Check out my STEM page to learn about my STEM lesson about the human body! Feel free to share other STEM lesson plans you have used in your classroom. Thank you!
Have a great Sunday, -Miss Honey This past week in 5th grade I made a BIG teacher move. It was my first time ever teaching a brand new math unit. I was so excited and nervous. Posted down below is my lesson plan for the first day of the unit. With the new MAFS, my students have been discouraged and disappointed with their grades. By collecting data on math homework, performance tasks, chapter tests, and anecdotal notes in class, I have calculated that students do not have the background knowledge that that standards are expecting them to have to be successful in the chapter. From the data, I decided to spend my engage of the lesson by learning what my students know about line plots. Also, I engaged my class by using Skittles as a math manipulative. The lesson was very inquiry based and hands-on learning. My collaborating teacher told me she was inspired by my lesson and wanted me to take the lead on teaching this chapter! I feel prepared from USF by having support with my content coach and from learning by experience with my CT. Expect a data chart to come soon about my math questions with this lesson! Thanks for reading bloggers, -Miss Honey This week in 5th grade I had the glorious opportunity of substituting for 3 full days! My collaborating teacher had me create all of the lesson plans. This was my first time not following a sub plan and I loved it. I felt like this is my classroom, my students, and a learning community. There is one lesson plan that I am specifically proud of and I am going to post it below. My lesson was inspired by Hillsborough County's Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) 5th grade Space Unit. I was very excited to have a Space themed LDC and to begin teaching with thematic units. I have researched thematic units and believe it is a best practice for students to retain information. Hillsborough County Public Schools creates scripted lessons for teachers in the LDC packets. I worked with my literacy content coach, Brian, to adapt the scripted lesson to meet the needs of my students. They were feeling overwhelmed and stressed with the LDC running 3 hours of their morning learning only about space. I modified the lesson by making connections to the Tampa Bay area to give my students that real-world connection. Posted below is my lesson plan followed by my reflections. Enjoy teachers! On Friday I had the pleasure of being a substitute for my 5th grade class. My CT handed my the district calendar and said here you go! I created all of the lesson plans and had successful time teaching my students about the inner and outer planets in science and coding similarities and differences in the text during ELA. For math, I taught my class the power of 10 strategy to use to help determine where to place the decimal in the quotient. It was the end of literacy week and to celebrate I added a buddy reading into my lesson plans. My class checked out their favorite book from the library for morning work. After my ELA lesson we traveled down to Kindergarten to read our favorite books and help the Kindergarteners with their reading. I told my class we are the role models of the school. Kindergarten looks up to you. They want to know they can be a great reader someday just like you are! I had one student who had a negative attitude saying this is "so lame." I sat down with him and read next to him. Then he helped the Kindergartener read and I have ever seen him smile so big when his partner read the word! It was like a lightbulb went off that I matter, I can teach other people what I know. It was such a great experience and I can't wait to continue this as a teacher. Last year at 123 Elementary, I attended our Family Literacy night and it was a great experience! Teachers set up different actives for ways to get students engaged at reading at home. This year Family Literacy Night was a lot different! Since we have new Florida math standards (MAFS), which is adapted from common core. Parents have been struggling with helping their children at home with their math homework since teachers have been trained to teach math in a new way. Also, students have been struggling with math assessments because questions are being asked in multiple ways. For example, students are asked to choose more than one correct answer, give extended responses, and type out on computers the "value of the expression." Without schools and the community coming together students would be at a disadvantage from confusion at home and school. During Family Literacy Night this year Hillsborough County's Math Department came in and spoke to parents and teachers about the new curriculum and ways to teach and help your child. Students were with Junior League were they got a book and played reading activities. This was a very informational night! I am glad to be an intern at a school that cares so much about their community and helping every child succeed. Here is an example of a parent flyer teachers send home to assist students with learning math! During the 19th week of school, 5th graders are learning all about weather! To introduce a new long term investigation, I made a lesson plan where students built their own classroom set of weather tools. Students were placed in differentiated groups based on their recent performance in science. Each group had a different weather tool to build. The tools included a barometer, thermometer, rain gauge, anemometer, and a wind vane. After their tools were complete, students then wrote in their science notebooks a description of their tool and how to use it. Next week students will teach the class how to use their tools so we can venture into our new LTI question! What will it be? Stay tuned! -Miss Honey When I first entered college I had no idea what I wanted to do in my life. I knew I wanted a career that I could always learn and grow as a person, but I never knew what profession that would be. One day my sister talked to me about becoming a teacher. She said all of her friends who are teachers have the same personality as I do and I would be a great fit for the job. I have always looked up and trusted my sister, but wasn't sure if teaching was for me. I was excited to get out of high school and I didn't want to go back to the school days I was graduating! I thought I would give it a chance, so I volunteered in a first grade classroom. I was nervous/excited and had no idea what to expect. I remember walking in the classroom and the students were in groups. The teacher said, "Go around and introduce yourself! Start talking to them to get to know them!" I went over to this little girl who was reading by herself. She stopped and asked me for help. She was stuck on pronouncing words. I remember telling her that when I first starting reading I was a very slow reader. That I needed to take my time to sounds out all the words and stay on track by following along with my finger. Then she started taking her time and following along, and she did it! She read a few pages to me and was so proud of herself. That is when I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Since then I always wanted to gain teaching experience, specifically in first grade. I had an opportunity to do so when an assignment from my Teaching Elementary Science class. The assignment was to modify a "cook-book" science lesson and change it to include the "three legs of science". (Please refer to my science philosophy page on my blog to see this great assignment!) Anyways, I asked a first grade teacher at 123 Elementary if I could teach that lesson in January when the standard appears on the curriculum calendar. She was more then willing for me to come in and teach it. I was so excited! I came into her class and observed her science language so I could get back in the swing of things in the primary world! 5th grade is very different! My lesson reflections, plan, and pictures from that day are posted below. The pictures include my lesson plan notecards, student's data, and me teaching. Enjoy! Teacher Takeaways!
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