It’s Teacher Feature Thursday!

This week we are featuring Logan Crowley. His two year old classroom was learning about the senses and decided to spend a week learning about how a liquid, solid, and a gas feel. Below you will find a reflection from Logan and images from his lesson on liquid.

What were your topics of exploration?

We were learning about the five senses. During the week of this lesson, we were exploring the sense of touch and learning how to describe how things feel. We also wanted to compare the textures and properties of various things. I chose to focus on the three different states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) and for liquid, water seemed like a great choice.

What were your learning objectives? (What did you want your children to take away from the lesson?)

I didn’t expect my toddlers to necessarily be able to identify and define the states of matter, but I wanted to get their brains firing and thinking about how things felt when they touched them and what words they could use to describe what they’d felt. I also wanted to engage their sense of touch in general and give them an opportunity to experiment with water.

What was most successful about your lesson?

Even though a lot of them just ended up pouring the water on the ground rather than into the empty cup, I think I was definitely on the right track in that they loved to practice pouring and it let me know that they’d probably enjoy more opportunities to pour in the future. I was also surprised with how engaged they were with the book. Finally, even though we ran into some trouble with our original plan (we were told the kids could not walk barefoot in the water feature), the kids were great about it and still had a fantastic time playing with the water.

What could you have done differently? What recommendations would you have for another teacher trying out this lesson?

I would have organized the pouring activity a little better, perhaps demonstrating first or having them come up one at a time. I also would have had a backup plan ready for them to be able to play in the water (having them bring sandals or water shoes, perhaps), since I found myself having to improvise when they could not go barefoot.

Here are a few images from their unit on liquid:

It was a cold day but that didn’t keep this class from learning and playing with water. Logan bundled up his group and walked up to the courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian American Art. This in door space is large and equipped with a beautiful glass ceiling. It makes for a wonderful environment to be in when the weather is not ideal.

Logan began his lesson by providing each child with a pitcher of water and a cup. He invited the children to pour the water and watch as the liquid moved from one container to the next. A number of the children touched the water with their fingers and also sampled it from their glass.

He then read a story Water by Frank Asch. The story explains the different states of water and Logan explained that today they were experiencing water as a liquid.

Logan picked this space because there is large fountain that produces a very thin film of liquid on the floor. Guests are encouraged to interact with the fountain by walking through (with shoes on) and touching it. The children really loved being able to interact with this liquid in so many different ways.

This class had a wonderful time learning about liquids! Be sure to check back for our Teacher Feature next week!

It’s Teacher Feature Thursday!

This week we are featuring Elaine Mullally. Her two year old classroom was learning about animal habitats and decided to spend a week learning about caves and the animals that inhabit them. Below you will find a reflection from Elaine and images from her lesson on bats.

What were your topics of exploration?

We  began the lesson by reviewing the features of a cave habitat (dark, stalactites, and stalagmites) and then focused on which animals call it home. This particular day we learned about bats and introduced the word echolocation.

What were your learning objectives? (What did you want your children to take away from the lesson?)

I wanted the children to be able to identify caves as a dark habitat that might be challenging for an animal to live. Since this lesson focused on the bat, I also wanted them to be able to understand how they have adapted to live in this environment through echolocation.

What was most successful about your lesson?

The most successful part of the lesson was the echolocation game we played during circle time. The class was very excited to pretend to be insects while I pretended to be a bat using echolocation to find and eat them. The silly bug and bat goggles helped them get into character. They were also able to demonstrate the way sound bounces from a bat, to the insect, then back to the bat’s ear by rolling a ball back and forth.

What could you have done differently? What recommendations would you have for another teacher trying out this lesson?

I would have chosen a different activity or game to play in the museum, or perhaps just find a book to read after observing the cave. It was a little too much for them to play a silly game twice and control their bodies in the museum.

Here are a few images from their unit on the bats:

Elaine began her lesson by re-introducing the group to caves. She then ready My First Book of Animals Homes by Eric Carle. The pages of the book are split so the top and the bottom pages turn independently, allowing the children to match which animal goes with each habitat. The students were excited when they were able to match the bat with the cave.

Elaine explained to the group that because of their environment bats need to use echolocation or a special type of hearing to catch their food. She used the green glasses as a way for the children to assume the bug character and black sunglasses with sharpie darkened lenses to become the bat.

She gave each child the opportunity to be the bug and then played a game where a ball represented sound traveling from the bat bouncing off the bug and returning to the bat.

Elaine would roll the ball to the child and then have them roll it back.

To show she had echo-located the bug she would come over and tickle the child.

She then took the group up to a cave in the Gems and Mineral Hall in the National Museum of Natural History.

Elaine reminded the children of the echolocation game they played in the classroom and then challenged them to send their “sound” or ball around a stalagmite to the bug.

The group had a great time using their echolocation in the museum.

This class had a wonderful time learning about bats and caves! Be sure to check back for our Teacher Feature next week!