Lesson Plan

Year: Pre - Primary Learning Area: English

Date/Time: 22.08.2014 11:30am Lesson Focus: Literacy
Background Information:
Micro teaching group: Craig, Jessica, Phoebe, Ashton, Dreyah. Phoebe and Ashton both
really love dinosaurs so I believe that this activity would really appeal to them, whilst also
broadening their knowledge. Jessica and Dreyah express the dispositions for learning
required to gain knowledge in this activity i.e. enthusiasm, curiosity and persistence to
finish something that we start. Craig would benefit from this activity as it promotes small
group participation and will help Craig develop some more dispositions for learning such
as curiosity, confidence, persistence and wonderment. It should also help Craig feel more
confident and comfortable around his peers. It was also mentioned that the children have
asked about dinosaurs before, stating that they are interested in them.

Teaching/Learning Purposes (written in terms of outcomes):
By the end of the lesson the children should be able to (or have enhanced on the skill of..),
listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and
guided situations. Participate in informal situations e.g. play-based experiences involving
imagination. The students will be confident to take part in informal and guided discussions
relating to the students observations. Being able to share observations amongst peers and
communicate their experiences (from either the activity at hand or other personal
experiences). Learn how to use interaction skills (including listening) to ask and answer
questions that are more than one or two words. Use speaking, writing and drawing to
represent and communicate personal responses to ideas through text. They will enhance
some of their dispositions for learning such as curiosity, persistence (to finish the task at
hand), wonderment and confidence to perhaps step outside of their comfort zone with the
help of their peers.
(ACELY1646) (ACELY1784) (ACELY1651)

Preparation and Resources:
o Play dough
o Matchsticks
o Dinosaurs

Learning Experiences:
1. How will I engage the learners?
A table with the activity will be set up to draw the small group of children to the certain
area. We will first talk about what we know about dinosaurs and exploration (how they are
found) to gain an insight of what the activity is all about. Divergent questions will be asked
so that the students are helping facilitate their own learning, whilst also helping their peers.
There will be books on the table about dinosaurs, both fiction and non-fiction for us to
have a quick look at. The activity will then be explained, we will be making our own
dinosaur fossils by looking at toy dinosaurs and thinking about what they would look like
if they were just bone. The matchsticks will represent the dinosaurs bone and we will be
imprinting them into the play dough.
Time: Five minutes.

2. Student tasks and activities (what will the students do to achieve the lesson
purposes)?
The students will be asked to press out their play dough into a shape of a dinosaur (this
could take any shape, enhancing imagination), and they will have the choice of either being
able to imprint a dinosaur toy into their play dough first, or whether they would simply like
to start making their fossil from scratch. They will have to experiment with the length of
the matchsticks, to see if they make a long enough bone or whether they are too long! If
this is the case they will have to break up some toothpicks. During this time (whilst they
are working) we will have guided and informal discussions about dinosaurs and how they
came to be fossils etc. This will allow all of the students to interact with one another,
sharing opinions whilst also enhancing dispositions for learning.
If they finish their dinosaur fossils quickly, a book will be available for the students to
create, If you take a Dinosaur to School. Each page will have the sentence If you take a
dinosaur to school the students will have to finish off the sentence for example, if you
take a dinosaur to school it will eat your lunch! The students then have to draw a picture of
their sentence i.e. a dinosaur eating our lunches! This book can be taken home to finish off
there, or during quiet time throughout the day.
Time: Ten minutes.

3. Conclusion (how do you summarise the learning and relate it to the lesson
purposes)?
To finish off the lesson, we will discuss what sort of dinosaur fossils we have created, with
looking back at our dinosaur toys and books on our table. Divergent and evaluative
questions will be asked to see if the students remember how dinosaurs become fossils,
what fossils are made of etc. If some of the students have started/finished their If I take a
Dinosaur to School book we will also discuss what sort of things we think that dinosaurs
might do if they were to come to our school! We will have a guided discussion on what we
have learnt as well as sharing our observations on what we have created, as well as our
peers.
Time: Five minutes.

Assessment and Evaluation: (How do you know the students have achieved the learning
purposes? Evaluate your own performance).
I was kept aware of how and if the students achieved the learning purposes through
constant monitoring of each child (as being a small group of five this was easy to do). I
made sure that my questions were clearly structured and readily understood by my group as
well as allowing for an appropriate wait time to ensure that the students were processing
the information and thinking about it before answering. I know that the students enjoyed
this activity as there was constant chatter about it and what they were going to draw in their
books. They were able to show me their imaginative side with creating their fossils and
books, as well as their ability to use their interaction skills (including listening) and share
observations with their peers and myself.