SCIENCE FOCUS

At the end of my third grade class’s two hour literacy block, science takes place.  As I have mentioned before, science and social studies instruction alternates from quarter to quarter.  This does not mean that during the fourth quarter, social studies is not taught at all.  I am learning and observing that a lot of social studies and science overlap and are integrated within each other.  

From what I have seen so far during science, most of it seems to be very hands-on.  Since I have not had much experience teaching science previously, I am glad to see examples of science instruction that is hands-on and not textbook based, which is what I experienced most of my schooling.  I feel as though my cooperating teacher has, so far, given me a good example of how to teach science to third graders.

Today, I had the opportunity to observe as my students learned about one of their final simple machines: the wheel and axle.  My cooperating teacher had each group of four students read together a book about the wheel and axle.  They took turns reading, and after, each group shared something different that they learned.  From here, the class collaboratively came up with a definition of wheel and axle.  For what is sometimes called the active engagement part of a lesson, my CT placed each group into different corners of the room and allowed them to play with these special Lego blocks they recently received.  There are several simple machines and apparatuses that can be built with this set of Legos.  The kits come with pictures and guides of the different machines that can be built.  This is a great resource for the students to have to work with!  After this, the students came back to their seats and my CT refreshed what a wheel and axle is.  Then, the students drew a picture of it underneath their definition.

In terms of what I have learned about lesson plan writing during my time at ISU, I would say that this particular lesson was great.  While my CT did not type up the lesson plan and hand it to me, I was still able to notice things we have learned in class and pinpoint an opening, direct instruction, and closing.  Picking out and arranging these parts of a lesson is something I am working on still, but I do believe I have become better at it since the beginning of the semester.

Another thing I have noticed during science instruction, and any instruction actually, is that my CT really favors Brain POP.  Brain POP is a resource I have just become familiar with this semester, and from what I have seen, it really has some quality materials and resources!  Instead of using the early childhood version of Brain POP (junior), my CT just uses the regular one, which is for older kids.  I know some of the videos I have come across on the regular Brain POP are too advanced for early childhood grades, but what I have seen my CT use in class seems to be appropriate.  For example, she used one about the lever, and it seemed to get its point across to the students without getting too advanced.  However, the provided quiz after the video seemed to be too hard for the students.

Since science was my poorest subject in school and the one I enjoyed the least, I am happy to know that I have a good model in my clinical placement.  I’m taking in a lot since I am inexperienced teaching science, and I will use what I am learning while I student teach in the fall.  Although I am student teaching in kindergarten and probably won’t be teaching the same content as I am seeing now in third grade, I can still use my CT’s model as I continue with my experience at ISU.  Something I hope to learn more about these next two weeks is how my CT assesses science.

 - the book one of the groups of students read during the lesson today