S17: Blog 3: Phases of the Moon

I spent most of this past week watching my 5th graders take their iReady math diagnostic test and pulling small groups of students during that time to begin our next math unit on multiplying fractions. This was a necessity since we’re now averaging 24 students in a class and only have around 16 working laptops.

However, this week was also the week of our lessons for our science content coaching. Sara (a fellow resident) and I co-teach science with a 4th grade class. Due to being a little behind the district calendar, we spent this last week finishing teaching Earth Science standards having to do with space, as this coming week we will begin an LDC about rocks. The standard that Sara and I were to focus on for our lesson was SC.4.E.5.2 which states that students need to be able to describe the “observable changes in the shape of the moon.”

With the help of our CT, Amber, and our coach, Fred, Sara and I designed the beginning of a 5E lesson plan for our students. For the “Engage” piece we would have students complete a probe where they had to read 5 different answers about where moonlight comes from, choose which one they agree with and explain why. During this time we would also take the time to have students make their drawing of the day’s moon phase, which they have been doing since school resumed after winter break as a Long-Term Investigation (LTI). The LTI has allowed our students to become familiar with how the moon changes in appearance over time. The purpose of our lesson was to help them to begin to form explanations as to why this occurs. For the “Explore” piece students would be working in groups of 3 to complete a modeling activity. One student would hold a flashlight and represent the sun. Another student would hold a foam ball stuck on the end of a pencil and represent the moon. The third student would be seated in a chair and be the Earth. 4th grade students need to know the 4 major moon phases (New, First Quarter, Full, and Last/Third Quarter) and this is what they would be modeling in the activity. The student who was the Earth would have a diagram of the Sun, Earth, and 4 moons (one for each phase) and would sketch what they saw (how much of the moon was lit/shaded) as they moved during the activity.

Our lesson on Tuesday started off smoothly, with students coming into the room and immediately knowing they needed to take out their moon calendars so we could get the data for today for our LTI. We then distributed the probe to the students, which I then read aloud and gave directions for completing. The four adults in the room circulated during this time and made note of the answers the students we would be working with during the Explore activity were choosing. A majority of the student chose the answer that stated “There is light inside of the moon that makes it shine.” This is incorrect, as the moon is lit by light from the Sun that reflects of the moon. We knew then that a major goal of our Explore activity would be to address with misconception.

Amber, Sara, and I then modeled the Explore activity for our students. This is something we felt the students needed to see before being released to complete the activity themselves, because it would allow them to see the process they needed to follow and allow listen to us explain what we were doing throughout the activity.

Each adult worked with two groups of three students each. Each group completed the activity 3 times, allowing each student the opportunity to play the role of the sun, the moon, and the Earth. This ensured that each student was able to see what occurred from each perspective, and complete their diagram during their turn as the Earth. Overall, I was impressed with how well the students handled the activity, which took place in near darkness (except for the light coming from our flashlight suns). I know that my groups worked well together, helping each other figure out the movements they needed to make and helping each other making sure they were filling in the correct moon on their diagram. When my groups had completed the activity and we were waiting for a few others to finish up, I took the time to ask some questions as a way to gauge how their understanding may have grown or changed. When I asked them where they thought the moon’s light came from after completing the activity, each of 6 students was able to tell me that it came from the Sun.

This learning was seen across the classroom as a whole, as at the end of the class we had the students go back to the probe they had completed at the beginning and decide whether or not they wanted to change their answer. I took home half of the probes to look over in preparation for our post-conference this coming Monday while Sara took the other half. Of the eleven papers I looked over, 2 students chose the correct answer initially and did not make changes to their paper. The other 9 students, who had chosen incorrectly initially, all changed their answer to the correct one, now showing that they know the moon is lit by the Sun. I look forward to discussing this student learning during our post-conference and I look forward to continuing to explore this concept more with our students.

FEAPS: 1a: Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor

1d: Selects appropriate formative assessments to monitor learning

2e: Models clear oral communication skills

3c: Identifies gaps in students’ subject matter knowledge

4d: Designs and aligns formative assessments that match learning objectives

5d: Collaborates with stakeholders to support student learning

6d: Maintains positive and productive relationships with colleagues

Evidence:

Picture from lesson

Sample student probe

Lesson plan

Anecdotal notes from lesson

blog3g

blog3b

blog3c

blog3d

blog3e

blog3f

#EDE4940 #FEAPS1A #FEAPS1D #FEAPS2E #FEAPS3C #FEAPS4D #FEAPS5D #FEAPS6D