Last Day Blues...:(

Today was our last day teaching our wonderful 2nd graders. These kids were honestly the best group I have ever worked with! They were so well behaved and I enjoyed every second I spent in their class. Because it was the last day, Paige and I wanted to have fun with the kids. After our introduction, we read the story "I Wish I Were a Butterfly" by James Howe and illustrated by Ed Young.

Next we had the kids create a wheel of the life cycle of a butterfly. The kids colored the pictures, cut them out, pasted them on a wheel, then had a cover with a window so as they spun it, a new stage would appear. The kids seemed to have fun with this activity. This was also the activity that we assessed. We created a checklist to make sure the kids were able to follow each step along the way. Overall, the kids did a fabulous job! Finally, we watched the Brain Pop, Jr. video on butterflies. The kids loved this and shouted, "Play it again!"

I had so much fun teaching these kids and I will miss coming to their class every Monday. They taught me so much about techniques I will use when I become a teacher. Thank you so much, kids!!!

The Butterflies Fly Free

The time has come to release our butterflies into the wild. The kids enjoyed the time they had with their butterflies into the classroom, but they were happy that the butterflies were getting a chance to be free and continue the life cycle.

 

     For our lesson this week, Paige and I taught the students about different life cycles, specifically the tree life cycle, the frog cycle, and the butterfly cycle. Hands down, this was the best lesson that Paige and I have done so far!
     Paige began the lesson with a quick introduction, letting the kids know that the butterflies were released on Thanksgiving. Then she asked the kids if they knew what a life cycle was. We got a lot of great responses! To start the instruction, I did a demonstration of the tree life cycle, but drawing the different stages in the board. Every time I drew a new stage, we went back to the beginning and the kids told me what each stage was. By the end, they knew each stage by heart!

 

     Paige took over the lesson and taught the kids about the frog life cycle. We had a blank wheel that the kids would fill out along with Paige about the frog life cycle. The kids did great a knew a lot about this topic already! They were eager to share all of their stories about tadpoles they'd seen and frogs that they had touched. While Paige used the doc cam, I walked around the room and helped the students, making sure they were staying on task.

     We had the kids make their own models of the caterpillar life cycle using paper plates and pasta. This was so much fun! We used 4 different types of pasta that resemble the stages of the caterpillar life cycle, from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. This was everyone's favorite part of the lesson. I think the kids liked doing it because it's not something you see everyday. 

    Although we will miss our friends, I'm happy that we were able to set them free and I'm glad that the kids enjoyed having the butterflies for a little while!

The Butterflies Make Their Arrival

          When we got to class today, the kids had exciting new for us.....the butterflies had emerged from their chrysalis!
For the lesson, we had the kids listen to a C.D. of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. For a writing assignment, we had the students write similarities and differences between their caterpillars and the caterpillar in the story.
           For our next activity, we discussed the parts of a butterfly, which went really well since many of the parts were similar to the parts of the chrysalis that we had done last week. When the kids got back from recess, we handed out the science journals and had the students write a few observations about the caterpillars coming out of their chrysalis.

          I felt that I didn't do as well during this lesson that I have done in the past, but Paige assured me that it went well and she thought I did great. This made me feel MUCH better! Mrs. S had nothing but good things to say about our lesson also, so this made me feel better too. It's sad that our time with the butterflies is coming to a close, but this has been a great experience and I can't wait to have a classroom of my own!

How Fast They Grow...

    When Paige and I walked into the classroom today, we didn't know if we'd see caterpillars, J-shape, or chrysalis, so we went in prepared for all 3! When we walked in, all of the caterpillars were in a chrysalis!
  One of our focuses this week was vocabulary, so Paige and I planned a great lesson on labeling the parts of a chrysalis. We wrote the vocabulary on the board, had it on an overhead projector, and had the students write it on the caterpillar. The kids learned many new words, such as abdomen, silk button, and proboscis. Another focus for this week was our focus on a misconception. Many children think the little black things in the bottom of the cup are eggs that the caterpillar has laid, but caterpillars actually do not lay eggs! That black stuff on the bottom is FRASS, or caterpillar poop!
Finally, the last thing being addressed this week was the flow of the class. I think this is something that Paige and I excel in every week. We work great together as a team, we're on top of who is doing what job, and we bounce ideas off of each other. All of these things help to make the lesson a success! We had a really fun lesson with the kids this week!

Caterpillars, cAtErPiLlArS, CATERPILLARS!

This week Paige and I finally got to introduce the students to their caterpillars! We left it as a big surprise so it was really great to see the excitement when we made our big reveal!

This week our focus was on classroom management, science process skill, and lesson conclusion. We did better on some aspects than others, but overall the lesson was a big success.
When it came to classroom management, our cooperating teacher took the lead. There may have been some miscommunication and she thought this was what we wanted. Since we are guests in the classroom, Paige and I felt uncomfortable being assertive and taking over, so we just went with the flow. This is not the only method of classroom management, and we did do well in other aspects; we had all of our materials ready to go, we helped the children with smooth transitions, and we circulated the room and answered every question. I don't think it was a complete failure.
The next focus point was the process skill. We focused on collecting data and this went absolutely great! The students were really excited to look at their caterpillars with their hand lenses and write down all of their observations.

Finally, we emphasized our conclusion. We fell flat last week with this aspect, so Paige made sure that it got done today. We told the kids that they could continue to make observations every day while we are not there and they can tell us all about it next week! Even though today didn't go exactly as planned, I think Paige and I did a really great job and hopefully it will be even better next week!

Day 2 and we're still alive! :)

     Today was our second day teaching the butterfly unit to our second graders. For some reason, I was more nervous today than I was last week but now, in retrospect, I feel like it went really well!!
     I started off focusing on the introduction. While the students were sitting on the rug, I started with a story to get them engaged. All of the students were eager to share about a time when they saw a caterpillar and I think it got them really excited to learn about all of the different parts of the caterpillar.
     Paige and I definitely have no problem with materials management. We had everything ready a few days ahead of time. When we first got to the classroom, we organized all of our handouts in the order that we would give them to the students. We also made a plan for how we would hand out the materials - for example, we agreed before class started that Paige would hand out the worksheet while I was doing the introduction. Having a plan in place and getting materials ready ahead of time definitely help with materials management.

     The last part we were focusing on was the connection of our lesson plan to the frameworks. Because we were using hand lenses to observe caterpillars up close, our framework dealt with observation. We want to save the frameworks that directly deal with butterflies and the life cycle for when the caterpillars actually get here, so we thought we'd do these other activities as warm ups. All in all, I think Paige and I did really well staying on task and connecting to the frameworks. Many times throughout our lesson we referred back to our key questions and kept bringing the conversation back to observation. Paige and I did really well this week and I can't wait until the caterpillars get here next week!

Planning, Safety, and Teamwork

Yesterday was our first lesson in front of a class of second graders and it was exhilarating! It was a blur and I feel like I don't remember it all, but I know I loved every second of it!! The students loved the"What's in the Bag" experiment. 
Paige and I planned our lesson two weeks before, and even though we reviewed it multiple times, I went into the classroom feeling like we were going to forget something or we wouldn't remember exactly what we wanted to say. When we got into the classroom, there were some technical difficulties with our video that we wanted to show, but because we had planned enough activities, it wasn't a big deal. I was really proud of us at this point; we didn't let a little glitch ruin the rest of our lesson, and we were able to eventually get the video up and running. And even if we didn't say everything exactly as we scripted it, we remembered all of the important parts and the kids really got a lot out of everything we said.
I was in charge of discussing safety. The students had really great ideas about why it is important to be safe when exploring science, even things Paige and I hadn't thought of (and they were all so cute using the wafting technique)! We talked about the importance of safety when using your 5 senses - not tasting something unless a grown-up says it's okay, not touching anything sharp, using the wafting technique when smelling, not looking at bright lights for too long, and not shaking the bag violently and hitting your neighbor when listening. The kids did really great and followed our directions closely.
Working as a team was ideal for this experiment and I was glad I had Paige with me. Near the end, I had a really important point I wanted to make, but I was floundering and couldn't think of what I wanted to say, so Paige was able to help me out. Another thing that was great about working as a team was that we could float around to each group and answer all the questions more quickly and effectively, so a child wasn't waiting for a long time. I really liked working as a team! 

Exciting and Scary!!!

       With our teaching experiences fast approaching, it gives us time to reflect on the things we are super excited about and the things we wish would just hurry up and be done with! For me, there are a number of things things that I'm excited about and excited to get over with! :)
       I am most excited about seeing the student's excitement when the butterflies emerge. I love that this experiment will be exciting for both boys and girls (bugs and butterflies)! Since my planning is all done, I'm excitedly anticipating the result and hope the lesson goes well; I know chances are the lesson won't go exactly according to plan, but that's okay with me too. I'm really excited that I have a partner up there with me who can help me if I get stuck.
       As of right now, only a couple of things are making me nervous or scared. Although I've made great strides, public speaking makes me a little nervous; even though the audience is a room full of 7  and 8year-old students, I'm still a bit apprehensive. I'm nervous that despite all of my preparation, a student will stump me with a question that I just don't have the answer to.
       I feel confident that the lesson will go really well. Although I'm nervous about a couple of things, the positives far outweigh these. I hope the students are as excited about this lesson as I am and I can't wait to get started!!

"...success depends on previous preparation, and without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure." - Confucius

Why is lesson planning important?


Lesson planning is a big part of your job as a teacher. By planning the lesson ahead of time, you can see places where the lesson might break down or where problems might arise. Lessons don't always work out the way we want them to, so planning allows us to extend the lesson if needed or cut the lesson down. The plan provides guidelines that we can follow to keep ourselves organized so the lesson doesn't get away from us and we don't stray too far from the topic. Lesson planning is critical to your day to day routine as a teacher.


What things are important to consider?


When planning a lesson, it is important to consider a number of things:
1. Safety - the student's and your safety should come first
2. Plan for extended time - if you finish early, you don't want to waste precious teaching time, so plan to extra
3.Plan areas you alter- if time is running short, plan what is most important and what you can afford to cut out
4. Plan for accommodations and modifications - some students may need the lesson plan to be altered to fit their learning style, and it's important to think of these ahead of time.
5. Supplies - make sure you have enough materials for each student before beginning the lesson.

Science Resource

     As new teachers, I'm sure we're all wondering where to find ideas to keep our students going to 180 days! A great online resource that I found is www.sciencewithme.com. This is a great site with interesting text for older students to read and informational videos that younger students may find more appealing. The site allows children to post comments about what they think about certain topics. For example, in an explanation for "Why are tsunamis so dangerous?" a student wrote "Hey don’t you think its amazing how high that wave gets…like how the water actually keeps itself so high up there." 
This aspect is awesome, giving children the chance to express their ideas and brainstorm with one another.
    The site offers information on all different areas, from plants to physics to astronomy - even a section on famous scientists. There are songs and coloring pages and a whole lot more! Check it out for some great ideas and topics that you and your students can explore together!

My Science Story

Hello everyone!

     Just a note before I begin my story...I realized after I named my blog that I made it sound like science is scary and that's not how I meant it! I think science is fun (with maybe a few scary things like dissections and spiders!)! I named it Harri-Scary as a play on words with my last name....anyway, back to my story :)

     When I was in elementary school, science was NOT my 'thing,' so my science story isn't a long, elaborate saga that could fill a tome. My science experience has been a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. In fact, my first real memory of science isn't until 5th grade and even that memory is vague!

     In 6th grade, my homeroom teacher was also the team science teacher, so my exposure to science increased exponentially. This was the year that we dissected owl pellets, went on extensive nature walks, and even made our own ice cream! For me, this was the year that science became fun! Then, in 7th grade, our teacher had one method of teaching science - color-by-number worksheets of the human body, plant cells, the digestive system, you name it. When the school year ended, I had excellent coloring skills, but limited scientific knowledge.                     

     When I got to high school, there were some great science classes and some not so great science classes. We made our own roller coasters out of PVC pipes in physics, but the entire class got D's on our chemistry midterm. In fact, the most memorable thing about chemistry for me (besides the D - the lowest grade I ever got) is the fact that I met my current boyfriend in that class (insert chemistry joke here)!

     Science for me has always been a roller coaster ride. I hope that someday I can break this pattern and make science accessible, invigorating, and exciting for my elementary school kids!