Our Turn!

My fieldwork group was group 4. We decide to complete a big undertaking, and build model pond ecosystems with the 5th graders. At first the teachers weren't very into, which, at first it was a lot to handle. Hearing that there will be mosquito fish, and dragonfly nymphs in your classroom is a bit overwhelming. Dr. Smirnova and the education department bought a model pond kit, that came with many resources. This kit and it's contents were extremely useful! For our direct, inquiry, and cooperative lessons, we incorporated this theme into our lessons. It was extremely challenging to combine both 5th grade students and live aquariums, but I think we accomplished our goal. Our lessons were a bit different than the other groups due to the fact that we were incorporating living things which was a time sensitive matter.
We taught our direct lesson two days out of our regular Tuesday/Thursday class period. When we went in to teach the first day, there was much excitement in the room. Being that the students knew we were going to be making "Classroom pets" they were ecstatic. I couldn't believe how well behaved the students were, they followed the directions and were helping each other. I enjoyed seeing this. It was definitely organized chaos! 

The picture above shows myself working with one of the groups. They worked well together, and we made a role sheet, so each team member got to do a specific part of the set up. This was helpful and alleviated fighting. The students all really enjoyed the lessons. We made the lessons hands on and minds on. Everything could be related back to the ponds. This helped the students build on the independence. If they had a question, they knew they could find the answer in their "Table Top Pond Guide." This lesson was extremely interactive, the students were able to watch their ponds grow. I think everyone involved enjoyed it! It was a lot of work, but when the end result is as good as this, it was worth it!