Dragonflies!

Kaitlyn and I taught a lesson on dragonflies to our second grade class on March 18th. This lesson went beautifully! The students really enjoyed learning about the life cycle and the body structure of the dragonfly. They had already been learning a lot about insects and their life cycles and body structures so they were able to use the information they already knew and apply it to the dragonfly. I started the lesson by reading a book about the life cycle. After I read the book I asked the students some questions about what happened in the story. We went over the stages of the life cycle and used a poster to show them the cycle. They were able to place the correct stage on the picture to give them a good visual of the cycle. I asked them several questions having to do with recalling information and then went on to ask them why they think a dragonfly changes. I was surprised when one of the students answered that the dragonfly changes because it's environment changes (in simpler terms). The students in this class showed that they are very capable of higher-level thinking. Kaitlyn did the second part of the lesson, having to do with the body structure of a dragonfly. She used a picture to show them the dragonfly and labeled the parts. The students were then able to make their own dragonflies out of play dough. This was very exciting for them. The students did a great job with this and they were able to name all of the parts of the dragonfly by the end of the lesson. I really enjoyed teaching this lesson because the students seemed very interested and excited to learn about such an interesting insect! They remained actively engaged throughout the lesson and I really loved watching and helping them learn.