This is going to be a no picture post because it's about kiddos I teach, just an FYI.
In my program we have what is called early field experience our first two semesters. What this means is that we spend a day or two per week in a real classroom observing and helping a real teacher. They want us to know what we're getting ourselves into as soon as possible. This semester I am in a kindergarten classroom.
On Tuesday I taught my first lesson. It was a science lesson on sinking and floating. It's kindergarten so the content was pretty basic. I wanted my students to understand that some things sink and other things float. I also wanted them to compare and contrast the objects we tested. What do all the objects that sunk have in common? What about the ones that floated? I brought in a bunch of things for them to test: an acorn, a leaf, a crayon, a rubber band, a house key, etc.
Everything started off fine. We talked about what it meant for things to sink or float. I went through the items we would be testing and had them guess what each item would do when we dropped it in the water and then it was time to test! This is when things started to get ugly. See, I did not anticipate just how excited kindergartners could get about buoyancy. The first time an object did what they had predicted they cheered. They cheered like they'd just won the World Series (Go Sox, by the way!). So each time they tested something they'd go crazy and I (with the help of my very patient, very experienced classroom teacher/mentor) had to bring them back to a manageable level. Oy. I have a thing or two to learn about classroom management, yet.
Next up is my math lesson: shapes. I teach that lesson in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.
In my program we have what is called early field experience our first two semesters. What this means is that we spend a day or two per week in a real classroom observing and helping a real teacher. They want us to know what we're getting ourselves into as soon as possible. This semester I am in a kindergarten classroom.
On Tuesday I taught my first lesson. It was a science lesson on sinking and floating. It's kindergarten so the content was pretty basic. I wanted my students to understand that some things sink and other things float. I also wanted them to compare and contrast the objects we tested. What do all the objects that sunk have in common? What about the ones that floated? I brought in a bunch of things for them to test: an acorn, a leaf, a crayon, a rubber band, a house key, etc.
Everything started off fine. We talked about what it meant for things to sink or float. I went through the items we would be testing and had them guess what each item would do when we dropped it in the water and then it was time to test! This is when things started to get ugly. See, I did not anticipate just how excited kindergartners could get about buoyancy. The first time an object did what they had predicted they cheered. They cheered like they'd just won the World Series (Go Sox, by the way!). So each time they tested something they'd go crazy and I (with the help of my very patient, very experienced classroom teacher/mentor) had to bring them back to a manageable level. Oy. I have a thing or two to learn about classroom management, yet.
Next up is my math lesson: shapes. I teach that lesson in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.
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