Last Week, Taylor Primrose (another first
grade teacher also located in my PDS clinical site) and I teamed up to
introduce the topic of food chains to the three first grade classes. Taylor and I have been co-teaching the science
lessons for the three first grade classes since September and therefore we are
fairly confident in our ability to be interactive and engaging for the
students. Not to mention, we knew that the students would certainly take away
new ideas from this lesson as they begin to make connections to their lives.
After having discussed with our cooperating teachers and looking at the
curriculum guide, the topic that best fit the week of choice was food chains.
Taylor and I were able to read through the
curriculum guide and take note of all of the important parts that needed to be
introduced and taught in this first lesson. This included discussing the term
“food chains” as well as “oxygen” and “energy.”
These terms would need to be broken down and explained in first grade
terminology. Taylor and I know that introducing AND using academic language
throughout a lesson will not only help the students to understand what is being
taught but it will also help them to remember what they learned. The topic of
food chains was a perfectly placed unit because it followed the topic of
habitats. With this background knowledge, we knew that the students would be
better able to link the pieces of a food chain based on what animals live in
each habitat.
A huge part of planning for this lesson
included piecing together all that Taylor and I knew about food chains as well
as what was included in the curriculum books about what needed to be addressed.
Taylor and I both knew that food chains prosper because one living thing gives
energy to another living thing through consumption, or food. That said, we knew
that a wolf would eat a bunny and a bunny would eat grass. Therefore, the
energy passed from the grass, to the bunny, to the wolf. I also knew that the
amount of energy that is passed from one living thing to the next is always
less than before because most of the energy received the first time was used
up. However, this was something that I knew would be too advanced for the first
graders to learn right away. To begin the lesson, we decided to introduce the
idea of food chains by explaining what it looks like and what it does. Then, we
decided that we would present examples of food chains that we would do together
as a class. Taylor and I also knew that we had to keep the lesson to no more
than 40 minutes given the amount of students that we have and their attention
span. In order to meet the needs of our students, we planned to have
interactive time in which we would complete a quick SMART board activity and
also do some hands on activities. In doing this, the students would be able to
move from fine to gross motor movements.
From many experiences working with all three
of the first grade classes, once again I felt that Taylor and I managed
classroom/student behavior very well. Often times when one teacher would take
the lead to explain a new fact or to lead the SMART board activity, the other
teacher would wander about the room to redirect students that were talking or
not keeping their attention on the lead teacher. I personally think that this
is something that I am very capable and good at doing. Being able to do this
not only helps the selected student to better focus and learn, but it also
helps the students sitting around him/her to have the same ability to focus and
learn on the lesson as well. This is also something that my cooperating teacher
noted as a strength for the lesson. She stated, “Good job keeping the kids
accountable-Ms. Primrose was teaching, Ms. Murphy kept them quiet.” During the
times where Taylor and I were actively co-teaching, we would stop to remind the
class that “When the teacher is talking, YOU ARE NOT!” This is a phrase
commonly used in all three first grade classes and the students all join in to
repeat the last line with the teachers. This is a great auditory reminder for
the students to be actively listening to the teachers.
Taylor and I also made sure to incorporate a
variety of checks for understanding that the students are familiar with in
order to gauge their understanding throughout the lesson. These included; blow
and shout, turn and talk, and raising hands. These checks for understanding
served as quick tips for which students were able to understand or connect with
the learning and which students still needed more practice. The more hands
raised, the more discussion done through turn and talks, and the more
participation in blow and shout would signal to Taylor and me that we could
move on to the next piece of the lesson. The less hands raised, the less
discussion done through turn and talks, and the less participation in blow and
shout would signal to Taylor and me that we needed to stop and re-explain or
explain differently so that all students would be able to learn what was being taught.
In general, having a variety of checks for understanding is a strength for any
teacher because it gives the teacher new information each time that it is
incorporated. Also, it ensures that all students are able to respond
appropriately and not simply mirror what the other students or teachers are
doing.
Another great part of the lesson was the
interaction with the SMART board in actively explaining a food chain and also
playing the food chains match game. This assisted the students by incorporating
a visual support for learning as well as an actively engaging tool for
learning. My cooperating teacher wrote, “Good way to visualize lesson (using
the SMART board), kids were excited to see the food chain.” Taylor and I prepared
questions that were paired with the SMART board activity and also with the
SMART board game. This supported our students’ learning because we were
actively scaffolding their learning. We could see the students beginning to
understand by the smiles that would light up on their faces and the amount of
hands in the air waiting to be called on. We often would incorporate a “silent
cheer” in which the students could evaluate themselves on their guesses. This
was used when only one or two students were given the chance to share their
guess or thoughts with the class. The silent cheer also served as a formative
assessment for Taylor and I as we could see how many students were also
thinking of the correct answer. Again, this was something that my cooperating
teacher reflected on as a strength throughout the lesson.
After the lesson, the students were given a
chance to create their very own food chain on the prepared paper that they were
given before the lesson. The students were given one task, “The first box must
have the sun because the sun gives off energy for things to grow.” From there,
the students had the freedom to draw any plants or animals that they desired to
represent a working food chain. The students worked individually or in groups
of two or three to complete their food chains. Taylor and I made our way around
to every group to offer our feedback as well as to gauge the students in
conversation. One thing I made sure to do was to ask the students how the food
chain that they created worked. The goal was for the students to explain how
the energy passed from one thing to the next by it being eaten. After having
visited each group, I was very impressed with the drawings and thoughts that
went into the students’ food chains. I saw plants and animals that were not
discussed as a whole group but that made sense in the student’s food chain. I was
also delighted that the students were able to explain how their food chain
functioned. I think that the way we organized the lesson to allow for the
students to actively create their own food chain based on what they had learned
about them was a great way for the students to practice and apply their new
knowledge.
I would only improve a few things with our
lesson. One thing that I would make sure to do is to continue to consider
academic language and ways that new terms can be broken down into first grade
friendly language. In doing this, I would also want to make sure that I can explain
the term in more ways than one. That said, should the students be unsure of the
vocabulary, I would have a second or third way to explain the term so that all
of the students understand the terms used throughout the lesson. Also, I would want
to continue working on improving the noise level of the students during the
lesson. This would require organization in the planning pieces of the lessons
so that the students have appropriate times to be quiet and appropriate times
to be louder. This would really serve the students’ learning because they would
not be required to be silent throughout the whole lesson or for even more than
5-10 minutes. All in all, I think that this lesson was very successful and fun
for me, Taylor, and the students of course. Taylor and I received great
feedback from our cooperating teachers referencing the great game we played on
the SMART board to practice creating food chains, to the ability to maintain
classroom management.
That is all folks, until next time!
-Alaina Murphy
EXCEEDS: Planning-included visual in lesson
plan. Reflection-extremely exceeded the 1,000 character requirement. (1,659).
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