reflection on Lesson Voice Thread!

WOW the lesson went great! I was so excited to see it flow for this age group (prek).

Walking into this day knowing I had to do my first lesson, my emotions were not as nervous as I thought they would be. The lesson was effective and active for most of the students. I had planned for my lesson to be about 25 to 30 minutes long but I know keeping 4 year olds attention that long is a bit difficult. So my lesson was shorter than planned. During the lesson the students were in tune and responding very well. From the beginning, I had their attention because Mrs. Leal had informed them that I was going to work with them on the letter T. I really liked how I was able to incorporate the voice threading with their voices because I could see how excited they were to know that, that was their voices being played. It was a sense of ownship! :) Their pet turtle that started with the letter T (Tuck) also played an important part because it was someone they knew. This helped talk about the letter T and have them give me feedback in the process. Not only was the voice thread video and Tuck great but the pictures I had were also fun for them. They were able to name them and also during small group practice writing the words. As I was doing the lesson I had students coming up and circle different pictures. I do wish I could have had all them come up to have all involved, but I later realized everyone was involved. The video was a great way to also incorporate the students who weren't called up. I did have great feedback from them but I do need to work on asking higher level Bloom’s Taxonomy questions. For next time, I will work on being more moveable and not so much sitting in the chair. I should have stood up, showed and touched what I wanted them to see, instead of just point from the chair because some students were not sure what I was talking about. The small group computer activity went well because they were able to get online by themselves and log on themselves. Didn't take to much time of that and more time on the aassisgnment. Great lesson overall I loved it maybe with a few mistakes but nothing that can't be fixed! 

voice threading lesson plan

Pre-K 4 Letter T Lesson Plan

Attached is my lesson plan! Its focused around the young age classroom so it is really simple. I didn't want to over power them with to much technology but show them how fun voice threading is and allowing them to be a part of it with their own voices!

Overall Daily Goal: Preschoolers can successfully learn to write the letter T as well as recognize objects beginning with the letter T through voice threading, and fun activities.

Status of this skill: (Indicate one)     Introduction        Extension        Re-teach          Enrichment

Standards/TEA(pre-k):

·         Child identifies the letter associated with the sound.

·         Child participates through actions to begin to develop common object names.

·         Child joins in songs and finger plays.

·         (11)  Communication. The student delivers the product electronically in a variety of media, with appropriate supervision. The student is expected to:

o   (A)  publish information in a variety of media including, but not limited to, printed copy or monitor display; and

o   (B)  publish information in a variety of media including, but not limited to, stored files or video.

English Language Proficiency Standards:

·         Trace symbols or letter associated with pictures.

·         Repeat key words

Time Constraints:

Focus: _10_minutes; Input: _15_minutes; GP: _5_minutes; IP: _5_minutes; Closure: _5_minutes

Cognitive Objectives:

·         In the classroom environment, the students will identify the letter T through voice threading, make and recognize the T sound, and will be able to identify objects that begin with the letter T with 90% accuracy.

Modifications or Accommodations:

Hearing Impaired: For those students who have trouble with hearing the letter T, teacher will have student focus on the mouth area to have them see and focus on how the mouth looks like when pronouncing it. 

Language Barrier: For students who are Spanish speaking students and have trouble with the English letter T, saying T in Spanish then translating it to English. I want them to realize it’s the same letter but practice both ways for better understanding. 

Previous Knowledge Necessary:

Students should know that the letter T is part of the alphabet. They should also know that it comes after the letter S.

Community and Culture:

Teacher can begin tying this in with friend and family members talking about how Tia, Tio, Teacher begins with the letter T. Then move on to a bigger understanding that the state we live in (Texas) begins with the letter T.

Rationale:

This is important because it helps us talk to our friends and families. Without knowing what the letter T looks like or sounds like than we would never know how to read or write. Just as the letter T is important to help with reading and writing so are all the alphabets which is why we study and practice them. Voice threading is also important for our students because it helps them with their listening skills.

Materials Needed:

*         Poster Board

*         Markers

*         Glue

*         Pictures(starting with the letter T)

*         Pencils

*         Papers

*         Letter T worksheet

*      Computer

*      White Board

Multiple Intelligences:

Intrapersonal: The students will work alone during independent practice working on writing the letter T.

Interpersonal: The students will be working together making the voice thread

Verbal/ Linguistic: The students will be talking and singing with each other during the focus when together they will be singing a song.

Logical/ Mathematical: The students can count the number of pictures on the poster board and notice the pattern on the board (all pictures begin with the letter T)  

Visual/ Spatial: The teacher and the student use pictures and mouth reference for seeing things beginning with the letter T and how to pronounce it.

Musical: The students will be singing a song pertaining to the letter T.

Naturalist: The students can name things that pertain to the letter T that come from the outdoors.

Bodily/ Kinesthetic: The students actively participate as a group singing, moving and talking.

Focus (instructional steps):

The teacher will begin this lesson by having students all come to the large group carpet and take their place. She will begin by talking with the students about the different alphabet letters they have learned up until today. They will review some of the letters and their sounds. Once she feels they understand those letters, the letter T will be introduced. Write the letter T on the white board and if that can’t happen point to the letter T that is posted on the wall along with the letter list. Once they see the letter on the board the video will be played of the different students saying and pronouncing the letter T. Play again if asked by the students. Next ask the students what the classroom turtle’s name is. Once they tell you his name, explain that we are going to be singing a song about the Turtle.

There was a tiny turtle, his name was tiny Tuck.
We put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water. He ate up all the soap.
Now he's sick in bed with a bubble in his throat. Gulp! Gulp!

Sing this with students a few times! They will want to hear it again and it gives them practice with the letter T sound and they don’t even realize. Moving around to sing the song is ok. For example, it’s okay to stand and sing, clap to the song or make hand motions with song. Once the singing is done discuss with students that this song has to do with a turtle and turtle starts with a T. If the students can get the pronunciation down, you may move on to the next event.

Teaching:
 In order to introduce the letter T, the teacher will create a poster board prior to the lesson which shows both the upper and lower case letter T. Glue a variety of pictures of objects cut from magazines that begin with the letter T. To start this off, the board will be up on the board for students to view. As teacher introduces what the letter looks like, she will have the students interact by having them draw their very own T in the sky. (Pretend to draw a T with their finger in the air) Do this a couple times still teacher sees most students understand the concept. Ask the students what the letter T reminds them of or what it looks like to them. Then discuss the poster board with the children, pointing out the variety of items that begin with the letter T. Demonstrate again the T sound and ask the children to make (repeat) the T sound. After that have them stand up and make a T with their body. (Stand straight up and extend your arms) Always watch how students do and check for their understanding. Lastly ask the children to think of objects, names, and places that begin with the letter T.

Guided Practice:

During the teaching students will have the opportunity to go up and circle or point to the picture they think starts with letter T. As teacher calls a student up (using popsicle stick names), she will observe to see if students can master on their own, or help if asked by student. The teacher will also encourage students to help each other and share with each other what pictures they think start with the letter T. If there is too much commotion, teacher will inform the students that the one student needs it a little quiet so they circle the right picture without distractions. 

Independent Practice:

On a paper the student will write both an upper and lower case T. Students can practice tracing the letter T in both upper and lower case using letter T worksheet. A letter T worksheet appropriate for preschoolers can be found on the TLS Books website. In addition, teachers can direct children to practice making upper and lowercase Ts using pencils or crayons on blank sheets of paper. Teacher will actively walk around the room observing as the students work and only participate if a student has a question.

As for the computer center the students will work on Star-fall with the letter T. Star-fall is a computer website for students learning advancement.

Extension: If students finish early with their letter T worksheet, they may get paper from the writing area and practice writing their name and different letters along with the letter T they have just learned.

Closure:

During the time when they are finishing up their worksheet and reviewing on the computer, the teacher will close by allowing some time for the students to put their things away. The timer will go off and students will sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Today as a class we have come to realize what the letter T looks like, sounds like and how it helps us in the real world.  We used pictures, body movement and verbal vocabulary to help us understand the alphabet letter T.  As a class you were given the chance to learn the letter in many different ways.

Pre Voice Threading Lesson Plan

Thinking on doing this lesson plan I was unsure as to how or what I was going to do. I was thinking it was going to take a long while to get this lesson plan together and start recording the students voice. I want it to be fun for the students yet educational of course. So plan so far was to record the voices of some of the students saying the letter T and making the sound of the letter T. They have been learning their alphabets so this would be great I think for them to actually hear their own voices. Voice Threading the Letter T I went all in!!! :)

Voice THreading!

I had never heard of voice threading till recently and I am starting to understand how it works or in what ways it can work in the classroom. I like the idea of it being the students voice becuase it's a sense of ownership for their work they accomplished. I would like to use voice threading in my future classroom because in today's generation, technology is so advanced and having them use technology and still learn having fun... well thats a PLUS! Voice threading is pretty cool and plan to learn more about it!

Google Docs...

I must say google docs is pretty interesting yet very neat. It is similiar to alot of the things we already do now like, word process, powerpoint and so on but in a different format than we are use to seeing. I think my favorite thing about google docs is how it saves automatically. How many times are we typing something up and all of a sudden its all gone (we pressed the wrong button).? Well with google docs we don't have to worry about not saving because it does it for us. AWESOME! This would be great in the classroom when a teacher wants to do a computer lesson as a whole. Everyone would be on the same looking at the same information, helping each other out. Great technology interaction for the students comes from google docs.

TIE PLAN!!

Organized Chaos

Blog for young children I find kind of difficult at times because not all can read or may understand the concept of a computer. On the other hand it can be very effective for those teachers who teach the young ones to share information with each other.Helping each other with new ideas that come about. In the pre-k classroom I am in now, the students use the computers to get on a website called Starfall and they love the colors, songs and so forth. The students use only the mouse though and not the key board. So in using a blog where students "write" to each other is quiet not at their level, I believe. Because they are still learning their letters and simple basics of education.

In this blog called, Organized Chaos,  I like how the different comments are sharing ideas for the students. Many teachers share some ideas of group activities and how to help many students in the classroom. These ideas that the teachers post are ways to help the crazy times we sometimes have in the classroom. There are times when we have these days and the students seem to be everywhere, looking back at this blog may help us in those off balance times.