Science 2, Living and Nonliving Lesson Implementation

This past Thursday, Katie and I gave our lesson about living and nonliving things to the kindergarten class at Brigham. Overall, I think the lesson went well. The kids appeared to be engaged, and by the end of the lesson, they were able to tell us the difference between living and nonliving things. However, it was hard to implement this lesson in this classroom because I had never been in the class before, and I have never met any of the students. I was not able to call on them by using their names, so I just had to point to them to answer questions. I also did not know the attention-getter that the teacher used in the classroom, so I was unsure of how to get the kids' attention. I tried to use an attention-getter while we were outside that I heard the teacher use earlier (1, 2, 3, eyes on me), but the students did not respond well to me when I said it because they did not know me at all. When we divided the class up into groups, I was able to learn my students’ names, but it would have been helpful to know all of the students’ names when we were doing large group activities. I believe that if I had the opportunity to be in the classroom one or two times before giving the lesson, it would have gone much smoother because I would know the students better and I would have a greater understanding of the classroom routines.

Although there are many ways that the lesson could have ran smoother, there were still some strengths to the lesson. When we first introduced the topic of living and nonliving things, many students could not state the difference between the two. After watching the YouTube video, the students were able to recall that living things eat, grow, and breathe. When we took the students outside to look for living and nonliving things, some of them made correct predictions based off of what they learned from the video, but some students made incorrect predictions. This showed us that we needed to go over the characteristics of living things again once we were back in the classroom.

When we got back inside, we went over each of the items that the students found outside. The nonliving things were easy to explain why they were not alive, but it was hard to explain that plants were actually living. This is something we were prepared for, but it was harder to explain than I thought it was going to be. To explain that plants eat, I told the students that plants make their own food, and they get nutrients from the ground. I told them that plants do not eat with a mouth like we do, but they still eat like we do. It was more difficult to explain that plants move.  I often used the example that they grow over time to help explain to the students that they are alive. Overall, it is a difficult concept for the students to grasp that plants are living because they cannot see them eating, taking in air, or moving. If I were to do this lesson again, I would use a squirrel or bird first as an object to determine if it is living or nonliving before trying to explain that plants are living things. To show that an animal is living is simpler for the kids to understand than showing a plant is living. While it was difficult to explain, I think the kids started to understand that plants are living by the end of the lesson because they started to answer “yes” when we asked if grass needs air, food, water, etc. I think our visual chart helped the kids determine if something was living or nonliving after seeing “yes” or “no” written across each row. I also think it was helpful to use objects that the students picked because they were more engaged when we investigated the object they chose. For example, when we determined if the play ground equipment was living or nonliving, one boy shouted out “that’s mine!” to tell us that he picked that object. To assess the students throughout the lesson, we often used “thumbs up if you agree.”

As I was implementing this lesson, I also tried to make more progress towards reaching my goal for this semester. I think actually being the teacher in the classroom helped with this a lot because I was interacting with many of the students. I was able to get a better understanding of things I need to work on when I am teaching English language learners. When I first walked into the classroom, I observed that everything was written in English as well as Spanish. I think this is very beneficial for the ELL students because it allows them to interpret the word in their native language as well as see the English word. It also appeared that most of the students in the class speak Spanish. Some of them said things in Spanish while I was there. For example, one student said something in Spanish, and another boy interpreted it for me because he assumed that I did not know Spanish. Although majority of the students in the kindergarten room speak Spanish, it appeared from our lesson that they speak English as well. I did not notice anyone who appeared clueless when we were explaining directions. Everyone in my group spoke clear English. However, there was one girl in Lisa’s group who did not speak at all. I do not know if this is because she cannot speak English or if she was just shy. From class we have learned how important parent communication is, so I would like to ask the teacher how she communicates with parents. I am sure that she probably sends home notes in English as well as Spanish. I would also like to know if the teacher speaks any Spanish with the students or how much Spanish she incorporates into her lessons. I think it will be easier to ask the teacher about these things when I am not the one who is teaching a lesson. I am looking forward to being in the kindergarten classroom more often so I can get to know these students better. I hope to know all of their names within one or two more times being in the classroom so I can communicate with them more effectively.

Living and Nonliving Online Games for Kids:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/plantsanimals.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/ourselves.shtml

EXCEEDS: I went over the word limit, I included a picture of an anchor chart that is very similar to the one we used, and I included some interactive online games for kids about living and nonliving things.