Jacquelyn Olson
SLM 521 – Elective #8
Lesson Plans Instruction
Elective
July 1, 2009
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Lesson Plans |
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As an elementary school
teacher, I will teach all core subjects to my students. These subjects include: mathematics, science, social studies and
language arts. Therefore, as I search
for lesson plan websites, I like to find those sites that offer a variety of
plans across the spectrum of the elementary school curriculum and that offer
additional topics which I can use in other content areas such as health and
technology. The following list of
sites offer lesson plans in all of the core content areas. I have arranged these sites according to
quality of instruction and usefulness for elementary school curriculum needs. |
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A to Z Teacher Stuff: Grade K-2 -
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Grades_K-2/ |
This site offers a variety
of lessons that go beyond the core subjects of language arts, math, science
and social studies. Many of the lesson
plans include hands-on activities designed to engage every type of
learner. For instance, there are plans
which deal with culture and diversity such as lessons for Martin Luther King
Day that deal with being treated equally, plans highlighting multicultural
songs and music, and plans for activities to celebrating Hanukkah. Math lessons include activities for
celebrating the 100th Day of School, plans for calendar activities,
estimation and time. Games have their
own separate category and include plans to incorporate games to strengthen
students’ addition and subtraction strategies, themed games which can be used
to teach children’s literature such as Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby story,
or plans incorporating games which can be used to teach dental health. For science, plans include bat units, plans
to show how air takes space, studying polar bears, discovering the five
senses, and stars and planets. There are
hundreds of lessons to choose from on this one site. As I browsed through the plans, I was
impressed by how many topics there are to choose from and by how many plans
per topic this site offers. All plans
on this link are for teaching second grade curriculum. |
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Smithsonian
Education Lesson Plans – http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/lesson_plans.html
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The Smithsonian Education
website offers educators the opportunity to bring the Smithsonian Institution
directly into their classrooms with thousands of lesson plans to choose
from. Teachers choose from topics such
as art and design, science and technology, history and culture or language
arts, and specify learning level of the lesson plans. Completely ready to copy or download, these
lessons are beautifully designed and well balanced. Scripted discussion activities, reading
activities and interactive activities are just a few of the components which
are integrated into each engaging lesson.
Lesson titles include, The Music in Poetry, Every Picture Has a Story,
Abraham Lincoln, Teaching with Collections and Tomorrow’s Forecast: Oceans
and Weather. These are only a few
options available. I highly recommend
this site for its quality of information and usefulness for curriculum
instruction. |
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http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/SegwayEd/index.html
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Science Education Gateway
offers a variety of science lessons and utilizes resources from NASA
supported projects to enhance each plan’s educational experience. All plans are based on national science
standards with interactive lesson activities for K-12 learning environments. To access Science Education Gateway’s
lesson plans, teachers select the topic they are interested in teaching, and
a list of appropriate lessons appears.
For example, for lessons on Space Science select the button for that
topic. The next screen will contain a
listing of all the available lessons in that subject along with the grade
level appropriateness for each. I
would choose lessons for grade two. I
might choose a lesson on how satellites see or a satellite dataflow
demonstration. All plans are complete,
including the corresponding standard(s), stated objectives, materials and
procedures. Links to interactive activities and references are provided. |
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http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=nav.1137
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The Promethean Planet is an
interactive whiteboard community for educators. They offer free lesson plans to teachers
that have registered with their site.
I like this site because teachers can search this site simultaneously by
subject and grade level. The Promethean
Planet does group its lessons into grade level categories. For instance to locate second grade lesson
plans for math, I would provide the parameters for math and select K-2
level. The site will provide me with
lessons to choose from beginning with the K level and moving through second
grade. The level is clearly stated for
each lesson so educators don’t need to choose a lesson and then figure out
whether the lesson is for K, 1st, or 2nd grade. Lessons are available for all core
subjects, plus additional categories such as: ESL, fine arts, foreign language, health and
physical education and study skills. Handy
flip-chart downloads, and slide shows of each lesson plan make selection
extremely easy. |
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http://www.lessonplanspage.com/index.html
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Hotchalk’s The Lesson Plans Page allows teachers upon
registering to view and download thousands of free lesson plans in all core
curriculum areas. As an elementary
education teacher, I can search for lesson plans by grade level and subject,
and I will receive hundreds to choose from.
I enjoy looking at the variety of activities and ideas from the
teachers who have created these plans.
If I choose to, I can select an option which will allow me to view
more lesson plans by this same teacher.
The lesson plans are very organized and easy to follow, and each plan
is written in accordance with state and national standards. The activities vary and may include
interactive materials such as games or virtual field trips to engage all
learner types. To find a language arts
lesson, I select that category and then specify second grade level. All the plans available will appear, and I
can choose the one(s) I am interested in.
I can use the print prompt to receive a hard copy of the lesson to
file in my plan book. I like that all
plans have been written by teachers for teachers. I think this site is a valuable tool for
both new and experienced teachers. |
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http://eyeonthesky.org/
The Moon |
This website is dedicated
to providing K-4 teachers with engaging lesson plans combining language arts
activities and science. Lessons plans
teach astronomy topics that focus on the weather, and space that include
plans exploring the sun, moon and earth relationship. Each plan is designed to coincide with
state and national science standards, and provides extension activities and
links to other related lessons and resources.
One helpful feature of this site is that lesson plans are arranged in
a hierarchy of gradually building units.
The educator can access one component of the unit or select all
lessons relating to that unit.
Embedded links within each plan deliver the user to sites with even
more information and ideas to incorporate into their lesson planning. Eye on the Sky is extremely easy to
navigate and visually appealing. Although I have placed this site further
down on this bibliography page, it is merely because this site is smaller
than some of the others listed.
However, I rank its quality and usefulness as valuable as the sites
above. |
