Lesson #4

Our lesson this week focused on the molting that caterpillars do. We weren't sure exactly what phase the caterpillars would be in but we figured that if they were in the chrysalises, the students would still be able to observe the exoskeletons on the bottoms of their cups. Lo and behold! The caterpillars were indeed in chrysalises! This week we focused on the flow of the class, common misconceptions, and content vocabulary.

First, our class is so well behaved that the lessons have a smooth flow naturally. A big thank you to Mrs. K. for having such a well-prepared group for us. Sarah and I go over our lessons so thoroughly, though, that we always know who is going to say what and when. We also know who is going to hand out materials while the other does something different. Lesson planning is one way that we have been able to maintain a well-flown class :-). 

Second, we identified a couple common misconceptions during this lesson. We clarified for the students that caterpillar skin is NOT like ours. They have a rigid, tough exoskeleton that does not grow and get bigger as they do. We, however, have a skin that is elastic-y and grows with us as we get bigger. We certainly don't shed our skin! The other misconception that we identified was the case of the mistaken identity when it comes to frass (caterpillar waste) and shed exoskeletons. We explained to the students that the small black dots are actually the caterpillars molts while the frass is small pellets the same color as their food! Interesting stuff!!

Third, we focused on content vocabulary. Because our lesson this week contained mostly talking from either Sarah or myself, we thought it would be a good idea to play a vocab game (Jeopardy) when the kids got back from recess. This entire activity went over extremely smoothly and the students worked very well together to come up with the answers. We had the students use our Word Wall to help them with the questions. Overall, this was a great way to go over the content vocabulary we have introduced up to this point. 

All in all, it was a great lesson and I realize how wonderful our students are every time I leave the school! I hope our nets are filled with butterflies on Monday! :-)