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COE
5E Lesson Plan
Student objective:
Students will be able to observe and identify sand characteristics such as grain size, color, and shape.
Students will be able to explain how sand’s grain size, color, and shape were formed.
Instructional Materials:
PowerPoint
2 lbs (or a large Tupperware) of sand collected of different areas on the beach: closest to the water, closest to the dunes, in
the middle of dunes and ocean and two different locations
Paper plate for each child
Magnifying glasses
Computers
Safety Precautions:
The teacher should stress that students do not taste the soil samples or place hands near mouth or eyes. To be cautious,
teachers can show students the correct way to rinse their eye if sand gets inside.
ENGAGEMENT:
Whole group reading of: Jump into Science…Sand on the carpet or a normal whole group meeting area. As the teacher reads,
ask questions to gauge current knowledge and if there are any misconceptions. Questions can be written on sticky notes
through book to serve as reminders of guiding questions to ask.
Examples of questions: What is sand? How is it formed? Where does sand come from? What does sand feel like? Where can
we find sand? How does it get to the beach? Why is it different colors?
EXPLANATION:
The teacher will show students the sandy soil PowerPoint to review sand vocabulary and see if their findings related to the
PowerPoint. Discuss how all samples are the same and how some samples in the class are different. Ask students to explain
what they found (like a bug, or a stick, or small pebbles) and how these items got into the sand. Focus on the difference in
grain size, color, and shape of edges. Example questions: What grain size did your sand soil have? What does this tell us? What
colors did you see? Did you find anything that was surprising? How do you think it got there?
ELABORATION:
Each child will dump their first sand soil into the teacher’s original container, and be given a numbered plastic bag with a new
sandy soil mixture. The bags will be numbered 1-4 and have sandy soil for different places along the beach discussed earlier.
Students will be asked to observe this new soil as well focusing on the grain size, color, shape of edges, and any other
interesting findings. The teacher will walk around the room briefly discussing what the student has observed AND why they
think the sand appears this way. After children have observed their sandy soil, the teacher will draw or show a picture of a
beach on the board. The teacher will tell students that each number came from a different place at the beach. Students can
discuss together where they think each sandy soil mixture was collected according to their observations. Questions: How are
the sandy soils different? How do they feel? Does one seem to be wetter than others? Does one have more shells? Where do
you think smaller grains would be? Where would the most shells be?
EVALUATION:
Throughout the lesson the teacher will monitor student comments and make sure student’s knowledge is on the
right track. After discussing sand characteristics and taking guesses on the placement of the soil along the beach
students will fill out a sandy soil observation chart. If students are capable of writing they may do so, or
illustrating observations is fine as well.
https://prezi.com/view/8XmX59FyUJ725WSpR5ar/
References:
Bybee, R.W. et al. (1989). Science and technology education for the elementary years: Frameworks for curriculum and instruction. Washington,
D.C.: The National Center for Improving Instruction.
Bybee, R. W. (1997). Achieving Scientific Literacy: From Purposes to Practices. Oxford: Heinemann.
National Research Council. (1999). Inquiry and the national science education standards: A guide for teaching and learning. Washington, D.C.:
National Academy Press.
Polman, J.L. (2000). Designing project-based silence: Connecting learners through guided inquiry. New York: Teachers College Press.