Today's lesson went rather well, but many students did not show up today. I was disappointed in attendance today. Parents have to bring students to summer school. Bus transportation is not provided, therefore many students do not make it each day. I am hoping that when word gets around about the activities we are doing this week, more students will attend.
We began with a "Did you know?" fact of the day and the goals for the day's lesson. Students watched two videos about paleontogy that I had previously loaded onto my wiki. We discussed the content of each video focusing on the career of paleontology, the tools they use to do their work, and places they may work. Students shared prior knowledge of paleontology and the study of dinosaurs with the class. Many students shared information learned from the guided reading texts we read last week. I thought that was impressive! They definitely connected today's material with last week's materials!
We then discussed the day's activities. First students would be given a mission to find a fossil, determine what type of dinosaur it belonged to, and share this information with the class. I had 6 boxes of dirt set up in another classroom with different clay fossils in each box. I also had 6 paint brushes available for students to use in the dig. I demonstrated the dig and how to use the paint brush to gently brush away sand and dirt from the fossil.
Students were given think sheets to guide their research. I explained how students would make predictions based on their observations of the fossil. I told students that the fossils were of dinosaur teeth. We then discussed what paleontologists gather about a dinosaur based on their teeth.
I briefly discussed the hotlist of websites used to find information about the fossils.
Second graders were the first students to dig for their fossils. This group did rather well, but a few needed extra help determining where to put their predictions on the think sheet. A few others wanted to keep playing in the dirt.
Third and fourth graders went next. This age group did very well! I kept a few of the fourth graders behind to begin researching their fossils using the hotlist. I wanted to take advantage of extra time I had with them today. My intentions are to have this group of fourth graders help the third and second graders research tomorrow.
I took pictures of each student with his or her fossil to be used later on the slides.
It definitely helped to have small groups participate in this activity at one time. Mrs. Pieper and Mrs. Stewardson had students in the other classroom work on center activities while they waited their turn with me. Tomorrow I plan to demonstrate the hotlist and allow each student to begin researching their fossil. I am spending time today making sure center activities are ready for tomorrow for those students to work on in the other classroom while they wait their turn.
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