Core decisions
What
In this Kindergarten lesson, students will use their senses of sight and touch to observe rocks and gather information. I will distribute two rocks to each (6) student for them to observe. They will observe the properties of both rocks by feeling the texture of the rock and by looking to see what characteristics they can find. The students will then engage in a scientific discussion about their observations and share it with a partner. Even though there will be a worksheet involved in this lesson, I hope to focus more on the discussion between the students. The worksheet will just be a way for the students to organize their observations.
How
Students will receive two rocks for them to observe independently. They will then discuss their observations with a partner about their findings. Doing so, they can compare and contrast their rocks’ characteristics with one another. Then as their independent activity, they will choose one of the two rocks that they observed by choosing the correct printed picture and pasting it onto their Scientific Journal worksheet. I will have several descriptions already listed (i.e. bumpy, smooth, shiny, dull, etc.) and the student’s task will be to circle the ones that fit their rock characteristics. Using the students’ responses on how they described their rocks I will tell them to use the first letter of each word to help them read the word.
Why
I have not seen much science occur in my classroom so I would like for the students to discuss with one another about what they know about science using rocks. I plan on using a few ELL students so they can be introduced to descriptive vocabulary. I hope that all students involved in this lesson will remember the descriptive words because this is a hands-on activity where discussion is of importance. I want to use this lesson to create a scientific discussion amongst the students about their prior knowledge on rocks (Michaels, S., Shouse, A.W., and Schweingruber, H.A. (2008). This lesson also has literacy elements as students will extend their observation skills by learning and reading descriptive words such as ‘bumpy and ‘smooth’.
In this Kindergarten lesson, students will use their senses of sight and touch to observe rocks and gather information. I will distribute two rocks to each (6) student for them to observe. They will observe the properties of both rocks by feeling the texture of the rock and by looking to see what characteristics they can find. The students will then engage in a scientific discussion about their observations and share it with a partner. Even though there will be a worksheet involved in this lesson, I hope to focus more on the discussion between the students. The worksheet will just be a way for the students to organize their observations.
How
Students will receive two rocks for them to observe independently. They will then discuss their observations with a partner about their findings. Doing so, they can compare and contrast their rocks’ characteristics with one another. Then as their independent activity, they will choose one of the two rocks that they observed by choosing the correct printed picture and pasting it onto their Scientific Journal worksheet. I will have several descriptions already listed (i.e. bumpy, smooth, shiny, dull, etc.) and the student’s task will be to circle the ones that fit their rock characteristics. Using the students’ responses on how they described their rocks I will tell them to use the first letter of each word to help them read the word.
Why
I have not seen much science occur in my classroom so I would like for the students to discuss with one another about what they know about science using rocks. I plan on using a few ELL students so they can be introduced to descriptive vocabulary. I hope that all students involved in this lesson will remember the descriptive words because this is a hands-on activity where discussion is of importance. I want to use this lesson to create a scientific discussion amongst the students about their prior knowledge on rocks (Michaels, S., Shouse, A.W., and Schweingruber, H.A. (2008). This lesson also has literacy elements as students will extend their observation skills by learning and reading descriptive words such as ‘bumpy and ‘smooth’.
Contexts and beliefs (planning)
My first idea for this lesson branched from the rock activity that we had done in our Science Methods course. I enjoyed classifying rocks within my small group during class because of the discourse that it had created. The language was simple based on the rock’s characteristics as we were instructed to group them in a certain way. Many students in our class grouped them by size, color, lackluster, etc. It was interesting to see the discourse around how each one of our small groups grouped the rocks. As much as I enjoyed the ownership and independent work in this activity it was the discourse that I mostly enjoyed that I wanted for my Term III science small group lesson.
Before I wrote my lesson draft, I asked my classroom mentor what he thought about my idea about classifying rocks to which he handed me the Learning Resources Hands-On Standards Science K-5 curriculum. I looked through the curriculum book as I turned to the page labeled “Observe Seeds”. I wanted to use similar guidelines from this curriculum as I incorporated ‘senses’ into the lesson and changed ‘seeds’ to ‘rocks’. Originally, I wanted the students to work independently because the curriculum book’s lesson was about observing on their own and discussing their findings with the rest of the group. Then, a couple of days later I went into Ms. Silver's room to see what she thought about my lesson on observing rocks. She gladly handed me some worksheets labeled "My Science Observation Journal" so I can use them for my lesson. She helped direct me to many ideas of how to think about my draft such as having the student's use magnifying glasses to closely observe their findings, tell students to group them by color and talk about it, having them draw their rock on the graphic organizer and even write about it below. Remembering my overarching question about <How can I get Kindergarten students to voice their opinion/thinking?> I realized from Ms. Silver's advice that the students would benefit from working with partners rather than on their own. I wanted to focus most of my lessons on how to create rich classroom discourse. I wanted to see what my science methods instructor thought about my initial lesson as to which she gave me many suggestions on top of my classroom mentor's and Ms. Silver's ideas. I left the conversation with my science methods instructor feeling very comfortable and confident as it steered me into a new direction of how I wanted my lesson to take place. She helped me focus on aspects such as creating discourse and constructed an integrated literacy curriculum embedded within the lesson. As I implemented her suggestions into my lesson, new goals were made and old goals were accentuated.
Prior to the lesson, the students were familiar with observing because of a previous lesson we did in the classroom. They did an integrated literacy, math and science lesson with pumpkins a few weeks earlier which I believe helped them understand the lesson about rocks just a little more. They knew how to look at them within the framework of the rock’s color, size and texture from their previous knowledge about the pumpkin lesson. Since science is usually integrated within our literacy lessons, my goal for science in this classroom is to integrate it with other curricula such as literacy and math. An integrated lesson supports student thinking where teachers can connect new knowledge by building onto their previous knowledge.
Before I wrote my lesson draft, I asked my classroom mentor what he thought about my idea about classifying rocks to which he handed me the Learning Resources Hands-On Standards Science K-5 curriculum. I looked through the curriculum book as I turned to the page labeled “Observe Seeds”. I wanted to use similar guidelines from this curriculum as I incorporated ‘senses’ into the lesson and changed ‘seeds’ to ‘rocks’. Originally, I wanted the students to work independently because the curriculum book’s lesson was about observing on their own and discussing their findings with the rest of the group. Then, a couple of days later I went into Ms. Silver's room to see what she thought about my lesson on observing rocks. She gladly handed me some worksheets labeled "My Science Observation Journal" so I can use them for my lesson. She helped direct me to many ideas of how to think about my draft such as having the student's use magnifying glasses to closely observe their findings, tell students to group them by color and talk about it, having them draw their rock on the graphic organizer and even write about it below. Remembering my overarching question about <How can I get Kindergarten students to voice their opinion/thinking?> I realized from Ms. Silver's advice that the students would benefit from working with partners rather than on their own. I wanted to focus most of my lessons on how to create rich classroom discourse. I wanted to see what my science methods instructor thought about my initial lesson as to which she gave me many suggestions on top of my classroom mentor's and Ms. Silver's ideas. I left the conversation with my science methods instructor feeling very comfortable and confident as it steered me into a new direction of how I wanted my lesson to take place. She helped me focus on aspects such as creating discourse and constructed an integrated literacy curriculum embedded within the lesson. As I implemented her suggestions into my lesson, new goals were made and old goals were accentuated.
Prior to the lesson, the students were familiar with observing because of a previous lesson we did in the classroom. They did an integrated literacy, math and science lesson with pumpkins a few weeks earlier which I believe helped them understand the lesson about rocks just a little more. They knew how to look at them within the framework of the rock’s color, size and texture from their previous knowledge about the pumpkin lesson. Since science is usually integrated within our literacy lessons, my goal for science in this classroom is to integrate it with other curricula such as literacy and math. An integrated lesson supports student thinking where teachers can connect new knowledge by building onto their previous knowledge.
Student samples
[pictured left] Science Observation Journals cover
[pictured right] Hillary knew how to read the words upon receipt of the worksheet. She completed the task without making any erasures which led me to believe she understood the task of circling her rock's characteristics and read the words fluently.
[pictured left] Theo read the words beforehand and instead of individually circling each one he seemed to have found it easier to circle them as a group.
[pictured right] Ruben had trouble reading some of the words as he got carried away by circling extra words. He was aware that he was only supposed to circle one word on each line as he said, “Oops! Ms. Yun, I have five circles.” I looked at the fourth line where he circled both words 'flat' and 'thick'. I told him that his rock couldn't be both flat and thick. He concurred as he debated on which one to erase. He asked me which one said flat because he thought that his rock was flat. I sounded out the /f/ sound in which he immediately erased the word ‘thick’
Lesson Analysis
After going over the five senses in as the hook, the students focused on the scent of the rock when I asked them to use their senses to observe their rocks. Yes, my instructions were to use their five senses to observe their rocks I should have explicitly stated that we were going to focus on the sense of touch and sight for the lesson. I asked the students to state a brief description about each of their two rocks, the first student used her sense of smell and sight by saying that her rock smelled like “mint” and the other rock was “really smooth”. I praised her second statement of her rock "feeling smooth" hoping that the next student would focus on the sense of touch but he went on to say that his rock was “super stinky and I’m not kidding” and his other rock was “bumpy”. He seemed to have followed the same pattern as the previous student by focusing on scent for the first rock and touch for the second rock. This continued to be a similar pattern for all six students as they found it amusing that some of the rocks smelled “stinky” or “minty” which took away from the lesson’s objective of using touch and sight. After the lesson, my Penn Mentor critiqued my lesson by saying that I should have explicitly stated that we were only going to use two senses of sight and touch. Because I did not monitor their conversations as a whole group when I asked them to say one thing about their rocks, most of them focused on smell. I realized that I should have stopped at the first student who mentioned the rock’s scent because each student after that focused on the scent which took away from the lesson's main goal. The lesson could have gone a lot smoother had I monitored the student’s discussions. Because I had not stated what my expectations were the students were focused on being humorous by talking about what it smells like.
Next, the students had to choose one of their two rocks to focus their senses on. Then, they had to choose the picture of their rock among 12 pictures. The students found their pictures easily amidst the sheer amount of pictures I placed randomly in front of them. I was surprised at how quickly they found their picture! I just had to commend them for completing this task so quickly as I said, “Very quick guys! You did it faster than I expected!”
We moved onto the integrated literacy portion of the lesson which was a challenge that I wanted the Kindergarten students to take. They had to circle the descriptive words that matched their rock on their Science Journals. The words were written in this order: big, small, dull, shiny, dark, light, rough, smooth, flat and thick. I placed the words in two columns with the opposite word next to it. Although most of them could not read all of the words I gave them context clues that they should look at the first sound to help them. Most of them easily read the word ‘big’ as it was the first one on the list. I also realized that if they knew one word, to think of the word next to it as its opposite word. I believe that this helped them decode some of the words as the students circled the description that matched the word during the final activity.
Then, something happened that my classroom mentor said that has never happened to him in the nine years he has been teaching at PAS. One of the six students (who also happened to be my child study) threw up! My first instinct was to get up to escort her back to the classroom to which I did as calmly as possible to not ensue panic for the rest of the children. I still cannot believe how well the other students handled the situation. Not one single student yelled obscenities where it embarrassed her or stood up to jump away from her spot. One student seemed concerned as he asked, “Should I get the nurse?” If I had panicked, I believe the students would have behaved differently but because I told them, “Okay we’re going to move on and finish the lesson since we should finish what we started.” They knew they had a task to finish despite the minor episode. I was so impressed at how quickly they transitioned to another spot on the carpet to finish the lesson. I could not help but to laud them for being well behaved and for completing the lesson. I believe they acted the way they did because I did not panic when the incident arose.
Next, the students had to choose one of their two rocks to focus their senses on. Then, they had to choose the picture of their rock among 12 pictures. The students found their pictures easily amidst the sheer amount of pictures I placed randomly in front of them. I was surprised at how quickly they found their picture! I just had to commend them for completing this task so quickly as I said, “Very quick guys! You did it faster than I expected!”
We moved onto the integrated literacy portion of the lesson which was a challenge that I wanted the Kindergarten students to take. They had to circle the descriptive words that matched their rock on their Science Journals. The words were written in this order: big, small, dull, shiny, dark, light, rough, smooth, flat and thick. I placed the words in two columns with the opposite word next to it. Although most of them could not read all of the words I gave them context clues that they should look at the first sound to help them. Most of them easily read the word ‘big’ as it was the first one on the list. I also realized that if they knew one word, to think of the word next to it as its opposite word. I believe that this helped them decode some of the words as the students circled the description that matched the word during the final activity.
Then, something happened that my classroom mentor said that has never happened to him in the nine years he has been teaching at PAS. One of the six students (who also happened to be my child study) threw up! My first instinct was to get up to escort her back to the classroom to which I did as calmly as possible to not ensue panic for the rest of the children. I still cannot believe how well the other students handled the situation. Not one single student yelled obscenities where it embarrassed her or stood up to jump away from her spot. One student seemed concerned as he asked, “Should I get the nurse?” If I had panicked, I believe the students would have behaved differently but because I told them, “Okay we’re going to move on and finish the lesson since we should finish what we started.” They knew they had a task to finish despite the minor episode. I was so impressed at how quickly they transitioned to another spot on the carpet to finish the lesson. I could not help but to laud them for being well behaved and for completing the lesson. I believe they acted the way they did because I did not panic when the incident arose.
Moving forward
For myself- While I was teaching this lesson, I learned how vital it is to be explicit in my step-by-step instructions. I told the students that as I hand out their rocks no one should touch them unless I say so. When I instructed them to choose one of their rocks, I had them put down the one they wanted in front of them so I knew which one to collect which were the ones in their hand. I learned that when handing and collecting materials, it is important how you hand them out as well as collecting them.
Even though I ended the lesson by asking some of the students to volunteer their Scientific Journals my Penn mentor suggested that I ended the lesson with a wrap-up sentence. I have noticed in my previous lessons that I do not end a lesson with a wrap-up sentence which is important for the students to review what they had just learned.
I have to admit that I would not change the way I had acted when the little incident erupted. In general, I believe I handled it well as we moved onto finish the lesson. I am still proud at how the students handled it every time I think back on the lesson.
For my students- For a follow up session with the same set of students I would connect the outside world by taking them out into the garden of PAS. They can choose rocks from the school garden which would be a real-life experience of learning science. Their task would be to collect rocks that have similar characteristics from their rock from the previous lesson. We can start the lesson back in the classroom (or outdoors if weather permits) by communicating our findings with a partner about where they found it and using their senses to observe the rock. They will take a look at the graphic organizer that they filled out about their old rock to familiarize themselves. This way they can compare their new rocks to their old rocks. The new graphic organizer that I would introduce to them would be the Venn Diagram to compare the similarities and differences between their old and new rocks. The students will use the same words from the previous graphic organizer where I will have cut-outs of. These words will help review key vocabulary learned from the previous lesson and apply them in a different perspective in comparing and contrasting. They can also take the rocks home with them at the end of the lesson unit which would be I hope, a meaningful experience.
Even though I ended the lesson by asking some of the students to volunteer their Scientific Journals my Penn mentor suggested that I ended the lesson with a wrap-up sentence. I have noticed in my previous lessons that I do not end a lesson with a wrap-up sentence which is important for the students to review what they had just learned.
I have to admit that I would not change the way I had acted when the little incident erupted. In general, I believe I handled it well as we moved onto finish the lesson. I am still proud at how the students handled it every time I think back on the lesson.
For my students- For a follow up session with the same set of students I would connect the outside world by taking them out into the garden of PAS. They can choose rocks from the school garden which would be a real-life experience of learning science. Their task would be to collect rocks that have similar characteristics from their rock from the previous lesson. We can start the lesson back in the classroom (or outdoors if weather permits) by communicating our findings with a partner about where they found it and using their senses to observe the rock. They will take a look at the graphic organizer that they filled out about their old rock to familiarize themselves. This way they can compare their new rocks to their old rocks. The new graphic organizer that I would introduce to them would be the Venn Diagram to compare the similarities and differences between their old and new rocks. The students will use the same words from the previous graphic organizer where I will have cut-outs of. These words will help review key vocabulary learned from the previous lesson and apply them in a different perspective in comparing and contrasting. They can also take the rocks home with them at the end of the lesson unit which would be I hope, a meaningful experience.