Observation

Instructional Lesson
Classroom: Highland Creek Elementary
Grade: 3rd
Curriculum Area: Social Studies
What I notice

Since the school was doing an

International Fair the only Social
Studies I saw during my time at
this school was the class learning
about Vietnam, their assigned
country.
Students were assigned into
groups (with anywhere between
2-5 students) to do research on
Vietnam, one group researched
the flag, one looked up the
national flower, one created a
map of the country, one looked
up the national anthem, one
researched traditional food and
the last group translated English
words into Vietnamese.
The teacher gave each group two
iPads and told the students to
work together to do research
based on their topic that they
were assigned.
At the beginning she went
around and helped each group
work, but after everyone was
working well together she went
and helped the group that was
translating words by showing
them how to translate words on
the Smart Board.
This lesson/activity lasted for
about thirty minutes.

Observer: Jessica Little

Date: 3/10/15
Time: 10 a.m.
Thoughts, Questions, Connections to
Methods Classes

Unfortunately I did not see a lot

of Social Studies lessons at this
school, in fact this was the only
time that I saw it. In third grade
students must be on reading
level to be promoted to the
fourth grade, so teachers were
more focused on teaching
reading and less focused on
science and social studies.
I considered this more of an
activity rather than a lesson. The
only instruction the teacher gave
was when she instructed the
students on what to do to stay on
task.
Although the teacher did not
really teach I still thought it was
an effective activity. It helped
students collaborate with each
other and learn about
researching information online.