Lesson plan Grade 1 English Language Arts
Pucklebrook Before and After the Storm: A Grade 1 Fact Lesson
First graders compare two pictures of the same brook on a dry day and after a hard rain, then write matched fact sentences about what the storm changed.
Objectives
- Students will describe how a brook looks on a dry day and after a hard rain.
- Students will write two matched fact sentences comparing the two pictures.
- Students will explain that rain from roofs and streets runs into the brook.
Vocabulary
Key words: brook, rise, muddy, runs off, fact
Teacher overview
Pucklebrook is an invented brook that runs behind a row of houses and under a small footbridge, and this lesson puts two pictures of the same spot side by side: one taken on a dry Tuesday and one taken on Thursday, two hours after a hard rain. In the first the water is low, clear, and slow, with stepping stones showing. In the second it is high, brown, and fast, the stones are covered, and a branch is sliding past. Students write one fact about each picture and one closing line. The misconception this lesson addresses is the belief that a brook rises only because rain fell into the brook itself, when most of the rise comes from rain that landed on roofs, driveways, and streets and then ran downhill into the water.
Procedure
Hook (5 min): Show the dry-day picture alone and ask students to name three things they see. Record the words they use, especially clear, slow, low, and stones. Tell them a second picture of the very same spot is coming.
Two pictures (12 min): Post the storm picture beside the first one. Give students a full minute to look before anyone speaks. Then take answers to one question: what is different? Push for specifics by asking where the stepping stones went and what color the water is now. Ask a second question and let students argue about it briefly: where did all that extra water come from?
Chart the facts (8 min): Draw a two-column chart labeled Dry Tuesday and After the Rain. Fill it with short phrases the class supplies, such as low, clear, stones showing, high, brown, fast, branch floating. Then add one sentence the class agrees on: the rain fell on roofs, yards, and streets all over the neighborhood, and it ran downhill into the brook.
Model the matched sentences (5 min): On chart paper, write a topic line, then two sentences built the same way, one for each picture, so the pair can be read together. Think aloud about why matched sentences make a comparison easy for a reader to follow.
Independent writing (10 min): Students complete the student page. Circulate and ask any writer whose two sentences are about different things, such as the color in one and the speed in the other, to pick one feature and describe it in both.
Share and exit check (5 min): Three students read their matched pair aloud so the class hears the comparison. Then ask the exit question: name one place, other than the brook itself, where the storm water came from. Students answer on an index card with one word. Cards naming a roof, a street, a yard, or a driveway show the idea landed, and cards naming only the sky or the brook go into a small group for the next block.
Student Handout
Pucklebrook on Two Days
- Write a topic line. Tell your reader what your page is about.
- Write one fact about Pucklebrook on the dry Tuesday. Tell how the water looked.
- Write one fact about Pucklebrook after the rain. Tell how the water looked.
- The rain did not fall only on the brook. Name one other place the rain landed before it reached the water.
- Write a closing line. Do not add a new fact.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: Accept any short topic line naming the brook or the two days, such as "This page is about Pucklebrook before and after a storm."
- Answer: Accept any fact from the dry-day picture, such as "On Tuesday the water was low and clear." Naming the stepping stones showing above the water is a strong detail.
- Answer: Accept any fact from the storm picture, such as "After the rain the water was high and brown." Fast, muddy, or covering the stones are all correct.
- Answer: Accept a roof, a street, a driveway, a yard, a parking lot, or a sidewalk. Students who answer only the sky or the brook have not yet made the connection and should be asked one follow-up question about the picture of the street.
- Answer: Accept any closing line that ends the page without new information, such as "One storm changed the whole brook." Restating the topic in fresh words also counts as closure.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a page with the topic line and closing line printed and with sentence frames for items 2 and 3 that use the same shape, such as "On Tuesday the water was _____." and "After the rain the water was _____." Let them mark the dry picture with a blue crayon and the storm picture with a brown one before writing, which keeps the two observations apart.
Extension
Ask students to write a third matched pair about the stepping stones or the footbridge, then add one sentence predicting what the brook will look like three days after the storm. A further step is to draw an arrow map showing rain landing on a roof and arriving at the brook.
ELL supports
Pre-teach low, high, clear, and muddy by pouring clear water and stirred-up muddy water into two jars while saying each word. Provide the matched frames used in Support, and allow one-word answers on the chart. Let students point to the roof or street in the storm picture before writing their answer to item 4.
Extensions
Look at a small stream, ditch, or drainage swale near the school on a dry day and again after the next rain, and take a photo each time from the same spot. Students add one matched sentence pair about the real place, which tests the two invented pictures against water they can walk to. Adults lead each visit, and students stay well back from the edge, especially after rain, when water in even a small ditch can be deep and fast.