You Rock!

Lesson Planning on Rocks

This past week the first group taught their lessons to the class on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, this group chose to use an inquiry style lesson to have the class discover different types of minerals. On Thursday, they used a cooperative instruction style lesson to engage the class by working in groups to have a mineral show! This group was the first to go, which can be nerve racking, but they did a great job! By observing this group teach the class I was able to learn from their positive and negative actions! I provided the group with some suggestions that could help improve their lesson that I noticed, as well as what I think they did well!

For the past week I have been working with my group on creating our lesson plans for Tuesday and Thursday on igneous and sedimentary rocks. We have worked together to create a direct instruction lesson and an inquiry lesson plan to help our students understand the differences between igneous and sedimentary rocks, as well as new facts to add to their prior knowledge. I feel very anxious about teaching the class on Tuesday and Thursday because I want to give my students the best instruction they can receive. 

On Tuesday, we plan to teach our students many different facts, definitions, similarities, and differences that we see between igneous and sedimentary rocks. While we are teaching our lesson we plan to use dry eases boards to check for our students understanding. We will ask the class a question and the students will answer on their dry erase board and hold it in the air for us to see. After we have taught our students everything they need to know about igneous and sedimentary rocks we plan to conduct a guided practice activity where our students will observe different rocks and distinguish whether it is an igneous or sedimentary rock. After we have finished, we will close our lesson by having each of our students write down one new fact on a post it note about something new that they have learned during our lesson. They will stick this on the poster board we have created about rocks on their way out. For independent practice our students will take home their drawing of rocks that they created the first day we met and write two sentences describing whether it is an igneous or sedimentary rock. On Thursday, we plan to have our students go on a mission to make their own rocks made out of Play Doh and then create hints for their peers to use in solving the problem. Each student will choose a popsicle stick with a number on it, which will tell them which rock they must go to. Once they reach their destination the student will use the hint to decide whether it is an igneous or sedimentary rock. This is going to be a fun and engaging activity for all of the students! Although I am nervous, I am excited to share with my students new information for them to learn!