Rain, Rain Go Away!

Today group three taught their direct and inquiry based lessons on precipitation. Group three started off strong using a word cloud in the shape of a tornado to introduce precipitation. It is always important when you introduce your topic to relate it back to something children are familiar with. This procedure ensure students will be making connections as they learn new material. Students who make connections while learning are better able to understand the content they are learning. Group three did a great job connecting their material to the real world such as why you can see your breath when it is cold out and what the white lines are behind planes. This was a great way for students to think back to something they have observed before. Students gain a deeper understanding of a concept when they make authentic connections. The only suggestion I have for group three during their direct instruction lesson is to "teach the stuff and cut the fluff." By this I mean that group three gave the students a lot of information that was unnecessary and doing so they ran out of time. It is better to just present the students with the information they will need rather than anything extra that may distract them. 

When it was time for the inquiry lesson, group three was already so behind they left out a lot of key steps when presenting. I wish he group had more time to explain to the class what the inquiry process is and what they would be doing at each station. It seemed that group three had very thought out and exciting experiments for the students, but it was hard to see what was going on. Next time I hope group three remembers time is of the essence!