Title of the lesson: Materials

Unit of Study: Science

Level and group: Year 4

Number of children: 12 children

Background information: This is the introductory lesson of a longer unit basedon the characteristics and the properties of materials. The activities presented inthis presentation are aimed to activate the children's previous knowledge aboutthe topic. The main learning objective are:

- To identify classroom objects made of glass, paper, metal, textile or wood.

- To classify some objects according to the materials they are made of.

Vicky Nieto

» I started the lesson by describing (orally) someclassroom objects, such as a chair, a ruler and a pencil case:

» It’s green, it has got four metal legs, it’s made of wood and you use it to sit on it. (chair)

» It’s usually made of plastic and you use it to measure. (ruler)

» It’s made of textile, metal or plastic, and you use it to keep your pencils, crayons and other office material organized. (pencil case)

» After this introductory activity, in groups of three, thechildren had to classify the following images accordingto the materials they were made of. They had a subtitution table to help them speak in English.

In this video you can see

how theyclassify the

objects.

http://youtu.be/rw5pHxZHbCs

We use this interactiveresource to correct theactivity.

The kids liked it andsome of them copiedthe link in theirnotebooks to keeppracticing at home.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/6_7/grouping_materials.shtml

» Reflectionts

- The kids seemed to understand the objective of the lesson (even thosewith more difficulties), and they easily started to participate.

- The fact of having a substitution table helped them to feel confident tospeak in English and to interact with their classmates in the small groupactivity.

- The web page engaged the children, but I think it was a bit easier fortheir level.

- The language provided in this lesson was appropriate, but the contentswere too low for this students. Next year I will give them more difficultobjects to classify and more materials!