Assessment Plan for Weather Unit

Purpose and Learning Outcome

My assessment plan has been created for a unit on weather in a second grade class. The unit will cover the topics of rain, snow, clouds, and sun/heat. The assessments and learning outcomes will specifically address the topic of clouds and the weather they produce. My goal for this unit of study is for students to gain an understanding of various types of weather and the effect that is has on us. The learning outcomes for the topics of clouds include higher and lower order cognitive skills and one of the objectives is linked to a performance assessment.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will recognize Stratus, Cumulus, and Cirrus with 80% accuracy
• Students will create drawings of clouds that they observe outside and label them with the correct cloud family

Assessment Context

Multiple Choice Test

1.      What types of clouds have curly and wispy shapes in them?

a.       Curly Clouds

b.      Stratus Clouds

c.       Cirrus Clouds

2.      Stratus Clouds are….

a.       Flat

b.      Round

c.       Puffy

3.      Cumulus clouds produce what kind of weather?

a.       Wind

b.      Snow

c.       Thunderstorms

Performance Assessment

Cloud Drawings and Small Group Presentation

Students will spend a half hour outside on the play ground observing and drawing the different clouds that they see in the sky. The students will then go back to the classroom to identify and classify the clouds they drew into the correct cloud families. Students will then present their drawings in small groups and explain why they group their cloud drawings into the specific cloud families using specific descriptive language.

Holistic Rubric

Observing and drawing clouds

0  No attempt to draw or observe

1  Limited observation and cloud drawings with no detail

2  Some observation with slight detail in cloud drawings

3 Good observation with most cloud drawings containing detail

4  Excellent observation with all cloud drawings containing detail

Identifying and categorizing cloud drawings into cloud families

0  No attempt to identify or categorize cloud drawings

1  One cloud drawing identified and categorized correctly

2  Some cloud drawings identified and categorized correctly

3  Most cloud drawings identified and categorized correctly

4  All cloud drawings  identified and categorized correctly

Presentation to small group

0  No presentation to small group

1  Short presentation to small group with no explanation of drawings of clouds

2  Short presentation to small group with some explanation of drawings of clouds

3  Detailed presentation to small group with most cloud drawings explained

4  Detailed presentation to small group with all cloud drawings explained

Total points = 12

Testing Constraints

The students will have a half hour outside to complete their drawings and then one hour to identify and categorize their cloud drawings and work on their presentation. The students will be allowed to refer to their science notebook to categorize the clouds they drew. Students will complete this performance exam at the end of a unit on weather and after reading and discussing types of clouds as a class.