Activity Plan

Preliminary Information:

Name of Student Educator: Cassandra Chambers

Curriculum Area: Block

Developmental Domain: Cognitive

Descriptive Title of Activity: Block Shadows

Indoor: Outdoor: X

Age of Children: 2 ½ - 4 years

Date of Implementation: November 16, 2018

Resources Used to Prepare Plan):

Early Learning for Every Child Today - edu.gov.on.ca. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7,
2018, from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/oelf/continuum/continuum.pdf
Hadfield, C., Fillion, K., Fan, E., & Fan, T. (2018). The darkest dark. Toronto: Tundra
Books.
S., & A. (2017, March 08). Building and Tracing Shadows. Retrieved November 7, 2018,
from https://www.howweelearn.com/building-tracing-shadows/

Part I – Planning

Part A
Rationale for the activity
The children are always playing with blocks, if it is building structures for their
dinosaurs or paths for the cars, during free time the blocks are always out. When block
is used in stations, it is one of the most popular tables. The children get excited when
they are challenged with something new to build. I am excited to see if the children will
be able to trace the shadow without knocking over their towers. The children are
currently working on building more complex structures. I would like the children to work
on problem solving (page 46), use descriptive language to describe their structures
(page 43), and helping skills (page 37).

Part B
Social/Emotional
ELECT (Page 37) Helping Skills
Specific Skill: Offering assistance, identifying the emotions of others.
Cognitive
ELECT (Page 43) Using Descriptive Language to Explain, Explore, and Extend
Specific Skill: Using sentences to describe objects and events, using new vocabulary
and grammatical construction in their descriptive language.
ELECT (Page 46) Problem Solving
Specific Skill: Identifying problems, beginning to plan ahead, take action to solve
problems.

Physical
ELECT (Page 53) Movement and Expression
Specific Skill: Increasing control over own movement skills.

List of Materials:
 Blocks
 Sidewalk chalk
 Sun
 Pavement

Description of Set-Up:
 Place the blocks in a pile on the pavement
 Leave the chalk near the blocks

Guidelines to Foster Self-Regulation:

 “Use your walking feet, there are lots of blocks”
 “Hands off your friend’s towers.”
 “The blocks stay on the ground.”

Health or Safety Considerations:

 Use non-toxic chalk,
 Make sure that there are no spark edges or splinters on the blocks.

Part II – Implementation

Invitation
 “What can you build with these blocks?”

Teaching Steps:
1. Ask the children what they can made with the blocks.
2. Get them to build structures in a sunny area of the playground.
3. Show the children how to trace the shadows with the chalk.
4. Remind them to be careful not to knock over their structures.
Wonderment Questions
1. Tell me about what you build?
2. Why do you think your structure fell over?
3. How do you think you can make to better?
Closure:
 “Today we built block structures. We learned how to build sturdy structures and
learned how to carefully trace the shadows without knocking over the structure.

Transition:
 Tell me how you fixed your structure, and you can go to the next activity.

Creativity:
 Encourages children to use their imagination when building their structures and
has no limitations to what they can build.

Inclusiveness:
 This activity promotes success for all children as they build to their capability.
Part III Reflective Practice

The Learning Story:

Shadow Monsters

I started the interest of the topic shadows the week before,

by having the teacher doing circle read my book. I then reread
the book before introducing my activity, focusing more on the
shadows in the story, which were aliens/monsters. The original
plan was to do the activity outside where the children would
trace the shadows made by the sun hitting their block structures,
however, it had snowed that week and was a
cloudy day so, we were unable to do it outside
but I had brought flashlights so we could still do it inside with the
lights off.
The children really took the idea of shadow monster and went
with it. I was wanting them the trace the outline of their structures to
see what it would look like and if they had ever seen anything that
shape. However, instead of the children
tracing the shadow they draw monsters inside
of the shadows, making shadow monsters. The children then
took a real interest in the flashlights themselves and used the
flashlights to walk around the class looking in the bed closet and
under tables, etc. looking for where the shadow monsters could
be hiding.
We finally had to put them away so that we could go outside
for our outdoor time. With the promise that they would come out
again later.

Cognitive
ELECT (Page 43) Using Descriptive Language to Explain, Explore, and Extend
Specific Skill: Using sentences to describe objects and events, using new vocabulary
and grammatical construction in their descriptive language.
Social/Emotional
ELECT (Page 37) Helping Skills
Specific Skill: Offering assistance, identifying the emotions of others.
Physical
ELECT (Page 53) Movement and Expression
Specific Skill: Increasing control over own movement skills
Analysis of Learning;

The children learned that when something (the block structure) gets in the way of
a light source (the flashlights) it creates a shadow. They saw this when they were draw
their shadow monsters and walking around the class with the flashlights looking for
monsters. As well as when you have two light sources being pointed towards each other
there is no shadow from the object in the middle.

Extension of Learning:
To extend the Childrens learning I could have talked about how different light
cause affect the shadows in different way and that distance the light is to the object will
change the size of the shadow.

C –Self-Reflection of Student Educator’s Learning / Performance

Strengths:
 One of my strengths was that I had all my materials ready to go to do my activity.
 While reading the children tended to get carried away, and I was able to get them
back to the story.

Recommendations:
 I think I should have demonstrated what I wanted them to do.
 I could have asked more questions to further their learning.
D - Cooperating Teacher’s Evaluation: (Please include signature and date)

-must be observed and evaluated by the Cooperating Teacher

-a written analysis of activity noting strengths and recommendations
-must include Cooperating Teacher’s signature and date observed