Going to try this out tomorrow. It's definitely a challenge to create a lesson when you don't have clear objectives form the teacher. So this was an attempt. We'll see how it goes.
GENERAL TOPIC: Science GRADE: 4th
FOCUS QUESTIONS: What are the basic elements of the life cycle of a plant? What helps a plant to grow?
STUDENT OBJECTIVES:
§112.6. Science, Grade 4.
(2) Scientific processes. The student uses scientific inquiry methods during field and laboratory investigations. The student is expected to: (C) analyze and interpret information to construct reasonable explanations from direct and indirect evidence.
(5) Science concepts. The student knows that complex systems may not work if some parts are removed. The student is expected to: (B) predict and draw conclusions about what happens when part of a system is removed.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
First Lesson for (from) the Fourth Graders
What a day! A few lessons learned:
1. I overplan. And by overplan I mean waaaaay overplan. I cut down today's lesson while I was preparing for it, but in teaching it found it was still too long. Everything takes longer than you think it will. I spent some time in the beginning going over some ground rules for the work we were doing. I'll take that out below hoping that without it, the full lesson could be used by a classroom teacher as is. Goal: Build flexibility in my lessons so I can remove or add actvities and still help students reach objectives.
2. Kids are smart. Really smart. One kid during the Questions from a Hat activity gave an amazingly accurate definition for photosynthesis.
3. Never assume. The teacher I'm working with asked me to review vocabulary. So I put on slips of paper terms from their text. The cards said, for example, "Define herbivore." When I read that, a student raised her hand and asked, "What does define mean?"
4. Students can have fun learning. As I was gathering my supplies to leave, a student turned around and said to me, "You're fun." I smiled and thought, "And you learned today."
Ecosystems Lesson
1. I overplan. And by overplan I mean waaaaay overplan. I cut down today's lesson while I was preparing for it, but in teaching it found it was still too long. Everything takes longer than you think it will. I spent some time in the beginning going over some ground rules for the work we were doing. I'll take that out below hoping that without it, the full lesson could be used by a classroom teacher as is. Goal: Build flexibility in my lessons so I can remove or add actvities and still help students reach objectives.
2. Kids are smart. Really smart. One kid during the Questions from a Hat activity gave an amazingly accurate definition for photosynthesis.
3. Never assume. The teacher I'm working with asked me to review vocabulary. So I put on slips of paper terms from their text. The cards said, for example, "Define herbivore." When I read that, a student raised her hand and asked, "What does define mean?"
4. Students can have fun learning. As I was gathering my supplies to leave, a student turned around and said to me, "You're fun." I smiled and thought, "And you learned today."
Ecosystems Lesson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)