Making Connections in Different Environments

This past week was hard week for getting work done with testing. Because of the schedule change I was only able to teach science to my entire class and I teach ELA and science or social studies. The readings talked about how the body plays a role in learning. The text discussed sex differences, sleep, fuel, exercise and the importance of environment. I tried to incorporate as much exercise into the week as possible because three of my students were testing. During testing I usually get snacks for the class but I was unable to do that because my students were in different rooms. The principal gave the students an extended recess after testing was over for the day. This really helped the students focus better in class afterward. My students seemed very anxious at the beginning of the day because the entire schedule was different. As soon as we were allowed back in the classrooms I went back to the regular schedule to try and refocus them.

At the end of the day during science time I found that my students were tired but still engaged in the lesson. I also shortened the lesson from 45min to 30min to help with their fatigue and provided a mental break of 15min recess at the end of the day. I tried to improve their executive functioning with the breaks and lighter work load. The week before testing I taught the students how to read a table to get information. We did that again this week with a science lesson about animal sounds but the difficulty level was much lower. Even with testing they were very engaged and they also were very confident with their answers. I tapped into their executive functioning abilities by asking them questions that required them to wire what was taught with what they know. At the end of the day as I walked them to the bus we heard some bird chirping outside and they were able to tell me which birds (male or female) were singing and why.

I thought the lesson when very well. My goal was to get them to pick out animal sounds in the environment and understand why we were able to hear those sounds more clearly during spring than winter. During the lesson they were able to see and hear the animals making the sounds though youtube videos. I think they really made a connection with the bird sounds when we walked outside to the bus. They thought it was really cool that they knew the male bird was singing to the female and that was defiantly rewarding to them as well as myself.