Laura
and I recently planned and implemented a lesson using the 5E template to teach
a preschool classroom at Brigham Elementary School. In the two weeks prior to
us teaching out lesson, there were other groups of ISU students that did an
overview of the five senses and taught a lesson about the sense of touch. For
our lesson, we narrowed it down and taught about the sense of smell. The groups
after us will then cover the other senses: taste, hear, and sight!
I think
that were a lot of things that well throughout this lesson and areas that we
could have improved on and that I would change if I would teach the lesson
again. One of the strengths of this lesson is that Laura and I worked really
hard on the lesson plan. We struggled a little bit with the 5E format but we
pulled through and really thought about every aspect of our lesson. I believe
that it was a strong idea and good activity! I think that the book that we read
to the students was a good fit and developmentally appropriate for them. It had
few words and a lot of big pictures. And for the most part, it was relatable to
the students. They had examples of things that you smell like flowers,
hamburgers, and fresh cut grass. It was evident that the students liked the
book and were relating to it when they would shout out things they smell and
the places they have smelled them. The students were excited to relay to us
everything that they have every smelled.
Although
I think that this lesson plan was good, there is always room for improvement. There
are several things that I would do differently if I were to teach this lesson
again. This includes: using another or a different video, more interaction with
the video and/or book, more interaction with all of the students instead of
just working with one group, and more instruction on what to do in the
activity.
I liked
the video that we used about smelling with the students. We had them tap their
nose to the beat during the song. I would have liked more interaction with it
though. Maybe Laura and I could have come up with some fun dance moves that the
students could have had fun with and learned at the same time. Another change
that I would make is working with all of the students. In our lesson plan,
Laura and I did not specify if we would be working with both of the groups or
just one of the groups. And during our lesson, we ended up just staying with
one group and working with them. At the beginning and end of our lesson we were
in a large group on the carpet but we also had them in small groups and we only
got to work with half of the class this way. Laura stayed with her group and I stayed
with mine. I think that this happened because were both just preoccupied with
trying to make our lesson run smoothly that we were not thinking about
interacting with both of the groups. The last change that I would make is
giving more instruction to the students before they started their activity. I explained
that they would be smelling bottles and then they would be circling on the
worksheet the smiley face if they liked the smell and the frown face if they
did not like the smell. I modeled how to smell and I showed them the worksheet
that they would be doing but I feel like I could have done more instruction. For
example, telling the students that we are only smelling what is inside the
bottle, not trying to look inside of them or dump any of the bottles out onto
the table. One of the students that I was working with in my group decided to
try and squeeze out the substance in one of the bottles and honey went all over
the table. But I quickly redirected the student and gave him better
instructions on what to do. Also, most of the students circled both the smiley
and frown face and just drew all over their paper. So then at the end of the
lesson while we were reviewing, they did not know whether they liked the scent
in a bottle or not.
I think
that mine and Laura’s knowledge of the topic was strong. We did research on
smelling while writing the lesson plan. Because of that, we were able to better
explain to the students how smelling works and answer any of their questions. Our
organization during the lesson was good but could have improved. I think that
we could have had smoother transitions. But something that contributed to this
was not being familiar with their classroom. We wanted to divide the students
up but were not sure if they sat a certain seat at a table or were already in
groups. So we simply asked the students and they divided themselves into two
groups.
Overall,
I think that the students understood the basic concept of this lesson. They know
what it means to smell and what we use to smell. They also gave examples of
things that they smell with a little bit of prompting. Some example of things
that they said they smell include: flowers, their dog, hot dogs, and grape. Although
there was one student that I worked with when I asked him what he thought was
in the bottle, he said hot dog. And then he said hot dog for every scent the he
smelled in the bottles. There was little bit of a language issue for the
English Language Learners but they understood the basic concept we were
teaching. I could tell that they were because when I would ask the class
questions like, “Do you think this girl likes that smell?” or “Have any of you
been to McDonalds before and can smell their hamburgers or French fries?” they
would shake their head yes or no. I think that this lesson was successful and
the students understood most of it.
Exceeds: Went over required word count
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