As I strive for better with regard to science teaching this year, I'm thinking about the pattern I'll use for each lesson. Having a pattern helps me to be more efficient and to cover more material in student-friendly ways--ways that students lead their learning.
The pattern I'll follow will include the following:
Introduction: At the introduction, I'll whet their appetite for the learning with a big idea, relevant story, or engaging question. I'll also connect that introduction to the objective of our study that day. I'd like the introduction to be no more than 10 minutes.
Plan and Prep: I'll have the materials ready. Student science partners will have one child use a tray to collect the materials needed for the activity. Students will review the activity steps on their own or with the class. This part of the learning experience will take about 5 minutes.
Activity: Students will follow the directions to engage in the activity. This will last about 20- 30 minutes.
Completing the Lab Sheet: Students will complete the lab sheet which will include the learning experience steps, observations, data collection, and conclusions/analysis. Lab sheets will be pasted into students' science journals. 10-15 minutes.
Share: The class will gather and student learning experiences will be shared in a number of ways. About 5 minutes.
Next week we'll start the new science rotations with a simple property identification exercise as we practice the steps above, steps we'll use in each physical science activity coming up.
