Lesson+Plan-+third+graders!

=Teaching the Third Grade !=

Some Project Maya members decided to go and spread their knowledge on the different animals located on the Yucatan Peninsula! We were able to show our knowledge through music, pictures and real-life interpretations.

We talked about these different types of animals with the Third graders: -Quetzal -Jaguar -Crocodile -Eagle -Snake -Coyote Our main goal was to have the kids learn something new about the Mayan culture and be able to categorize the animals into mammals or reptiles.

We decided to incorporate music into the lesson by showing the kids a Mexica dance performed by Dennis with Dylan on the Conga. This is how we planned to cover the music aspect of Mexico.

 After the lesson, Dennis showed a mini dance to the four directions while Dylan was playing the conga. The thirdgraders danced to the beat and were all over the place.

Our Reflections: Deisy: After the lesson, my perspective on the third-graders completely changed. They were very excited and were always raising their hands to answer any questions. They loved to show off with their knowledge especially since we were able to link the lesson to what they learned throughout the year. They were experts with mammals and non-mammals and knew many of the animals of the rainforest. I probably learned more from the third-graders then they did from us?

Karla: Working with the Third Graders was such an exciting expirence. It amazing that they were full of energy and knowledge and were excited to do new things. I was also shocked that they knew so much about the different animals we were talking about, sometimes they even knew things that we didn't know and that really makes you think that as a teacher you do learn from your students no matter the age. The third graders were very funny and it was easy to talk with them about the different wild animals of Mexico. My favorite part of the whole lesson was when Dennis was teaching the little kids his Native Dance. They had immense energy that you could feel and I even felt like starting to dance because their energy was contiguous. I learned that in order to entertain the kids and not have a boring lesson you must always have activities in which they can actively participate in.

Sylvia: I was nervous about going to teach the third grade. For one, I didn't think I could go up there and talk to little kids. I was afraid I would start laughing. It turns out, it was easier than I thought. The kids were a big help-they were eager to participate and they were really cute. They knew their stuff. After talking about the animals we had, we did a dance with them. Well actually, Dennis did. None of us really knew the dance. They then had a chance to color. I think that it seemed so easy because Dennis helped us out a lot. Tomorrow, we're going to have to do most of the actual teaching/talking. I'm a bit nervous but the kids are going to be younger so I think it may be easier.

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