First lesson in 3^rd Grade

Today I taught my first lesson to 33 3^rd graders.  Before I taught my lesson I thought I had the best lesson plan on bar graphs.  I am a big believer in have the students learn actively, so my lesson included a opening activity that called for the students to be up and moving, and a group activity where they would be moving around the class room too.

 Here were the steps of my lesson plan…

1.       I will begin the lesson by giving each student an index card that has a piece of putty on it.  I will ask the students to print their name on the blank side of the card.

2.       Then I will ask the students the question, “Which character did you like better in the book Frindle, Mrs. Granger or Nick?”

3.       Releasing one table at a time I will allow the students to place their index card into either the Mrs. Granger or Nick column.

4.       After the students have all placed their cards in a column, I take a dry erase marker and ask the students to help me turn the information we just collected into a bar graph.  Together, we will label both the x axis and y axis, give our graph a title, and analyze the information we collected.  This will allow me to check the students’ prior knowledge of bar graphs and review the different parts. 

5.       I will then hand out two pieces of paper to each student and divide each table into two groups.

6.       I will bring students attention to the first sheet of paper and explain to them with their group, they are to come up with a question that they want to find the answer to.  With the question, they are to come up with two or three choices that people can choose from to answer the question.

7.       Students’ will them be release to work with their group and I will walk around and answering questions and help groups as needed.

8.       After about five minutes, I will draw the students’ attention back to me.  I will then tell them that now I would like them to ask the question to the other group at their table and record how many students picked each choice by writing the number in the box next to each choice.  When they are done recording their data, I would like them to create a bar graph with the information they collected

9.       I will walk around and help as needed.

10.    At the end of the period, I will get the students attention and have each group check to make sure they have included each part and labeled their bar graph.

11.    I will then ask the students, “What else could you use bar graphs for?”

While the majority of my lesson went great, there were a few parts I would change for next time.  The whole index card plan didn’t really work out.  They were falling off the board, and it was just a mess, so next time I think I would use masking tape and make a big L on the floor in our large group instruction area so the students just had to place their car on the floor, and we would just write our labels on pieces of paper.  The last part of the lesson I would change would be to figure out a way to keep 33 3^rd graders a little quieter.  The room was so loud and even though they did a great job of staying on take and really took a interest in their assignment, it was just a little too loud.  I think I might create a noise-o-meter (have seen them on pinterest) to help.