TIME: 2 days or longer depending on the number of students
MATERIALS
Dry erase board and markers
Computer and Sticky bear shapes program
Shape puzzle
Construction paper
Crayons
Sidewalk chalk
Felt board and felt board pieces
Unifix cubes
Red and pink hearts
Sentence strips
Pre-cut Mardi Gras
masks (cut from poster board)
Mardi Gras music
Spangles-green and purple
Feathers
Markers
Digital camera
Printer
Teddy bear manipulatives
Four geometric shapes (square, circle, rectangle, triangle) either cut from construction paper on store bought ones
INTRODUCTION/PREPARATION/ANTICIPATORY SET:
In order to review basic shapes, the teacher will draw a simple picture on the dry erase board. The picture will contain the four shapes (ex. a house made of a square and triangle; a car with wheels-circles). Children will randomly be called on to erase a certain shape (ex. erase a triangle).
ACTIVITY:
Teaching/ Modeling: Students will now be introduced to the term “geometric shapes.” The four shapes will be drawn on the board. The teacher will point to a shape and students will state the name of each shape. The students will be told that these shapes are geometric shapes. The children will practice saying the word geometric. Children will volunteer to come to the board; point to one of the geometric shapes; and state the name of the shape (ex. “This is a square”). Next the term curvilinear will be introduced. The teacher will draw a curvilinear line on the dry erase board. Students will be asked to describe the line (ex. it’s squiggly, it goes back and forth, it is curvy, etc…). The children will be told that this type of line is known as curvilinear. Students will practice saying the word curvilinear. The teacher will draw various shapes/lines on the board. Students will practice identifying the shape as a geometric shape or a curvilinear line.
Guided Practice: During learning centers, students will have the opportunity to practice identifying shapes using the computer program called “Sticky Bear Shapes.” A shape puzzle will be available in the table toy center to allow students additional exposure to geometric shapes. As the students rotate through these centers, the paraprofessional and teacher will question and talk to the students about geometric shapes. Students will be asked to identify the shapes and recall the term “geometric shape.”
Independent Practice: : All children will be given a sheet of construction paper. Students will be told to use their crayons to draw geometric shapes. The teacher will ask each child to identify the shapes he/she drew.
Closure: During outside learning centers, children will be given sidewalk chalk. They will be encouraged to draw geometric shapes and/or curvilinear lines. The teacher will talk to the children and they will describe their drawings.
DAY 2
The teacher will use felt board pieces and a felt board to show students examples of a series of objects that are and are not patterns (this is a review as students are exposed to patterns daily as part of calendar time).
Teaching/Model: The students will be arranged in a pattern (boy-girl-boy). They will be asked, “Who comes next?” Children will decide who comes next (a boy or girl). This will continue until all students are part of the pattern.
Guided Practice: The teacher will work with small groups (2-3) of students. The children will be shown a pattern that the teacher made using unifix cubes. The students will describe the pattern (ex. it has red then blue then red then blue, etc…). These children will be given two different colors of unifix cubes. They will be told to work with their friends to make a pattern. The teacher will observe the students creating their patterns and ask the children “why did they put a certain one next?” This will enable the teacher to discover any misconceptions the children may have about patterns.
Independent Practice: Each child will be given four hearts (2 red and 2 pink) and a sentence strip (note: Valentine’s Day and the week before Mardi Gras was the same week. This is why I used hearts). The children will have to create an ABAB pattern using these materials. Once completed, the teacher will staple the two ends of the sentence strip together to make a Valentine’s Day crown.
Closure: The teacher will work with small groups of students to make a Mardi Gras mask. Students will be shown the materials (feathers, spangles, crayons, and markers- green, purple, and yellow). The children will be able to touch and manipulate these objects before beginning the project. They will be asked, “Do the feathers feel like the spangles- what makes them different?” They will be told that not only do they look different but their “textures” are different. The feathers feel soft and light, but the spangles feel slippery and flat. The teacher will lead the students in a discussion about the color of the markers/crayons. Students may make statements such as I can see purple and green, but it’s hard to see yellow. At this time they’ll be introduced to the term “warm colors.” Yellow is a warm color because we see it when we look at the sun or fire and the sun and fire are warm. This same process will be repeated for cool colors (green, and purple). Children will be given the pre-cut mask and materials described earlier in this section. They will be told that they should use the spangles to create a pattern (green-purple-green-purple), the markers to draw geometric shapes and curvilinear lines, and the feathers to add texture. As the children are working, the teacher will ask them to describe their work (ex. I made a pattern- purple, green, purple. I drew a geometric shape, etc…). Mardi Gras music will be playing in the background and pictures of the students working and of their completed masks will be taken using a digital camera. Pictures will be added to their portfolio and displayed in the classroom.
EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT:
Anecdotal notes on students’ ability to identify shapes and create an AB pattern.
Objective 1 evaluation: Formative/informal- Children will draw shapes (geometric shapes). The teacher will ask each child to identify the shapes he/she drew.
Summative/formal: Students will be shown four geometric shapes. The teacher will point to one at a time. The children will say the name of the shape. The shapes correctly identified will be circled on a form (see attached). Children still unable to recognize geometric shapes will receive more individualized instruction during centers.
Objective 2 evaluation:
Formative/informal- As the teacher works with small groups of students (see activity 2c), the teacher will complete anecdotal notes on the students abilities to create patterns.
Summative/formal: The teacher will work one on one with students. Students will be given two colors of teddy bear manipulatives. Students will be told to line up bears to make a pattern. A checklist will be used to document a student’s ability to create a pattern (see forms attached).
ART CONTENT/CONCEPTS:
Visual arts: VA-CE-E3: Use art vocabulary and the elements and principles of design to convey the language of art (create and discuss own artwork).
COMPREHENSIVE
CURRICULUM, GRADE LEVEL EXPECTATIONS AND STANDARDS/BENCHMARKS:
(G-2-E) Math-Geometry #8: Identify rectangle, square, circle, and triangles using concrete models.
(PK-CM-P2)(P-3-E)(PK-CM-P1) Math-Patterns, Relations, and functions #13: Recognize and copy repeated patterns (e.g, concrete objects, songs, rhymes, and body movements)
MODIFICATIONS | ACCOMODATIONS:
The teacher will pair off students (peer tutoring)
Children with delays in fine motor skills will be given extra assistance gluing the spangles to the mask.
Child with a developmental delay will be seated near teacher so he can be redirected and receive extra support.
TEACHER'S REFLECTION:
My preschool students really enjoyed this lesson. I believe the main reason they liked it was because it incorporated previous knowledge with new knowledge and because they were able to learn a few “big people” words (geometric, curvilinear). As I stated earlier in this plan the concept of AB patterns was not a new one; however, I did notice that a few of my students had some difficulty applying their knowledge of patterns to the Mardi Gras mask. For example, during the summative evaluation of objective 2 all the children were able to arrange the teddy bears in a AB pattern, but when they were given the spangles to complete the masks and told to create a pattern with the spangles on the masks they had a hard time transferring the knowledge from one context to another.
In my opinion, there were too many concepts in one lesson for four year olds to process. They were able to achieve the objectives of identifying geometric shapes and creating a pattern, but they became confused when so many new terms were introduced at once (geometric shapes, curvilinear lines, warm colors, cool colors, texture). When I teach this lesson next year, I will use the same objectives, but fewer terms at one time. Children need time to process new information and my class is a “high risk” class. I would advise any pre-k teachers who want to use this lesson or a similar lesson to only introduce one or two new terms.
Although the students were not developmentally ready to incorporate all these terms into one project (Mardi Gras mask), they did remember the term “curvilinear.” We recently went on a field trip and crossed the Veterans Memorial Bridge. Many of the students looked at the Mississippi River and said, “Look I can see it curving… it’s curvilinear!” My students had a great time using their Mardi Gras masks when they did the “Second Line” for the Head Start class that is based at my school.
TO DOWNLOAD FORMS FOR THIS LESSON, PLEASE CLICK HERE
TO DOWNLOAD EVALUATION FORM FOR THIS LESSON, PLEASE CLICK HERE
GALLERY
|
EXHIBITS |
K-12 |
STUDENT TEACHERS | HOME
|
