SIOP Lesson Plan Template 4

Key: SW = Students will | TW = Teachers will | SWBAT = Students will be able to | HOTS = Higher Order Thinking Skills
SW: Read a paragraph aloud from the textbook when called on
Copy guided notes on a loose-leaf paper
Copy hand-drawn pictures into notes
Take part in class discussion of questions based upon current/prior content
Ask questions about unclear concepts
Observe one sequencing diagram done by instructor, and complete a second diagram with the class
Complete sequencing diagram by themselves and check answers with a shoulder partner
TW: Maintain classroom focus on relevant material
Lead guided note taking on Relative Dating
Ask questions relating to current and prior content
Check understanding via verbal indication after each section of notes
Draw pictures to illustrate difficult concepts
Answer questions throughout class that relate to material
Complete example sequencing diagram
Complete sequencing diagram question with class input

SIOP Lesson Title: The Geologic Dating Game

Content Standard(s):
Strand 6. Earth & Space Science: PO4. Describe how the
have changed over geologic and recent time.
Key Vocabulary:
Relative Age, Absolute Age, Law of Superposition,
Extrusion, Intrusion, Fault, Unconformity, Index Fossil
HOTS:
Copy and Draw, Identify and Define, Describe and
Explain, Analyze and Sequence

Grade: 7th
rock and fossil record show that environmental conditions
Visuals/Resources/Supplementary Materials:
Earth Science Textbook
Grand Canyon Superposition visual
Index Fossil Diagram
Sequencing Diagram Worksheet
Hand-Drawn conceptual pictures for fault and unconformities
Rocks Song

(Developed by Melissa Castillo & Nicole Teyechea. Used with permission.)

2008 Pearson Education, Inc.

SIOP Lesson Plan Template 4

Connections to Prior Knowledge/Building Background:
[Explicit connections to background experiences and new concepts is shown in other attachment labelled Guided Notes.]
Students have previously learned about the rock cycle for sedimentary and igneous rocks. They have also learned about faults
and earthquakes as well as fossils and fossil formation. Understanding these concepts is a key factor in understanding the five
methods of relative dating. Before each method is introduced, the relevant background information will be reviewed via
questioning and discussion, with certain key terms the focus of the discussion. For 3 of the methods, we will turn back to the
Rock Song that the students learned a month or two ago. It is difficult to make this material relevant to students lives, as
none of them are geologists, but pictures and mental models are created in order for them to better visualize each of the 5
methods of geologic dating, and how they help determine relative age. An analogy will be made between layers of sedimentary
rock and pictures in a box, to give the students comprehensible input with regards to the Law of Superposition. The students
will give input to the lesson regularly, by answering and asking questions, and completing language structures describing the
relative age of different key vocab words. The Sequencing Diagram activity allows students to put what they have learned to
use, as they take the part of a geologist finding the relative age of rocks using their key vocabulary terms.

Content Objective(s):

Meaningful Activities:

Review/Assessment:

SWBAT Describe the 5 ways that

geologists do relative dating and explain
how geologists use these methods
SWBAT Analyze a picture, identify what
the relative age of different rock features
are, and put them in sequence

Guided note taking

Class discussions of reviewed concepts
such as: sedimentary rock formation,
igneous rock formation, faults, and fossil
formation
Singing the Rock Song
Discussions with shoulder partner over
answers to language structure answers
I-do, We-do, You-do Sequencing
diagram activity
Drawing and labelling pictures of key
concepts

Assessment of understanding through

student responses to questions and
discussion
Students assessed through answers to
language structure questions
Students graded on homework asking
them to explain in 5 complete sentences
how geologists use each of the five
methods to determine relative age of
rocks
Assessment of students abilities through
grading the You-do sequencing diagram

(Developed by Melissa Castillo & Nicole Teyechea. Used with permission.)

2008 Pearson Education, Inc.

SIOP Lesson Plan Template 4

Language Objective(s):

Meaningful Activities:

Review/Assessment:

SWBAT Clearly identify and define key

vocabulary terms
SWBAT Complete language structures
that identify the relative ages of rocks
and their features
SWBAT Explain the 5 methods of relative
dating in complete sentences, telling
how geologists use them to date rocks.

Guided note taking

Reading out-loud from the textbook
Group discussion of key concepts and
vocabulary terms
Checking with shoulder partner during
language structure activity
Drawing and reviewing images and
diagrams to support learning vocabulary

In grading student homework

assignment, note will be taken on how
well sentences are structured, and
whether or not key vocabulary are used
correctly
Students understanding of the language
structures of relative dating will be
assessed in the partner discussion, as
well as the class discussion of the
language structure questions
Students review vocab from notes and
demonstrate understanding in successful
completion of the Sequencing Diagram
worksheet

Wrap-Up:
To finish up the lesson, the teacher will review the five methods of relative dating and ask the students to do a thumbs-up,
thumbs-down, sideways indication of how well they have learned these concepts. Responses determine level of review for the
next day. Students are also reminded of their homework assignment, and the expectations for the assignment are explained
again.

(Developed by Melissa Castillo & Nicole Teyechea. Used with permission.)

2008 Pearson Education, Inc.