Lesson Study EDT 473

Hannah Bakies
1.

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE OF THE LESSON

Making Inferences!
2.

THE TWO SELECTED CONTENT AREAS

Language Arts
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.3:
Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or
clarify something that is not understood.
Source: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/1/
Science K-1:
Objects are things that can be seen or felt. Properties can be observed using tools or ones senses
and can be used to sort objects. Comparisons of objects are made as a precursor to measurement.
Source: http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohios-LearningStandards/Science/ScienceStandards.pdf.aspx
3.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TOPIC TO BE ADDRESSED

Our lesson study was about making inferences. The students practiced using their background
knowledge and context clues to make predictions. The two standards incorporated in our lesson
study allowed the students to practice skills in language arts and science. The students were able
to ask and answer questions as well as make observations using their senses.
4. CONTEXT
A.
Grade level- First grade
B. Throughout our time in the classroom, we quickly noticed that our group of 25 students have
routines set in place when completing activities as well as assignments. These routines
include giving the students sitting at their desks and completing worksheets on the lesson. In
order to keep the students focused and engaged in the lessons taught, stability balls are made
available in the classroom where students can release their energy while still taking part in
what activities are occurring throughout their school day. The stability balls are extremely
beneficial for two particular students as they are consistently moving in the classroom
causing distractions to their classmates. When these two students are given the opportunity
to use the stability balls, their attention and focus is greatly improved while working on the
current lessons. Therefore, our lesson study implemented hands on and interactive activities
with the students to practice exploration. Using the Mystery Bag activity, as well as the
activity based on the story, allowed the students to take part in their own learning.

C. In the classroom, the students have practiced making inferences throughout the school year in
language arts. Our host teacher informally has the students predict what might occur in a story.
Our lesson helped enhance their knowledge of inferencing as the students were able to practice
identifying what inferences are through the story Dont Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and our
Mystery Bag Activity. We incorporated science into our lesson study because unfortunately we
have not seen any science lessons implemented throughout our field experience because of lack
of time given.
5. DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTIVES AND STANDARDS OF THE INTEGRATED
LESSON
Hannah Bakies
Lesson Study- Individual Description of Standards
A. Two Standards used in Lesson Study
Literacy- Language Arts: Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather
additional information or clarify something that is not understood.
Science: Objects are things that can be seen or felt. Properties can be observed using tools or
ones senses and can be used to sort objects.
B.
Enduring Understanding related to Standards
Through my lesson study, the enduring understanding I wanted the students to gain was how to
make inferences. The students practiced using their background knowledge and context clues to
make predictions. The two standards incorporated in our lesson study allowed the students to
practice skills in language arts and science. For example, the Mystery Bag Activity the students
had to ask and answer questions about the unknown objects. They were able to use their senses
such as touch to feel what objects could potentially be in the bag. The students were able to work
together with their peers to gather clues of what they predicted might be inside the bag. The
ultimate overarching goal was for the students to be able to take the knowledge gained about
inferencing from the classroom and apply it to various subject areas as well as their personal
lives. I wanted the students to have a deep understanding of what inferences are and how they are
made; the students can practice making inferences every day.
C.
Two Content Standards Integrated
The integrated subjects allow the students to make sense of multitude life experiences gained
from the link between two important subject matters. Through our lesson study, the students
were able to use skills such as asking and answering questions as well as using their senses to
make observations. The students learned about inferencing through language arts and science.
Integrated subjects allowed students creativity and higher level thinking. The integrated
curriculum is beneficial for our students as they gained a deeper understanding of the many ways
to infer.
6. DESCRIPTION OF LESSON STUDY

We began teaching our lesson study with a powerpoint about inferencing. We introduced the
concept and explained to the class how one must use their background knowledge and context
clues in order to form an inference. We had a classroom discussion in which the students
practiced giving examples of inferences. The students then went to the carpet as we read aloud
Dont Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. The students practiced using their inferencing skills by
completing the worksheet on what was the pigeon thinking. We challenged the students to infer
what the pigeon was thinking on the pages where the author did not include any text. Later in the
school day, the students were able to continue making inferences as scientists in the Mystery Bag
activity. We had a class discussion where the students identified their five senses. We explained
to the students they were going to be using three of their senses to determine what was inside the
brown bag. The students had to work together as a group to touch, smell and hear to determine
what objects were inside the bag without looking. In each group, one student was the scribe
where they wrote down the clues their classmates were identifying (adjectives such as rough,
bumpy, scented, etc) as to what the objects could be. The group then had to infer what the objects
were. We then had a class discussion of what each table groups clues and inferences were. We
revealed the four objects that were all inside their brown paper bags to the class. The students
were given the opportunity to create and bring in their own mystery bags to continue practicing
making inferences. Later in the week we wanted to follow up on our lesson, therefore we took
the students on the Ridgeways Nature Trail. The students made observations and inferences
along the trail based on what they saw.
Through our lesson study we incorporated together the three most important qualities of
experience which include: allow the lesson to be relevant and worthwhile to our students lives,
allow students to engage in partnerships encouraging discussion as well as collaboration, and
allow students the opportunity to reach autonomy.
The lesson study was relevant and worthwhile as it directly relates to the students lives. It
is relevant to their lives because they use their senses and questioning skills each and everyday to
discover new findings. The students are making and forming inferences in their everyday
routines using their language arts knowledge and their science skills.
The students had the opportunity to engage in discussion as they worked together with
their table groups to form observations and write down clues when completing the Mystery Bag
activity. After using their senses, they asked their peers questions as to what the object could be.
The students had to collaborate together and gather information with their peers to form
inferences which correlates to our language arts standard.
The students had the opportunity to reach autonomy as they were able to create their own
mystery bag in which they brought in to share with the class. They were able to choose any
object(s) from home in which they thought would work as a good mystery object and have their
classmates guess what it is. Through this part of the lesson, the students were able to practice
higher level thinking when creating the mystery bag outside of the classroom, which stems off of
the science and language arts standards we formed our lesson off of.
Works Cited:
Mystery Bag Activity- idea stemmed from Block Two EDT 317 Nazan Bautista
Inferencing Anchor Chart Powerpoint- Teachers Pay Teachers (mycutegraphics.com)
Dont Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

Science Standard- http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/1/

Language Arts Standard- http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohios-LearningStandards/Science/ScienceStandards.pdf.aspx