Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Mini Lesson Reflection

For my first lesson on the sun, I began by reading a short story which was an overview of the sun. It didnt go into great detail but it covered the basics. This was a First Grade Lesson and therefore the book had some very descriptive pictures of the sun. This classroom only had 2 working computers so I had to use a different form of multimedia.

After we had a discussion on what we just read, I had the students return to their seats. I gave each student a paper plate and some yellow & orange construction paper. I had the class color their paper plates yellow and then cut out rays that they could paste on their sun. Then, I asked them to write in the center of the sun, one important fact that they had learned.

The students really enjoyed this project. I found that the younger kids like arts and crafts very much. They enjoyed coloring and designing what they felt and thought the sun looked like. After everyone was finished, I asked them to come up to the front one by one to share their sun and important fact with the class. Having them present their finished project to the class also builds self confidence.

During the prep period, the cooperating teacher and I hung their projects in the classroom. Open school week was the following week and we wanted to display what the students had learned to the parents.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Mini Lesson reflection

After having the oppurtunity to bring one of my lessons in a classroom I was overwhelemed at how well it worked and how excited the kids were to be doing something different and engaging. I used my lesson that consists of a letter from the local news station asking the students for help with sorting out the weather reports. When reading the letter from the news station to the students their excitement started and grew as the letter went on. The letter really started the lesson off perfectly and got the students motivated. From there the students were excited and ready to work and couldn't wait to let the news station know the job was completed. I loved doing this and it was really a great feeling when the lesson was done and the students work was great and the experience they got out of it was one of a kid. This experience really showed me that a little extra effort could go a long way with young students. Adding something exciting and engaging in your lesson is sure to motivate your students and in the end enhance their learning.