksheet.
Set up the reading rug area so it is clear and clean for students to sit and listen.
Adjust rocking chair if needed so it faces the students.
Set up/adjust the white board (next to the rocking chair) so it is clean and blank.
Put erasable marker by the white board.
Put the Magnets book on the rocking chair.
Have students desks clear for the sorting assignment.
Have Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table worksheets next to the projector (ready to pass out) and
a pair or scissors.
Set the basket of scissors on the kidney table for it to be easy to get to if students need a pair
of scissors.
Set the tub of glue sticks on the kidney table for it to be easy to get to when it is time to pass
them out to every student.
Sharpen pencils.
Have extra sharpened pencils nearby in basket just in case for students to use.
Have trashcans/recycling bins nearby for students to throw away their scrap paper when
finished with the Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table assignment.
Have the projector and overhead on and warmed up to use for the sorting worksheet.
Introduction of the Lesson

Engagement will be labeled:

Behavioral- pink
Cognitive- orange
Emotional-green
I will introduce my lesson by first starting out on the reading rug. Students will be at their
desks before this lesson starts so I will invite them to come over according to if they are quiet
or not. If I am waiting for some students to stop talking then I will point out good behavior
such as, thank you students name for paying attention and waiting quietly. Or I will say, I
really like how students name is sitting, I really like how other students name is sitting and
so on. Here I am emotionally engaging students by giving positive reinforcement to the
students who are following directions.
Once students are ready to go to the reading rug I will say students name table can go sit on
the rug. Then I will say, students name table can also go sit on the rug. Once every child is
on the rug I will begin an introduction to my lesson by first showing them the cover of the
Magnets book.
When showing the class the cover of the book, I will engage them by asking a few questions.
These questions include: what is on the cover of this book? I will ask students to observe
and describe what they see. Also, I will allow time for students to share their answers and
discuss how they know (if they know which hopefully they do) that it is a magnet on the cover
of the book. Then I will thank students for sharing their answers.
Additionally, I will ask other questions to warm up the students brains to start thinking about
magnets. I will ask the class, does anyone know what a magnet is? I will let children
respond and gear them towards the right answer if they are on the wrong path. I will also ask
questions such as, what are some examples of magnets? What does a magnet do? How
do you know if something is a magnet? For all of these questions I will allow wait time for
students to answer and call on students who are raising their hand. If students do not know the
answers to these brainstorming questions, then I will say to them, do not worry if you do not
know the answers! We will find out the answers very soon by reading this book!
After having this short discussion as a class, I will start reading the book, Magnets. The prereading discussion that I have with the students allows me to determine what the students
already know and what they do not know about magnets.
Implementation of the Lesson
The first thing that I will do before reading the book to my students is read the title of the
book. I will say, the title of this book is Magnets.
(I will only be reading parts of the book to my class. The parts that I picked to read to my
students I thought related to my lesson the best and would be the most beneficial information
that students need to learn. Also, I would not have enough time to read the entire book.)
I will start reading the book on page 4 by saying, What is a magnet? A magnet can pull
something toward it. The magnet has a force in it that you cannot see. You can only see what
the force does. This fishing rod has a magnet tied to the end of the line. The magnet on the line
pulls the magnet on the fish toward it. That is why the fish stick to the line.
Then I will show students the pictures on those pages and turn the page to page 6.

On page 6 I will read, what is magnetic? Magnets only work on some kinds of materials. If
something is pulled towards a magnet, it is said to be magnetic. For example, a paper clip is
magnetic.
I will read on stating, look at this girl. This girl is using a magnet to test whether things are
magnetic or not. Look at this picture. In this picture, the girl has a plastic toy, a pencil
sharpener, a straw, a leaf, scissors, coins, a colored pencil, a leaf, and napkins. Do you think
the leaf is magnetic? Why or why not? Here I will stop reading and allow students to turn to a
neighbor and talk to them about why a leaf is magnetic or not magnetic. When time is up I
will say, now say thank you to your neighbor for sharing with you. Then I will say, from
talking with a neighbor do you think the leaf is magnetic or not magnetic? Then students will
give me their answers which will hopefully be along the lines of a leaf is not magnetic because
the magnet cannot lift it (and it is not made out of iron or steel).
Moving on to page 8 I will read, magnetic metals! Most metals are hard, strong, and shiny.
There are many different kinds of metal. All the things in the picture are made of metal. Only
some metals are magnetic. What kinds of things do you see in the picture? Students will then
raise their hands and tell me what is in the picture on page 8. Some of their answers will be
aluminum foil, nails, coins, scissors, a bolt, earrings, a bracelet, a can, a bell, a necklace chain,
and an ice cream scooper.
Next I will read, iron and steel are metals that are magnetic. Iron and steel are used to make
many things, including trains, bridges, nails, and paper clips. So can anyone tell me the metals
that are magnetic? I will give you a clue there are two metals that are magnetic! Then, the
students will raise their hands and answer my question by saying iron and steel.
I will turn to page 10 after the students answer my question. On this page I will read, shapes
of magnets! Magnets can be any shape. The most common shapes for magnets are horseshoes
and bars. Then I will point to the picture on that page and say, this is a picture of different
shapes of magnets. I will point to the horseshoe magnet and say, this is a horseshoe
magnet. I will then point to a bar magnet and say, this is a bar magnet. I will also point to
the other magnets in the picture, describe what shape they are, and tell the students that those
different shapes are all magnets too.
I will turn the page to page 11 and read, the magnets that stick to a refrigerator have all kinds
of shapes. The magnets stick to the door of the refrigerator because it is made of steel. All of
these objects in the picture are all different shapes of magnets! Who can tell me what magnets
are in this picture? From here, I will call on students and they will each reply by saying one
magnet they see in the picture. Their responses will include a butterfly magnet, a sun magnet,
a tiger magnet, square magnets, a bear magnet, and so on. With these pages, students can start
to connect magnets to real life objects at school and at home.
After that I will skip a couple pages until I get to page 16. Pages 16 and 17 will be the last
pages that I will read from this book. Thus, I will say, magnets at home. The knives in the
picture are sticking to a magnetic knife holder. That means the knives are made of iron or
steel. The door of a refrigerator has a rubber strip that covers a magnet. The magnet under the
rubber pulls the door closed. The rubber strip seals the door to keep the cold air in the
refrigerator.
Then I will continue by saying in this picture, the rubber magnet cover is right here (I will
point to the magnet cover). Have any of you seen a rubber magnet cover on your refrigerator
at home? Does it look like this? At this moment, I will allow students to share if they have
seen the magnet cover at home.

At this time, I will transition by saying, boys and girls that is all that I am going to read to
you from this book and now we are going to do something else! I will close the book as I am
speaking and place the book in my lap.
After reading, I will ask the students what they learned from the book. I will ask students,
what did you learn from the book that we just read? The students will raise their hands and
as they tell me what they learned I will write down their answers on the white board next to
where I am sitting in the rocking chair. I will write everything that I can on the white board
that students will say about what they learned from the book. After making the list of
everything that the students learned, I will then engage them in my paper bag activity of
magnetic objects.
First, I will start off by saying, boys and girls, right here with me I have a paper bag full of
objects that are either magnetic or not magnetic! In this bag, I have a shell, a thumb tack, an
eraser, a quarter, a penny, a pencil, a pen, a refrigerator magnet, and a paper clip (as I say each
object I will pull out that object and show the object to the students). I want you to predict
which objects will stick to my magnetic fishing pole. Or in other words, which objects do you
think are magnetic and why? How do you know that an object is magnetic? I will give you 10
seconds to think and then I will take answers. After 10 seconds I will start calling on students
for answers. The students will raise their hands and answer my question by saying the paper
clips, thumb tack, pen, and refrigerator magnet will stick to my fishing pole magnet.
Then I will go on by stating, predict which objects will not stick to my magnetic fishing pole.
Or which objects are not magnetic? I will also give you 10 seconds to think about it starting
now! After 10 seconds pass, students at this time will say that the shell, quarter, penny, eraser,
and pencil would not stick to the fishing pole or are not magnetic.
Afterward, I will say, now we are going to test our predictions that we just made! Lets see
what Ms. Scholberg catches! First, I will catch the magnetic objects which include the
paperclip, thumb tack, pen, and refrigerator magnet. I will then ask, why do you think all of
those things (the paperclip, thumb tack, pen, and refrigerator magnet) stuck to my magnetic
fishing pole? I will let the students share their answers. Hopefully they will say something
like that the objects are made by specific metals that are magnetic.
Then, I will try to fish for the other materials. I will say, I cannot catch the other objects.
The other objects are not sticking to my fishing pole! To further the students thinking I will
ask why didnt the shell, eraser, pencil, penny, or quarter stick to the magnet? Students will
share their answers by saying that those objects were not magnetic and are not made of either
iron or steel.
Next I will say, great job everyone! Thank you for everyone who participated and paid
attention. Then I will release students to go back to their seats by the color of clothing they
are wearing. I will say, Whoever is wearing the color _______ (blue, pink, black, purple, etc.)
can go back to their desks quietly and wait for the next set of directions! I will keep saying
this until every student is back in their seats.
The students and I will move from the reading rug back to their desks. During this time I will
make sure that the Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table worksheet is readily available for me to use
and pass out.
Once students are back in their seats, I will say, I want everyone to stand up. You have 10
seconds to get your wiggles out! Ready, set, GO! I will count down and give students the
next set of directions when they are back in their seats.

For the next activity I will say, boys and girls we are now going to sort magnetic and nonmagnetic objects. The only thing I want out on your desk is a pencil. Once I see that everyone
has their pencil out, I will pass out a worksheet that looks exactly like the one that is on the
board (the worksheet will be projected on the Smart board and I will point to the Smart board
when I say this). After I see every student with only a pencil out I will say, when you get
this sheet of paper, I want you to write your name and number on the top of the worksheet and
then put your pencil down. Give me a thumbs up when you are done writing your name and
number!
From there, I will pass out all of the Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table worksheets to every
student and again say to them, name and number on the top of your sheet! After you are done
writing your name and number you can put your pencil away because you will not need it
again! I will give them time to write their name and number on the top of the page. Once I
see that everyone is done writing their name I will say the next set of directions.
I will start by saying, the only thing I want you to do is watch. I do not want you to do
anything else but watch for right now and I will tell you when you can start. Then I will
begin to explain how to do the sorting table worksheet.
I will say, first, you will cut out with your scissors all of the boxes with the different objects
in them. There are a total of 12 boxes. I want to see neat and clean cutting. This means that I
want you to cut on the black line, just like this (here I will demonstrate how I want my
students to cut the boxes of objects which is cutting straight on the black line). When you have
cut out all of the boxes of objects you will then classify or sort each object by if they are
magnetic or not magnetic. Remember, that if something is pulled toward a magnet, it is said to
be magnetic. Magnetic things are made from eitherwhat two metals? (Students would
respond steel and iron and I would repeat yes, steel and iron). If an object is magnetic, it goes
in the magnetic column (I will point to the column that reads magnetic.) If an object is not
magnetic, it goes in the not magnetic column (I will point to the column that reads not
magnetic). I will pass out glue sticks after you cut out all of the objects. If you cannot find
your scissors please raise your hand and I will get you a pair of scissors. Also, remember how
we glue! We use the skinny side of the glue stick so we do not have a glue mess on our papers.
(I will remind the students how to glue using the skinny side of the glue stick by gluing one of
the objects on the Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table worksheet under the overhead so everyone
will see). I want to see neat sorting tables with no yucky glue everywhere! Does anyone have
any questions?
I will answer any questions that students will have and then help students get started. I will
say, you need to get out what to cut your objects with? Scissors!
While students are completing the Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table worksheet I will be
walking around the classroom, answering any questions that students have, and mainly
helping students in any way.
After, I see students finish cutting the objects in the boxes I will say, please put your scissors
away, you will not need them again and then I will give students a glue stick. I will be saying
this individually to each student because some students are faster at cutting than others. In
addition, students will be finished with cutting at different times. Either way, I will pass out
glue sticks to every student.
Students will then glue the magnetic objects in the magnetic column and the non-magnetic
objects in the not magnetic column. Students will have plenty of time to sort and complete this
activity.
Closure

Lastly, when students are done with classifying the magnetic objects, I will then go over the
Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table worksheet. I will first ask the students, what are the objects
that are magnetic? I will call on students one by one and they will each say one object that is
magnetic so every student has a turn. The objects that are magnetic which students will say are
the magnet, paperclip, nail, pan, and hexagon shaped nut. I will also say, if you have made a
mistake on your paper, you can fix yours as we are going over it. Then I will ask, what are
the objects that are not magnetic? For this question I will also call on students one by one and
they will each say one object that is not magnetic so every student has a turn to participate.
The objects that are not magnetic which students will say are the basketball, ball of yarn, hat,
ice cream, penny, kite, and glass jar.
After reviewing the magnet sort worksheet, the students will start to clean up.
I will say, boys and girls once you are finished with your sorting magnets table you will raise
your hand and I will come collect it. When I see a table that has finished the sort table
worksheet I will call on them to throw away their trash. Then I will say, students name table
can go throw away their scraps of paper in the paper scraps bin. After all of those students
throw away their trash and are all sitting back in their seats, I will then say students name
table can go throw away all of their scraps of paper in the paper scraps bin.
Then I will collect all the glue sticks and collect the scissors if students borrowed them.
By this time, students desks will be cleared and the lesson will be over.
Depending on how much time I have left before my students special, students could do a
variety of things. If there is no time, the next thing I will say to my class is boys and girls it is
time to get ready for computer lab. Please put everything away and once I see that we are
ready we can line up. If there is a little extra time before going to the computer lab I will tell
students to read. I will say something such as, we have a little time before computer lab so I
want everyone to read. You can either read the book you have now, find an AR book that is on
your reading level in Ms. Deans library, or you can take an AR quiz. If I finish my lesson a
lot earlier than I expect (which I do not think will happen but just in case) I will do calendar
time with my second grade class depending on if they did it before science or if they did not
have enough time to do it before science. If my class did not have calendar time before science
then I will do it with them after my science lesson if there is enough time to do so.
Clean-Up
Collect glue sticks
Collect scissors
Put away the glue sticks bin in the correct place
Put away the scissors basket in the correct place
Put away any extra pencils
Collect students Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table worksheets
Throw away any trash (scrap paper) from cutting
Make sure the floor underneath the table is clean
Erase the white board
Pack up all the materials/supplies (book, paper bag with objects, fishing pole, magnet sorting
worksheets)
Make sure desks are clean and clear

I.

DIFFERENTIATION
For my science lesson plan, I will differentiate instruction to the best of my abilities. By differentiating
instruction, my goal is to increase student motivation, provide access to learning opportunities, and
promote efficiency of learning. When I differentiate my lesson, I will be differentiating three things,
content (what is learned), process (what the thinking is within the activity), and product (what is
created to demonstrate learning). As a result, all of my second grade students will have access to the
curriculum and all of the differentiated instruction will be equally engaging.
McGaheysville Elementary school is not the most diverse place in Rockingham County. Most of my
students are white, native English-speaking, rural folks. Thus, I do not have any students who are
English Language Learners. However, I do have two students who are getting additional help with
their speech and they are actually in the speech program at the elementary school. The two children
with speech difficulties have two very different speech problems. To differentiate my classroom for
these two specific children I can accommodate their needs by allowing more time for them to speak
and not rush them when they are trying to share their ideas. One child in particular is very hard to
understand which makes me a little nervous because when I listen to him, sometimes I do not
understand what he is trying to say so then he gets frustrated. When this happens I will try my best to
understand what he is saying and usually my teacher helps me out when I do not understand what he is
saying. When each of the children with speech difficulties participates in a discussion or speaks aloud,
I will make sure to repeat what that child said to make sure the other students in the class understand
what they said. For example, I will say, Thank you for sharing students name! Students name said
that For my lesson, and in any lesson, it is important to empower my students voices and have a
safe and open learning environment so that the children feel comfortable speaking aloud and express
their individuality (this is important for all students, not just the students who have speech disabilities).
Another way I can differentiate my lesson to meet the needs of all students in the classroom is to use a
variety of products and teach different learning preferences. I will be using a blend of instruction such
as teaching as a whole group and allowing students to work individually. I think the activities in the
lesson provide a good opportunity for students to learn in different ways. For instance, first I will read
and show a book to students as a whole group so this type of activity helps auditory learners and visual
learners. The fishing pole activity is interactive and hands on which will interest kinesthetic learners
and visual learners. My main activity for the students involves a sorting/classifying table which in my
opinion benefits all three types of learning styles in different ways! Teaching different learning styles
provides a great way to differentiate my lesson plan. Also, throughout the lesson I will be using
familiar vocabulary that the students will know and teaching new vocabulary relating to magnets.
For the students who might finish early with my lesson, I will challenge them by relating the content
of my lesson to that students particular needs. I will ask them to think of one magnetic and one
nonmagnetic object that are in their house or bedroom that is not already on the sorting worksheet and
draw that item in on the worksheet. This allows students who finish early to use their prior content
knowledge (which varies from student to student) and use what they know into their classwork. For
the students who are struggling with my objectives, I will scaffold them to help them think about what
they already know and how they can use what they learned into the task given to them. I will also try
to relate the objects they are sorting to the students interests and lives. In addition to helping the
students who are struggling, I may provide roles to students who are finished early to partner up with a
student who needs help. The role of one student will be to finish cutting all the objects out (depending
on what they need help with) and the other student will have another clear and defined role. This
differentiation strategy really is the best of both worlds because the students are learning how to work
as a team, and build a sense of community and accomplishment. In conclusion, I will differentiate my
science lesson plan in a number of ways. First, by empowering all of my students voices, providing a
safe space for students to express their individuality, using a variety of products, teaching different
learning styles, using familiar vocabulary, identifying individual needs, scaffolding, assigning different
roles, and building a sense of community.

Content

Interest

The content of this lesson

plan will be fairly new to
students so they will be very
interested! Students prefer to
do hands on activities so the
fishing pole activity and the
sorting/classifying table
worksheet will be engaging
for the students.

Readiness

Students will previously

know that magnets push and
pull objects from
kindergarten (SOL K.3).
Therefore, the next topic for
students to learn about is
what those objects are and
why some objects pull
towards magnets and why
other objects push away
from magnets. This is to
move students on to the next
topic!

Process

Product

Students will be thinking

about which objects are
magnetic and not
magnetic because I will
be asking them questions
Students will make
about magnetics. My
predictions about which
students are very chatty so objects are magnetic or not
they will enjoy discussing
magnetic. Students will
objects that they are
create and make their own
familiar with to magnetic table by sorting objects that
objects or nonmagnetic
are magnetic and not
objects. Students will be
magnetic. Students are
assessed through a think- always delighted to use their
pair-share. Students who own school supplies which
do not want to participate
allow them to move.
in the discussion will have
the opportunity to share
what they know from the
magnetic sorting table.
Students will be thinking
about magnets and what
Students will use their
they do. This lesson will
previous knowledge about
spark their memory about
magnets and their new
what they already know
knowledge that they learned
about magnets and dive
while reading the book
deeper into why certain
about magnets with the
materials attract to
fishing pole activity. They
magnets while other
will use their conceived
materials do not attract to
knowledge to demonstrate
magnets. Students
their learning by
knowledge will be shown
sorting/classifying objects
through the class
that are either magnetic or
discussion, think-pairnot magnetic into a table.
share, but also through the
sorting activity.

J. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
There are several things that could go wrong with my lesson but hopefully everything will work out as
it should.
I will be teaching my lesson right after lunch. When I think of this I get anxious because my students
after lunch are rowdy! They tend to have more behavior problems but I will do my best with providing
them a fun-filled learning environment!
In my class, I have many students who have a hard time paying attention for long periods of time or
paying attention to something that they are not interested in. Sometimes it is like pulling teeth with
these children who are not focused on the assignment given to them. In order to avoid this, I have
come up with an activity that benefits all learning styles and is interactive. Something that could go
wrong for instance, is if students are not paying attention to when I read the book about magnets. If I
see students not paying attention I will ask them particular questions, without interrupting my reading,
after I read that very page. I will try to engage them by calling on them and get them interested about
magnets.

Throughout the day, my students are sitting down and not moving around. Therefore, before I start the
Magnet/Non-magnet Sort Table worksheet I will ask the students to all stand up and shake out their
wiggles. I will say something like this, everyone needs to stand up and shake out all their wiggles! I
am going to count down starting from 10 and ending at 0. By the time I get to 0 every single person
needs to be sitting in their chair. Ready, set, GO! Then I will count down from 10 and end at 0. My
goal with doing this is to let the children move around and be silly for a little bit so then when I
explain my next activity they will be alert and pay attention.
One thing that most definitely could go wrong is if one of my learning disability children in my class
throws a temper tantrum. Recently, the McGaheysville Elementary Schools special education teacher
left the school which has affected my classroom because I have two children who absolutely need
aides in the classroom with them in order for them to learn successfully. The empty special education
position has therefore left the school to find temporary substitutes. The temporary substitutes who
come into the classroom have been and can be very hard and bad for students like the ones in my
classroom. This is because the students with the learning disabilities need structure and familiar
routines in their daily schedule. New substitutes who try to help and work with these children end up
struggling because the students do not listen to them. The students do not listen to them because they
do not know who they are. As a result, the students create a scene and disrupt the learning environment
for other students in the classroom.
Hopefully when I teach my lesson, my elementary school will have filled the special education
position but of course there is no guarantee. If my students who have learning disabilities end up
throwing a tantrum or do not listen I will have my cooperating teachers help. My teacher will
probably be the one to talk to the specific child outside of the classroom. If my teacher is not with me
(although she will be) when the student is being disruptive it could go in different ways. Depending on
when it happens, if the student is disruptive while I am explaining the directions of the table sorting
activity then I will ask him to go outside and once I am finished explaining the directions I will then
go outside and talk to him. I will talk to him about his actions and the reason why I asked him to wait
outside. If the student is disruptive when students are cutting and gluing then I will ask him to go out
of the room with me and then talk about it from there.
Another thing that could go wrong is if students mess up or glue the wrong objects on the
Magnet/Non-magnet Sorting Table worksheet. If I believe that a student needs to start all over, I will
give them a whole new worksheet. I will make sure that I have extra copies just in case this occurs. If
students just glued an object in the wrong column then they will most likely be able to peel it off and
glue it to the other side.
A different thing that could go wrong with my lesson is if the Smart board and overhead projector do
not work. If the overhead projector and the Smart board do not work for some reason when I am
supposed to teach my lesson, I will explain the directions for the Magnet/Non-magnet Sorting Table
worksheet to the best of my ability. I will draw a replica of the worksheet in chalk on the chalk board.
On the chalkboard, I will draw two columns, the first column will read magnetic and the second
column will read not magnetic. Then, I will show students how I want them to cut the boxes of
objects out without the projector. I will still say all of the same directions to the students minus using
the projector.
Also, something that could go wrong but should not happen is if my students use the scissors to cut
their or someone elses hair or cut clothing. This should not happen in my second grade classroom but
if it does happen I will take away that persons scissors, move them to the back table, and make them
draw the objects in the boxes in the columns inside of cutting them out and gluing them in the correct
columns. I will do this because the child lost the privilege of using scissors.
One of my main concerns I have about this lesson is what to do if students finish earlier than other
students. There are always a group of students who finish an assignment earlier than others. Whoever
finishes the sorting activity early will be told to label each of the objects on the worksheet. This means

that the students will write what each object is under the picture of the object. This allows students to
review to themselves the activity they did and not finish the assignment so much earlier than other
classmates. However, I will tell each student to label the objects in each column, not just to the
students who finish early. Furthermore, I could also tell students (instead of labeling the objects) to
find one magnetic and non-magnetic thing in the classroom and then draw it in the corresponding
columns. Those are two ideas that I have if students finish the activity early.
As you can see, there are many different scenarios running through my head when planning this
lesson. I have thought about many things that could go wrong! I am sure that I missed some things but
I am confident that I will be able to handle anything that is thrown in my way.