This was my second social studies lesson plan in which we discussed the West Region of the United States. For this lesson, the students participated in a "first read." In my mentor's classroom a "first read" consists of the teacher alternating between reading a few sentences of text and calling on students to read a sentence (by pulling sticks). After reading through the text, the students work in pairs or trios to complete the packet by answering questions, referring frequently to the text for textual evidence.

In my English Language Arts Methods course, one of our assignments was to create a bulletin board that taught or encouraged others to engage in writing. With this assignment, we were allowed to include student writing, which was not required. I included student writing because I decided to tie my bulletin board in with a writing lesson that I was required to teach for this course. The writing style used in my bulletin board is argumentative/opinion and the topic is "Should School Go Year-Round?"

My second math lesson focused on area and perimeter. I was more confident in this lesson from the start because not only had I taught a math lesson previously, but I felt comfortable with area and perimeter. For this lesson, my mentor and I had planned for me to teach the first hour only (my homeroom class). However, during the second hour, my mentor received an emergency phone call and had to leave. Therefore, I had to take over what was remaining of the second hour's lesson (which was most of the lesson) as well as the third hour. Because of the emergency phone call, I ended up taking over the rest of the day (which was most of the day).

My first math lesson covered weight measurements. For this lesson, I did not teach all math three math hours, but rather the first hour (my homeroom class) as I was easing my way into teaching lessons to the students. I was nervous for this first math lesson, as math is not my strongest subject (hence why I was placed with a math teacher). However, I felt that this lesson went well!

My science lesson was my second lesson plan written and taught. For this lesson, I had to work with our science teacher (as my mentor taught math to the three fourth-grade classes). The science teacher assigned me an electromagnetism activity from the electromagnet unit in the science textbook and provided me with all the materials needed for the lesson. During this lesson, the students work collaboratively and independently in their table groups to build their own electromagnet and perform tests with their electromagnet. This was my only science lesson.

This was my first lesson plan during Block 2. My fourth-grade students were preparing to learn about the Westward Expansion. For this lesson, my classroom management instructor/supervisor wanted to focus on implementing a cooperative learning structure. Therefore, there are parts of this lesson plan that are incomplete. For this lesson, I used the Kagan Structure "Numbered Heads Together." Implementing the "Numbered Heads Together" was a struggle since the students were not used to participating in a cooperative learning structure. Furthermore, they also did not have much time to practice this cooperative learning structure through non-academic means (i.e. topics that do not revolve around academics). However, it will not be the last time that I attempt to utilize Kagan Structures.