I feel like we did a lot of research for this project. I talked to my cousin David who was in Australia for a summer ambassador program where he went to the school- where they showed them their school and playgrounds (where they were all like basketball courts). He went to the Gin Gin School. He also went to the zoo and touring around Australia. Also we talked to Brittany Wagner’s friend named Lauren Smee- she lives over there in Australia.
I also research how long it takes to get there and how much it costs. I also learned about how their breakfast, lunch and dinner was similar to what Americans eat for those times. Another neat fact I learned about Australia was that they only have two seasons- summer and winter. So while it is starting to become spring here it is starting to be winter there. Also I learned their currency rate which is about 99 cents to one U.S.A dollar. They have paper and coins just like us- but their paper money is only 20, 10 and 5. Their two dollar and one dollar are coins. Their two dollar is the size of a dime in U.S.A. money and their one dollar is the size of a nickel in U.S.A. money. Also a neat fact is that when you’re traveling to Australia you lose a day but when you come back to the U.S.A. you gain a day. There are two oceans that surround Australia. I could talk and talk about facts I learned about Australia.
I feel like the students were very engaged in our center. We first had them find Australia on the world globe, point to the U.S.A., show us how they would get from the U.S.A. to Australia and how they would get back again. Then we asked them how long it would take to get there. Then we explained that it would take about 22 hours to get there and cost about 1,010 dollars. Which we asked them if they thought that was a lot of money. Also we got them engaged by showing them what a school looks like over there and what their playgrounds looked like. Then we asked them what they do at recess and if they would like to come over to this school and etc. We had them engaged into our wombat stew play/drama by first showing picture of what the animals looked like in Australia and then asked them to think of U.S.A. animals that were similar which we then showed them both a picture of the Australian animal and the U.S.A. animal. Then we had them pick their parts in the play and acted out the play. By picking up construction paper mud and putting it into the pot, putting the bugs, flies, slugs and gumnuts into the pot, then mixing the stew up. Then we had the wombat stand over the pot and asked the students what they thought was going to happen next in the play. Then we asked how many students would want to try this. The after that we handed out our desert and explained it. Then we had each one of the students come up and pick an animal up and read a square of characteristics of a certain animal and then the class would help them to determine which animal it was. So I feel that my students were engaged throughout our lesson.
If I was to teach it in the future, I would make sure that we were to divide the parts up throughout the lesson. So that everytime I would teach the same things instead of randomly just trying to figure out what to say next about Australia as an introduction. I think that as the lesson went on we figured out what each of us were going to say but at first we really didn’t have an idea. I feel that we should have divided up the parts and that not only one person was going to be talking the whole time. Also I would have liked to do my activity at the end about who am I by myself instead of Megan doing it sometimes and me doing it the other times. I feel like if you did the play then I should do the other activity, it’s only fair because then I felt like she was doing the whole lesson by herself instead of all together.
As far as working together at first we didn’t get along at all we both had different ideas of what we wanted to do with this lesson. So we butted heads a lot till we then split it up. Megan and I both worked on the posters information. She typed it and I printed it out. She then glued everything to the board. I typed the facts about the animals up and found the animals and she printed everything out and laminated it and put it on the board. She also made the banner and I printed the pictures for the poster-where she attached both to the board. I also went back and rewrote the lesson plan, created a script for each character in the play, and a picture of that character (animal) in the play and what the U.S.A. animal would look like. I also printed a bunch of pictures of Australia and put them into a booklet. I created the food and Megan gave me the bowl to put it in. I also create the chocolate crackle recipe for everyone, the national anthem lyrics and wombat stew handouts for everyone. I also brought the boomerang and paper money and Megan printed pictures out of the money and coins and glued them to the poster. But at the end we did it all- we did what we needed to do and got it done and we are still friends. So that’s all good in my books. Just as long as we finished it and the kids enjoyed it.
I think the students learned a lot about our country and well as we learned a lot about what they knew about the country. And some of the things they told us about the country. I didn’t even know about the country. So I felt that the students were engaged and were able to learn what they wanted to know. We did have a question and answer section at the end of our lesson with our review. The students told us things that they learned about our country through the different questions we asked. They also asked us questions- where a few of them really made us think. But every question we asked them- they knew. So it seemed like they had a fun time and learned a lot.
We made changes throughout our lesson. At first we were going to have the students create their animals using play doh but we never had time to do that so we just scratched that idea out. Then we were first just talking about Australia- like whoever wanted to talk next but then we made up a plan of who was going to say what. I talked about the religion, money, and seasons in Australia; where I showed pictures of Australia. Then every other groups we would rotate on who introduced the animals and did the board game- who am I? on our center board. Also I talked about their food and our food and then gave them a sample of their food. So after our first set of students we then just flew through the lesson, we knew what to say when and who was talking when- so I feel that this made the lesson flow better then when we first started. I think it was our fault at first because we should have talked it out of who was going to do what but I think because Megan’s car broke down and we were going to be late-We forgot to do it, but after the first round we were fine and knew what to do.
I think I got a lot out of this project. I learned how different people do different things. I also learned a lot about how much me and my partner had so many different ideas that we butted heads and never got to do all of them. I think that I learned that six graders aren’t as horrible as I heard they are. I feel like this project would have been more enjoyed by younger grades but my sixth graders that I meet did have a good time but not everyone wanted to do the play where 1st graders everyone wants to do it. It takes more time and motivation to get 6th graders to do something. I learned a ton about a different country and how our country and their country are the same. Another cool thing I learned was that we put presidents on our money and they put governors. Which is something different and neat about the country, I learned a lot and had fun with this project. I liked learning about what they eat and how they make their food. I learned that they cook mostly with coconut oil and how we use margarine. Which was something that was unique about this country because coconut isn’t really found there or their main source of food. But overall this project opened my eyes up to the different countries, their customs and believes and how ours was similar to theirs.
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