Term 1
How Do I Feel? (Feelings & Emotions)
In term 1, the overarching theme for all classes in Athena Atelier was “A Healthy Lifestyle”. The children covered the topic of “How Do I Feel?”, which focuses on helping children understand and manage their emotions.
They also learnt the importance of maintaining good mental health and the different practises they can apply to do so.
Term 2
Racial Harmony
In term 2, the children of the Kindergarten 2 class covered the topic of “Racial Harmony”. The topic focused on teaching children about the various races, culture and traditions that coexist in Singapore.
This shows children the importance of maintaining friendly relationships with people of different races.
Term 3
Insects
For term 3, the children of the Kindergarten 2 class will be covering the topic of insects. Although the topic is simple, it also consists of many different details for children to discover and experience. This is also relevant to children of the Kindergarten 2 level, as they will be able to apply what they learnt in this topic later on, after they move on to Primary school. The children will explore the topic by learning about the various types of insects, differentiating insects from other types of animals and, identifying and labelling the different body parts of insects. They will also be able to get a closer look at insects through the school’s eco-garden and document their findings.
Term 3 Lesson Overview
Insects
Lesson Rationale
Why was this lesson crafted?
The topic of insects is simple but also includes many different details, which provides opportunities for children to discover and explore. This is also knowledge that they can remember and apply later on in Primary school.
Lesson Objectives
What we hope for the children to be able to accomplish by the end of the lesson.
Objective #1
Children will be able to name all the body parts of insects
Objective #2
Children will be able to name 5 types of insects
Term 3 Lesson Video
For this activity, the children will be put into groups. In their groups, they will have to sort and categorise the animals according to two categories: insects and non-insects. I included some animals that children would commonly mistake for insects, so that it can encourage them to recall and apply what they learnt in previous lessons. The activities in this lesson were planned to be done in groups and incorporated hands-on activities to encourage self-directed learning, social interaction and collaborative efforts in the classroom.
Facilitation was used in this lesson as the materials were all prepared for the children before the lesson began.
These are the materials you will need for this activity. A diagram of an ant or any other type of insect, and 6 cards that are labelled with the body parts of the insect. The cards should be labelled with antennae, head, thorax, legs, abdomen and wings.
After going through the different body parts of the ant, the children will have to label the body parts on their own, in their groups.
For this lesson, the teaching technique of scaffolding will be used. If the children were to struggle at any point of the lesson, they can rely on asking for assistance from a more knowledgeable peer who can guide them through the activity. The teacher on the other hand, will be observing closely from the side rather than immediately providing help. She can step in to clear up any misunderstandings or confusion among the children. However, she will only be doing so whenever necessary, to guide children to a solution instead of giving it to them.
Teaching Techniques Provided
Facilitation
In this lesson, the teacher has demonstrated facilitation by using the following strategies
1. Providing children with the materials needed – The materials were prepared for the children before the start of the lesson
2. Giving explicit instructions throughout the lesson and clearly stating what the children must do to complete each activity
Facilitation refers to the process of making children’s learning easier (MacNaughton & Willaims, 2008).
These strategies were applied to better support children’s learning and optimise their experience in the classroom with the use of hands-on materials.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding refers to the process of providing temporary guidance to support a child moving on from one competence level to another (MacNaughton & Williams, 2008).
Initially, a child had difficulties completing the task, but was provided assistance by her peer who proceeded to guide her through the activity. However, they started to disagree on a part of the activity while trying to complete it together. The teacher cleared this confusion by explaining it to them in a way they would understand, and allowed them to further discuss and build on this together, while still closely observing them.
