Innies vs. Outies...

To finish off our brief mini-unit on the solar system, we discussed the four inner planets and the four outer planets.  The students were really interested and engaged as we discussed the planets, and I feel confident that they really understood the material.  During these lessons (it took 3 in all) students used several strategies to learn science content and practice reading skills.  Below is a general summary of each day's lessons:



Day 1
Students read two pages in their science books about the inner planets.  These pages named the inner planets and discussed similarities and differences between them.  The students worked with partners to read the text and specifically looked for and recorded ways the inner planets were similar and difference in their learning logs.  At the end, we came up with a list together as a class showing what we read.  This was effective because the students were reading with a specific purpose in mind.  Finally, students created a trading card for each of the inner planets, including the name of the planet, a drawing, what it's made of, the number it is from the sun (ex. Mercury is #1), and an interesting fact.



Day 2
We watched a video from www.brainpopjr.com on reading non-fiction.  It reviewed various text features.  Students read through the rest of the textbook lesson with partners and completed a Non-Fiction Text Feature Scavenger Hunt page.  They had to find examples of a heading, photograph, caption, diagram, and special type (bold words) in the text.  They then had to record what page it was on, write/draw the example on their page, and explain how it helped them understand the text better.  Most of the students did pretty well with this, though some showed a limited understanding of the text features.  For example, some students wrote that the text feature helped them understand the text better, but this did not specifically say how.  Overall, 12/16 students were able to correctly identify all 5 text features, and 11 of these students were able clearly and accurately describe how at least 3 of the text features helped them understand the text better.

Day 3
Students read two pages in their textbook with partners and look for ways the outer planets are all similar.  They recorded these similarities in their learning logs.  We discussed our findings together as a class.  Then, the students worked with partners again, this time to compare and contrast the inner planets and the outer planets using information they have gathered in their learning logs and their textbooks.  They completed a Venn diagram to show this information.  During this time, I noticed one group in particular having difficulty focusing, but the other groups did well.  One group was especially impressive as they used science vocabulary ("They all go around...they all orbit the sun.") and acted as teachers to each other during the process (one student gave a detail, and the other asked her to tell which section of the diagram that should go under).  To sum it all up, we shared what we found as a class and made one large Venn diagram to show this.  During the last few minutes, students worked to complete trading cards for each of the outer planets.

 

These lessons went very well, and I am confident in my students' knowledge about both the inner and outer planets at this point.  I believe this came from a combination of more effective teaching methods (reading with a purpose and more student engagement) and a high interest in the topics being covered.  In my next post, I will share the results from my assessment from this mini-unit.