First Grade
Compare and Contrast
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Description and Rationale: I chose this artifact to show evidence of providing students opportunities for critical thinking. For Scott Foresman's Reading Street, Unit 5-Week 3, the title of the story was Dot & Jabber and the Great Acorn Mystery. I created a Compare & Contrast T-Chart for students to use when they compared and constrasted the story's characters Dot and Jabber as well as an acorn and a maple seed. The skill covered in this week's story was Compare and Contrast. I also provided actual seeds for students to look at. We discussed how seeds travel. The students enjoyed seeing the maple seeds twirl through the air like helicopter blades.
Reflection: This activity was successful and the students enjoyed it. We spent several days working on comparing and contrasting. I like to bring in realia whenever I can to supplement lessons such as these two seeds. I feel that hands on experiences make it easier for students to understand the skills. They could have used the pictures in their textbook, but having actual seeds to hold in your hands brings the lesson alive. The students were excited because they remembered seeing maple seeds before, but did not know they were called maple seeds.
Reflection: This activity was successful and the students enjoyed it. We spent several days working on comparing and contrasting. I like to bring in realia whenever I can to supplement lessons such as these two seeds. I feel that hands on experiences make it easier for students to understand the skills. They could have used the pictures in their textbook, but having actual seeds to hold in your hands brings the lesson alive. The students were excited because they remembered seeing maple seeds before, but did not know they were called maple seeds.