Tue, Oct 15, 2019 10:49 PM
Method's Student Review
As a methods student learning to teach science to elementary students, specifically this year in a first-grade classroom, this article was very helpful. This article was very informative and very specific when it came time to describing each individual part to the lesson. Something, I really enjoyed was knowing what each group was to be doing. I am someone who loves order and the sequencing, and this article/lesson was executed, I feel in the best way for students to grasp what is going on. Reading animals in camouflage, then actually seeing and observing different animals and how each animal uses camouflage to survive, then applying and creating after the students understood camouflage and why it’s important for survival, finding the hidden insects after learning all there is to know about camouflage and then as the teacher understanding the concepts they grasped based on their writing, or for some classes differentiating using pictures/coloring, etc.
It's important to have students realize that for an animal to have an increase in escaping detection by a predator the animal needs to blend into its surroundings (called camouflage) and I think with all the information and activities students participated in they can start to come to this realization. I loved the activity to explain camouflage, "Now You See It, Now You Don't", I think this is super fun and super creative!
The only concern that I ran into when going through the lessons were the responses required by the students. Students, specifically I find in my classroom now are all at different writing levels and there were not many forms of differentiation for those who aren't quite as ready as others may be. From experience, drawing photos, coloring or even having a constructed writing piece such as, “The Bear uses it’s brown color to _____,” can be easier and also adds that sense of options for students at all different stages!