Lesson: Marine life
ELA standard: CCSS. RI. K. 9. With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic( e. g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).
Assessment: Students will take a paper-based multiple choice formal assessment for this lesson. They will be expected to answer four questions based on two articles about jellyfish and octopuses and note the similarities and differences between the two sea creatures.
With the standard and assessment identified, we can begin to analyze both the procedural and conceptual skills and knowledge students will need to be successful( a chart showing some of these can be found in the book chapter). We can also identify more authentic ways of assessing student learning to be more developmentally appropriate for kindergartners.
2. Look at the Lesson for Big Ideas
Once you know what students are being asked to learn, transform the lesson and accompanying worksheets into playful experiences that address the same content in more meaningful and engaging ways. For example, create a game. Provide materials and appropriate manipulatives( e. g., cut apart a portion of the worksheet to create game pieces). Have students act out the lesson. Identify related resources such as children’ s books, community resources, and virtual experiences.
For example, I transformed this marine life lesson into engaging active learning experiences: Students viewed videos paired with a drawing opportunity, role-played with props, and drew inspiration from ocean books in the dancing area and from photographs in the art center. Academic language was taught through organic conversation with students, based on their observations of text, videos, drawings, and later the jellyfish they created.
After you have transformed the worksheet for the lesson into a playful learning opportunity, create checks for understanding that keep you on track for supporting the underlying learning standard during the activity. Think about the questions you will ask students before, during, and after the experience. What answers or actions will display their understanding? Think about how you will end the lesson. What will you do or say to solidify the key takeaway of the lesson?
In this lesson, many of the questions I asked to check for understanding focused on what students saw in the videos, the texts, and the jellyfish diagram. Students displayed their understanding through creating their own models of jellyfish and comparing them to diagrams in their text and by writing informative books about the sea animals.
3. Identify Gaps in Students’ Understanding and Differentiations
Think about the space between what students already know and what they need to know to be ready for a particular lesson or experience. Consider the implications this will have for your lesson. What possible student misconceptions may occur during the activity, and how can you address them?
For example, in the marine life lesson, students may not understand that they can compare and contrast different topics, such as animals and locations.
You could address this by having students look at their first text and find just one picture, place, or idea to focus on and then see if that one idea is in their second text.
Data Collection Practices
Collecting data is imperative to a successful play-based learning experience. Given that the provided assessment for this content is a paper-based multiple choice format assessment comparing an octopus and jellyfish, consider instead how you will collect observational data and measure students’ progress toward the learning goal( s) through your observations of their play. Identify a strategy that will allow for making quick in-the-moment notes. For example, you might use a checklist to quickly identify the major skills demonstrated and write notes in a comment section. This tool will drive your future selection of play experiences and questions to deepen students’ understanding.
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