October 10th, 2023

Today was my very first lesson! I was so so nervous but I think it went really well. Today I was at Heritage Elementary School teaching Mrs. Simmons' 2nd grade class. They were on their 2d vs 3d shape unit. For today's lesson I started out using a website called Polypad, which plays sounds depending on how many sides a shape has. This was a great way to help the kiddos connect shapes to music and help them visualize the shape. I started out presenting the shapes and then we played a game where I had them close their eyes and guess the shape based on the sounds. They absolutely loved it. 

We then shifted over to 3d shapes. I had previously made 3d printed shapes that look like puzzle pieces to help the students make a connection with the shapes' 2d counterpart. It was a great way to help them make the connection with 2d and 3d shapes. We then moved on to the bigger portion of the lessons where the students made their own 3d shapes using the stencils that I printed out on paper. They had the option between a pyramind, rectangular prism, triangular prism, and a cylindar. It was so cool seeing how creative the students were getting with all of their colors and patterns they were using. Once they were done they cut out their shapes and taped them together to created their 3d version. I then had them do a little show and tell with their classmates and they got to show off their super cool shapes!

I was so happy after I left that first lesson. I was so proud of these students and their creativity with their shapes. I was also proud of myself for this being my first ever teaching lesson and I was so proud with how well it went. I have another lesson on Friday at Cannon elementary where the students there will be doing the same lesson. :)