Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Grade: K
Lesson: With teacher assistance student groups plan and conduct an investigation. Students will plan
and build a model chicken coop that can hold 8 chickens. There must be a space, the length of a large
paper clip between chickens and between any chicken and any side of the pen. This lesson will require
using the schools chicken coop to measure length and width of the coop (using their feet as units of
measurement) and the number of chickens living in that space.
Ask:
What shape is the chicken coop?
Could it have any other shape?
How can we provide reasons for our explanations?
Why should we provide reasons for our explanations?
Observe, Describe THE LOCATION OF AN OBJECT IN RELATION TO ANOTHER: Above, Below, Behind,
In front of, Beside, Beneath, Between, Up, Down, Left, Right

Student:
Develops and uses models.
Uses an appropriate, complete strategy to solve the problem.
Collaborates with others in each stage of the inquiry.
Demonstrates insightful reasoning and strong evidence of critical thinking.
Skillfully provides evidence for the solution and strategy used.
Engage in argument from evidence.

Formative Assessment or Launch: What do you need to know to get started on this project? What unit of
measurement are we using to design our coop? Do you think the weight of each chicken will affect your
coops design? How would we determine the weight of a chicken?
Performance Assessment: Can your chicken pen be any shape? Did you try different shapes? What shape
pen was the easiest to make to complete your task?
Objective and Closing Product:
OBJECTIVE: We will design a chicken coop to can house 8 chickens of different sizes.
PRODUCT: I will complete my project and discuss the design with my group. I will report why our coop
design is adequate to hold 8 chickens.
Vocabulary: Model, Patterns, Environment, Unit of Measurement

Materials: Craft sticks, chenille stems, large paper clips, small and/or large linking cubes to represent
chickens.
Purposeful Talk and Write Critically Prompt: Discuss in your group how your design would be different if
instead of large paper clips we used small paper clips. Would your coop be larger or smaller? What would
you need to consider if instead of designing a coop we had to design a pen for farm animals?

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

TEKS/SE: K.5A: Observe and record properties of objects, including relative size and mass, such as bigger
or smaller and heavier or lighter, shape, color, and texture.
ELPS: ELPS c.1C: Use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing, memorizing,
comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade-level vocabulary.

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Grade: 1

Lesson: With teacher assistance student groups will build an interactive Weather Station.
Students discuss with teacher weather words like: Rain, snow, hot, cold, sunny, cloudy, etc
Discuss how these words help us describe what is happening outside at this moment. Is it important to
know about the weather when we come to school? Will you dress the same if it is a very hot day than if it
is a cold and snowy day?
Which of these words can we use to measure and help us better describe the weather?

Scientific and Engineering Practices/Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI):

Students construct explanations (for science) and design solutions (for engineering).

Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect.

DCI: Earths systems.

Formative Assessment or Launch: Describe three properties of weather we can use to describe it.

Performance Assessment: Students provide evidence by explaining why the components in their display
have been included.
Objective and Closing Product:
OBJECTIVE: We will build an interactive weather display.
PRODUCT: I will report the weather using my display.

Vocabulary: Properties, patterns, cloud cover, Calm atmospheric conditions with no wind or
any air motion

Clear the appearance of the sky when no clouds are visible from the point of observation

Cloud cover the amount of sky obscured (covered) by clouds

Clouds a mass of water droplets or ice crystals that have clumped together (condensed) in the
atmosphere

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Cloudy the sky is covered, or full of clouds

Cold a condition of the air when the temperature is low; lack of heat

Icy a condition in weather when the air temperature is bitterly cold; freezing

Precipitation water that falls to the Earths surface as rain, snow, sleet, or hail

Rainy long periods of rainfall

Temperature a way of measuring how hot or cold something is; temperature is measured using
either the Fahrenheit (F) or Celsius (C) scale

Weather the condition of the atmosphere at a place for a short period of time, including
humidity, cloud cover, temperature, wind, and precipitation

Wind speed how fast the air is moving; wind speed is commonly measured with an anemometer

Windy the condition of very fast moving air

System

Materials: Cardstock, manila folder (one per student), pencils, crayons, scissors, glue. Please click on the
following link: http://mrprintables.com/my-weather-station.html
This website will provide the template and instructions for building the interactive weather display.
Purposeful Talk and Write Critically Prompt: Discuss with your group how your displays can be improved.
TEKS/SE: 1.8A Record weather information, including relative temperature, such as hot or cold, clear or
cloudy, calm or windy, and rainy or icy.

ELPS: ELPS c.1C: Use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing, memorizing,
comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade-level vocabulary.

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Grade 2
Lesson: Students will be provide with the following challenge: Using only the supplied materials groups will
plan and create the tallest structure that stands on its own.
NGSS: 2-PS1-3: Students who demonstrate understanding can make observations to construct an evidencebased account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into new
objects.

Disciplinary Core Idea: PS.1A Structure and properties of matter: A great variety of objects can
be built up from a small set of pieces.
Crosscutting Concepts: Energy and Matter: Objects may break into smaller pieces and be put together into
larger pieces or change shapes.
Students will receive a kit with 20 Jix assembled and disassembled pieces and straws.
During the purposeful talk students should consider the following questions:
What parts do you observe?
How do those parts fit together?
What does each part do?
What might happen if a part is changed?
Formative Assessment or Launch: Students describe evidence from observing the pieces they will use how
these can be assembled to create a new object.
Performance Assessment: Students construct an evidence-based account of how the base of the tower
they built will affect its height.
Objective and Closing Product:
OBJECTIVE: We will create the tallest structure possible that stands on its own using the supplied materials.
PRODUCT: I will write in my journal an evidence-based statement that tells how the base of my structure
may affect its height and what I could do to make my structure better.
Vocabulary: Properties of materials, sets, function, assemble, disassemble, evidence, structure of matter.

Materials: Jix pieces (some assembled some disassembled), straws (should be a mix of straight and
bendable straws, scissors, tape, meter stick, journals. The Jix and straw kit can be found at Amazon. (Please
look at the Jix kit on the picture at the bottom of these lesson plans).
Purposeful Talk and Write Critically Prompt: Discuss with your group how the pieces you have received
can be assembled using their different material properties of the items in your kit. Create common written
plan and draw the model in your journal.
TEKS/SE: 2.2B Plan and conduct descriptive investigations.
ELPS: ELPS c.1C: Use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing, memorizing,
comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade-level vocabulary.

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Grade: 3
Lesson: Investigating Properties of Matter: Students will build a desalinizer using their knowledge of the
Water Cycle.

Student groups will analyze the function of solar energy in the production of water vapor that does
not contain any of the salt found in sea water. The water vapor eventually condenses and becomes
clouds that provide our planet with clean fresh water that makes life possible. Once students
understand how fresh water can be produced from the water cycle, students start designing their
desalinizer, and create a list of materials they will need to build and test their desalinizer prototypes.
NGSS: 3-5-ETS1-2 Students who demonstrate understanding can generate and compare multiple possible
solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Criteria: Use the Water Cycle model to desalinize water.
Constraints:
Use solar energy to evaporate the salt water.
Design a sampling system to test the results of your desalinizer.
Materials should cost no more than $5.00
Formative Assessment or Launch: How was the suns energy transformed in your project? How can you
provide evidence that the suns energy was transformed in your model? (Use a thermometer to show that
the waters temperature increased)

Performance Assessment: A working desalinizer prototype.

Objective and Closing Product:
OBJECTIVE: We will use the water cycle process to design a water desalinizer.
PRODUCT: I will write an evidenced-based statement explaining how my project works.
Vocabulary: States of matter, solid, liquid, gas, molecules, energy, transformation, system, closed
system, open system.
Materials: Bowls, cups, cardboard, scissors, tape, cling wrap film, ice, salt water (composition: 35 grams of
NaCl per liter of water approximates the salt concentration in sea water).
Purposeful Talk and Write Critically Prompt: Are the sun and the water cycle part of the same system?
Explain, why or why not.
TEKS/SE: 3.5B Describe and classify samples of matter as solids, liquids, and gases and demonstrate that
solids have a definite shape and that liquids and gases take the shape of their container.
ELPS: ELPS c.1C: Use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing, memorizing,
comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade-level vocabulary.

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Grade 4

Lesson: Energy: Student groups will complete an investigation using evidence from their
investigation to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that
object.
NGSS: 4-PS3-1 Students who demonstrates understanding can use evidence to construct an
explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
Science and Engineering Practices: Use evidence (e.g. measurements, observations, patterns) to
construct an explanation.
Disciplinary Core Idea: The faster an object is moving, the more energy it possesses.
Crosscutting Concepts: Energy and matter: Energy can be transferred in various ways and between
objects.
Reasoning:
Motion can indicate the energy of an object.
The faster an object is moving, the more observable impact it can have on another object.
The observable impact of a moving object interacting with its surroundings reflects how much
energy was able to be transferred between objects.
Because faster objects have larger impact on their surroundings than objects moving more
slowly, they have more energy due to motion.
Formative Assessment or Launch: How were you able to change the speed of your car? What forces
were acting on your car as it slid down the ramp? How can you reduce friction and keep it as a
constant in your experiment?
Performance Assessment: Completed table and graph of the groups results.
Objective and Closing Product:
OBJECTIVE: We will analyze the relationship between matter and energy.
PRODUCT: I will present my results in a table to create a graph and determine if there Is a
relationship.
Vocabulary: Energy the ability to cause change or do work
Force a push or pull that can change the position or motion of an object/material
Friction a force that acts in an opposite direction to movement
Gravity the force that pulls objects toward each other
Mechanical energy energy of motion
Motion a change in the position of an object
Transformation of energy - The energy in an object changes when it is transferred to

another object.
Constant
Variable

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Materials: A 20 X 13 in. board, 20 wooden planks (1 X 4 X in.), sturdy small model cars, cardboard,
rulers, meter sticks, clay, manila paper, paper, pencils, crayons, graph paper, computer or laptop with
Microsoft Excel.
Purposeful Talk and Write Critically Prompt: Did you destroy the energy in the car when it knocked
down the planks?
Write in your journal how you could determine the relationship between the speed of the car and the
number of planks it knocked down using your data table.
TEKS/SE: 4.2A Plan and implement descriptive investigations, including asking well-defined questions,
making inferences, and selecting and using appropriate equipment or technology to answer the
questions.
ELPS: ELPS c.1C: Use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing,
memorizing, comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade-level
vocabulary.

An example of a partially completed graph generated by a 4th. Grade team:

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Grade 5
Lesson: Investigating Properties of Matter: Students will use their knowledge of the Water Cycle to
create a water purifier.

The amount of water on earth has remained roughly the same over millions of years. Where in our
planet do we find water that is drinkable? Click on the following link to find out.
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html
Humans, land and sea animals produce solid and liquid wastes over thousands of years. Why is it
that there is fresh drinkable water available to support life in spite of all the pollution that takes
place?
NGSS: 3-5-ETS1-2 Students who demonstrate understanding can generate and compare multiple possible
solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Criteria: Use the Water Cycle model to desalinize water.
Constraints:
Use solar energy to clean water that has been polluted with food coloring and pieces of dead
leaves.
Design a sampling system to test the results of your water purifier.
Materials should cost no more than $5.00
Formative Assessment or Launch: How was the suns energy transformed in your project? How can you
provide evidence that the suns energy was transformed in your model? (Use a thermometer to show that
the waters temperature increased)

Performance Assessment: If your prototype did not perform as well as you expected what changes could
you make to improve its performance? If it worked well, can you still make improvements?
Objective and Closing Product:
OBJECTIVE: We will use the water cycle process to design a water purifier.
PRODUCT: I will write an evidenced-based statement explaining how my project works.
Vocabulary: States of matter, solid, liquid, gas, molecules, energy, transformation, system, closed
system, open system. (Please look at the short definition at the last page of this document.
Materials: Bowls, cups, cardboard, scissors, tape, cling wrap film, ice, food colors, pieces of dead leaves.

Purposeful Talk and Write Critically Prompt: Are the sun and the water cycle part of the same system? Is
it a closed system or an open system? Explain.
TEKS/SE: 3.5B Describe and classify samples of matter as solids, liquids, and gases and demonstrate that
solids have a definite shape and that liquids and gases take the shape of their container.
ELPS: ELPS c.1C: Use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing, memorizing,
comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade-level vocabulary.

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

Date: 09/15-23/15 | Jorge Garcia

System Types
A system is a collection interdependent structures or processes. It can be
described by its basic properties and analyzed in terms of interactions. A
system can be a closed system, or an open system.

Closed System
Open System