I am a student teacher in a kindergarten classroom. I recently did a lesson about sorting plants and the students were very wild since it was their first time having a hands-on science lesson. What type of lesson would be more effective to presenting the students with having hands-on experiences. I want for them to enjoy the lesson as much as possible.
I think this is a great idea! I think still working with plants, but having a lesson more towards the end of the year. I really like the idea of gardening with the students. I think that gardening and tying in a plants life cycle and how we grow plants is a great hands-on lesson for any age in an elementary setting. Introducing hands-on activities at an early age is important to me because this is how I think that all students learn best, especially myself as a student. I love getting to use my hands and to learn through experience! So I think that this is a great way for students to learn too, especially at young ages! Keep with this lesson idea, but tweaking it to add more to it so that the students are still using their hands but taking it even further such as gardening.
I think this is a great idea! The kindergarten class that I observed yesterday was starting to do their eggs unit. In preparation, they read a children's book that explained what animals hatched out of eggs, where they are found and what they look like. The classes received eggs from a local farmer. The children get to place the eggs in an incubator and watch what happens to the egg during chick development. After the 21 days of the development in the egg, the children get to observe the chicks hatching. They then get to observe the chicks visually, in person, to see how the chicks develop after they hatch. It is a really cool experience for the kids. They get to keep a development calendar and while the chicks are developing in the egg, the teacher is showing them images of what the chick looks like an what they are growing in the egg. They talk about where they get the nutrients to start growing. They then have the opportunity to hold the chicks once they hatch.
Hi Brenda, In the future I would recommend for you to use pictures first to introduce them to any object they may be interacting with. This gives them the ability to use their previous knowledge as well as a heads up to what is to come. By showing a picture first you are able to still have their attention before they are actually touching the actual object because once a new item hits their table their focus is strictly on it. I understand what it is like working with Kindergarten, so always remember visuals are a teacher's best friend! Yessica
Hello Brenda, I just did this lesson and my kids did a nature walk. What I did to engage them was I brought plants I purchased at Home Depot the day before. The plants were only $1.25 so they weren't that expensive. I had four tables so each table got 1 plant and I had one for demonstration. Before I took my students for a nature walk, I let them explore the plants and play with them. This got their interest up and made them more engaged.
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