My First Lesson

9/22/10

Science:

We reviewed the materials and criteria of the index card structure: 1 index card, 6" of tape; structure must hold 6 dictionaries 1/2" off the ground.

Students teams were given the chance to try out three structures...so far, the highest has been 5 dictionaries. Will the illusive 6th dictionary ever be conquered?

Math:

Students began to learn about mode/median/mean - today we focused on mode. Mode is the value that occurs most frequently in a data set.

Dr. Morse made up this interview between a Vogue editor and a celebrity - "Mode." Mode was seen everywhere out on the town, because "Mode" was the most popular of them all. After reading the interview, she handed students index cards with numbers on them and brought the students to the front of the room. She then had the class describe which number was the mode in the data set. In this case, three out of the four students were the mode. Dr. Morse then rolled out the red carpet (laminated red construction paper) and dressed them up in boas and sunglasses an had the mode students strut down the isle. They LOVED it! Totally hammed it up and were dying to participate in her next volunteer activity!

Social Studies:

Ms. Conrad also had a learning activity prepared for the students. After learning about the many features of the text book, the students were sent on a scavenger hunt for items like "Who was Crispus Attucus and why was he famous?" They got really into it and had a blast! I really liked how Ms. Conrad had the goal and directions on the board for students to refer back to.

Language Arts:

Today I gave my first observed lesson! YES! Eileen, my supervisor, came to observe me and to provide feedback. The lesson was on the four elements of setting, which I referred to as "The Fantastic 4 Elements of Setting!" I used the characters from the Fantastic 4 to introduce the four elements. I started off by asking the students if they had ever heard of the Fantastic 4 - nearly everyone had, and they were so excited to talk about the comic book characters. I sucked them into that lesson! They loved the PowerPoint presentation which had fun and colorful pictures of the characters along with the definitions of the elements of setting. I also scanned in - page by page - the book "Thunder Cake" by Patricia Polacco. The goal of the lesson was to have the students listen to the story and write down the elements of setting that they heard in Thunder Cake on to the graphic organizer that I created. They totally bought into it! I think they had a lot of fun with it as well. Eileen and Amy both provided me with positive feedback - they seemed very impressed with my energy, enthusiasm, and creativity! YAY! Only four more chances to out do myself...