As the student groups are working on classifying the different bat cards, it is important that they are making decisions based on facts and vocabulary learned during this unit.
Collaborative groups allow for reasoning and logic to be at the forefront of group discussions.
Doing so, will help the learners become more familiar with unit vocabulary and understand associations
in the animal kingdom. "To learn any body of content, therefore, is to figure out (i.e., reason or think through) the connections between the parts of that content". (Paul & Elder, 1999).
Once bats have been sorted and categorized, students will complete a Venn diagram with facts they generated by the end of the activity. For example: All Micro bats have small eyes. Why is that so?
If their eyesight is not very good, what must they utilize in order to catch food? These are the conclusions
to the activity that will aid students in filling out the Venn diagram. Some advantages to using Venn diagrams include, but are not limited to: Good for visual learners, involves higher-order thinking skills, organization for overlapping concepts, and simplistic way to illustrate complicated information.
Interested community members are an asset to education. Guest speakers, individuals who are
involved with the topic of study are invaluable to any discussion.
Andrade states, "Arguably the most important job of education is to provide students with knowledge that they can transfer in meaningful ways to other aspects of their present or future lives". (1999)
Connect-Type Activity~
A narrative writing connection
Written in first person
Explain to the students that they are going to be writing a story about themselves traveling through the water cycle as a water droplet. Solicit excitement to the students in writing adventure stories.
Review each step of the water cycle and brainstorm the details of each step. Encourage conversation and feelings in their writing. What might you feel like in each stage? How will you change between stages? What is happening around you while going through each stage? Are there others around you? What might someone say to you?
As a group, begin the Cycle Graphic Organizer in the dark blue bubble. Review with the students that every story has to begin with a "hook" sentence that sparks interest in the reader. Your first sentence has to make the reader WANT to read your story.
Begin your journey in the next bubble, following the arrows until you reach the end of your journey. There are four bubbles, one for each stage of the water cycle. In each bubble you must state where you are and two details.
Once you have completed the Cycle Graphic Organizer, you will begin to write your story on paper, using your organizer to help you with details. I will assist with spelling and answer any questions, should you need help.
After completion of the writing process, a center will house all materials needed to create the character for your story.
Horton states that practice discovery and playing games are the "verbs of learning" (2010).
Do activities therefore, put learners in action mode of the learning process. Activity seeking information, discovering, and creating their own knowledge is the basis of a Do Acitvity.
In order for students to understand how magnets are used all around them, they need to understand how magnets interact with objects and other materials.
1. Set up "Science in a Shoebox" stations. These are learning activities that can be stored and distributed in a shoebox or other similar type container.
2. Students will have about 20 minutes to explore each station and 10 minutes to complete the data recording sheet. This entire activity will take two days to explore and complete content in each station.
3. Before students begin the stations, the teacher will need to read the instruction/expectations and the safety rules. Each station has a verbal instruction sheet and a visual instruction sheet, as well as a data recording sheet.
Shoebox station materials and handouts:
Advance Preparation:
1. Shoebox 1: Does a Magnet's Size Determine its Strength?
A plastic bag with 100 small paperclips, a plastic bag with 50 large paperclips, a selection of magnets including: a bar, a wand, a ring, and a horseshoe magnet.
2. Shoebox 2: What Can A Magnet Attract?
Plastic bag of items such as, but not limited to, paper clip, brass fastener, penny, nickel, aluminum foil, iron nail, marble, piece of wood, rock, lodestone, cardboard, paper, piece of cloth, eraser, and buttons: one plastic and one metal (that looks plastic).
3. Shoebox 3: How Do Magnets Interact?
4-5 ring magnets, an unsharpened pencil, two bar magnets, two horseshoe magnets.
4. Shoebox 4: A Magnet Can Move Objects
One wand magnet, a few large paperclips (or other magnetic item), large piece of sturdy cardboard with the maze glued/taped onto it.
5. Shoebox 5: Sort It
A plastic bag, labeled #1, with 100 small paperclips and 30 plastic counters. A plastic bag, labeled #2, with 50 small paperclips and 25 brass fasteners.
The following was a PowerPoint presentation I gave my campus during in-service the week prior to the beginning of school.
For the purpose of this discussion, I simply took the PowerPoint and converted it into jpeg's. Once I had the individual slides saved as pictures, I imbedded them into my blog. I find this extremely easy because it allows you to manipulate your slides in a familiar setting (ppt) , then convert and place them in the unfamiliar blog setting. I am a "newbie" to the blog scene and am not confident with blogging tools. Using this method, I do not feel I've lost ALL contol!
And last, but certainly not least, here is a Taylor Mali video entitled the Miracle Worker.
My Absorb-Type Activity is a PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act process), focusing on basic math addition fact recall in a second grade classroom.
The PDSA objective targeted activity is large portion of the Continuous Classroom Improvement process. The CCI allows the learner's input into the adjustment of their learning methods and activities, in order to achieve their goal with the focus objective. This is a continuous process where students and teacher work together to bridge the gap in fluency and basic math fact recall.
The PDSA wheel shows the repeating cycle of activities accomplished during the week. Students and teachers will make a plan, do the plan, and evaluate the plan in order to study and decided on what actions worked or did not work for the next week. An objective is chosen as a target of study and broken down into 5 or 6 sub objectives all building on the overall objective targeted. (Each week builds on the previous week.)
Needs Assessment is the first step in the PDSA cycle. Identifying the knowledge needs learners require is the desired outcome of a PDSA. Developing fluency in bisic math fact recall significantly enables a child's subsequent progress with problem-solving, algebra and higher-order math concepts. Various drill and practice activities are brainstormed, resulting with assistance in memorizing basic math facts increased in learner's performance when working simple and complex math problems.
Basic math facts are existing knowledge acquired in the first grade, in most cases. It is important for children to memorize math facts in order to succeed acdemically. A report by Tom Loveless states that, "Youngsters who have not mastered whole number arithmetic by the end of 4th grade are at a risk of later becoming remedial students in mathematics" and advises that all students should receive a thorough arithmetic base.
Learner's performance goals are clear and defined. Learning activities to reach these goals are brainstormed each week and an assessment of the different activities is evaluated by the learners. Activities might include flashcards with partners, timed computer math fact drills, whole class Around theWorld, drill and practice at home, whiteboards, and practice sheets.
To measure success with class goals, a pretest will be administered on Monday. If the predetermined percentage goal is reached, showing mastery with the first objective, the learner then completes his data folder bar graph. During the week, "do activities" will be preformed two or three times a day for 10 minutes. On Thursday an assessment is given to learner's who did not meet the goal on the pretest. Mastery is again assessed and discussions begin on which activities were more successful for each learner. "Do activities" are again repeated for non-mastery learners during the day with a retest on Friday morning.
Individual data folders are completed after mastery checks on Thursday and Friday. If learners do not past initial mastery check on Thursday, a retest is given on Friday. All learners then complete their data folders indicating mastery or non-mastery score. A whole group bar graph is completed representing all learner results. (In the picture above, yellow indicates successful passed retests.)
Vested groups in this PDSA activity involve the teacher, learner, parent, and administrator team, all working together to achieve the desired outcome. Teachers and students designed the plan, parental support is given behind the scene, and the administrators acquire the tools, if necessary, to be successful.
Our textbook states that, "Absorb activities are also an efficient way to extend current knowledge and skill. Learners who understand the fundamentals of a field can increase their knowledge by absorbing new details that elaborate a theory, concept, or principle". (Horton, 2012)
Grab learner's interest by showing Doubles! Doubles! Our first objective will be about doubles and doubles +1.
At the begining of each week, teacher will give the learners mental "tricks" to help them remember the math fact objective.
This bar graph will be stapled into a folder for each learner. The graph will be colored and kept in the learner's desk to give the learner ownership of his plan and evaluation results.
Research proves time and time again that higher-level math is more difficult to achieve mastery level when children have not mastered their math facts.
