EdTPA Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Place a title for your lesson here

All About The Solar System
Central Focus/Big Idea: I would like for the students to be able to recall three facts about the
earth, sun and moon. I hope to have the students do a mini book about the solar system. Within
the mini book I plan on the students having a page for the sun, earth, and earths moon. I would
like the students to be able to list at least three facts for each.
Subject of this lesson: Solar System
Grade Level: Third Grade
NC Essential Standard(s): 3.E.1.1 Recognize that the earth is apart of a system
called the solar system that includes the sun (a star), planets, and many
moons and the earth is the third planet from the sun in our solar system.
Next Generation Science Standard(s): Not listed
21st Century Skills:
Communication Students will need to communicate with one another when talking about the
solar system.
Creativity When students make their mini books as well as when they create their own solar
system
Academic Language Demand

Describe The students will need to describe facts about the solar system; Earth, Sun,
Earths Moon to be specific.

Analyze

Argue

Categorize

Compare/contrast

Describe

Interpret

Predict

Question

Retell

Summarize

Explain

Scientific Vocabulary: Solar System, meteoroids, orbit

Instructional Objective: What specific learning objective are you going to use? What are the
students going to be expected to learn? How will you know? Does your instructional objective
include: conditions, performance, and criteria?
Prior Knowledge (student): That there are other planets besides earth, that the earth rotates
around the sun, and that the earth has a moon.
Content Knowledge (teacher): The order of the planets in the solar system, that the sun is the
center of the solar system. The earth is the only planet to support life, and that the earth is the

third planet from the sun. That the earth has only one moon, and that the moon is always present
even when you cannot see it. That the sun is a star and that it contains most of the mass in the
solar system.
Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group): Students who have a hard
time hearing I will have them sit near the speakers, students who have a hard time seeing will sit
closer to the projection screen, students who are handicap and can not sit on the ground will have
the opportunity to sit at a desk.
Materials and Technology requirements:
One clipboard per student, one mini book per student, laptop, projection screen, one pencil per
student, one blank sheet of paper per student, colored pencils/crayons per table
YouTube Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAqT4hXnMw Outer Space: We are the Planets, The
Solar System Song by StoryBots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-kzdR93bqw Outer Space: Im So Hot, The Sun Song by
StoryBots (1min 59sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBmZjOHrVJ0 Outer Space: A Beautiful, Beautiful
World, The Earth Song by StoryBots (1min 56sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i235Y2HRksA Outer Space: Time to Shine, The Moon
Song by StoryBots (1min 59sec)
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm Planets rotating in space
Total Estimated Time: 45 minutes
Source of lesson: Pulling different videos together, and using ideas from methods classes.
Safety considerations: Ask students throwing pencils

Content and Strategies (Procedure)

In your procedure, be sure to include all of the following 5 Es. Your procedure should be
detailed enough for a colleague to follow. If you will be relying on technology (e.g., a YouTube
video), describe your back up plan thoroughly. Imagine your most novice colleague needing to
teach from your plan. Dont just answer the questions. Additionally, I expect you to include
possible questions you could ask for each section. This needs to include higher-order questions.

Engage: (5min)

The teacher can ask the students, Who knows what the solar system is? Who thinks that the
sun rotates around the earth or the earth rotates around the sun? Who knows some other
planets names? How many moons does the Earth have?
While the students answer the questions the teacher is to take note on the board, the students
responses to the questions.
Afterward play; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAqT4hXnMw Outer Space: We are the
Planets, The Solar System Song by StoryBots (1min 58sec)
Explore: (20min)
The teacher can ask the students, Who remembers how many planets away the earth is from the
sun? Is the sun a planet or a large star? Does anybody remember the planet that lays on its
side? Was there a fact that stood out to you?
The teacher is to then hand every child a mini book. The teacher will ask the students to label the
book Our Solar System there will be three pages in the mini book. The teacher will ask the
students to label each page Sun, Earth and Earths Moon. The teacher will then ask the
students to put facts in their mini book that they learn.
The teacher will play: (in this order)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-kzdR93bqw Outer Space: Im So Hot, The Sun Song by
StoryBots (1min 59sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBmZjOHrVJ0 Outer Space: A Beautiful, Beautiful
World, The Earth Song by StoryBots (1min 56sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i235Y2HRksA Outer Space: Time to Shine, The Moon
Song by StoryBots (1min 59sec)
After the song the teacher will ask, What is the center of the universe? (Sun) Is the sun a
planet, moon or star? (Star) What does the earth orbit around? (Sun) What does the moon
orbit around? (Earth) How many planets out is the earth from the sun? (Three)

Explanation: (10 min)

Teacher will ask the students; Class what have you learned so far? What is your favorite fact?
(Pull on 5 students) Who remembers how many Earths can fit inside the Sun? (1.6 million)
How many planets are in our solar system? (eight)
The teacher will go over facts about the Earth, Sun and Moon. The teacher will also demestrate
how the planets rotate through http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm (Through a
PowerPoint)

The teachers job is to make sure the students understand the material present: The earth is the
third planet from the sun, the earth has one moon, the earths moon orbits around the earth, the sun
is the center of the solar system, the sun is a large star, the sun can fit 1.6 million earths inside it,
there are eight planets in out solar system, earth is the only planet that supports life on it, other
planets have moons some have more than one and some have none.

Elaborate: (10min)
The students will go back to their tables and they will each have a sheet of paper and they will get
to draw the solar system. They will need to label as many planets as possible.
The teacher will ask these questions while they are completing their solar systems; Are you
labeling your solar system? Are you putting the planets in the correct order? Should the sun
be in the center of your solar system? Should you draw the earth with oceans and land?
Evaluate:
Formative:
Teacher will take notes of children who are struggling throughout the lesson, as well as students
who excel through the lesson.

Summative:
Students are to complete a mini book they will need to have 2 facts for each planet, the teacher
will also be collecting their solar system drawings, the students will need to label the sun, earth
and one other planet; they are to score at least a 80% to be able to correctly demonstrate that they
know the content.

To be complete after the lesson is taught as appropriate

Assessment Results of all objectives/skills:
20 students were present for the lesson out of 24
17 students were able to demonstrate the knowledge of three or more facts about the Sun, Earth
and Earths Moon.
1 student demonstrated two facts about the Sun, Earth and Earths Moon.
1 student demonstrated two facts for Earth, but was able to demonstrate three facts about the Sun
and Earths Moon.
1 student demonstrated one fact about the Sun, Earth and Earths Moon.

Reflection on lesson:
I pulled the students together on the carpet, we talked about what our solar system was,
and discussed our prior knowledge. We shared our facts or prior knowledge about the solar
system. Then we watched an introduction StoryBots video, the video was about the solar system
in a whole. Then we talked about cool facts that we learned in the video. Next I handed every
student a mini book, and we labeled the mini book pages. I told the students that they were to put
at least three facts about each the Sun, Earth, and Earths Moon. We then watched the remaining
three StoryBots videos, after each video we talked about the video and what we learned from it.
At the end of all of the videos, we talked about the solar system as a whole. We looked at a
bigger picture of how the solar system is labeled, and what it looks like zoomed out. I also pulled
up a page that shows the planets orbiting around the sun. The children learned that not all the
planets rotate around the sun at the same speed, that some are faster than others. We then talked
about the sun, earth and earths moon as a whole, and discussed facts about each. After we then
talked about fun facts about the solar system, the students seemed to really enjoy this. Lastly I
had the students finish decorating the mini books to turn in. When they were completed they
were asked to draw a picture of the solar system, and color it.
The students learned a whole lot in this lesson; it was a wonderful moment watching
them become amazed when they learned a new fact. The biggest surprise to them would have to
be how many people lived on earth. They were unaware of how small North Carolina or the
United States is as a whole to the whole world. It was very neat having to explain to the students
that we are in fact a very tiny portion of the Earth, and there are many others living here. I also
got to explain to them how big a billion was, and they kept thinking that the number had to be
wrong that 7 billion people could not possibly live on the planet. It really amazes me that when I
told them that we were going to learn about the solar system, most of the students were upset.
They thought that the lesson could not possibly be fun, but by the end of the lesson the children

were actually begging to watch the videos again and were asking for more facts about the solar
system.
The students really connected this experience to their daily lives, for instance they were
talking about how sometimes they can see the moon in the daytime or how it would make since
that we rotate around the sun. I was also able to talk to the students about the importance of
taking care of our planet, because we are the only planet in the solar system that can support life.
I feel as though learning about all the different continents, and how much of the earth is covered
in water they really connected with where they live. They were able to connect that, they are a
very small portion of the earth as a whole.
Technology was used heavily within my lesson, my lesson revolved around YouTube
videos, and the website that showed the planets rotating around the sun. I feel as though that I
used the technology efficiently and effectively. I created a PowerPoint that had all of the links
within it, as well as the other portions of my lesson. I made it short and easy, and so all you had
to do was click the link and the video would come up. It worked out well; I just had to check
before hand that the videos were working. This prevented having to type in the exact web
address to pull up the websites. If I could do it again, I would use Google Docs. PowerPoint was
a bit of a hassle having to download it, find it, open it, and then use it. I feel as though Google
Docs would have prevented that. I also would have liked to learn how to embed a video within a
PowerPoint. This way there would be no leaving the PowerPoint to go to a website to watch a
video. Overall for the first time using technology, and teaching a whole group lesson I feel as
though it went very smoothly.
I would love to teach this lesson again, the children were engaged in the lesson the whole
time. They really enjoyed the videos, and the videos were upbeat but informative. The students

were sad when the lesson was coming to an end, and wanted more information about the solar
system, or wanted to watch the videos again.
I learned as a learner that it is important to be flexible to go with the flow, and to not get
hung up on silly things. That you need to discipline the students, but in a way that will make
them want to rethink their actions, such as loss of recess time or park time. My teacher did not
use clip down charts, because the same students would end up clipping down or up everyday.
Instead she phrased good behavior, the students who seek attention would only receive attention
for doing good actions. This also helped create a tighter classroom community. I also learned
that it is important to phrase each child, at the school I was placed at they did this thing called
Standing O. Standing O was truly amazing, each week a different child got to sit in the
teacher chair and every student would pay that child a compliment. I feel, as though this taught
the children how to respectfully like or dislike somebody. The children were not rude to one
another; they would communicate respectfully if somebody else did something to that bothered
them. This kind of communication was not built over night, it took time and lots of energy to get
the children to this stage.
As a teacher I learned that you will make mistakes no matter what, that you will do
amazing things, and that you will be stressed. It is important to share with the students how you
as an adult, handles these things. For instance if you make a mistake in front of the class, it is
important to talk together as a class about the mistake and what you can do as a person to better
yourself to prevent this mistake from happening again. The children are constantly watching you,
and watching how you react to events so they can learn themselves. I feel as though I do better in
front of the classroom than I do as the student. I love it when the children look towards me for
guidance, and advice. I learned, that as the teacher you need to keep the children moving. The
children do get tired, and their brains do drift off if they are sitting for too long. When the
students would start to become tired, my teacher would cut on music and let the children dance

with the music for a song or she would have the students do brain yoga. She was always mixing
it up, and it made me realize that as a future educator, I need to make sure that all my lessons are
interactive and fun.
Overall I had an amazing time and enjoyed every aspect of student teaching, I wish that I
could go ahead and graduate to become a teacher. I truly want to make a difference in childrens
lives. To the children their teachers, and mentors are their super heros. They are constantly
looking toward them to learn what to do, or to learn new things. A teacher is a mentor, and a
mentor is a teacher and it is my job as a future educator to learn how to become both.

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