After last weeks learnings of rock & mineral physical properties, I provided a quick 5min assessment for students to complete. The first question was asking students to identify what a physical property is (the definition of “what makes each rock different”) and then to list 3 of the properties that we have learned so far within the unit (possible answers were smell, texture, colour & size). I was excited to provide this assessment, as we have now spent a week on this topic, and based on class participation, I believed students would have a good understanding of physical properties.

My goal for this class was assessment; ensuring that the assessment was appropriate/inclusive for all learners in the class and adaptable for certain individuals.

The following are the steps that I took to achieve my goals:

1. Explain to students that we will be doing an assessment, but not to worry, we will do it as a class.
2. Read aloud the assessment instructions multiple times to ensure students’ understanding of what is expected.
3. Assessment will be projected onto the white board for students to follow along.
4. Students will be writing 3 of the five words “colour” “texture” “smell” “size” “lustre”. It will be explained to students that spelling does not count and to sound out the words if they are not sure. My hope is that this task is not too difficult as I have written the four words on the board for them to visually see, the class we learned about the property and every class following.
5. If _____ becomes frustrated, he may tell me his answers and I will make note of what he said, this is an adaptation that will still allow me to understand what he knows.

The assessment went really well during class. After class I took a quick glance at the students work and was surprised at the amount of incorrect answers. This lead to an incredible post conference where my coop teacher and I discussed how I could try creating a different assessment for the following class, but in a different way to see if students can recieve higher marks that then show their understandings.

attached is a copy of the data that has been collected by my coop teacher

What a fun afternoon I had. Today we discovered the physical properties of texture and smell. The students had a great time using playdough to take a closer look at the textures and using their smell to understand their rock collections better (just like real geologists do!)

This lesson had a lot of fun activities throughout, so class management was my top priority to keep students on track, having fun while ensuring learning was happening. I loved the challenge and think that I handled it well. One thing that I messed up a little bit on was that I had students place their rocks in playdough to observe the textures…. and then had them smell the rocks.. OOPS! I had a good laugh as the students told me “but Ms Finlay, the only thing we smell is playdough!”. This was not a huge mistake, but I definitely would have students smell their rocks before placing them in playdough if I were to teach this in the future.

My Co op teacher provided great feedback, and asked how I will ensure students understand the meaning of physical properties. I was happy that she had brought this up because I have an assessment in mind, but was planning on doing it next week. After my co op teacher brought up this topic, I now would like to provide students with a quick assessment at the beginning of next science class as a review and check in, before moving on to test rocks and minerals.

Overall I was happy with todays discussion during pre/post conference as well as the lesson itself and I look forward to next class!

Please see the attachment below for my lesson and co op feedback!

Lesson Plan

Co op Teacher Notes

Today I placed each student with their aisle partner. Together they examined their rock collections, looking at the colours and sizes. I created a workbook for groups to work through where they document the different properties using ven diagrams and different charts.

My goal today was to ensure students are aware of class expectations of raising hands to share ideas and listen while others are sharing. With this goal, my co op teacher recorded how I spoke to students during the lesson. I was quick to notice that I say “shh” more often than I would like. My teacher also recorded how often I circulated the room and visited each group. I was happy to see that I naturally move around the room and circulated even more than I had thought.

Moving forward I will consciously make an effort to reduce the use of “shh” and implement more descriptive words as an alternative that helps guide students in a gentle way.

Lesson Plan

Data Collection