One of my students drew me. I added what I was actually wearing for comparison sake.
Plan Time
The first thing I did to get my plan written was look around for a book to include with my lesson. To Pinterest and Amazon I went! After looking through many cheesy books, I found what I thought would be a winner: Spotted Yellow Frogs.by Matthew Van Fleet. What I liked about the book was that it included animals with the learning of the 3D shapes. My Kinders love animals!
Next I researched a possible SMART Board lesson. I learned about SMART Notebook Exchange earlier this year. It's a place where educators can upload their lessons for SMART Board that they have created. Most of them are even free! I found this one and decided it would be a good fit for my Kinders: Introduction to 3D Shapes. What I liked about it was that it was very simple (limited text) and had an interactive piece at the end that allowed students to come up and move the shapes into the right category. Interaction is key in keeping them engaged.
Time to Teach
I wasn't nervous going into the lesson, I was excited to show my CT and supervisor what I was capable off. I could talk to you for hours about my lesson, but I will spare you the long, boring details and just give you a brief outline.
Read Spotted Yellow Frogs: counted animals in the book as we went, students added comments about animals
Moved to seats for SMART Board lesson: dismissed students one by one
SMART Board lesson: students came up and put up the card to match the slide (found the cutest cards here: Teachers Pay Teachers) we took turns reading the slides, student circled Word Wall Words, at the end students came and matched the pictures of objects to the correct shape name
Overall I was really happy with how it went. I felt the students responded really well and enjoyed it too. Since my lesson took place at the end of the day I was able to have time with my CT and supervisor to debrief. They had lots of positive comments for me, which is very encouraging.
What I would do differently
Here's what I would add
- Bring physical models for students to work with
- Use name sticks to ensure students all get a fair turn