I am very excited about my most recent unit, Animal Life, for many reasons. In my unit I have tried to use many of the technological suggestions from my class at N.K.U. It has been a joy to explore various technology uses for my classroom. I know that my approach to using technology has been vastly altered because of Dr. Wirtz's class. I will now use technology daily in a variety of ways. I intend to incorporate videos this year daily and to have my students reflect in their journals about the video. I have found and been introduced to many great sites on the web in this class. I think they will increase my students' interest. I will use these videos in my room during RTI and in the mornings for rewards in addition to other times. I think the videos will increase student enthusiasm and they will be excited to learn. I have enjoyed the book, The Highly Engaged Classroom as well. One of the techniques in the book was to offer students choices and I intend to do that intentionally each day. .I will use many of the suggestions in the book. I will use more technology, more guest teachers, and more games to name a few. These techniques I will use often because I am convinced of the value they offer. I will use computer games to increase engagement and I am very excited to use Skpe. I will also use Service Learning Opportunities to enhance my teaching this year. I know that my teaching will be more effective and efficient because of this class each and every school day. I am a better more engaging teacher because of my exposure to the various technological uses to increase learning as well as making more connections to the students lives through service learning opportunities. For my unit students will participate in a two week animal unit that will incorporate service learning elements. There will be many community people involved. My class and one other second grade class, Ms. Currin a second grade teacher, Ms. Ferril a volunteer from Kentucky Tails, parents of students, and River Ridge staff. The students are a diverse population in every aspect. There is usually a high population of ESL students, students with special needs, various religions, and ethnic backgrounds. There are many levels of family income and several neighborhoods are involved. The second grade students will learn to identify a living organism from a nonliving one in the first lesson. The students will then learn to sort animals based on the animal’s features. Students will learn that animals have basic needs. After the students learn the content they will have an opportunity to discuss the animals in their lives. We will then classify our pets and sort them into groups. The students will be introduced to the animal shelter called, Kentucky Tails, by a visit from Ms. Ferril. The students will meet actual shelter animals and the owner, Jeff Thelen. They will learn about shelters from visiting the web pages. The class will write letters to families to persuade them to make donations. The students will create posters to announce our drive for donations and to challenge Ms. Currin’s class to see if they can make as many shelter toys as our class. The unit will culminate with the class donating homemade toys to Ms. Ferril and photos posted in the class newsletter and blog. The class will also write notes to thank our visitors. The winning class will be announced on the intercom and in our grade blog. I think the students will enjoy this unit and it covers a good deal of core content! Key targets are:
Learner Targets
SC-EP-3.4.1
Students will be able to list animal’s basic needs on an exit slip
Students will be able to sort pictures of living things from nonliving things correctly into stacks of living things and nonliving things.
SC-EP-3.4.2
Students will be able to sort animals into groups based on animal characteristics using animal cards.
I will measure sucess with exit slips, observations, and the compass learning path.
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