I am about to wrap up the second week of school with my kids. From the first day, I reinvented my usual first two weeks of school lessons to get rid of the introductory science process skills lessons and replaced them with inquiry based lessons surrounded by the content (geology – classifying rocks by their… Continue reading The Great Rock Mix Up: An Inquiry Approach from Day 1
Tag: lessons
Establishing a Culture of Inquiry during the First Days of School
I am trying to reinvent my class for next year – especially the first week of school. Here is an outline of what I did last year on the first five days of school: Day 1 – Classroom expectations, basic overview of what is covered in the course Day 2 – Lesson on observations, inferences,… Continue reading Establishing a Culture of Inquiry during the First Days of School
Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors: A Reading for Meaning Lesson
Two days before spring break, and the next lesson style in my solar system unit was a reading for meaning lesson on comets, asteroids, and meteors. If you are not familiar with the the reading for meaning strategy, students are given an organizer with statements on it. Students decide whether they agree or or disagree… Continue reading Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors: A Reading for Meaning Lesson
The sun is like a factory: A new metaphorical lesson
After we finished our jigsaw assessment, the next concept up was to learn about the sun. In my state curriculum (GA) learning about the sun, it’s parts, and how it works is an extension. Personally, I think knowing about the sun is important. One of the lesson styles I had to use for my gifted… Continue reading The sun is like a factory: A new metaphorical lesson
After the Jigsaw
I spent five days on my jigsaw lesson doing the following activities on each day: Explain concept and work in expert groups Work in expert groups Work in jigsaw groups Work in jigsaw groups and class discussion Assessment (test) In most of my classes, the expert groups and jigsaw groups worked well together. However, there… Continue reading After the Jigsaw
Teaching the sun/Earth/moon relationships with a jigsaw lesson
Today is our third day working on the major concepts of the sun/Earth/moon relationships using a jigsaw lesson strategy. We are focusing on five main topics: The causes of day/night and years Seasons Moon phases Solar eclipses Lunar eclipses On the first two days of our lesson, we broke into our expert groups and learned… Continue reading Teaching the sun/Earth/moon relationships with a jigsaw lesson
Reflections on my first New American Lecture lesson
As I think I’ve mentioned before, I am currently working on my gifted endorsement. I am also teaching three sixth grade gifted science classes this year. It is my first time teaching gifted science. As part of my endorsement class, we are writing a unit using several different lesson styles. The lessons are based around… Continue reading Reflections on my first New American Lecture lesson