Homeroom Teacher - Weekly Lesson Plan & Newsletter
June 26, 2006

Contents:
Lesson Plan Grades K-1
Lesson Plan Grades 2-4
Lesson Plan Grades 5-6
Teaching Self Esteem
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Lesson Plan: Grades K-1

Rainbows
by Bertha Wilson
Source: http://www.lessonplanspage.com

Objective: To learn the colors of the rainbow, and observe a rainbow.

Materials: water faucet, hose, sunlight, a clear glass, white paper, crayons or paint paddles (blue, orange, red, yellow, green)

Introduction:
Long ago, people believed that rainbow were magic. Some people believed that a rainbow was a bridge that appeared in the sky when the gods wanted to leave heaven and come to earth. Some believed that if you find the end of the rainbow where it touches the earth you will find a pot of gold. A rainbow is caused by sunlight shining on raindrops. To see a rainbow, you must have the sun behind you and rain falling in front of you. Sunlight looks white, but it is really made up of many colors. When sunlight enters a raindrop, it divides into various color spectrums. The rainbow reflects these colors, like a mirror. Many rays of sunlight, breaking up into their colors and reflecting off many drops of falling rain, make a shimmering, curved, colored rainbow.

Development:
Allow the children to fill a clear glass half full of water and place it on a piece of white paper. As the glass is tilted left and right spots of color appear. Let the children name the colors observed. Locate/find the colors that match what you see on the paint paddles.

Closure:
Rainbow Badge Day -
Boys: The boys make and wear rainbow badges of various sizes and patterns.
Girls: The girls wear ribbons of many colors, sizes, patterns in their hair, clothes, shoes and socks.

Evaluation/Assessment:
The children will be able to name and match the colors in a rainbow with crayons or paints.

Adaptations:
Read the book- I Know The Colors Of The Rainbow....by Ella Jenkins

Resources:

• Arvetis, Chris and Palmer, Carole. What Is A Rainbow? Middleton, Ct.: Newfield Publications, 1983
• Childcraft- The How and Why Library. Chicago: World Book Inc., Vol. 1 and IV. 1989
• Jenkins, Ella. I Know The Colors Of The Rainbow. New York: MacMillan/McGraw-Hill., 1981

Lesson Plan: Grades 2-4

Cloud Formation
Concept: Cloud formation results when warm, humid air rises and cools, causing the water vapor in the air to condense and form clouds.
Source: http://www.lessonplanspage.com

Teacher Materials:
--a large jar
--a plastic bag of ice that will fit over the jar opening
--a pitcher of warm water
--1 sheet of black paper
--flashlight
--matches

Student Materials:
--pen and paper to record observations

Optional Extension Student Materials:
--more jars, bags of ice, black paper, flashlights, and warm water
--collected dust
--flour
--sand
--cedar shavings
--any other particulate materials
--white construction paper
--newspaper
--crayons

Teacher Background Information:
Sunlight causes water to evaporate into the atmosphere. This air containing the water vapor is heated at the surface of the earth and rises. As it rises, it cools and the water vapor condenses on some form of particulate matter such as dust, ash, or smoke to form clouds.

Management Strategies:
This activity would be most appropriately done with small groups so that all students can view the cloud formation in the jar. Other class members could be working on researching the different types of clouds, drawing and labeling these clouds, researching and drawing the water cycle, working on a forecast for the rest of the day based on the clouds in the sky, etc. The activity itself should not take more than 10 to 15 minutes. For safety reasons, students should not be allowed to handle the matches. Also, students need to be careful around the glass jars. Much of the following procedure will vary, depending on students' reactions, comments, and levels of understanding.

Procedure:
1. Ask students what some of the different types of clouds are, what they are made of, and ask the focus question, how do you think clouds form? The responses to this question could be written on the board to return to later.

2. Tell the students that we are going to perform a simulation of the forming of a cloud. Take out the jar and have one of the students tape the black piece of paper onto one side of the jar. Ask another student to pour the warm water into the jar until it is one third full.

3. Light a match and hold it in the jar for a few seconds and then drop it in. At this point, have a student quickly cover the jar with the bag of ice.

4. Have another student (or teacher) shine the flashlight on the jar while they record their observations.

5. Now the students will explore what happened. The following questions can be used to help the class learn about what was happening:

--What did you see in the jar? (a cloud)
--Where did the cloud come from? (the water in the bottom of the jar)
--How did the warm water effect the cloud formation? (caused the water to evaporate and warmed the air, causing it to rise)
--What did the ice cubes do to help the clouds form? (cooled the air [made the water vapor condense]).
--What role did the match and its smoke play in the cloud formation? (gave the water something to condense or grab on to)
--Now what would you tell me a cloud is made of? (small water droplets)
--Ask someone to describe the process of cloud formation from what they just learned.

Assessment/Evaluation:
As a learning activity in itself, assessment is not really needed, but an option for assessment would be to have students draw a picture of how the cloud formed in the jar. In addition, the products of the following extension activities could be assessed.

Extension/Integration:
As an application of what they learned, each student could draw a picture of how a real cloud would form, and what effects the warm earth and the cool air in the mountains would have. The process could be repeated by students without using the match or with dust, flour, sand, cedar shavings, or other particulate materials to see if the cloud would still form. As an art activity, students could construct different types of clouds by cutting two sheets of construction paper simultaneously and stapling them part of the way together. Then they can be filled with newspaper and decorated.

For a math activity, students could record the clouds they see for a couple of weeks and graph how many days they saw each type of cloud. A language arts activity that could be used is to have students write weather reports and then present them to the class. Students could also write poems about clouds or stories from a cloud's point of view, discussing what type of cloud it is and what kind of weather it would bring.

Lesson Plan: Grades 5-6

Owl Pellets
By: Jamie Rettke
Topic: Skeletal System
Source: http://www.lessonplanspage.com
Skills: Analysis, comparing similarities and differences, generalizations
Objective: When asked the students will be able to:
1. Dissect an owl pellet to remove bones and remains.
2. Reconstruct a skeletal system
3. Identify possible prey of the owl

Materials
owl pellets
dissecting tools (toothpicks, tweezers)
construction paper
glue
skull guide
skeleton diagram

Procedure
1. Divide the students into groups of two. Review safety procedures including the need to wash hands before and after doing the activity. Give each group an owl pellet.
2. Have students separate bones from fur and other materials.
3. Students should use skull guide to help identify the type of animal that was eaten by the owl by comparing the various skulls found.
4. Determine if there are bones from more than one animal in the pellet. If there are, determine how many different animals are represented in one pellet.
5. Lay out the bones to form as many complete skeletons as possible. Skeletons may be glued on to construction paper for display or labeling.

Assessment
1. Completion of owl pellet dissection, and identification of various bones found.
2. Oral questions before/after activity

Extensions
1. Draw a picture of a simple food chain that includes the owl, it's prey, and other animal or plant life that may be in the chain.

Jamie Rettke
TheNewTeacher2@aol.com
Tinley Park, IL
http://members.aol.com/thenewteacher2/teach.htm

Teaching Information: Teaching Self Esteem

Not a lot of teachers think of teaching self esteem there are motivational speeches some schools will call assemblies for regarding self esteem, but other schools leave it up to the teachers. Whether it is on your curriculum as part of a class unit, or if it is a homeroom lesson project try to teach the children about self esteem as well as you can.

Especially as they get older, children, pre-teens and teenagers are very susceptible to low self-esteem. In teaching self esteem, be sure to emphasize confidence and belief in oneself. Starting at very young ages, children can be very hurtful to one another. There are the bullies, there are the popular children who learn quite early how to look down their noses at the others, and there are (more than likely more than a few in your class) the children who are teased or threatened, beaten up or just ignored.

With any hope, the children who suffer most have good families they can rely on, but in teaching self esteem you cannot count on that. These kids are going to be the most difficult to teaching self esteem to because they have probably already developed a poor self esteem.

In teaching self esteem, your lessons must be designed especially to assist just this kind of child. Hopefully, the child will be able to find external validation elsewhere—but if not, we hope that teaching him or her about self esteem will help the child respect and care for him or herself—instead of needing to have external validation. There are few truly effective ways to teach self esteem. If you can instill within your students certain ways for a student to really have confidence in him or herself—you may very well be able to change his or her life for the better by teaching self esteem. Do not think of teaching self esteem as a burden, but rather, as an opportunity to make a real difference in a child's life.

Help them learn that you do not have to be popular, outgoing, tough, or good looking to be a wonderful, worthwhile person. If they can learn this—they will be able to avoid many terrible self esteem issues that would otherwise come up sooner or later in their lives.

In teaching self esteem, some teachers use self esteem worksheets—these may be a great tool to teach children to respect themselves and remain confident. Self esteem worksheets provide the class with examples of different ways that someone can perceive him or herself. They can see by illustrations on the worksheets that ones perception of oneself can change their constant emotional state. The children will answer questions about how they feel about themselves and why. If certain students feelings about themselves are negative, you can show them why they should not feel that way.

Sometimes, self esteem worksheets help students to evaluate where their self esteem lies. Then in teaching self esteem, they will be able to better understand what to so to make themselves feel better and have a happier life.

More teaching information articles can be found at HomeroomTeacher.com

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