Michelle Loomis

EDU 374

Lime Hollow Write Up

Due: 10/15/08

Our group had to develop a lesson explaining the sense of touch to first graders. We decided to do this by having the children use their sense of touch to identify objects in nature. There are so many objects in nature which each have different characteristics, and the sense of touch is important to use to identify those objects. Lime Hollow was a great place to hold this lesson because we had a wonderful environment around us, and a stage to use for our lesson.

We started the lesson by reading the book, “I Can Tell By Touching”, by Carolyn Otto. This book starts out by talking about other senses, than touch. The story then concentrates on different objects in the book that the boy touched. Throughout the book there were many examples of the boy touching objects in nature, such as a dandelion or a rock. The students were told to pay close attention to those objects. After the book was read the students were split into two groups, a tree group and a flower group. Each group was placed on an opposite side of the stage, and they were told that each side had the same boxes. The students were then told the rules. The rules were to try and keep your eyes closed, to keep the boxes on the stage, and to not yell out what the objects were. Each student went to each of the six boxes and we asked them what the objects felt like in the box. They were told to use descriptive words such as hard or soft, or sharp or smooth. After each student went to each box they were asked to go find some of the objects they felt in the box, in the surrounding area. When students seemed to have found most of the objects they were brought back on the stage and we discussed what was in the boxes. This was done by going through the boxes one by one and discussing what the object felt like. Then we would have two students each time pull out the object and show it to the rest of the class. This provided an opportunity for each student to pull out an object. After discussing what was in the boxes the students were asked what would happen if a glove was put on their hand. An activity was then conducted in which the students had to put on a glove and reach into a mystery box. The mystery box contained leaves, and we wanted to see if they were able to identify the object without their sense of touch. When that activity was finished, we took some groups to a pine tree in which they all seemed fascinated with earlier in the lesson. Other groups went through the book again, pointing out what objects they had felt from the book during the lesson.

Our lesson turned out to be a great success. There were four groups of first graders that we worked with. Each group consisted of 10-12 students, split pretty much evenly boys and girls. Each group had a different challenge, which we learned a lot from. The first group was probably our most challenging. On top of it being the first time we conducted the lesson, many students could not concentrate or did not want to pay attention to what was going on. We had to keep getting their attention by trying to engage them with questions. With that being said, the lesson actually went quite well. However we did learn a lot from that group. The first thing we learned was to spend more time on the book in the beginning. Since we were unsure on how long the rest of the activity would take we decided to go through the book a little more quickly then we should have. We also learned that we would need to emphasize the rules of “no-peaking” when the students were putting their hands in the boxes. One thing I found effective to get all the students attention when they had to rotate was to say “hands up!” By saying this it took the children’s mind off of what was in the box so they understood what box to move to next. They found this to be fun, and quickly caught on.

Another thing we learned was that boundaries needed to be set for when the students went out in the surrounding area to find objects. We emphasized rules when they were already out there; however, we found in the next group that if we emphasized the rules before they went out that the students listened better. The first group seemed to like to run through a pile of mud and to play in the playground toys, instead of looking for objects in nature. The rest of the groups, after the rules were established, brought back more objects for all of us to look at. Another thing that we learned from the first group was that the glove activity did not work as well as we thought it would. We realized we should have brought thicker gloves. However, the students understood the concept, and we helped them by emphasizing how they could not tell what exactly the leaf felt like.

With the other groups, some problems still existed. We found out that some groups went quicker than the others in the activities which made us compensate for time at the end. However, we somehow always came up with something for the students to do. The last group actually finished everything in our lesson with ten minutes left. We were shocked, but we decided that because it was the end of the day and the students were a little antsy that we would play a freeze tag game with them. We figured this would be a great way to let the students move around, because they had been pretty stationary all day. The game did not emphasize on the sense of touch, but instead made them think of different animals around them. They were told to make an animal noise to be unfrozen. The students seemed to love the game, and it proved to be a great way to end the lesson and the day.

Another challenge that persisted throughout most of the groups was the distractions around them. This occurred mainly in the first two groups because the students were excited about all the other groups and when they saw a group doing something they wondered when it was their turn to do that activity. We did not think this would be a problem because all of the four groups were spread out pretty well. However, one group had to walk right past us to go into the woods, and this was always when we were trying to read the book. We found that letting the students look for a second and then to bring them back to the story was the most effective strategy.

Other than those challenges our lesson was very effective. I believe the students understand, completely, how important their sense of touch actually is. When we wrote the lesson plan, we said that students would be able to make informed decisions as to what objects they were touching in nature. The students blew us away on their knowledge and words they used to describe objects. They knew if an object was heavy or light, soft or hard, smooth or sharp, etc. The students also realized that a few of the objects hurt a bit when it was touched. One of those objects was a pine cone. Each student that felt the pine cone pulled their hand out and said that it was really sharp. Another example I remember was that a student described pine needles as feeling like a Christmas tree. When we brought the group back together, as a whole, he said the same thing. When we pointed to the tree in which we found the pine needles from he then understood that Christmas trees come from nature.

We did not have a formal assessment for this activity. Instead, we conducted an open discussion in which students would be able to explain why they thought a certain object was in a box. We started this by having them talk to someone around them about each object in the boxes. Then we would ask for volunteers for ideas about the objects. Once we had a general consensus on the object, we asked them to put their thumbs up if they thought it was right and thumbs down if they thought it was wrong. We also threw a couple random objects in the mix to get the students thinking. For example, when we were identifying the box with grass in it we said it felt like spaghetti. Some students agreed but most said that it could not be spaghetti. When I asked why they said it could not be they told me “because spaghetti is not found in nature”. This was a great idea, I thought, because the students had to remember that they were told all the objects they were feeling today could be found in nature. Therefore, the students who knew it was not spaghetti, I believe, understood the purpose of the activity.

This lesson taught me a great deal. I first found out how challenging teaching first graders could be. I always knew that they would require an enormous amount of energy and attention, but I never knew that it would require this much. With that being said, I really enjoyed working with the first graders. They have an open mind to everything, and seem to have an enthusiastic view on our activities we had them do. I also learned that the first time a lesson is taught, the lesson plan should be revised. I was glad that we got to do the lesson four different times because we changed the way we said things, how we dealt with safety, and even added a few activities in. I know that when we are new teachers we will not have this perk. However, I believe that just by doing a mock lesson, I will be more able to predict challenges.

This lesson also taught me that I enjoy teaching science. When I saw how excited the students were to be outside, and enthused about learning about nature I realized that it does not take a lot to teach students simple science lessons. Our lesson only required was a few objects from nature, such as leaves and rocks, and the students were able to learn a very important skill in life. I also realized that even though the lesson was developed for a nature center it could be done in a classroom, or just right outside the schools building. Leaves, rocks, dirt, and grass can be found in almost every area, even in a large city. Therefore, any school could do a lesson like this and receive similar results.

Overall, I enjoyed this experience! I learned a great deal about how to adapt lesson plans to time conflicts, and how to interact well with first graders. The lesson itself I would love to use again in my classroom, someday. However, I believe I will have to change the lesson to make it more age appropriate if I am not working with first graders. The thing about the topic of this lesson is that every one, no matter what the age could always take time to realize how important their sense of touch is. This activity also helped me to realize that I am fully comfortable when working with children. I felt very prepared for this lesson, and it was the first time I was not, even the least bit, nervous to be in front of students and teachers. Therefore, this activity boosted my confidence as a teacher, and is something I will definitely take with me.