COMPOUND WORDS | FOXGLOVES

Time:                        2 x 1 hour lessons

Level:                       Medium/ Hard

Would I do it again:   I always do ;) 

This lesson has been a few years in the making. It was my very first "no wifi situation" lesson back in 2012. As you can gather, there was no wifi, we were learning about compound words and the foxgloves around my school were beautiful. Originally I asked the girls to photograph and research on Google all about the origin and name of foxgloves. However recently my school has become a Thinking School, and a part of this programme is making students more mindful when approaching their learning. 

I started the lesson off with a question "What is a foxglove?" Only 1 girl knew the answer and I bribed her for her silence. I made them write their answers before we went outside. 

After the observation I asked the next question "Why is it called a foxglove?" They then had to observe and deduct (Blooms) from what they saw and write an answer to the question. 

We then went outside and took some photo's of the foxgloves as they would need these for their Explain Everything movie. We also went on google images to download some other photo's needed for the presentation (this should actually be a lesson on it's own: live and learn.) They used these photo's to create a Flow Map for the structure of their presentation. 

^^ Nothing pleases an 8 year old more than seeing herself on a screen. 

^^ Flow Map: We are still working on how these work. 

As we had already used Explain Everything once before, I asked the girls to do this one completely on their own. Of course I did help when needed and they were required to put all their information they gathered in, but the layout and picture cropping, typing, spelling (no judgies hey!) record etc was all to be done on their own. 

And I was proud. 

We even started a mini theme table:

^^ Class circle map: Define in context all you now about Foxgloves. 

*Extension activity 

The next day, a few girls noticed the similarity between Jacarandas and Foxgloves. We then used a double bubble map to compare and contrast the similarities and differences. They had to draw on past knowledge (Habits of Mind) to complete this task. 

^^ "Walk of silence" (never really that silent in my class)

^^ Comparing and contrasting with a double bubble map 

All in all I would say this lesson improves every year. I like the fact that it changes with each group, I also like that the girls actually take some time to find these connections between language and their environment. If you don't have an abundance of foxgloves like we do you could always swop out for something like Iceberg rose bushes or Yellowwood tree. Some of the girls are even using the app at home and bringing their information creations to school for show 'n tell. Win. 

Happy apping!