Insectos

Since earthworms have made a big appearance in the playground and we have lots of Darkling Beetles larvae in the classroom bugs have been a point of interest for the children. We focused on learning about insects this week. We made a little chart with what we knew about insects and a new one with what we learned about them after reading the book Insectos. We learned that insects have their bodies divided into three sections: cabeza, tórax y abdomen. Insects have 6 patas and some have wings, alas, and others don't. We did a classifying exercise where we used this information and sorted bug models to determine if they were insects or not insects. 

Credit: picture from Google

Here is a copy of the full lesson plan: 

Theme: Insects 

Grade Level: Preschool/ Pre K 

Provocation: Bring out mealworms and present them to the children. Write down their questions: what are these? are these worms? what do they eat? how do they poop? Invite them to hold them gently and prompt them to describe and talk about what they see.  

After the excitement settles, explain to the children that this is not a worm, even though it looks like one. This is a larvae of a Darkling Beetle, and show them the flashcards or pictures.  

Lesson I: What is an Insect? 

Materials:  

• whiteboard and whiteboard markers 
• Book: Insectos 
• 2 pieces of construction paper of different colors or something else that can be used for sorting each labeled: INSECTS and NOT INSECTS 
• plastic bugs from the crafts store (with accurate details) 

Steps: 

• Using the whiteboard and a marker write down the work INSECT. Then ask the children what do they know about insects? Write their ideas down. 
• Introduce the book and read it. As I am reading the book, using a marker of a different color I will write down the new information that we are learning on insects.  
• At the end we would review the facts about insects: they have their bodies divided in 3 parts (head, thorax and abdomen); they have 6 legs; most of them have antennas; some of them have 2 sets of wings while others do not.  
• Then explain to the children that now that we know what an insect is we will use that information to sort. Provide each student with a couple of bugs and pull out the sorting bins or papers.  
• Model how to observe a bug, count the legs, look for the parts and determine if it is an insect or not. Then sort them out. Guide them in this process, and encourage conversation and for them to explain their thoughts.  

Closing: bring out the mealworms again and take one out. Point out this mealworm is not an adult insect yet but if you turn them around you can see that they walk on six legs that are all crowded at the front. Ask them if they think they are an insect or not. Remind them that if this has 6 legs then it must be an insect. 

Activities

Different Types of Activities

I believe that academic skills are an important part of a child's learning, but also having the opportunity to explore and practice social skills through pretend and outdoor play and have access to a wide variety of activities. I strive to be an advocate and a practitioner of child centered learning environments where hands-on activities engage the children into learning without them even knowing it.  

Before I introduce letters we work on different types of lines: curve, straight, zig-zag, etc. This makes it easier for them whenever we start working on writing our names. Here we used pieces of the Spielgaben  and broke down each letter into its types of lines.  

Using our Bodies

When we learn about shapes, we talk about the number of lines that make up that shape. Here we used our bodies to make a triangle. Afterwards the children asked if there was a shape that needed 5 friends, and that was a great way of introducing the pentagon. 

We work a lot in couples to model communicating with a partner and work on the target vocabulary.

Drawing and Tracing on different Mediums

Using the light table in creative ways.

Chalk, markers and body parts.

Nature

After we learned about pumpkins, our calabaza started to rot; instead of throwing it away we observed how it decomposed for a couple of days until the smell was not unpleasant. Then we decided to put it in a pot with dirt and continue observing what happened to it. 

Outdoor Structures

Tee-pee made out of bamboo and cloth. They helped It has given the children a fun outdoor place to hang out in the playground. 

Circle Time Activities

Circle Time or Círculo

Circle Time is one of my favorite parts of the day, because it is here that I have the opportunity to give direct instruction on the target vocabulary. The repetition and routine that comes with circle time makes the children feel comfortable and master enough vocabulary quickly to participate and gain confidence in learning a second language.  Little by little I incorporate something new into the circle time routine; for example: describing in Spanish what the children are wearing and having them guess who am I talking about; or have the meeting assistant dictate a message for the day and we make a paper chain that becomes longer as the days pass.
A regular circle time goes like this: we start by greeting everybody by name, check who came to school, do our calendar and check the weather. After this I break it up by doing some kind of moment activity or song, and then we move onto learning the target vocabulary for that day through games, more songs, or provocation activities, which will inform the guiding questions around science topics. 

Kai meassuring his bean sprouts with unifix cubes. We compared the sizes and made graphs to show our results. 

At the beginning of the year we were getting to know each other, so every day during circle time I had a question of the day, and I incorporated math by graphing their answers. 

Getting to know my classroom

My Philosophy

My philosophy of teaching comes from over ten years of working in classrooms in three different countries with very different approaches to the education of young children. I have experienced frontal methodologies where children were expected to sit at a table for long periods of time. I have also worked in schools that privilege hands-on, student-centered schools where mud, sticks, bugs and concrete experiences are the vehicle through which children learn to love learning. In all of these schools, the acquisition of a foreign language was held as the highest standard and goal of learning. Each of these experiences has shaped my philosophy of teaching into one that is child-centered and experiential with a bilingual and multicultural approach to education. 

We are not afraid of getting dirty! Color mixing with a partner

Introducing the children to building in 3D

Kate's model of the human body using playdough

Bilingualism and Multiculturalism

I have always had the opportunity to teach a second language to young children. I have experienced the benefit myself of being bilingual, and I see it first hand how important speaking more than one language is for brain and social development. In our current times we are more interconnected, and helping young children gain awareness of the fact that as a society we benefit from interactions with people from other languages, countries and cultures excites me. 

I am naturally inclined to like other languages and be curious about other cultures; I try to infuse that curiosity into my classroom and create a language and culturally rich environment. I have worked for a couple of years on implementing and improving a unit that explores the countries where Spanish is spoken incorporating culturally responsible practices. Year after year the countries that we visit vary, because I like to emphasize those that are represented in our classroom community. 

Did you know that potatoes originated in what is now Peru? When we learned about Peru we decided to grow this wonderful and versatile vegetable. The learning implications from growing something with the children are amazing. 

Cooking is an important part of my classroom. With cooking I can incorporate mathematics, science and social studies. We usually cook simple traditional dishes from other countries, and this allows the children to be exposed to new flavors and new experiences. Here we made Chocobananos, a traditional Salvadoran snack.

Learning about Diwali. We made Rangoli designs and diyas to decorate our classroom. 

Making Dumplings with my good friend Wei Ji after learning about Chinese New Year.

The Environment

As a teacher I try to make my classroom community strong; here children know they are an important part of it and can take ownership of their space. Part of guiding my students includes helping them gain social skills that will facilitate communication, negotiation, respect and kindness. I accomplish this through lessons in addition to a well designed physical environment, which to me is key to a successful classroom management system. 

The Reading Center is located in a quiet area of the room with comfortable mini sofas  and a new selection of books every two weeks. I like to make it an inviting space to promote interest in reading.

The sensory tables are really important to me, because it allows the children to have sensory experiences, which are essential for kinesthetic learners.  I try to change it on a weekly basis and incorporate materials or things that relate to the vocabulary we are learning in Spanish.

Spring is here, and so are the pajaritos, making nidos and poniendo huevitos. 

Child centered approach

The child centered and guided approach to education is one about which I am passionate. However, frontal methodologies taught me that having clear goals of learning is also a beneficial tool for teachers. I thrive when I have clear goals and help my students get there. Throughout my years teaching I have learned, and continue to learn, to follow the students' interest and incorporate them into the curriculum and couple them with the provided goals. Following the students' interests, and allowing them to inform our teaching is hard, because it requires us to give up our ¨power¨ and get out from our comfort zone. Even though this change in my mindset was hard at the beginning, it is one that I have come to see as a key part of my teaching.

I have a group of boys who are obsessed with trucks, so I tried to incorporate cars and trucks into the ABCs. They're tracing their letter and having fun at the same time, total hit!