Lesson Plan: Week #2

Week #2 Lesson Plan

Theme: Soil Conditions

o   Introduction: Game

  Shout out things the kids have to find or touch (Find a tree, touch something green, find something soft, etc.)

 Objective: get the kids moving and thinking in a fun way about their surroundings.

o   Soil testing

  First ask the kids questions:

·      Does any one know what kind of soil is here at the school?

·      What are the different types of soil?

o   Clay

o   Sand

o   Loamy

·      Where can you find sand?

·      Where can you find clay?

·      What is clay?

·      What is sand?

·      What is loamy?

·      What do you think is the best soil to plant in? Why?

  Have a little quiz to see if the kids were listening

·      What is clay soil?

·      What is sandy soil?

·      What is loamy soil?

 Test the soil

·      Have a volunteer come up to the front and do an example together so the kids can watch

·      Be VERY CLEAR on how to do the worksheet and stress that they need to follow the arrows

·      Have the kids copy in their notebooks 4 different sections with 3 questions each:

o   1. Where?

o   2. Environment?

  1.

  2.

  3.

o   3. Type of soil

  Once the kids have preformed the test in 4 different locations around the school ask them some wrap up questions:

·      What types of soil did you find?

·      Is it good soil for planting?

o   Why yes, why no?

·      If no, what do we need to do to fix it?

o   Make compost area (if the school doesn’t already have one)

o   Materials

o   Soil Type worksheet

o   A few water bottles

o   Paper/notebooks

Comments:

            Week two’s lesson on soils was probably my favorite to teach. I focused on the three different types of soil: loamy, clay, and sandy. I had a wonderful diagram (if you scroll to the bottom of the page you will see a photo) translated into Spanish, which simply and clearly laid out how to determine the type of soil. I started out asking the students a series of questions about soil and talking with them about the different properties of the three different soil types. I then explained, with Lesbia’s help, how to use the diagram. In my mind it was pretty simple, just read the instructions, answer yes or no, and then follow the arrows. Unfortunately, the students really struggled. After a few confusing days with me working individually with each group and me explaining the lesson in more detail to all the groups, I decided to make a change.  When I initially explained the activity, I would ask a volunteer to come up front. As I read the instructions aloud, he or she would do the experiment for the class to see. The visual example really helped the kids, and I had very few questions after that. The kids enjoyed this activity and I got a lot of positive feedback on the evaluations. It was a challenging concept because it was something many of them had never heard of, but I think the kids really responded to it. The combination of my questions at the beginning of class (which were much more engaging than copying notes from the board) as well as the hands on activity made the material more accessible to the kids.


      The kids really enjoyed making the compost. Each week I had at least one or two kids wanting to show me the progress they had made, the shovel they brought in, or the fruit and veggie scraps they had brought from home.