Saturday, November 15, 2008
Introducing the hermit crabs
Well the time finally came and we introduced our new class pet, three little hermit crabs. Now I don't know if you have ever been in a classroom when a class pet is introduced but it can be quite chaotic. The children were talking, excited and most of all wanted to get an upclose look of the new pet. It is hard to maintain control in a situation like that, but I thought on my feet and explained to the students that the hermit crabs won't come out of their shells if we are loud and moving around a bunch. It is hard to stick to a lesson plan when you are introducing a class pet but I think the lesson overall went really well. The second part of the lesson was for the students to watch the hermit crab crawl around and record what the student observed about the hermi crab. Initially, the students were suppose to be observing and recordin but it ended up that my cooperating teacher and I liked that the students were just watching and interacting with the hermit crab instead of trying observe and record at the same time. The joy of have two teachers in the class was that I was able to take the first graders and they all were able to hold or pet the hermit crab, and my cooperating teacher was able to take all the second graders and hold or pet the hermit crab. In the end it seemed more important that the students had that time to interact with our class pet, and we thought we would be flexible and incorporate the recording observations into the next lesson. All in all a wonderful day of watching students explore, wonder, think and discover!
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4 comments:
Hey Corinne!
While reading your post, I could just imagine the amount of student excitement that must have been present while introducing the new "class pets". I can also see how this lesson would present new and interesting challenges to classroom management. It's great that you and your CT were able to adjust the lesson plan accordingly in order to promote student observations of the animals. Last week, I too couldn't resist taking a peek at the hermits. It will be exciting to see how they adapt to the students and new classroom environment. Hopefully students will get the chance to see them switch their shells as they grow and change over time. Are there any rules or guidelines that students are expected to follow while the hermits are in the classroom?
Great write-up, Corinne.
I was thrilled with how the lessons unfolded. The morning session seemed difficult in a few ways: needing to set up the video camera, adjusting the regular routine to accommodate the lesson, etc. But even though our students get overly excited at times...I am convinced that they are respecting you as their teacher and you know how to "bring us all back to the learning."
The "observation time" in the afternoon seemed to be very authentic and I appreciated your flexibility and adaptations along the way. The kids were more relaxed and calm when they realized they would each get their chance.
We had a few surprises on Friday as we made predictions/observations...
I'll let the children tell you all about it and/or you can read their descriptive pieces.
PS-Feel free to refer to me as the CT, just Joyce or Mrs. M. :)
Hi Corinne -- Sounds as though you had lots of fun! I think you made the right decision to just let the kids interact with the crabs rather than trying to structure that first occasion around formal observation. I bet they can come back and do observations another time. Have you heard them make any connections to what they've learned about what living things need to survive? Be listening for their comments and be sure to write them down!
David
How exciting that your students are so engaged in all the learning. Science is a subject that can either excite students above and beyond or it can be so difficult and frustrating for the students. I am so glad to hear your students are taking well to the subject and I hope all goes well with the rest of your unit. I also hope you are able to continue on extending this unit.
I'll keep reading your blog to hear more about it! :)
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