Week 8: Blended Learning Lesson Plans 4-7

For my inquiry this week I took a look at more lessons plans, this time for grades 4 to 7. I was really excited to look into these lesson plans because this is the grade range that I want to teach. My first thought after looking through the lessons plan is that they are significantly longer than the K-3 lesson plans. It makes sense that the higher grades can handle longer lessons, but I would still maybe break some of the lessons into two days. Similar to my last post, all of the lesson plans were great, but in this post I would just like to dive into one of them. Continuing on with the theme of math and patterns from last week, I really enjoyed the grade 4 lesson plan on patterns. It seems interesting to me that patterns is still a complete lesson in grade 4, but then again math is built on patterns so they should come up regularly throughout the grades. What was also interesting about the lesson is how complex the conversation about patterns became from kindergarten to grade 4.

The lesson begins with students taking a walk around their classroom and school looking for any patterns on the walls, in fabrics, in nature, etc. During the walk the teacher should be asking questions such as “do the patterns have a purpose?” and “what do you wonder about patterns?” Already, these questions are a huge jump from kindergarten because now we are analyzing patterns not just looking for them. After the walk, the class returns to the classroom to review patterns in math such as 100’s chart and skip counting. A teacher may also want to pull out manipulatives and allow students to build their own designs and patterns for a few minutes.

The next step is to watch this video to learn how Allison Burns-Joseph was able to reconnect with her Indigenous heritage through weaving. This lesson mainly focuses on patterns through weaving and is connected back to Coast Salish weaving multiple time throughout the lesson. In addition to integrating Indigenous ways of knowing and culture into the lesson, the lesson can also be connected to other subjects. In other words, this lesson is cross curricular and can meet outcomes in Social Studies and Arts Education, while being called a “Math lesson”. Cross curricular lessons are what teachers should strive for in all of their lessons. Not only does it cover more of the curriculum in less time, it also makes learning more authentic and natural. In our day to day lives we don’t only use math or only use reading. If you’re baking with recipe you need to be able to use math and read all at the same time. If we use what we learn fluidly, we should also teach it fluidly.

The lesson continues with taking a look at examples of Coast Salish weaving or weaving from other Indigenous nations. The lesson does not provide you with examples, the onus is on the teacher to research and find artists from their local area or from another Indigenous nation. I like that they are encouraging teachers to do the searching because it provides the teacher with an opportunity to connect with their Indigenous education department and/or with the community. It is worth stating that the teacher needs to be careful and ensure that the art they find is from an authentic source. After looking at the art the class can then discuss what types of patterns or pattern rules they see in the weaving. They can also talk about what they think the weaving is for? Then to bring more math in the teacher can hand out pictures of the art and ask students in groups to find the form, see if they can identify how multiplication is use, look for symmetry, shapes, etc. The class can go even further and try to come up with math equations for the patterns.

The final activity in the lesson is to have students create their own weave pattern on paper. They can draw it out and describe it using math. Then they can actually make their pattern by practicing paper weaving. For this activity there is also a note to talk about appropriation and why we do not copy Coast Salish weaves. I think this a really important note because far too often I see art projects that try to bring in Indigenous art forms and end up being really offensive and inappropriate. Those instructing the activity do not take the time to discuss the art and why it is sacred.

To assess this lesson teachers can look at the students weaving project. They can also have the students complete a self reflection on what they learned in regards to patterns, Coast Salish weaving, and any other connections they made.

That is all for this week! Be sure to check out Open School BC for some more amazing lesson plans and resources. Thanks for reading!