Criteria 6,7 & 8 - Lesson Plans
Here is a set of lesson plans for a K - P, or strand 0, unit with a theme of whales. The lessons are intended as lead-up and follow-up to a highlight visit to the 'Whales - Giants of the Deep' exhibition at the City Hall (in Hobart). Student learning outcomes derive from the national curriculum profiles at the 'Towards Level One' level, in the areas of English, Mathematics, Physical Education and Science, and the KITOS.
Lesson 1: Listening to and discussing a picturebook story
Outcomes (English): Reading and Viewing, Texts and Contextual Understanding
Learning Experience: Story on the mat - The Whales Song by Dyan Sheldon. Begin the unit with reading a picture book featuring whales. Foster discussion about the whales in the story, and about why Lilly wanted to see the whales. Why did they seem special? Would you like to see whales? What do you think it would be like?
Resouces: The book
Evaluation: Formative, questioning students about their understanding
Lesson 2: Making and colouring-in computer pictures
Outcomes (KITO): Draws simple shapes using the computer
Learning Experience: Children work, with help as required, to make, save and print their own colour picture with the computer.
Resources: Computer, printer, teacher aide or parent help with knowledge to operate programme.
Evaluation: Resulting pictures and formative evaluation - is the child moving the mouse themselves?
Use Bert's Whales and Dolphins to enable children to publish their own colourful pictures featuring these animals.
Lesson 3: Pre-number concepts, using childrens' whale pictures
Outcomes (Mathematics) : Working Mathematically (Investigating - use pictures to model more, less, take away, start, end), Using Spatial Ideas, Tools and Techniques... (recognise attributes and shapes ), Measurement (matcing and comparing).
Learning Experience: Have a group of children stand up and hold up their Bert's Dolphins and Whales pictures. Ask the class comparison questions such as which pictures have the most and least creatures? Have the children sort the pictures into order from least to most and then most to least. Next day, have a different group of children display their pictures and continue questions which focus on which type of creature is the same in different pictures, which type was chosen the most and so on.
Evaluation: Formative - asking questions and noting the children who can and cannot respond appropriately.
Lesson 4: Making whale fingerpuppets.
Outcomes (Physical Education): Human Movement (fine motor coordination skills and directional skills).
Learning Experience: Children use kiddie scissors to cut out their whales and make them into finger puppets, by pasting them onto small cards with paper rings stuck to the back. If children are unhappy to cut up their originals, simply make a second copy of them!
Resources: Parent help or teacher aide, scissors, cardboard cut to size and paper rings for tiny fingers, paste or glue sticks.
Evaluation: Formative - increasing level of independence in making the puppets.
Lesson 5: 'Whales - Giants of the Deep' Exhibition.
Outcomes (cross curricular) : Observation of what, where, how - impressions.
Learning Experience: With plenty of parent help, make a morning excursion to the City Hall exhibition. Provide helpers with open focus questions on the whale robots' likeness and difference to real whales.. Have children look for whales which are familiar from their own Bert's Whales and Dolphins pictures, and listen to the noises whales make. Bear in mind, the robots can be scary as they are so big and they move by themselves.
Resources: Excusion organisation - parent help, bus, entry fee, protocols and so on.
Evaluation: Quality of follow-up discussion and answers to questioning.
Lesson 6: Breathing
Outcomes (Science): Life and Living
Learning Experience: Group discussion following seeing and feeling the spray f rom the grey whale blowhole at exhibition. Introduce new vocabulary about breathing. Have the class touch parts of their own bodies used for breathing - ie nose, mouth and their chest where their lungs are. Discuss the way whales breathe - using their blow holes. Can whales breathe underwater? What about other underwater creatures, like fish? Has anyone ever accidentally got water up their nose? Can humans breathe underwater?
Evaluation: Formative - question students about their understanding.
Lesson 7: Creative movement to whale songs.
Outcomes (Physical Education): Human Movement (co-ordination skills, directional skills)
Learning Experience: Play whale songs and allow children to move around the room to the sounds. They can choose to be the whales, or the water, or even themselves swimming or scuba-diving near the whales. Sit together on the mat as individuals share what they were doing.
Resources: Tape or CD of whalesongs and stereo.
Evaluation: Formative - watch how the children move and control their bodies.
Criteria 9 Classroom Management
Post a roster on the wall near the computer with each child's name, to be crossed off as they have their turn. Tell children what you are doing - some children will recognise their own name. Children will need to use the computer individually, for 10 to 20 minutes, to produce their own picture. They may require adult help for some of this time, particularly with saving and printing. It is also important that names are added to the published work. If pictures are to be used in the classroom for further activities a storage or display place will be required. Utilise parent help and teacher aide to facilitate each child having sufficient support to achieve the learning outcome. If children are only at school for half days, it may take several weeks for each child to have their first, supervised turn of Bert's Whales and Dolphins. After this, children could use the programme unsupervised, but with permission, to create unsaved pictures.
The computer should be positioned away from water and windows, and the cords should not be accessible to little fiddle-fingers. Ensure that the programme is not accessed in such a way as to enable children to accidentally or on purpose, wipe it off - access it through a folder, with an alias for example.