Date completed: Fall 2016

Date submitted: Spring 2017

Title of artifact: Lesson Plan #2
Standard: Standard Eight- Instructional Strategies

I am placing my artifact, Lesson Plan #2, under Standard Eight, Instructional Strategies, as
evidence of continued mastery towards using a variety of instructional strategies to encourage
learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills
to apply knowledge in meaningful ways. In the Standard part of Lesson Plan #2 I show how this
lesson connects with the math and science standards from the website, Next Generation Science
Standards. The standards I have found go along with what the learning activities are in my
lesson plan. This lesson plan shows how it collaborates with Standard Eight, Instructional
Strategies, from the New Jersey Professional Standards For Teachers.
I. Title/Topic and Grade Level:
Sink or Float?
Grade- 2nd

II. Lesson Essential Question:

How can we determine which objects will sink and which ones will float when we put them into
the water?

III. Standard:
2-PS1-1 Plan and construct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials
by their observable properties
2-PS1-2 Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials
have properties that are best suited for an intended purpose

IV. Objectives and Assessments:

Learning Objectives: Assessments:
Students will be able to (SWBAT) predict, Teachers will be able to (TWBAT) assess
investigate and conclude what objects will sink students acquired knowledge by observing and
and float in water collection the students work

V. Materials:
- The book Floating and Sinking by Ellen Strum Niz
- Clear bowl to hold water (something like a fish bowl)
- Water
- Paper
- Pencils
- Sharpie
- Index cards
- Rock
- Quarter
- Marble
- Pompom
- Feather
- Leaf

VI. Pre-Lesson assignments and/or prior knowledge:

The day before we do our sink and float experiment we will read the book Floating and
Sinking by Ellen Strum Niz. We will read the book and go over everything the book covers
about sinking and floating. There is also a glossary with some terms that we will go over with the
children. We will write the terms and their definitions with a sharpie on index cards and hang
them up on the wall so that the children can see them. They can relate to floating and sinking if
they have ever been in a pool. They can float on top of the water if they lay on their back and
some of the toys are meant to sink to the bottom.
VII. Lesson Beginning:
Tell the students that they will be doing an experiment to see if we can figure out what items we
have will sink or float when we put them into the water. We can tell them that they are going to
be like little scientists doing an experiment and they need to make a guess, do the experiment,
and see weather or not their guess was right or not.

VIII. Instructional Plan:

1. Prepping work- Make a chart for the children to mark which object they think will float or
sink
2. Prepping work- Make index cards of the glossary terms, in the back of the book, with a
sharpie and hang them up on the wall
3. Day 1- Have the children join you at the carpet in circle time. Then explain to the children that
we will be reading a book about sinking and floating. Ask them questions like What does float
mean when you put something in water? or What does sink mean when you put something in
water? Hopefully they will understand that when something floats it is light and it stays at the
top of the water and when something sinks it is heavy and goes to the bottom. You can ask them
if they have ever been in a pool before. When they lay on their back in the water they will float
but if they throw some of their toys in it will sink to the bottom.
4. Have your four centers set up around the room.
5. Center 1 will be the observation center on the carpet. In this center you will put the rock,
quarter, marble, feather, pompom, and leaf. The children will pass the objects around in a circle.
They will touch and feel them to get their mind thinking about what is heavy and what is light.
Talk to them when they are passing it around what they think is heavy and what is light
6. Center 2 will be our recording center. Here we will have each childs name on a poster. Rock,
leaf, pompom, feather, marble and quarter are written and underneath the words sink and
float are written as well. Each child will make their own predictions as to what they think that
particular object will do when it is placed in the water. They will take a pencil and with the help
of the teacher, they will circle either sink or float for a particular object
7. Center 3 will be the experiment center. Here we will set up our objects and the fish bowl filled
with water on a table so they we can do out actual experiment. Fill the bowl up about of the
way so that the children can see through the glass if an object sinks or floats. Have the children
sit on the carpet and have the table placed near the edge of the carpet so that they can see. Tell
them what object you will be placing in first. Have the children count down 3 2 1 drop it
in and see what happens! Repeat this with each object
8. Center 4 will be our assessment center. The teacher will have an index card with the results
written down on it. We will come back to the carpet like we did in circle time. We will go over
our prediction chart and see what each child had written down and see if they were right or
wrong

IX. Conclusion:
Ask the students about their predictions and why they thought what they did. The three heavier
objects (quarter, marble, rock) sunk to the bottom of the bowl because they were heavier and
when something heavy is put into water it will sink to the bottom. The three lighter objects (leaf,
pompom, feather) stayed on top of the water because they were much lighter and thats what
happens when a light object is put into water, it will float on the top.