Today was the last day in our unit or classifying plants and animals. In the last lesson on animals, the students learned about the different groups that animals are classified into. Today, the students focused on the group called Mammals. The class was spent in the computer lab. The students were assigned to go on a "Mammal Scavenger Hunt". This scavenger hunt involved the students searching for answers to questions based on two web pages. The website were: www.kidzone.ws/animals/mammals.htm and http://www.allaboutmammals.com/. After the students completed the questions, we looked at where some of the mammals from the web pages may live using Google Earth. It was fun an helpful for the student to be able to match the animals to their habitats!Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Mammals
Today was the last day in our unit or classifying plants and animals. In the last lesson on animals, the students learned about the different groups that animals are classified into. Today, the students focused on the group called Mammals. The class was spent in the computer lab. The students were assigned to go on a "Mammal Scavenger Hunt". This scavenger hunt involved the students searching for answers to questions based on two web pages. The website were: www.kidzone.ws/animals/mammals.htm and http://www.allaboutmammals.com/. After the students completed the questions, we looked at where some of the mammals from the web pages may live using Google Earth. It was fun an helpful for the student to be able to match the animals to their habitats!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Classifying Animals
We have now begun the second part of our unit. Today, the students were introduced to the classification of animals. The lesson began with the introduction to several new vocabulary words that are used when grouping animals: vertebrates- mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertabrates: spiders and insects. The students learned about the characteristics that animals must have to be classified into each group.
During the second part of the lesson, we were in the computer lab, and the students had the opportunity search for pictures of animals using Flickr. Flickr is a great photo site that allows easy access to photos. The students have existing Flickr accounts from previous lessons in other subjects. They were able to log on to their accounts and locate pictures of animals that would fit into the different classification categories. The students downloaded these pictures and pasted them onto a chart diagram that is broken into the different groups. After selecting and pasting the pictures, the students gave a brief explanation for why they believe each picture fit into the category. I decided to use Flickr in this lesson because I wanted the students to have visual examples of what the characteristic for each animal group looks like. There was a lot of new vocabulary introduced today so I believe this activity was beneficial to the students.
There is one more lesson left before we wrap up our unit on classifying plants and animals.Photos from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucumari/2711488804/sizes/s/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/324182729/sizes/s/in/photostream/
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Plant Part Salad
Today we made a salad to wrap up the first part of our unit. The students really enjoyed this activity because it allowed them to work in small groups and be hands-on while creating their salad using a variety of vegetables. The vegetables that were used in this activity were to represent that different parts of the plant and reinforce the importance of knowing the function of each of the plant parts. For example: roots: shredded carrots, leaves: lettuce, seeds: peas, Stems: celery, flowers: broccoli.
Before the students could begin making their salad, I gave them a chart that listed each plant part and aske the students to sort the vegetables into the category that they felt best fit the vegetable.
For homework, the students are to go onto our class Blackboard page and access the Google Docs link that is listed under Assignments. The students have a Google Account that we created in class. Using Google Docs, I asked the students to write 2 paragraphs. The first paragraph is to reflect on the point of the lesson and the second is to describe other ways that they believe living things can benefit from food, water, light, air, and shelter.
We will be beginning the second part of our unit on Classifying and Identifying Animals. I am looking forward to the lessons and activities involved in the next 2 lessons!
Before the students could begin making their salad, I gave them a chart that listed each plant part and aske the students to sort the vegetables into the category that they felt best fit the vegetable.
For homework, the students are to go onto our class Blackboard page and access the Google Docs link that is listed under Assignments. The students have a Google Account that we created in class. Using Google Docs, I asked the students to write 2 paragraphs. The first paragraph is to reflect on the point of the lesson and the second is to describe other ways that they believe living things can benefit from food, water, light, air, and shelter.
We will be beginning the second part of our unit on Classifying and Identifying Animals. I am looking forward to the lessons and activities involved in the next 2 lessons!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Lesson #1 Plant Parts and Functions
Today, the students learned the names of the four parts of a plant: roots, stem, leaves, and flower. We read the poem Tommy by Gwendolyn Brooks to begin the lesson. This poem was about a little boy who planted a seed and took care of it by watering it and one day it grew into a plant. We discussed the poem as a class and I was able to assess how much background knowledge the students already had on plants.The students were given a handout that allowed them to label the parts of the plant and the other side contained the parts and their functions. I showed the students a variety of pictures from Google Images and Flickr.com of roots, stems, leaves, and flowers so that they could see that there are many variations of these parts.
With a partner, the students made observations about two live plants. They drew the plants in their science notebooks and after they made their observations, they posted them on our Science Class Blog.
Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7202153@N03/487290847/sizes/s/in/photostream/
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Introduction to Classifying Plants and Animals Unit
Our third grade class is about to begin a unit on Classifying Plants and Animals. This unit will consist of four lessons. The first two lessons will be about plants and the other two lessons will be on animals. During this unit, students will be writing posts on our Science Class Blog. This blog has been created with the necessary privacy settings so that the posts are only visible to class members and myself. I will be using the blog posts to assess students understanding at the end of the lessons.
Our second lesson on plants, will involve making a salad from vegetables that represent the parts of plants: roots, leaves, stems, seeds, fruits, and flowers. We will be making this salad during our science period and if you are interested, I would greatly appreciate a volunteer or two to help manage the materials and help this lesson run smoothly. I will be supplying the materials for the lesson. If you are interested, please leave a response as a comment to this post.
The first lesson on animals will teach students the new vocabulary for classifying the different types of animals and during the second lesson, we will be visiting the school computer lab and students will be doing research to answer a variety of questions about the types of animals.
I am excited about this unit because it involves different, fun ways to relay the important concepts for how to identify and classify the parts of plants and types of animals! I believe the students will enjoy this unit!
Our second lesson on plants, will involve making a salad from vegetables that represent the parts of plants: roots, leaves, stems, seeds, fruits, and flowers. We will be making this salad during our science period and if you are interested, I would greatly appreciate a volunteer or two to help manage the materials and help this lesson run smoothly. I will be supplying the materials for the lesson. If you are interested, please leave a response as a comment to this post.
The first lesson on animals will teach students the new vocabulary for classifying the different types of animals and during the second lesson, we will be visiting the school computer lab and students will be doing research to answer a variety of questions about the types of animals.
I am excited about this unit because it involves different, fun ways to relay the important concepts for how to identify and classify the parts of plants and types of animals! I believe the students will enjoy this unit!
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