Lesson Reflection: Jan.29, 07 – 3D Shapes Booklet

This lesson is the first Language lesson that I did that does not involve reading aloud. I tried to integrate what they are doing in Math into the lesson, to reinforce their understanding of shapes.

I asked the students to list the five different 3D shapes that they learned in Math, which are sphere, rectangular prism, cylinder, cone and cube. I wrote them on the chart paper so they could refer to it later. I demonstrated to them in choosing one shape for each page, and writing about two things that are made or naturally in that shape. I let them contribute in my example, and they seemed very enthusiastic about it. I was surprised that they think about things that I wouldn’t have thought about. For example, when I was thinking about soccer ball and the globe for “sphere”, they gave me suggestions like head and eyeball. They told me that their arms are cylinders, and their bodies are rectangular prisms. I think they are very imaginative! It ended up that most of them did not copy down my examples, because they have so much in their heads to write about. One girl even added two lines on the page so she could write more!

As they were working, some of them had difficulties drawing the shapes and deciphering the words on the chart (e.g. Which word reads cylinder?). So, I drew a picture beside each of the shapes so they could tell which is which, and they could have a visual picture of what each shape looks like on paper.
Ms. Carson said that my classroom management improved, and I thought so too. I waited till they were quiet before starting, I was clear with my instructions, and I was able to answer every question without any disruption of other students. Most of them were clear as to what they had to do, and they dug right into work after going back to their desks.

I think the lesson was quite successful, and I feel good about it. The students can keep the booklets inside their desk, and they can go back to it to review the shapes. It is easy to hand out worksheets with all the shapes and descriptions, but I believe that students learn best with their own work.