Exploring Standards-Based Lesson Plans

http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/the-warmth-of-the-sun/

          The grade level I chose was Pre-K (4-5 year olds) and the area of concentration for this lesson plan is science. Students will make hypothesis and discuss what temperature means and how the sun warms the earth. Before the actual experiment takes place children will be asked open questions about various environments that are warm, cool, cold, and hot to help felicitate their ideas. By the end of the lesson children should beginmaking connections and have an understanding about the sun and how it warms the earth and water.

         The lesson plan I selected is aligned with the Ohio early learning and development standards. It covers children's basic knowledge of the sun and how it affects our day- to day lives. A strand of the Ohio early learning and development standards is Cognition and a sub domain is earth science and space. At the ages of 4-5 children should be able to make connections from pervious experiences and create hypothesis based on that knowledge. If the students are not able to do so, this is an awesome lesson to expose them to how the sun and earth works and strengthen their cognitive skills.

Earth and Space Sciences for Early Childhood

The Universe

1.

Begin to use terms such as night and day, sun and moon to describe personal observations.

Physical Science for Early Childhood

Nature of Energy

7.

Explore familiar sources of the range of colors and the quality of light in the environment (e.g., prism, rainbow, sun, shadow).

Scientific Inquiry for Early Childhood

Doing Scientific Inquiry

1.

Ask questions about objects, organisms and events in their environment during shared stories, conversations and play (e.g., ask about how worms eat).

8.

Record or represent and communicate observations and findings through a variety of methods (e.g., pictures, words, graphs, dramatizations) with assistance.

Scientific Ways of Knowing for Early Childhood

Nature of Science

1.

Offer ideas and explanations (through drawings, emergent writing, conversation, movement) of objects, organisms and phenomena, which may be correct or incorrect.

    

I would implement thislesson plan in a phases.  To grasp the student’s attention, if weather  permits, I would anegg in a frying pan and have it available near the gathering area. As children gathered around it, I would ask them questions. For example, how would I cook the egg? What do you think would happened if I broke the egg in the pan? What if I left the pan in the sun all day?  AsI ask the questions, write down their responses.  This will get them invested and interested in the lesson.  The problems I would anticipate is the children staying on task. I believe by breaking this lesson up over several days to help children build their memory and so the children aren’t over whelmed with the amount of information they are given. This will keep them intrigued andready to investigate.  What may be challenging for students is getting the students to answer the questions about the sun. For example, what kinds of things does the sun do? If children haven’t had pervious experiences or knowledge about the sun this can be a challenging question andeven more challenging trying to make connections. I would modify and have alternativequestions to ask to scaffold their ideas.

Assistive Technology for students with Speech and Language Impairments

       Speech and Language impairments hinder those you have it by not being able to verbally communicate clearly or have difficulty communicating with others. As a result, they reframe from speaking to reduce embarrassment or rejection. The student  may not be able to articulate, may stutter which directly affects his/ her  educational performance. There are four main disorders that effect children, articulation,fluency, voice and language. The students may get frustrated because of the lack of communication.

 
   One type of assistive technology that help students  who have an speech or language impairment is augmentative or alternative communication(AAC). AAC uses symbols, visual aids, voice republication to help assist the student within the classroom and even through their everyday life. The basic form of AAC uses a message board with limited amount of pictures and symbols to help navigate and communicate with others. This type of assistive technology is mainly used by students who have oral motor impairment. This basic form is usually use to make choices between one or two items. These basic forms are non-electronic and are large and can be difficult to transport.        

                                                                                              Electronic AAC devices are downloadable programs used for tablets and iPads to help student  communicate. These electronic progress offer more images, symbols, and print to help enchants the communication process for the student. These programs range anywhere as low as $3.99-200.  These applications can be found in the App Store on your device. After you have selected and purchased  your desired application, the program will be loaded into your device. Once downloaded you will sign in and set up your account. Once those steps have been completed you and your student will have, depending on the application, access to  over  10,000 pictures and you have the ability to create and upload your own pictures to the application. The application will also be equipped with symbols and voice republication lot help re-establish language.

 
      ACC has already  made huge break throughs. Typically it was only an message board that only have one or two pictures of choices to decide usually for food or daily activities. Now with new technology a program can be downloaded to your phone or tablet and the student has access to it a portable device instead of a large message board with limited images children are now able to create and have access to tens of thousands of images.                               From the information I researched, the applications will continue to revolve and be available in more languages and devices that are hand-held and portable.

 

References                                                                                        http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/speechlanguage/ http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/Pages/specific-language-impairment.aspx http://www.projectidealonline.org/v/speech-language-impairments/

Ohio DL Schools

        One of the schools I would choose if I was considering distant learning for my child is Virtual Schoolhouse. They offer blended learning environment as well as the traditional “virtual schooling”. I thought that was a unique take on distant learning. I've taken a blended class before and I did better in that course than my solely web class. I was able to have face-to-face interaction with my instructor and meet some of my classmates. When I would post discussion boards and reply to my peers I was able to put a face with a name and felt that I had a better connection with that person. The Virtual Schoolhouse website is user friendly and it's easy to access. I feel that having the one-one time and begin able to see your teacher more frequently truly allows for individualized lesson planning. Being able to go to a traditional school setting blended with distant learning, they will still be able to socialize and interact with their peers and build healthy relationships.

http://virtualschoolhouse.org/

       One of the schools I would not pick for my child is the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT). I felt when I went to their website they were selling a corporation and not a school. I think that’s its awesome they graduated 2,300 students but I question how they will be able to individualize my child’s learning? Will his/ her teacher get to know them personally, even though it's a distant learning environment. I wasn’t sold on it being the biggest virtual school in Ohio, either. How soon will instructor respond back to my questions or concerns?  I feel that the parent and teacher relationship will be missing. I want to know how my child will succeed at your school and what type pf supports will he/she get being 1/10000 students. Besides occasional school outings, how will my help be able to build and develop healthy friendships with peers?

 http://www.ecotohio.org/

My Prezi

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is having an amazing week, thus far.The link below is to my Prezi presentation I completed. My targeted audience is towards future employers, as well as parents, to get to know my educational background and why I choose to become a pre-k teacher. I share some work from my classroom and how I bleive children best learn, hint it must involve the child! In early child hood we must look at the whole child and encompasses the entire family dynamic. This is true in the classroom setting as well; Mathematics, science, language and literacy and social and emotional development are integrated and apart of each area in the classroom! That’s what make it so awesome, strictly my opinion.  This was my first time completing a presentation by myself and I must say I enjoyed it. I had to get use to the format and how to change and rearrange things but overall it was fairly simple to maneuver. I enjoyed inserting pictures and hyperlinks and making the presentation come together. I love the funky layout they offer, more intriguing and engaging then your typical PowerPoint. I plan on using it at our next staff meeting.