Date of Lesson Oct
8th 2008 Time 9-2 Length of lesson 40 minutes
Curriculum Area Science Content Area: Sense of Touch
Title of Lesson Guess
What Is In The Mystery Box?
Age/Grade level 1st
grade
Differentiation of
activity is to be provided throughout the lesson plan to ensure that childrenÕs
individual learning needs are met.
1. Learning
Objectives
Students will be able to recognize touch as one of their senses. They will do this by describing and explaining what they feel when they touch an object. Students will also be able to make an informed decision as to what the objects are that they feel. This lesson will take place in a nature center. Therefore students will be able to be able to interact with the environment.
2. Assessment
(a) Learning outcomes of previous lesson related to this topic: Students will need to know that there are five senses, touch being one of them. Students will also need to have a small knowledge of nature and objects found in nature.
(b) Focus of assessment in this lesson: Students will be able to use their sense of touch to identify different objects. By doing this the students will be able to explain how important their sense of touch is, in every day life.
(c) Method of assessment used in this lesson: At the end of the lesson the students will be brought back into a whole group, to discuss what they have learned. While in the group students will have an opportunity to guess what object they thought was in each box. We, as the teachers, will facilitate their guesses by introducing each box. For example; ÒThe object in this box is hard, what do you think was in this box?Ó The students then will be instructed to find someone near them, and they will be given 10 seconds to discuss what they thought the object was. Then the teacher will call on a few groups to see what object they thought it was. In this case, the correct answer would be a rock. After the students guess the teachers will pull out the object to show the students.
(d) Differentiation: In our group there are four teachers. Therefore, if students are having difficulty with the tasks in the lesson, a teacher will be available to help those students.
3. New York State
Learning Standards
ELA – Standard 1 - Listening and reading to acquire information and understanding involves collecting data, facts and ideas; discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources.
Key Ideas: Gathering and interpret information from childrenÕs book, by oral presentation.
Performance indicator: End of the activity the students will discuss the objects that were in the boxes that were also in the book.
Science - Standard 1 - The central purpose of scientific inquiry is to develop explanations of natural phenomena in a continuing, creative process.
Key Ideas: Develop relationships among observations to construct descriptions of objects and events and to form their own tentative explanations of what they have observed.
Performance indicator: Working in groups, they propose an explanation to the different characteristics
4. Materials
¯ Box 1- Bark
¯ Box 2- Grass
¯ Box 3- Pine Needle
¯ Box 4- Pine Cones
¯ Box 5- Rocks
¯ Box 6- Dirt
¯ Box 7 (with gloves)- Leaves
5. Lesson Process
(a) Introduction (10 min.) /Links to prior knowledge:
Teacher will introduce activity: ÒWe are going to start off today by reading you I Can Tell by Touching, by Carolyn Otto. This book will give many examples of objects to use your sense of touch with. So try and pay attention to different objects in the book.Ó Read the book. ÒNow can you please turn to someone around you and tell them the object you remember touching and then describe to them what it felt like to you.Ó Teachers will now move around the group and interact and assess what the students are describing.
Teacher continues: ÒDo all of you understand the sense of touch? If not thatÕs all right we are now going to do an activity to help you understand. You will all have the opportunity to explore six boxes. Each box will contain an object you can find right around the nature center. We are now going to separate you all into two groups.Ó The group will be split up by distributing a card to each person. There will be two sets of cards, one with a tree on the front and one with the flower on the front. We will then tell the students that all the flowers get into one group and all the trees into another. The students will be directed where exactly to go.
(b) Learning procedures relating to objectives (15 min.):
Each station will have two teachers
located at it. They will conduct
similar mini lesson plans to their group.
The lesson plan is as follows: The teacher will ask the students what they
use to touch objects with. They will
facilitate this by saying, ÒYour knee? Your elbow? How about your nose?Ó It is expected that the children will
respond ÒnoÓ to all these questions.
We will then ask the question ÒWhat about with your hands?Ó The children
will respond ÒyesÓ. ÒYour sense of touch helps you identify the environment
around you. You are now going to
do an activity that you will only be able to use your sense of touch to figure
out what objects we have placed in the box.Ó Each child will go to one box and
then will rotate to the right to the next box after the allotted time (15-30
seconds) Move from boxes 1to 2, and 6 to1. The teachers will facilitate
questions to get their minds thinking of characteristics of the objects the
students are touching. After each child has visited every box the two groups
will come back together.
(c) Conclusion (10 min.)
Now the teachers will go through each box and ask the children questions about the characteristics and the possible objects that are in the boxes. Examples of questions will contain something to get their minds thinking of the object (ÒThese objects are heavy. Do you remember any other characteristics? These objects have sharp edges, can you identify them? These ones are thin; do you know what it is? These objects are rough and flat, does anyone know what they are? I am feeling something that feels like powder, do you know what it is? These objects have a sharp point. What are they?Ó) We will pass around the boxes after they identify each box. Have children guess after answering questions, by turning to someone near them and explaining why they think the object is what it is. Then we will ask a group to tell us what they thought it was, and compare their answer to the other students. We will close this activity by doing the following (which will stress the importance of the sense of touch): There will be two boxes with an object that they have not felt in the previous activity. We will give the students a glove to put on and touch the object. After explaining the activity they will split into their previous groups and line up at the box. Each student will then be given 10 seconds to feel the new object with the glove on. After they all go through we will ask how it is different without their sense of touch. Possible answer: harder to identify object and characteristics. The teachers will now stress the importance of the sense of touch in everyday life. ÒAs you walk around the nature centers today do not be afraid to use your sense of touch to learn about your surroundings.Ó
6. ÒIf timeÓ/ extensions
If one group finishes the six boxes before the other, this activity can be implemented: the children can explore the surrounding area and try to find similar objects to what they think are in the boxes. This activity will help the children expand their knowledge and use their sense of touch to explore their surroundings independently.
7. References (sources used in creating lesson plan)
Modified from HYPERLINK "http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chtouch.html" http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chtouch.html
BOOK REFERENCE
Otto, Carolyn. I Can Tell by
Touching. HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.