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Students take a pre-test to determine prior knowledge about the ear.
(See Appendix)
Anticipatory Set:
Students sit at the rectangular tables, or at the yellow circle table in the room. The teacher gives the directions that students must remain silent for a whole minute. They need to pay extra special attention to what they can hear when nobody is talking. They write down everything they hear when everyone is trying to be quiet. (Examples may include: clock, talking, breathing, pencil writing on paper, the heater, footsteps, and erasing.) See what interesting noises everyone can hear.
Next we take turns sharing the different things that everyone heard. Student raise their hands and wait to be called on before talking. As a class we could also predict what kinds of things we might hear if we were outside at that exact moment.
To wrap up this part of the lesson, the teacher asks students how they were able to hear all of the different noises. When a student provides me with a correct answer of “ear,” I confirm the answer and tell the whole class that the unit we are starting is the ear. I activate prior knowledge about the eye unit we did the previous week and ask students why we played the game “pin the eye on the monster.” The answer I am looking for is for students to respond something like “to discover the importance of the eye.” From this, I tell students that today since we are now starting the eye unit, we are learning why our ears are important.
Input/Modeling/Checking for Understanding:
In groups, I call the students over to join me on the rug. Once all students are on the rug, I introduce the book we are read. Next, the teacher reads the book Hearing by Maria Hidalgo.
Throughout the reading, we make connections to our previous activity when we were all silent and listed the different things that we heard. I pay special attention to the part where the author is talking about the importance of the ear. I ask the students if they have any other ideas as to why our ears are important.
To check for understanding, I have students give me a thumbs-up sign if they understand why our ears are important to us. If students are unsure of why the ears are important, they either give me a thumbs-down sign or a thumb-to-the-side sign. Before students go to the green tables, I first explain the next activity we are doing.
Guided Practice:
Students go back to the green tables. Every student needs a pencil and I pass out a paper for all students (See Appendix). I explain to the students that I am going to make 10 different noises. They need to close their eyes when I make the noise and then they open their eyes to write down what they heard. Once all ten noises have been written down, we go back through and go over each one. I make the noise again as I go through each one with the students. We discuss why we did this activity. Again we extend the conversation into the different reasons in which the ear is important.
Example sounds:
Independent Practice:
Students sit at the green tables and work quietly. At the bottom of the page from guided practice, students write down, in a complete sentence, at least one reason why ears are important to us. When students are done they can turn the paper over and draw a picture. Once students are all done, their work goes into the finished work bin and they go back over to the rug.
Assessment:
To be sure that the students fully grasped the importance of this lesson, I collect the students’ worksheets. At an appropriate time I can go through and read all of things that they wrote. Based on the student work, I can be sure whether or not the students fully grasped the lesson.
Closure:
Students are called back over to the rug. We discuss what we learned about the importance of the ear.
Resources:
This listening activity along with other creative ideas can be found at the website:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chhearing.html.
Anticipatory Set:
To begin the lesson today, I tell my students that I am going to start over by the door and I need to get all the way across the room to the rug. I am going to try to do it with my eyes closed. (There is an aide in the room that is making sure students are behaving while my eyes are closed.) I tell the students that I need directions to get me from the door to the rug without running into anything. I purposely gently bump into a couple things on my venture over to the rug. Once I finally make it to my chair I ask students to volunteer to tell me why I just did that activity. If students do not provide on target answers I scaffold them so that the two answers I get are that following directions is important, and hearing is important because they helped to keep me safe in the classroom. At this time, I repeat the same activity. This time, I want my students to give me specific directions so that I can make it through the classroom without bumping into anything.
Input/Modeling/Checking for Understanding:
Now that the students are ready to start, I begin by discussing the upcoming steps in the lesson. First we read a book, and then continue to discuss the importance of the ears. One of the guiding questions of this lesson today is “do we need to hear.” The answer is no, because there are people in the world who are deaf and cannot hear. I also ask students how people who are deaf communicate. The answer I’m looking for is sign language. The book we are reading today is I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf by Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson. After reading this book, we learn a little bit of American Sign Language (ASL). I teach the students the alphabet, as well as the signs for “my name is” and the signs for “may I please go to the bathroom.”
Guided Practice:
As a class we go through each sign many times. The students may find it fascinating to learn a “new” language. I make sure that the students have their hands in the right positions as they sign each letter or word. At this time we will now switch back over to talking about the ear again. We discuss that hearing is important but it is not a necessity. Using our ears indeed helps us to stay safe.
Independent Practice:
Students have a poem about ears to add into their poetry notebooks (See Appendix). They must cut it out and paste it into their notebooks. They need to draw a picture that correlates with the poem.
Assessment:
I walk around the room to make sure the students are on task.
For the rest of the week, I have students sign to me that they have to go the bathroom. They are using these skills to help communicate, and it is beneficial because they do not interrupt a lesson by shouting out.
Closure:
Students are called back to the rug before the independent practice starts and we discuss the importance of the ear and anything else that we have learned on this day. Students are told that for at least the rest of the week, if they need to use the restroom, they need to ask me in sign language.
Anticipatory Set:
Today, I bring in two funnels. I ask the students if they know what the objects are, or what they are used for. I ask students if they have ever seen their parents use a funnel before. I ask them to give me an example of how it was used. After this little discussion, I tell the students that today we are going to be learning about six different parts of the ear, and one of them works kind of like a funnel.
Input/Modeling/Checking for Understanding:
There are six words on the poster covered up (See Appendix). As I introduce each word, I ask for various student volunteers to pull off the coverings of each word. The six words and functions are listed as follows:
Auricle- the visible part of the ear; like a funnel; collects sound vibrations from around us and funnels them into the ear.
(At this time, I have all students touch their auricles. I have them wiggle them a little and then gain their attention back.)
Auditory Canal- the tube through which sound travels to the eardrum; helps understand and determine the source and direction of the sound.
Eardrum- thin membrane that vibrates when sound waves reach it
(The next three bones are part of the inner ear. I write this sentence on the board. “The middle ear HAS three teeny tiny bones.” After I go through each of the next three parts, I ask the students if they know why I put that sentence on the board.)
Hammer- a tiny bone that passes vibrations from the eardrum to the anvil
Anvil- a tiny bone that passes vibrations from the hammer to the stirrup
Stirrup- a tiny, U-shaped bone that passes vibrations from the hammer to the stirrup
(With prompting, students make the connection that HAS is in all caps because it stands for Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup. As a class we say these three words together in a regular voice, in a whisper voice, in a man voice, and in a high pitched girl’s voice. If students remember this word HAS, they should be able to remember the sequence of the bones in the middle ear.)
At this time I say the function of each of the parts we have gone over. When I say the function, the student has to guess which part it is. If the student guesses correctly, they get to cover the word back up on the poster. I repeat this process until all words are covered back up.
Next, I read the book Hearing by Smith & Crenson.
Guided Practice:
As I read the book, when students hear one of the new parts that we have been introduced to today they raise their hand quietly. If they can name the part and know where it is on the poster, they can remove it from the poster. Once I have gotten through all six parts of the ear, I finish up the book and introduce the worksheet we are doing for independent practice.
Independent Practice:
I thoroughly explain a worksheet entitled “Now Hear This!” (See Appendix) and I explain that the students write the names of five ear parts. They do not need any prior knowledge to do this. It is just a worksheet that is starting to introduce the parts of the ear that we are going to learn about in the days to come.
Assessment:
I can tell if students understand the material if they are volunteering to move words on or off the poster, and if they are getting questions correct.
Closure:
For this part of the lesson, before the students start their independent practice, I pull the screen down and make sure the projector is on and we watch a short video on YouTube. This video reviews the important parts and functions of the ear that we have learned today.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ9FrmQkH4w
Anticipatory Set:
To begin today, I have all my students spread out to an open area. First I ask each student what leg they would use to kick a ball. Once they answer, I tell them that that is the leg they are going to hold up into the air. The students need to put their hands on their hips and have the leg that they kick the ball with up in the air as they try to balance. I am near the corner of the room so that I can see all students participate in this activity. Next, to make this activity more challenging, students close their eyes with their hands on their hips as they balance on one leg. As long as students are in open areas this should not be a dangerous activity. Students may have trouble with this because it is a hard task. After about 20 seconds of trying to balance this way, I invite students to join me on the rug. I ask students why they thought we were doing the activity. The word I am looking for is balance. Once I hear the word balance I tell all the students that today we are learning about different parts of the ear and one of them in particular helps us with our balance.
Input/Modeling/Checking for Understanding:
First we review the parts of the ear we learned about yesterday. They are labeled 1-6 on the poster. I say a number and a student can volunteer if they know which part it is and what its function is. If the student gets it correct, they get to remove the paper over the top of the word. After we have reviewed the six words, we read the book You and Your Ears by Douglas Mathers. This book introduces the next four parts we are learning about today.
After the book is over I ask students if they remembered any of the new parts of the ear we could be learning about today. The four new parts and functions are:
Eustachian Tube- it equalizes the pressure between the middle ear and the air outside
(This part of the ear connects to the throat. It is the part that helps your ears pop by letting in more pressure or taking pressure out of your ear. I have my students make a letter “e” in sign language and I say that Eustachian begins with an “e” and so does “equalizes.” If you make this connection you are able to remember what this part of the ear does.)
Cochlea- lined with tiny hairs that move when vibrated and cause a nerve impulse to form
Auditory Nerve- carries impulses from the inner ear to the brain
Semicircular Canals- three loops of fluid-filled tubes that are responsible for body balance and detect direction of rotation of head
(I can relate this to the anticipatory set. This part of the ear is one of the most important parts! It helps us with our balance.)
One at a time as the words are introduced, I uncover them on the poster. As a class we will talk about the shapes of each of them. For example, we talk about what a semicircle looks like and how if we know what a semicircle looks like it is easy to know what the semicircular canals look like.
Guided Practice:
For guided practice, I cover up all the words again on the poster. One at a time, I read the function of a part of the ear. Students volunteer to answer the question. If a student answers correctly, they get to remove the covered up word from the poster.
Independent Practice:
For the independent practice today, the students are labeling parts of the ear and making it into a booklet. They need scissors and crayons as well to complete this project. (See Appendix)
Students also have a crossword puzzle with all of the parts and functions of the ear. There is a word box on this crossword puzzle to make sure students are spelling the parts of the ear correctly. (See Appendix)
Assessment:
Based on student work during independent practice and student participation during the lesson, I can assess how well students are doing with the content we are learning about.
Closure:
For the closing part of the lesson, before the students start their independent practice, I pull the screen down and make sure the projector is on and we watch a short video on YouTube. This video reviews the important parts and functions of the ear that we have learned today.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSO765hyxrc
Today is a day of review about everything we have learned thus far about the ear. First, students watch a movie during snack time. The movie is Your Ears (Second Edition). It is about 9 minutes and reviews what we have already learned thus far in the unit. After lunch, students get white boards and answer the multiple choice questions asked of them during the PowerPoint.
During the PowerPoint review, I divide the class up into two groups and we alternate saying the two words “balance” and “safety.” I have my students whisper it to me, say it in a man voice, and also say it in a high pitched girl’s voice. This really emphasizes that the ear is important for balance and also to help keep us safe. Students also enjoy doing the different voices.
During snack time, students watch a 15 minute video that reiterates all that we have been learning about the ear.
After lunch, I answer any remaining questions that students may have about the ear, and then students complete the post-assessment. During the test, the poster’s words are covered up and the poster is out of sight.