Kindergarten Lesson Teaching Reflective Summary

Teacher Candidate for Science Endorsement:

A. Dunford

Instructor: L. Dimare
School: Timber Ridge

Grade: K

Lesson Topic: SKL1. Students will sort living organisms and non-living materials into
groups by observable physical attributes. a. Recognize the difference between living
organisms and nonliving materials. 5/12
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Write a brief summary or blog of your experiences teaching this lesson,
addressing the following questions:
I have always taught older elementary students, and seeing
kindergarten students helps remind me of why this may be. I dont
speak kindergarten! The lesson was an introduction to the unit on
determining the difference between living and non-living organisms. It
was hilarious to watch these tiny scientists work together and support
and/or correct each other. I clearly see how this standard vertically
aligns with my own 5th grade standards also. The lesson was an
introduction to characteristics that help students determine living or
non-living. They used Smartboard slides to build understanding and
brainstorm/list a few characteristics that apply across each slide. This
went very well. They like to be in control of the Smartboard and the
list was on a poster paper. Since this was an introductory lesson, I
know their understanding will only build from here, but the steps they
take to understand the objectives are so small and different than a 5th
grader. The task was application based, indicating which
characteristics discussed previously applied to which living organisms
on a couple of pictures. This took time and thinking, but they worked
together to do this. The vocabulary was hard for them, but it is only
the beginning!