Blog Post Week 3

 WEEK THREE

    At the beginning of lab Wednesday, we began by reviewing materials from last week. We started discussions about life cycles last week and continued them this week, starting with the seeds we germinated last week. 

                

 

    In lab, we focused on life cycles. We then started with mealworms and then learned a little more about them including that they have three distinct sections, the head, thorax, and abdomen. They also have 13 segments. We then switched to the life cycle of a butterfly which we saw through graphs, images of a butterfly kit, and a video. Looking at the life cycle of a butterfly through different sources allows for a deeper understanding and this is a method I will definitely use in my classroom, so my students have many different resources to reference. 

    After becoming more familiar with the life cycles we created models with a partner. My partner and I used the Play-Doh to create the life cycle of a butterfly. This is another activity I would absolutely use with my elementary students to engage them in their learning. This is an activity that requires few supplies but will help them better understand the stages of a life cycle by creating it themselves. I'd give each group freedom to choose whichever life cycle they want to create so after we could do a gallery walk in the classroom. This would allow peers to learn from each other and engage in learning about more than one type of life cycle. 

    To finish class we talked about different types of plant life cycles, but most specifically we discussed fast plants. We learned about these through a video and then by making our own. This is an activity I may not be able to use in my classroom due to the amount and cost of the supplies. However, I enjoyed getting to experience it ourselves after watching the video and may use a modification of this activity with my future students.