Observation+of+Teaching+&+Learning

The lesson I observed in my Kindergarten class, taught by Ms. Kamm, was about the physical characteristics of a penny. She hoped that the students would be able to verbally name at least three characteristics of a penny: its copper, it has rough edges, and it has President Lincoln on the front etc. This lesson also integrates Presidents Day because they were talking about President Lincoln and how he was on the penny. Students would also practice graphing, and number sense during their rounds after direct instruction. The source of the lesson came from the curriculum and the standards about how Kindergarteners should learn how to identify a penny in February. She planned the lesson from a Scott Foresman book but she embellished it to make it her own. In addition to the original lesson, she integrated the smart board and added the graphing and number sense activities. Ms. Kamm plans to start with a mini lesson on the Smart Board and then go into two rounds, “math with a partner” and “math with self.” The most important part is the ability to observe their progress to see if they grasp the concept of what a penny looks like.

Ms. Kamm’s lesson objective was for the students to be able to identify and distinguish the different characteristics of a penny. She would conduct the lesson by first explaining her objective to the students, and then modeling different activities on the Smart Board. Students would then have the opportunity to come up to the Smart Board and participate in guided practice. After the Smart Board activity, Ms. Kamm would lead into the two rounds of “math with a partner” and “math with self.” In the first round, two students are given one iPad and they will flip the coin and graph their data. In “math with self,” students will be given a twenty-frame worksheet and a die with larger numbers. Students will roll the die and place the pennies on the twenty-frame, showing the number they rolled. During the rounds, I was able to observe the students progress to see what they have learned about the penny. Ms. Kamm noticed that she had no way to assess their understanding of the penny in the “math to self” round. Ms. Kamm changed what she had originally planned for the students and pulled the “math to self” group to the rainbow table for “math with teacher.” Students will now have to show the teacher what they learned allowing Ms. Kamm to see the student’s progress.

The lesson did not happen exactly how Ms. Kamm planned because during the rounds she noticed that the students in “math to self” had nothing that they could turn in for the teacher to use as an assessment. The iPads round did not go as planned either because one of the iPads stopped working and the group was given a real penny to flip until Miss Kamm and myself figured out what was wrong with the iPad. Ms. Kamm explained that when she teaches the next lesson on dimes she would have to make a few adjustments such as adding a column to the twenty-frame for students to write their answer. This will allow Ms. Kamm could to assess the progress of the students. Overall, the lesson was successful and Ms. Kamm was pleasantly surprised by how well the class did.




 * Math to Self**



**Math with a Partner**