Standard Seven: Instructional Planning Skills
The teacher plans instruction based on knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
Fraction Uno: Comparing and Developing Equivalent Fractions
In 4th grade students have to understand the what equivalent fractions are and so as we were reviewing fractions, I created an Fraction Uno game to help the students review and have fun while they do it. The rules are the same as the regular game Uno except that they can change colors, or numbers that can be put down by laying an equivalent fraction down instead. My students absolutely loved this game and beg to play it every day during math. It was a way to meet the standards that need to be met but in a fun and exciting way that gets an high level of engagement from the students.
Explorer Reports
For Social Studies, my lead teacher and I decided to do our expert groups on important explorers. The students have been studying explorers throughout the year and so we wanted to expanded on it. Expert groups are a fun way for students to learn and do research on a topic and become experts at it so that they can then teach the rest of the class. For the explorers report, I rented out books for a variety of explorers that students could research on. I created a powerpoint to help build background of the these men and we had discussions on why they were important and what discoveries they made. Students then partnered up and picked an explorer they would like to research. Students spent 6 weeks reading books. using the internet to find information and build their packet and create their powerpoint on their explorer to teach the rest of class. Using technology and research is a standard for the 4th grade and so i have tried to incorporate it as much as possible. The power points and research packets turned out excellent and the students had a blast doing it and learned so much!
History and English Collaborative Unit
The collaborative unit was a fun unit that I taught with 3 other of my peers for our curriculum and instruction class. The topic of our unit was WWI and we incorporated an incredible simulation dealing with the fight for world peace and/or work dominance along with writing to create propaganda posters using posters, videos, or acting to show. We had an high engagement of learning taking place during this unit that we planned and built knowledge about. I had to plan out this unit in order to apply to the requirements and also had to collaborate with my fellow peers. With this unit, I had to plan out that students would first build background knowledge and then progress accordingly through our activities. This was an exciting unit to watch take place in our classroom.