In my PDS class, I taught a science
lesson about simple machines. My CT teaches Science one week then Social
studies the next week and she rotates every other week. For almost everything
that my CT teaches there is a Smart Notebook made for the topic. She goes
through the notebook on the Smart Board and plays songs, videos, or incorporates
interactive slides for the students. When I told her I needed to teach a
Science lesson, I knew I would be doing something with a Smart Notebook that
was already made for the curriculum. This was hard to plan because the days
that would have worked well, we had planned to teach Social Studies.
Fortunately, my CT was flexible and worked with me to figure something out. She
asked me if I would be okay with doing an introduction lesson to what she had
planned to start doing during Science. This lesson was about simple machines
and how things work.
I prepared the lesson by working
with my CT. There was a Smart Notebook already made, but we worked together to
make changes and put new ideas in it. We watched different videos and chose
things that would best represent the simple machines I was going to introduce. The
day I planned to teach was a little last minute because of how the schedule had
been set up, but things went well. I am used to teaching and being in front of
the class, so I was comfortable doing this.
I began my lesson with a song about
wheels and the lyrics to the song were displayed on the board. I played it a
couple times then encouraged the students to sing along. I felt that the song
in the beginning of the lesson hooked the students in. The students caught on
and were able to learn a little bit about what a wheel does. I moved on to a
picture of a town that had all different kinds of examples of simple machines
and machines in general. I asked the students to look at this picture and raise
their hands if they saw any thing they thought was a machine. I used their
answers as a check for understanding and most of the students were right on
track. I thought this part went well because most of the students gave
meaningful answers such as a bus, bicycle and pointed out the wheels, a
computer, etc. One student said the flagpole and I thought that this answer was
interesting. I think having the students analyze a picture like this gives this
topic a little more meaning to them if they can see examples that are used in
every day life.
While I was teaching the lesson there
were times that I thought of that I could have better known this topic myself.
I know what simple machines are, but there were times where I was unsure of how
to explain it to kindergarteners. I think the videos helped with this because
the students were able to see a demonstration of how the machines could be
used. Throughout the lesson I showed the students short videos of each simple
machine we were talking about. I identified the vocabulary for the lesson then
showed each short video about a pulley, wheel and axle, lever, and inclined
plane (ramp). Each video showed real life examples of people using these simple
machines, such as using a pulley to raise a flag or using a ramp to help get a
heavy box in a tall lifted truck. During our discussion about the videos, some
of the students made connections by saying they have ramps at their house or
they have seen their grandparents walk down one before.
After the students had just learned
a little bit about what simple machines are and what they can be used for, they
worked in pairs at the carpet to think of other examples of simple machines
that they see at school or at home. This was an opportunity I gave the students
to take part in a shared practice activity. I listened to some of the group’s
discussions to see what they were coming up with. A lot of students said things
like the pencil sharpener or some kind of tool they have seen somebody fix
something with. I also heard a student make a connection related to the wheel
and axle. In the video, they described gears being a part of a wheel and axle
and how these gears can be inside watches to make the watches work and one
student raised their hand and said so does that mean there are gears inside my
watch that I am wearing right now? I thought this was a great connection to
think about how simple machines are really all around them and they use them
all the time.
Everything that we do as teachers
always has some kind of room of improvement. Overall, I was pleased with how
the lesson went but I also noticed that there were some things that I need to
work on. I need to work on describing different things to young children and I
think something like this will come with practice. The more I work on this I
think the better I will become at it. I also think this was something I could
improve on in this lesson because I’m not particularly familiar with a lot of
science and teaching it to young children. I know there were activities that I
could have had the students do, but my CT and I discussed these activities and
planned when we could do them throughout the week while we were teaching this
topic. We were thinking of having the students make their own small ramp or
some kind of simple machine. They could use different materials to construct
something of their own to replicate an example of something they saw in the
videos or an example we talked about during the lesson. The purpose of my
lesson that my CT wanted me to teach was an introduction overview of what the
students were going to be learning about more in depth throughout the week. I
think I accomplished this goal because the students gave great examples of
simple machines they see everyday and they made connections of simple machines
that they use in their lives.
Exceeds- Here
are some links to additional activities that I could do in the future that
relates to this topic:
http://www.brainpop.com/educators/community/lesson-plan/simple-machines-activities-for-kids/?bp-jr-topic=simple-machines
http://www.brainpop.com/educators/community/lesson-plan/simple-machines-lesson-plan-the-inclined-plane-and-the-screw-2/?bp-jr-topic=simple-machines
http://iijuan12.hubpages.com/hub/gears-and-pulleys-simple-machines-lesson-plan
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