Running Head: LESSON PLAN

Brain-Compatible Strategies
Jaquelyn Swift
EDU 417 Cognitive Studies Capstone
Maureen Lienau
November 29, 2014

LESSON PLAN

Original Lesson Retrieved from: http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/4365.html

#4365. What Can the Wind Blow?
Science, level: Kindergarten
Posted Fri Apr 24 13:21:41 PDT 2009 by Kristen (Kristen).
El Sereno Elementary, Los Angeles, USA
Materials Required: digital cameras, paper, pencils, crayons, old camera phones
Activity Time: 1.25 hours, split over 2 days
Concepts Taught: Students will learn about the effects that the weather (wind) has on objects.
This activity also incorporates 3.b. Students know changes in weather occur from day to day
and across seasons, affecting Earth and its inhabitants (CA DOE Common Core Standards, pg.
K40) and 4.e. Communicate observations orally and through drawing (CA DOE Common
Core Standards, pg. K41) of California Common Core Standards for Kindergarten.
In this lesson students will learn to use digital cameras, or old camera phones to take pictures of
things that the wind can blow. Send out a notice a week before the project to parents requesting
NON-serviced, NON-damaged old camera phones as they do not have to be working to take or
download photos.

Students should first be instructed on how to handle a camera or cell phone and which parts of
the camera they are allowed to touch, also ensuring students know how to zoom in on the cell
phones. You can decide based on your own students which buttons they will be allowed to use. I
only let them use the on/off button and the one to take pictures. You can then show students how
to focus the camera and use the screen to see what the pictures will look like.

LESSON PLAN

Once the students are comfortable with the cameras, you can take the class outside on a windy
day and let the students take pictures of things the wind is blowing (trees, flag, leaves, paper,
bubbles). Having the students in small groups worked for my class. As California does not have
an abundance of windy days you could create your own windy day by bringing a fan into the
classroom. You could have students bring in items from home but also bring in things like
paper, feathers, rocks, stapler, paper cup, a plastic lid, and baseball (etc.) and ask students to
predict which items will blow away due to wind then start the fan and point it on each item to see
if their predictions were right. Additionally student could work as groups to determine the items
that blew away from the items that did not, you could even make it a race to see which group
gets the correct answer first. Taking it a step further you could create a short race where students
are grouped into teams (of three or four) and they have to blow the feather from one point of the
classroom to the other (only a few feet) and see which team can get their feather to the finish line
first, using erasers as prizes for the winning group.

You can then get the pictures developed or print them out. The students can then write a sentence
or multiple sentences depending upon the academic level of the students about what the wind is
blowing in the pictures, explain to the students that it may not be the picture that they took that
everyone is receiving a random picture. if If you want to, you can bind the writing into a class
wind book which could be displayed at the schools open house for parents to see.

Modification/accommodations for students with special needs: By adding in the race this is a
great way to modify the lesson to incorporate those students with ADHD who feel the need to
move about the classroom. For other students with special needs when it comes to the writing
portion of the assignment you could have them dictate the sentence of what they see going on in

LESSON PLAN

the picture and write it for them. If there happens to be a parent volunteer perhaps you pair that
parent up with the student(s) that require additional assistance.

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Taking someone elses idea and making minor adjustments s a good way for teachers to
put their own style into an old idea. This particular lesson plan is five years old and overall a
great hands on way for students to learn about wind but also will appeal to the naturalist style
learners by being outside.

The only material I added was the use of old cell phones that have cameras on them. As I
myself am not keen on the idea of letting my daughter take my digital camera to school and very
few schools have enough for one classroom let alone multiple groups but nearly everyone has an
old cell phone they are not using anymore. I did specify non-damaged cell phones as if they are
smart phones and the screen is cracked the students could get cut. I was surprised that this lesson
plan did not incorporate the common core standards, although given the age of the lesson those
very well could have changed so I added the most current ones available.

For this lesson plan I though it needed a backup plan that is why I added the use of a fan
and completing the experiment with the students within the classroom. This could still be
completed in addition to the outside portion of the lesson, however additional time would need to
be added. By doing an additional experiment such the one I outline for inside the classroom,
perhaps the next day, it reinforces what students already learned and by adding a prediction
portion it allows students the excitement of being right. This could be done through a word
document (see example below) using three columns, one with a picture of the items, one column
with blew away and finally a column that says stayed put with room for students to put
check marks or Xs to indicate their predictions.

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Item

Blew Away

Stayed Put

You can add as many rows as items you have or even write the words on the board and have
students copy them into the first column. Through the use of the feather race it simply added fun
to the activity.

Furthermore I took into consideration that some students are going to be more advanced
in their writing abilities than others so for those students you know can write multiple sentences
they should be encouraged to do so, when it comes time to write about what is going on in the
picture they receive. I love the idea of having a book of all the students writings I just added
displaying it for open house so that parents can truly see what they are learning.

Modifications and accommodations can always be tricky especially due to the limited
experience a new teacher has. This particular lesson did not have any modifications or
accommodations included. I feel the feather race will encourage those students who have
ADHD through the movement and it may be more likely to stick with them as they felt involved.
As for students with other special needs I felt that having a parent helper or para with them
would be beneficial for them especially when it comes to the writing portion. These students
would be able to dictate what they want to say that way their own individual thoughts and ideas
are still incorporated within the assignment.

LESSON PLAN

Reference
California Department of Education (2011) Common Core Standards Kindergarten Retrieved
from: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/grlevelcurriculum.asp
Kristen (April 24, 2009) What can the wind blow? - Retrieved from:
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/4365.html