Lesson Note – 2nd Term JSS 1 Computer Week 2

Introduction to Lesson Note – 2nd Term JSS 1 Computer Week 2

I wrote this Lesson Note – 2nd Term JSS 1 Computer Week 2 based on the newly revised Nigerian 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum (UBE Edition). Particularly, I used the New Junior Secondary School Teaching Schemes of Work. The various state ministry of education and the Education Resource Centre, Abuja developed the teaching schemes between 2014 and 2016. Click here to download the most recent schemes of work for Pre-primary through Senior Secondary Schools. These schemes are the same for the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. Hence, this lesson note is suitable for use in any Nigerian school that adopts the National Curriculum.

Complete Lesson Objectives

As with the rest of our notes, the primary focus of this lesson note is to present an enriched content for the topic. This lesson notes, also like the rest, provide guide for teachers on how to deliver the content to attain the topic objectives. In this regard, I adopt the subject-specific modern teaching style in the FTS manual.

 Unlike most lesson notes which focuses majorly on cognition, I brought out and set objectives to cover other domains of education – affective and psychomotor. This is to ensure a balanced learning experience for the learners.

Leading Guide To Adapting This Lesson Note

I wrote this lesson note in outline of standard lesson plans. However, I advise teachers that want to use this note for official purpose – i.e. to create their lesson plans which they will submit to their supervisors – to get our Lesson Plan Template. The layout of the template makes it easy for teachers to write a professional lesson plan and easily.

REMARK: If you find the terms lesson plan and lesson notes confusing, click here to quickly read my article on their differences.


Term: Second Term

Class: Junior Secondary School (JSS) 1

Week: 2

Curriculum: NERDC Revised 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum (BEC)

Topic: Data Processing

Sub-topic: Meaning of Data

Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

  • state the meaning of data

Step 1: Introduction

The teacher introduces the lesson in the following steps:

Planning

  1. Formulate stimulating sentences that cut up into component words equal to the number of students in the class. For example, below are two sentences. The total number of words in both sentences is 17. Therefore, these sentences are ideal for a class of 17 students.
    1. There, is a packet of biscuits.
    1. The first person to reach my desk will have it all.

Note that none of the words in both sentences make total sense when you say only it to someone.

  • Write out each word in the sentences on a piece of card.

Delivery

  • Tell the students that you will give them an instruction. Successful completion of the instruction has a reward. The first student to carry out the instruction wins the reward.
  • After that, randomly give a card on which you have written a word from the sentence(s) to each of the students. Then tell them that you have now given the instruction to them.
  • Give them a moment to figure out the instruction and to complete the task. This may be 2-3 minutes. You may act absent while the students attempt to do this.
  • Once the time elapse, recall the students’ attention. Then, ask if any of them was able to figure out the instruction in the information you gave them. It is very likely none will. So, request them to keep their card save and that by the time the lesson is ended, they would have figured it out.
  • Follow this up with by showing the students a live dataset for any daily transaction or activity. I recommend Binance market chart. Let the students watch the numbers for a while. Afterwards, ask them if they make a sense out of the number series. They probably will not. Therefore, proceed with the introductory explanation thus:
Introductory Text
Information we learn from Instruction

Information is part of our life. We receive countless amount of information every day. We get some kinds of information from the people that we live, meet and interact with. For example, when people ask us a question; or gives us instructions; tell us a meaningful story; or when they just let us to know something useful like a teacher.

Information we learn by deduction

However, there are other kinds of information that we do not get from people. Instead, we deduce (find them out) from our observations. For example, when you visit a friend and s/he does not want you around. That friend may not tell you to go, but you will deduce his/her intentions from what you observe – the body language.  Another example of information we deduce is your parents’ or siblings’ favourites. They may not tell you their favourite colour, food or drink. But after you observe their fondness of it, you know what they like and dislike.

Importance of Information

Both kinds of information are very important to us in life. Everything we know which helps us to become what we are today and what we will become in future is through the information that we get/have. Good kinds of information make us good and bad information makes us bad. Most importantly, having the right information helps us to make right decisions. Be it our choice of school, what we will buy, places to go or not to go, what to do or not to do, etc. are all as a result of the information we have.

Data Analyst & Data Analysis

In fact, life is almost impossible without information. As a result, we have to be able to get all the information we can. Getting the kind of information that people tell us is not difficult. But getting information from what we observe (just like the live dataset and card) has more work. Not many people can do it. In fact, we have to be trained to be able to do it easily and faster. The people that learn this skill of getting useful information from what we observe are called Data Analyst. So, Data Analysis is the “subject” that teaches us how to get useful information from pieces of observation. Data Analyst is one of the most in-demand and highest paying job in the world right now and will continue to be in future. As at January 2023, Data Analyst in Nigeria earn between 2 to 15 million naira per year or 150,000 to 1.2 million per month (Payscale).

Conclusion of Introduction

  • After the introductory explanation above, ask the students who would like to become a data analyst.
  • Further, tell the students that one of the things that data analyst do is called data processing. Hence, explain that data processing is the step-by-step work of getting useful information from the pieces of our observations.
  • Finally, tell the students that they shall learn about, and acquire the skill of data processing in the next 3 weeks. Tell that if they master the skills, you will teach them, they could even put up for part-time data entry jobs when they get to JSS 3. After that, tell them that the first thing they will learn about data processing is the meaning of key terms – data, data processing & information. Finally, list the objectives of the lesson on the screen/board and explain each to the students.

Step 2: Meaning of Data

  1. Briefly recap/describe the tasks of data scientist: getting useful information from our pieces of observations.
  2. Ask the students what they think data is in relation to the meaning above.
  3. At the end of the ensuing discussion, project/write the definition of data on the screen/board. Then, explain the definition thoroughly as follows:

Definition of Data

Data is a character or a collection of characters for expressing fact or a collection of raw facts; which may not make complete sense but can be processed to get better information.

Explanation of the meaning of data

  1. Read out the definition a few times.
  2. Help the students to memorize the definition. Ask them one after another or randomly (focusing more on average to slow learners).
    1. You may help them to be able to write it by dictating it while they write in their jotter.
    1. Tell them to write it down offhand.
  3. Once you ascertain that the students are able to say and write the definition of data, explain thoroughly. Below is the text of explanation to guide you.
A Character as Data to Computer

In computer, a character is a letter (alphabet), number or a mark (sign) that has a known meaning. A character is also called a symbol. Examples of characters are:

  1. Letters (alphabets) A – Z and letters a – z.
  2. All numbers including negatives and fractions
  3. Punctuation marks like comma, full-stop, question mark, etc.
  4. Special symbols like @, #, $, %, +, -, /, etc.
  5. Whitespace (empty spaces like when you press spacebar, tab and enter keys).

Data as a character means that any of the characters above is data to computer. When you press letter A on a computer, you have given it data. And a major characteristic of data is that it may not make a complete sense. In other words, we may not totally understand it until we have done some sort of work on it – that is processing. Similarly, computers do not instantly understand the letter A you pressed on the keyboard. As such, it cannot store or retrieve it until it has performed some sort of work on it.

In this case, the work that the computer performs on letter A is changing it to binary (zeros and ones). This is because binary is the only language the computer understands – the only thing it really knows and operate with. They will learn how the computer does this in JSS 2 – Data Representation.

A Character as Data to Human Being

Just as a character is data to computer, it is also data to human being. How? Imagine you just awake from sleep in the morning. Then a stranger hand you a character (say number 2) without saying any word. Will you be able to make sense out of it? Absolutely not or even if you do, not with certainty.

To make complete sense out of the character that the stranger gave to you, you have to do some sort of work on it. That work may be asking the stranger what the (number) character means or what it is for. It is only when the stranger has explained this that you will know that the character (number 2) which s/he gave to you represents 2 beautiful cars that s/he has just gifted you.

Hence, the character is data because to make complete sense out of it, we have to do some sort of work.

Data as a Collection of Characters

Not only is a single character data but a collection of characters also constitute data both to computer and to human being.

Examples of data as a collection of character are:
  1. Words and sentences – two or more letters written together. E.g., at, am, etc. It is important to note that computer understands a word different from how it understands each of the component letters in the word.
  2. Numbers (figures) – 20, 400, etc. Just as words, a two- or more-digit figure is different from its component digits to the computer.
  3. Alphanumeric characters – characters that contains a combination of alphabets, numbers and symbols. E.g., Vehicle plate number (RN234), Email (yourname@something.com), Units (100ºC).

Generally, a group of characters comprising of letters, numbers and special symbols are called a text. Each of these collections of characters are series on zeros and ones the computer.

Images, Audios & Videos as Data to Computer

When we talk of a collection of characters as data, this is how computer sees images, audios and videos. Computer does not see images as pictures like we do. More so, computers do not understand audio as sound nor video as sound and moving images.

Instead, within computers, each of these are huge collections of characters (zeros and ones). So, whenever you see/hear or work with images, audios and videos on a computer; the computer has to first of work on them – i.e., change to and from zeroes and ones – before the computer can understand and manipulate these kinds of data.

Hence, images, audios and videos are data in computers.

Similarly, images, audios and videos may be data to human beings. If they do not make complete sense but are expressing facts and can be processed to make more meaning out of them; then such is data.

For example, the sound produced by different rocks when a geologist hits them is data. Why? This is because the geologist listens to the sound to get more information about the rocks.

Other examples of images, audio and videos data are:

  1. Sound/images showed by reCAPTCHA which a user gets verification code from.
  2. Ultrasound scans and X-ray images which medical personnel study to understand a health issue better.
  3. CCTV footage (images/videos) which security agents watch to trace a breach.
  4. Murals or drawings on ancient walls and inside caves which an archaeologist studies to get information about something or a people.
  5. Evidence presented at a court proceeding which the jury listen to or watch to get more information about a situation.
  6. Etc.
Data as Representation of Facts

Now that you know what constitute data, it is also important to know that not all writings, sound, images and videos qualify as data to human beings. One cannot just formulate any arbitrary character or combination of characters to form valid data. Within human context, data has to express or represent facts or concepts that the originator observes.

A fact refers to anything whose existence or occurrence can be proven or is a consensus (known or agreed upon).

For example, X-ray images can be proven. Say when it shows a foreign object in a body, a surgeon proofs this when s/he performs operation on that part of the body and retrieves the foreign object.

NOTE: At this point, the teacher introduces an aspect of information literacy to the students by teaching them to verify new information before propagating it.

Therefore, whatever data you formulate for human consumption should be capable of producing more meaning. This means it should have some sort of explanations. For example, writing a thousand different numbers without telling what it represents may not fit in the definition of data. However, I can turn it into valid data by titling it as ages of 1,000 people. Of course, each of the ages is raw fact.

Data As a Collection of Raw Facts

So far, we have seen what data means to computer – just about anything you feed it and it has to work on. The general work that computer performs on all data is conversion to streams of zeros and ones (binary). It is only when computers convert data to binary that it understands it and it can save and retrieve it.

We know that data may be just one character like letter “A” alone. We also know that many characters like a words, letters, figures and sentences are also data. Finally, we learned that images, audios and videos are also data.

Now, we have to understand that data processing does not stop at the way computers process data internally – i.e., conversion to binary (and) for manipulation. In fact, what data means to computers is not the same as what it means to data analysts.

While computers consider just about any character or simple set of characters as valid data, data analysts see data differently.

To data analyst, and in general human business; data is a collection of raw facts which we can work on to get more meaning or better understanding. This means that to data analysts and in business, valid data may already have some sort of meaning. Basically, we have to know what the data represent. For instance, the various ages of all the people in a class is data.

Examples of valid data

Other examples of valid data to data analyst and in business are:

  1. The list of sports that a group of 50 students play.
    1. Gender of all the students in a school.
    1. Political parties of all senators in Nigeria.
    1. Number of times that each teacher goes to class in a day.
    1. The population of people in a country over a period of ten years. Etc.

All of these are valid data to a data analyst and in business.

Discussion

After these examples, the teacher engages the students:

  1. First, ask if any student can tell at least two features that all these examples have in come. Once a they do, or if they couldn’t; point these out to them as features of valid data in business:
    1. Each of the examples is a collection. That is, each represent data we collect from many actors. For instance, the list of sports in the first example is collected from many (50) students not one student. Also, the gender in the second example is for many students; political parties in example 3 is from many senators.
    1. The second feature of valid data in business is that it has common definition. By this, I mean that even though the data is a collection from many actors; we still describe all of the collections under one title. For instance, in the first example; the 50 different collections are all list of sport. Also, in the second example; the collections from all the students are all gender.
  2. Basing on the features of valid data in business, ask the students to give more examples of valid data in business. You may need to re-elaborate the features of valid data in business as guide for the students to give more examples of.
  3. Subsequently, tell the students that their ability to state examples of data in business shows that they understand the meaning of data. Thus,
  4. Project/Write a brief note on the meaning of data on the screen/board for the students to copy into their notebooks – if applicable.

Check back for note summary

  • In conclusion, read the notes with the students and revisit any necessary explanations. Thereafter, reveal to the students that even though the examples of data they have seen makes some sense, we can obtain further understanding from the data after we work on it. So, display some data sample and ask the students to say what the data sample tells them.

Succeeding this, reiterate that to get more meaning from data, we have to do some work on it. Example of work we can perform on data is re-arranging or sorting. Then, reveal to them that if they put all the cards which you gave them at the introduction together and arrange it, they will make meaning of the data.

Evaluation

Prior to concluding the lesson, the assesses the students’ understanding of the lesson. Check back for evaluation questions.

Conclusion

Conclude the lesson by revising the contents and linking it to the next topic.

Lesson Note – Primary 1 First Term Basic Science Week 3

Introduction to Lesson Note – Primary 1 First Term Basic Science Week 3

I wrote this lesson note based on the latest Basic Science Scheme of Work for Primary 1.  The Scheme is based on the latest 9-Year Basic Education National Curriculum. You can download the scheme from our store on paystack or contact us on WhatsApp.

In a bid to keep this guide concise, I did not include some components of standard lesson plan. At the end of the week, I will provide links for you to download the ready-made lesson plan along with the recommended instructional materials. However, you have to register on this website and subscribe to our newsletter to access the lesson plan and instructional materials.

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If the term lesson plan and lesson note confuse you, click here to get clarification.

Lesson Note – Primary 1 First Term Basic Science Week 3


CLASS: Primary 1

TERM: First

WEEK: 3rd

TOPIC: Soil – Types and Importance

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the lesson, the pupils should be able to:

  • Define soil
  • Mention the types of soil
  • List the importance of soil

PRESENTATION

Introduction:

Instructional material:

  • A cupful each of sandy, loamy and clay soil neatly and separately packed into boxes/cartons. Label the boxes with either letters A, B, C or numbers 1, 2, 3.
  • Science workbook

Steps to introduce the lesson

  1. Divide pupils into group. Each group comprising of 3 pupils.
  2. To each group, give a set of concealed/packaged sand packs.
  3. Instruct them to identify the specimens, differentiate between them and decide an important thing to do with the specimen. For each exercise, guide them with the following instructions:
    Exercise A: Identification
    1. Go to your group table.
    2. Put these three boxes on top.
    3. Then, sit or stand round the table.
    4. Let the first member of the group open the first box (Box A or Box 1).
    5. All the group members should touch and fetch what is inside the box unto their palms.
    6. Tell each other what you think the material is.
    7. Once all the group members agree on what is inside the box, put the material back in the box then each of you should write the name in your book.
    8. Then do the same thing for the second and third boxes. The second group member is to open the second box while the third group member should open the third box.
    Exercise B: Differentiation
    1. Put the three opened boxes on the table.
    2. All the group members should look at the material inside the three boxes, touch it again and if any wants, smell it.
    3. Teach each other whether the materials in the three boxes are the same thing or not.
    4. If what is inside the three boxes are not the same, tell each other the difference between the three.
    EXERCISE C: Importance
    1. All group members should sit round the group table.
    2. First group member should remind other group members what was is in first box; second member, second box; and third member, box 3.
    3. Starting from first person, if the teacher gift (dash) the three packs to you; mention one way the content can help you.
  4. Recall the pupils from their groups and collect their workbook then keep them in a safe place for marking at a later time.
  5. Ask them the questions orally and receive attempts from willing pupils:
    1. What did you find inside box A, B & C?
    2. Are the contents of the three boxes the same?
    3. What are the differences between the content of the three boxes?
    4. If, I gift the three boxes to you; what important thing will you do with the contents, how are the contents useful to you?
  6. Here are the possible answers the pupils will give to each of the questions:
    1. The content of the boxes is sand or dirt.
    2. Yes, the three boxes all contain sand or dirt.
    3. There is no difference between the content of the three boxes.
    4. If you gift the content of the three boxes to me, I will play with it then throw it away.
  7. Start by hinting that the answers are not exactly correct though not particularly wrongs either.
  8. Tell them that they shall in the week’s lesson learn the correct answers to each of the questions.
  9. Thereafter, write/project the topic on the board and explain the lesson objectives.

Meaning of Soil

  1. Continue the lesson by providing the correct answer to the first question – content of the boxes.
  2. Tell the pupils that instead of sand or dirt, the content of the boxes is soil. Then explain the list and explain the l of soil as opposed to sand and dirt as follows. Use video, slides, posters or charts to aid faster comprehension. In-between the explanations, there are one or two questions. Use the question to induce interaction.

Earth as a whole (object) is divided into three parts.

The first part contains different kinds of air. This is called atmosphere. It starts from the sky above down to under our feet when we lift our legs.  Birds, bats and insects live in the air.

The second part of earth is water in natural places apart from the sky. This includes small water bodies like natural ponds, lakes, streams and large water bodies like rivers, seas and oceans. Fishes, turtles and frogs live in water – water is their home.

The third part of earth is land. Land is also called ground, earth’s surface or earth’s crust. It is the strong rocky surface that human beings can stand, walk, run, jump and live on. What other things live on land? Correct! Goats, dog, lizard and so on also live on land. Plants grow on land too.

Soil, is part of land. If you dug the ground down for 10 years without resting, what would you see?

Layers of Earth’s Land/Ground

Many scientists did the experiment many years ago. They found out that from the top where we walk, the ground is soft. Human beings, animals and plants can break the top soft part of the ground. The top soft part is mostly dark in color. After the soft part of the ground, there is the hard part. Human beings, animals and plants cannot easily break this hard inner part – but they still can with more effort or engine/machine. This part of the ground is usually brownish or reddish in color. After this part, there many harder parts deeper into the ground. The deeper you go, the harder until you hit the rocks. The rocks are followed by underground water. After the underground water, there is the hardest part of the earth. The last hardest part of the ground is very hot. In fact, the deeper you go from the top, the hotter it becomes.

When scientists draw the different parts of earth’s land/ground from the top to the innermost part, they call each part a layer. See the layers of earth’s land/ground below.

Source: World Atlas

Where is soil in all of these? What is soil?

Soil is the topmost layer of the earth surface. That means it is the top soft part of earth’s land that man and other animals live and plants grow. Whenever we dig a hole, scrub our feet against the ground or stamp our feet; we break the ground. The small piece that results from that breakage is what we call soil. Generally, whenever a stone or rock breaks, it forms soil – smaller pieces of that stone/rock. That is how we got the content of the three boxes in the earlier exercise. So, the content of the boxes is soil.

Stage Evaluation Question

  • End the lesson here for the first period.
  • Revise the entire lesson and assess their understanding of the lesson. Use number 1 to 7 in the accompanying question paper.
  • Don’t forget to give excellent feedback to the pupils. Where available, use reward stickers to this effect.

Second Period: Types of Soil

Continue the lesson with the following steps:

  1. Remind them of the earlier differentiation exercise and ask if them if the content of the three boxes is the same.
  2. After the discussion, clarify that the three boxes all contain soil.
  3. Thereafter, ask the pupils again if the different soils in the three boxes are the same. You may demand reasons for more interactivity.
  4. In the end, clarify again that the different soils in the three boxes are not the same – give one or two differences between the soil such as the color and how the soil feels when you touch them.
  5. Then ask them what they think made the soils to be different despite that all are same soil.
  6. Succeeding the discussion, explain that the soils are different because of where we get them from and also the condition that form them.

When a hard rock breaks by force into many pieces, it forms shiny and sharp soil. However, when a rock breaks into many small pieces by the smooth washing of fast-moving water, we get smooth soft soil. And when smooth soft soil combines with remains of dead organisms for a very long time, it gums together and become smooth sticky soil.

Components of Soil

  1. Explain that when the different kinds of soil form, they lie on top of the ground. So, when people walk on them, animals dig holes or rain drops and wind blows; soil gets mixed with other things. These things that get mixed with and are present in soil are what we call components of soil. The component of soil include:Many pieces of different kinds of rocks and these are called minerals.
    1. Tiny remains of dead organisms, and this is called organic matter.
    2. Very tiny living things called micro-organisms.
    3. Water
    4. Air

NOTE: Depending on your timetable, if you have up to 4 or 5 periods for this lesson; then carryout the experiment to demonstrate the presence of these components with the pupils. Click here if you need the guidelines.

What are the different kinds of Soil?

  1. After identifying/proofing the components of soil, explain that all soil do not contain equal samples of the components of soil.
  2. Further explain, with emphasis, that because all soil does not contain equal samples of the components of soil, and also because of how they are formed and what they have been through; there are different kinds of soil.
  3. Teach them that these different kinds of soil have names.
  4. Therefore, identify the names of the different kinds of soil with the pupils. Show them the sample of any kind you identify and give only one or two property to help them differentiate between them subsequently.
    1. The sharp shiny soil that forms when hard rocks forcefully break into pieces is called sandy soil. These are the kinds of soil with the largest particles/pieces.
    2. The soft smooth soil that forms when water gently and speedily washes rocks into pieces is called silt soil. The size of the particles/pieces of this type of soil is not too big or small.
    3. Finally, the smooth sticky soil that forms when smooth soft soil combines with remains of dead organisms for a very long time is called clay soil. This is the type of soil that has the finest or tinniest particles/pieces.
    4. Then, when the three kinds of soil mix together; they form loamy soil.

Therefore, the types of soil are:

  • Sandy soil
  • Silt soil
  • Clay soil and
  • Loamy soil

Tolerating Personal & Social Differences

  1. Give a brief talk on individual and social differences and the need for them to be tolerant towards all peoples. Teach them that at school and elsewhere, they meet different kinds of people. Some people looks dirty, others clean. Some are gentle, others rough. There are hungry people who are beggars, and there are others who have. Even our culture and religion is not all the same. Some cultures eat what other cultures don’t. Explain to them that just like soil, everybody is the way they are because of the environment they are from; or the things they have been through. Finally, encourage them to learn to tolerate differences. Teach them to relate to other people with their good behavior instead of reacting back with the bad way they are treated. Also, just  as they will not be happy when someone make jest of their culture and religion, that is how they must not do same to other people’s culture and religion.

Stage Evaluation Question

  • End the lesson here for the first period.
  • Revise the entire lesson and assess their understanding of the lesson. Use number 1 to 8 in the accompanying question paper.
  • Don’t forget to give excellent feedback to the pupils. Where available, use reward stickers to this effect.

Third Period: Importance of Soil

Follow these steps for the final part of the lesson:

  1. Revise the entire lesson so far:
    1. The earth as a whole (object) is divided into three major components – air (atmosphere), water and land.
    2. Land is also known as ground, earth’s surface or earth’s crust.
    3. Earth’s crust is divided into layers from the top to the innermost part.
    4. Soil is the topmost layer of the earth’s surface.
    5. Soil is made up of different components that include minerals, organic matters, micro-organisms, water and air.
    6. All soils are not the same. Soils are different because of how they are formed and the conditions they have undergone.
    7. The different kinds of soil are sandy, silt, clay and loamy soils.
    8. Just like soil, people and culture are different. We should respect our differences
  2. Refer to the third exercise at the introductory stage. Tell the pupils that since they now know more about soil, what would they do if someone gifts the different soil samples to them? You may expand the discussion by asking what if the soil samples span large fields.
  3. After the discussion, list and thoroughly explain the importance of soil. Use videos/slides or charts to illustrate each of the uses/importance of soil.
    1. Explain that a given type of soil is best suited for particular use.
      1. We use clay to ceramics like pots, plates, flower vase and tiles. Show videos/pictures of pottery making.
      2. We use sandy and clay soil to make blocks/bricks and build house. Show videos/pictures of block/brick making and brick layering.
      3. Silt and loamy are useful for farming. Loamy is the best of all the soil types for farming. Silt and loamy contains nutrients for plants and crops to grow and produce well. Show videos/pictures of farming.
    2. Teach the pupils that the amount of soil in a place is not endless. Soil gets finished. For example, if you start digging up the sand that is available in a place for a long time; the sand will finish up and you have to go look for it elsewhere.
    3. Explain that as a result, we have to take care of our soil. One way they can help to take care of soil is by not digging up soil everywhere.

    Evaluation (Summative Assessment)

    Before you conclude, summarize the entire lesson and revise it thoroughly. Then assess the pupils’ understanding by giving them all of the exercises in the accompanying question paper.

    Note that I expect you to conduct this assessment orally. In that case, I also encourage you to explain each question and option in local dialect for the pupils to understand before asking them to make a choice. However, this may not be necessary for some schools in the urban region.

    First, ask the questions serially. The, repeat it randomly.

    Conclusion

    1. Mark pupils’ exercises, if you conducted the test other than orally.
    2. Record performance.
    3. Provide individual feedback.
    4. Revise the lesson and link it to next topic.

    Consulted Materials

    BYJUS. (n.d.). Types of Soil – Sandy Soil. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from BYJUS: https://byjus.com/biology/types-of-soil/#:~:text=Sandy%20soil%20is%20usually%20formed,like%20granite%2C%20limestone%20and%20quartz.

    Geological Survey Ireland. (n.d.). The Earth’s Structure. Retrieved from Geological Survey Ireland: https://www.gsi.ie/en-ie/education/our-planet-earth/Pages/The-Earth-structure.aspx#:~:text=%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8BThe%20earth%20is,the%20mantle%20and%20the%20core.

    ISRIC- World Soil Information. (n.d.). Why are soils important? Retrieved September 23, 2022, from ISRIC- World Soil Information: https://www.isric.org/discover/about-soils/why-are-soils-important

    Kids Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Soil. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica: https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/soil/390622#:~:text=The%20Importance%20of%20Soil&text=Soil%20provides%20a%20place%20for,animals%20and%20other%20living%20things.

    Rutledge, K., McDaniel, M., Teng, S., Hall, H., Ramroop, T., Sprout, E., et al. (2022, July 15). Silt. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from National Geographic: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/silt

    Taylor, G. (2020, February 28). All You Need to Know About Loamy Soil. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from Bob Vila: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/loamy-soil/#:~:text=Types%20of%20soil%20are%20classified,a%20mixture%20of%20all%20three.

    Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Clay – Formation. Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay#:~:text=Clay%20minerals%20most%20commonly%20form,or%20released%20by%20plant%20roots.

    World Atlas. (n.d.). What Are The Layers Of The Earth? Retrieved from World Atlas: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-layers-of-the-earth.html

Lesson Note – Primary Three Third Term Mathematics Week 4

INTRODUCTION TO – Lesson Note – Primary Three Third Term Mathematics Week 4

I wrote this note based on Primary 3 Mathematics Scheme of Work. . If you don’t have the scheme, please click here to get a copy. This is a free lesson note for Nigerian primary schools 3.

Focus of this lesson note

Lesson Note – Primary 5 Third Term Basic Science Week 1 focuses on depth and pedagogy. This means it aims to provide an enriched lesson content. Then, suggest ways for teacher and parents to deliver the lesson.

Turning this note to official lesson plan

Please note that I do not intend this lesson note to take the place of lesson plan. These two are different. I discussed the differences in an earlier post. If you haven’t done so already; click here to read up the differences between lesson plan and lesson note.

That aside, teachers can adapt this note into the lesson plan for the week. In fact, many teachers do. That is why we prepared a special lesson plan template for teachers.

It helps teachers to easily and professionally plan their lessons by filling in the lesson-specific values of the standard components of lesson plan, in a clean and professional layout. Click here to download the lesson plan template.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the pupils should be able to:

  1. Define day, week, month and year as unit of time
  2. Perform simple conversion between units.
  3. Mention the days of the week and months of the year and tell their order.
  4. Tell date from the calendar
  5. Mention dates of key feasts and observances within the year
  6. Appreciate the concept of planning/time management

PRESENTATION

The teacher presents the lesson in order of steps as follows:

Introduction

To introduce the lesson, the distributes copies of printed calendar to the students. The calendar should contain all dates from January to December. Then, the teacher challenges the pupils to circle the dates that s/he will randomly call. They may also name the day of the week that each date falls. Another useful challenge that the teacher may give to the pupils include asking them how many days to certain feast or observance like Christmas and Id El-Kabir.

At the end of each challenge, the teacher retrieves the calendars. And tell the pupils that s/he will keep the calendars until the end of the lesson. By the end of the lesson, they will check to see whether or not they got it correctly.

Eventually, the teacher writes/projects the topic on the board/screen. Then s/he lists and explain the objectives to the pupils.

Other Units of Time – Day, Week and Month

In continuation of the lesson, the teacher explains day, week and month as other units of time. First, s/he revises the previous lessons on time. The teacher can do this either deductively by means of interactive questions and answers. Or, s/he does so inductively by explicitly listing and briefly explaining the key points of the previous lessons on time. Interactive discussion is better. But induction is preferable if there is want of time. However, combining both methods is the best.

Following the revision, the teacher explains as follows:

Seconds, minutes and hours are not the only units of time. There are other units of time. These units are longer than seconds, minutes and hours. They include:

  • Days,
  • Weeks,
  • Months and
  • Year

A second is the shortest unit of time. While a year is the longest unit of time.

Time Metric System

The relationship between the units of time is given in time metric system. The time metric system is as follows:

  1. 60 seconds make 1 minute
  2. 60 minutes make 1 hour
  • 24 hours make 1 day
  1. 7 days make one week
  2. 4 weeks make 1 month
  3. 12 months make 1 year.

After the explanation, the teacher makes the peoples recite the metric system a few times for memorization. S/he follows this with simple exercises on how to convert between pairing units – e.g., from seconds to minutes & minutes to seconds; from minutes to hours and hours to minutes; etc.

Exercise Examples

Useful hints

Prior to the exercises, the teacher guides the pupils to highlight the following useful hints.

First, s/he leads the pupils to identify the sizes and order the various units.

Second → Minute → Hour → Day → Week → Month → Year.

The above means that second is shorter than minute; minute, shorter than hour; hour, shorter, shorter than day; day, shorter than week; week, shorter than month; and month, shorter than year. It is also true in reverse. That is, year is longer than month; month is longer than week; etc.

Secondly,

Exercises
  1. Which one of the following is the shortest?
  2. Day
  3. Month
  4. Minute

Answer: c (minute)

  1. Select the longest among the following
  2. Day
  3. Week
  4. Hour

Answer: b (week)

  1. If 60 seconds make one minute, 120 seconds will make how many minutes?

Explain to the pupils that if we are to change longer to shorter unit, we should multiply. And if they are to change shorter to longer unit, they should divide.

In this example, the question gave us 120 seconds to change to minutes. Since second is shorter than minute, we divide. Therefore, the

Answer is: 120  60 which is equal to 2. That means, 120 seconds will make 2 minutes.

  1. 12 months make 1 year. How many months are there in 8 years?

The question wants us to change 8 years to months. This means we are changing from longer to shorter unit. And to change from longer to shorter unit, we multiply. Therefore, the

Answer is: 8  12 which is equal to 96. This means, there are 96 months in 8 years.

  1. 24 hours make 1 day. And 7 days make 1 week. How many hours are there in 3 weeks?

This question wants us to change 3 weeks to hours. And a week is two units longer than an hour. So, we must first change from weeks to days. Then, we will change the days to hours.

Let’s change 3 weeks to days. 7 days make 1 week. A week is longer than a day. Since a week is longer than a day, to change weeks to days; we need to multiply. Therefore, 3 weeks = 37 = 21 days.

Now let us change 21 days to hours. 24 hours make 1 day. A day is greater than an hour. Again, since a day is longer than an hour, to change days to hours; we need to multiply. Hence, our final

Answer is: 21 days = 21  24 which is equal to 504.

The teacher gives as many examples as possible. Then s/he gives the pupils similar exercises – either as classwork or homework.

This concludes the lesson for the first day.

Days of the Week

On the second day of the lesson, since the pupils now understand the concept of the other units of time; the teacher explains day in particular and guides the pupils to list the days of the week as follows:

A day is a period of 24 hours. This means from one 6am to another 6am is a day because it is 24 hours. From one 3pm to another 3pm is also a day because it is 24 hours. The teacher displays a clock on which s/he counts the hours with the class while resetting it.

The teacher explains that although a day can be within any given 24 hours; on a general basis, a day starts at 12 midnight and ends at the next 11:59 pm. This is why the current date on our calendar changes to the next at midnight (12:00 am).

The teacher explains further that people usually use events to differentiate one day from another. In fact, there are different names for different days. The names of the days in a week are:

  1. Sunday
  2. Monday
  3. Tuesday
  4. Wednesday
  5. Thursday
  6. Friday
  7. Saturday

Teacher explains this thoroughly. Identify the days in local dialect, if necessary. S/he teaches the moral lesson of having different days of the week. This relates to planning and time management. After the explanation, the teacher leads the pupils to identify the days for common weekly activities.

S/he can do this through question and answer as follows:

Questions

  1. How many days are there in a week?
  2. Which is the first day of school every week?
  3. Which is the last day of school every week?
  4. Which days do you come to school?
  5. On which days do you not come to school?
  6. Which is the market day in your area?

Months of the year

Check back…

Lesson Note – Primary 5 Third Term Basic Science Week 1

Introduction to Lesson Note Primary 5 Third Term Basic Science Week 1

Primary 5 Basic Science Scheme of Work

I wrote this Lesson Note – Primary 5 Third Term Basic Science Wee 1 based on official primary 5 basic science scheme of work. If you don’t have the scheme, please click here to get a copy. This is a free lesson note for Nigerian primary schools 5.

Focus of this lesson note

Lesson Note – Primary 5 Third Term Basic Science Week 1 focuses on depth and pedagogy. This means it aims to provide an enriched lesson content. Then, suggest ways for teacher and parents to deliver the lesson.

Turning this note to official lesson plan

Please note that I do not intend this lesson note to take the place of lesson plan. These two are different. I discussed the differences in an earlier post. If you haven’t done so already; click here to read up the differences between lesson plan and lesson note.

That aside, teachers can adapt this note into the lesson plan for the week. In fact, many teachers do. That is why we prepared a special lesson plan template for teachers.

It helps teachers to easily and professionally plan their lessons by filling in the lesson-specific values of the standard components of lesson plan, in a clean and professional layout. Click here to download the lesson plan template.

Now the note…

Lesson Note – Primary 5 Third Term Basic Science Week 1


Topic

Rocks – Meaning and types

Objectives

At the end of the lesson, the pupils should be able to:

  1. Define rocks
  2. State the types of rocks
  3. Give the properties of the different kinds of rock
  4. Collect and classify rocks into the different types based on the properties

Instructional Materials

To effectively deliver this lesson, teachers will require a collection of rock samples. I recommend the Toysmith Rock Science Kit. It is a pack with all the different types of rock. And it is cheap too. Click here to get it on Amazon at 29% discount.

Presentation

The teacher delivers this lesson note – Primary 5 Third Term Basic Science Week 1 – in order of steps as follows.

Step 1 – Introduction

To introduce the topic, the teacher initiates discussions on rocks – as one of the first and key components of our world. S/he begins by displaying some prehistoric pictures of the earth. These should be images that highlight the rocky features. Afterwards, the teacher asks the pupils to identify the pictures – what pictures are these? What is common to all these pictures?

Following the brief discussion, the teacher identifies the images as well as the common features – rock. In addition, the teacher shows and identify images of some rock landmarks in the present time. S/he follows this with a short prologue in this manner:

Rocks are essential to our world, to understanding it and to live in it. Because rocks have been on earth for a long time, it helps us to understand even the past world. And not only our world, but the entire universe. Rocks from space and below the earth help scientists to learn more the universe. Rocks also make roads, bridges and buildings possible. Early men used rocks for almost everything – hunting, shaping woods, making fire, cooking, etc. We still use rocks for making ornaments and lots more things.

The questions are what exactly is rock? Where do rocks come from? How do we know which rock to use for which purpose? These and more questions about rock are what we will be learning this week.

Succeeding this short explanation, the teacher projects/writes the topic on the board. S/he concludes the introduction by listing and explaining the objectives of the lesson to the pupils.

Step 2: What is rock? Where do rocks come from?

Furthering the of the lesson; the teacher correlates the meaning and origin of rocks to the geological history of the universe.

First, the teacher reveals that rocks are not only present on earth. Astronauts have come back with rocks from space (show picture). And rocks from space have fallen to earth many times.  In fact, scientist call rocks that fall from space to earth as meteorite – show images and illustration of latest meteorite, EB5.

Since rocks are present everywhere in the universe, to know what rocks are and where they come from; we have to study the origin of the universe as well.

The teacher revisits the meaning of universe. Then, s/he asks the pupils where did the universe come from? How did the universe begin?

Comment

This is for critical thinking. Hence, guide the discussion towards helping the pupils to think deeper. Some pupils may perfunctorily say the universe originates from God – or that God created it. In response, the teacher should try to channel their thinking in scientific light.

For instance, if a pupil say God created the universe; I will ask how did God went about it? If they say by His Word of mouth; I will say probably, if at all there was God’s Word; His command merely started the process; so, what processes did the universe take in its formation – following “God’s Words”?

The teacher’s role here is not to approve or disprove their religious belief. However, the essence of Basic Science is to equip pupils with basic scientific knowledge and skill.

So, the teacher must inspire in the pupils, scientific thinking instead of religious. To do this, the teacher first distinguishes between the two.

S/he teaches that religious belief is based on faith – believing without proof. On the contrary, scientists believe only what there is evidence of or proof for. Faith says God created rocks, and that is it. Science says how is rock created? What is rock made of? How can we use it for the right job?

Secondly, the teacher makes it explicit that some religious people do not believe in [some] scientific explanations – such as scientific explanation of how the universe formed. Also, some scientists do not believe in religious explanations. However, many people believe in both religious and scientific explanations. And they combine the two to better understand what they want to explain.

Following the explanation, the teacher reveals that they will learn how scientists explain the history of the universe – because they are in science class.

The Big Bang Theory

To start with, the teacher explains that the most popular scientific explanation of how the universe began is called the Big Bang Theory. The name of the scientist that started this Big Bang explanation is Georges Lemaitre.

The Big Bang Explanation

In 1927, Georges Lemaitre made some studies and formulated how the universe began. In his explanation, before everything started; the universe was in a hot dense state. This means that everything joined together into an infinitely small and infinitely hot point – like a dot. The point was smaller than atom and many million times hotter than the sun. This point was tiny particles mixed with light and energy.

Then the point suddenly expanded and stretched rapidly to form the universe – as large as it is today. The expansion happened so rapidly that scientists liken it to many million times the size of the biggest explosion today. This is why scientist called the expansion the Big Bang – as in big explosion.

During and immediately after the Big Bang, the universe was too hot for anything to exist – there was absolutely nothing except the particles.

But after thousands of years, when the heat in the universe has reduced; the tiny particles grouped together. They formed atoms. Then those atoms grouped together.  And after a long period of time, the group of atoms came together to form stars and galaxies.

Planet

From stars come star dust – which is formed when stars formed, aged and died. When star dusts combine with gas, collide with each other and stick together; they form a planet. The combination of gas and star dust to form planet takes millions of years to complete. First, it occurs under extremely high temperature – as hot gases and/or in molten (extremely heated and boiling rocks and metals in liquid) state. So, it takes millions of years to cool off. After cooling, some planets such as earth becomes solid. This is what we call rocks. It is the origin of rocks.

Asteroid

Not all the star dusts in space that are able to stick in forming a new planet. Some continue to float in space round the sun as rocky objects. This is what scientists called asteroid. When an asteroid falls and lands on earth, then scientist call it meteorite. Meteorite is also another origin of rocks.

Meaning of rock

Scientist call the chemical materials in star dust and gases which collects together to form planet and asteroid as minerals. So, in science, a rock is a collection of solid minerals that is strongly bound together.

To conclude the lesson on the meaning and origin of rocks, the teacher makes the pupils watch National Geographic documentary on the formation of earth. You can watch it free on Amazon free trial. Click here to register for 30 days free trial.

Step 3: Types of Rocks

Discussion:

The teacher groups the class into small groups. Then, s/he gives each group different kinds of rock samples – from the Toysmith Rock Science Kit in the instructional material. The teacher also gives each group the following discussion questions:

  1. Are all the rock samples the same?
  2. What are the similarities and differences between each sample?
  3. Why are the samples the same/different?

After the discussion, the teacher continues the lesson with types of rocks. To do this, the teacher explains that not all are the same. S/he explains further that rocks are different because not all rocks form in the same way – that is, from solidification of molten minerals.

Then, the teacher reveals that based on formation, scientists divide rocks into three types. S/he follows this by listing the types of rock; defining, and thoroughly explaining the formation of each.

Step 4: Identification and Classification of rocks

In the final part of the lesson, the teacher teaches the pupils how to identify and classify rocks into the different types.

To do this, the teacher pairs or divides the pupils into small groups – as appropriate. Then to each group, s/he give a pack of Toysmith Rock Science Kit. Thereafter, the teacher leads them to follow the guide that comes with the kit to classify the rocks.

Evaluation

Prior to concluding the lesson – primary 5 Third Term Basic Science Week 1; the teacher asks or gives the pupils exercises to assess their understanding.

Conclusion

The teacher concludes the lesson by revising the entire lesson. Then, s/he links the lesson to next

NOTE:

Step 2 and 3 covers the content for week 2 in the official Scheme of work. This is why I did not include the content. I will include the content for types and classification of rocks in next week’s note. You may stop at step for this first week altogether.


Keywords:
Universe

Everything in existence everywhere. This includes the sun and all the planets, stars, space, land, water, air, fire and everything else.

Astronaut

Scientist who acquires training for travelling in spacecraft into space.

Space

The empty area outside the Earth’s atmosphere, where the planets and the stars are.

Meteorite

A piece of rock or other matter from space that has landed on Earth.

Particles

Extremely small piece of matter smaller than an atom. Here, particles refer to the smallest known things in the world like quarks and photons.

 Light

Electromagnetic emission. Here, it means emission or discharge of high-energy particles and gases.

Energy

Ability to do work. Here, it means the particles are capable of doing work such when it expanded.

Atom

An atom is the smallest unit of matter. Atoms are what combine to form all things including water, food, clothes, cars, human being and everything. Atom is a chemical substance. It is extremely small. So, we cannot see atoms with our eyes.

There are different types of atoms. Each type of atom is called an element. When an element divides, or when two or more combines; it forms a new kind of substance. Then, we say a chemical reaction has taken place.

Stars

A very large ball of burning gas in space which we usually see from Earth as a point of light in the sky at night. Stars are made up of hydrogen and helium gases. Hydrogen and helium are the simplest kinds of elements.

In stars, these two elements combine in a special and combustible chemical reaction. This keeps stars “burning” for a very long time – millions to trillions of years.

The burning fusion of hydrogen and helium in stars leads to the production of new heavy elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, etc.

Although these elements are molten (burning liquid or gas) in stars due to high temperature; they become solid when they cool. Also, as stars aged and dies; the heavy elements turn into dust or debris which float about in space. Scientists call this star dust.

Galaxy

A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems. There are many galaxies – billions of them. Our galaxy, which is made of the sun, earth and other planets; is called the Milky Way. The nearest galaxy to our Milky Way is called Andromeda.

Planet

A Planet is an extremely large round mass of rock and metal, such as Earth, or of gas, such as Jupiter, which moves in a circular path around the Sun or another star.

Asteroid

Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the Sun. Although asteroids orbit the Sun like planets, they are much smaller than planets.

References

Brown, C. S. (n.d.). How Our Solar System Formed. Retrieved from Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/big-history-project/solar-system-and-earth/earth-and-form-solar-system/a/how-our-solar-system-formed#:~:text=Planets%20form%20from%20particles%20in,attracted%20by%20the%20star%27s%20gravity.

NASA Space Place. (2020, June 4). What Is a Galaxy? Retrieved from NASA Space Place: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/galaxy/en/

NASA Space Place. (2021, March 17). What Is the Big Bang? Retrieved from NASA Space Place: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/big-bang/en/

ZUCKERMAN, C. (2019, March 20). Everything you wanted to know about stars. Retrieved from National Geographic : https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/stars

 

[qsm quiz=3]

Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2

Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 in brief

Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 is a free Computer lesson guide for schools, teachers and parents. Although, parents and teachers can use this guide to teach their child(ren) how to use digital wristwatch at any time; the purpose of this guide is for use in regular classrooms.

As such, I prepared this guide according to the latest 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum on Computer Studies for Primary 1. Specifically, I used the Primary 1 Teaching Schemes of Work that Education Resource Centre (ERC), Abuja developed.

Scheme of Work

The Scheme of Work is a complete breakdown of how an adult may introduce Computer to the Nigerian child(ren). This breakdown is in terms and weeks for age 5 through age 17. The Computer Scheme of Work does not only describe how an adult may introduce Computer to Nigerian child(ren). It also, ensures safe technology environment foe the children.

The national curriculum developers took care to not bombard children with the overwhelming versatility of computer technology. Instead, at every stage of development through the Basic Education levels; the Scheme recommends computer skills necessary for appropriate digital learning and leisure activities. In addition; the curriculum ensures that children acquire knowledge necessary for them to pursue a career in Computer Science.

Up to you

What is left is for adults to deliver the lesson in a manner good enough to attain the objectives for the every topic. But it is a common knowledge, that some teachers find it somewhat difficult to identify all the objectives that every topic intends for the pupils to learn. Fortunately, we have a guide on how to identify and set lesson objectives. Click here to check the guide on lesson objectives.

In addition, I prepared this lesson note to guide Computer teachers on how best to deliver the lesson to attain the objectives. Parents who homeschool their children and those who wishes to help their children stay ahead in school will find this really helpful too.

This, as with the rest of our lesson notes, is a comprehensive guide. But, kindly note that I do not intend for the teacher to deliver the entire content in one day/meeting. Instead, I assume that the teacher will deliver the lesson in at least 3 meetings.

For School Teachers

While a lot of school teachers use our lesson notes, it is important you understand that this is not a lesson plan. This despite that I wrote this lesson note in outline of all STANDARD LESSON PLANS.

There is a differences between lesson plan and lesson note. You can click here to quickly read the differences between a lesson plan and lesson note.

If a school teacher intends to use this note to for their lesson plan as many do, to get our PROFESSIONAL LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE. The layout of the template makes it easy for teachers to write a professional lesson plan and easily.


Now, Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2

TOPIC:

Common IT Devices, Digital Wristwatch

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the pupils should be able to:

Cognitive: define digital wristwatch and tell the time on a digital wristwatch

Affective: demonstrate (time consciousness) punctuality

Psychomotor: Set date, time and alarms on digital wristwatch

PRESENTATION

The teacher presents the lesson in order of steps as follows.

Step 1: Introduction

To introduce the topic, the teacher shows the pupils a clock and a wristwatch. Then s/he demands volunteers to identify the clock and watch. Also, the teacher asks the pupils to tell the time displayed by both the clock and the wristwatch.

The teacher may also ask the pupils in what ways is digital wristwatch like computer.

Following the discussion that will ensue, the teacher reveals the topic of the week’s lesson to the pupils. S/he reminds them that they learned the meaning of computer in the previous lesson. Additionally, they identified computer-related devices. Here, the teacher asks the following questions to review the previous lesson:

  1. Computer is an/a _________________ machine
    1. Electrical
    2. Electronic
    3. Mechanical
  2. What a computer user input into the computer is called _______________
    1. Information
    2. Process
    3. Data
  3. Data is to input as _________________ is to output
    1. Process
    2. Information
    3. Instructions
  4. Play, cancel and print belong to the category of input called ________
    1. Data
    2. Instructions
    3. Information
  5. __________________ is used for making and accepting payment
    1. Telephone
    2. Fax machine
    3. POS
  6. Digital wristwatch is used for ________________________
    1. Playing music
    2. Telling time and date
    3. Listening to news and music
  7. Mention 5 computer-related devices
    1. ____________________________________________________________
    2. ____________________________________________________________
    3. ____________________________________________________________

In conclusion of the introduction, the teacher discloses that having learnt computer-related devices, they shall now learn how to use each of the devices – starting with digital wristwatch. Hence, the teacher lists and explains the lesson objectives for the students.

Step 2 – Meaning of Digital Wristwatch

In continuation, the teacher displays a digital wristwatch. Then, s/he asks how the pupils will describe/define it. Succeeding the discussion, the teacher defines and explains the meaning of digital wristwatch:

Digital Wristwatch is a watch that displays the time in form of digits (numbers).

The teacher explains this in contrast to analogue clock. First, s/he displays a clock and explains the face – hands. The teacher teaches them to be able to tell the names of the different hands.

Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2- image 1 showing clock face and hands of clock
Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2- image 1 showing clock face and hands of clock

Once the pupils are able to differentiate between the hands of the clock, the teacher explains what each read:

  1. Hour hand indicates or tells us the hour of the day;
  2. Minute hand indicates or tells us the minute of the hour; while the
  3. Second hand indicates the seconds
Telling O’clock times

After the teacher explains the clock face, s/he teaches the pupils how to tell time on the clock. To do this, the teacher explains the position of the minute and hour hands that makes an o’clock:

When the minute hand of a clock is on 12; then we say the time is exactly the number that the hour hand is at – on the clock.

The teacher explains further with illustrations. S/he sets the hour hand to 1, and the minute hand to 12; then explains that the time on the clock at that moment is 1 o’clock. Thereafter, the teacher repeats the process for 2 O’clock, 3 O’clock, 4 O’clock, 5 O’clock, etc. S/he makes it interactive and fun. After explaining one or two examples, the teacher may reset the clock and demands the pupils to tell the time. Alternatively, the teacher may give the pupil the clock to reset it to a given time.

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NOTE: Teacher gives these to the pupils in order of 1 – 12 O’clock first, then randomise it.

Telling Time Past the Hour

After teaching the pupils how to tell time on the hour, the teacher teaches them how to tell time that is past the hour.

First, the teacher displays a clock like the ones above. After that, s/he explains that if the minute hand is in the part of the clock shaded yellow – right side of the clock face; then we say it is the minute past the hour – number in which the hour hand is pointing at. And we know the exact minute by counting from the first minute at 12 to where the minute hand is currently at.

Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 - Clock showing first minute
Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 – Clock showing first minute

Examples of time past the hour

Clock showing 7 minutes past 11 O'clock
Clock showing 7 minutes past 11 O’clock

Teacher teaches the pupils to tell the time interactively by through questions and answer:

  • How many minutes does the minute hand indicates? Lead pupils to count

Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 - Clock showing How to Count Minutes Past
Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 – Clock showing How to Count Minutes Past

So, it is 7 minutes

  • Is it 7 minutes past or to? Answer: The minute hand is at the right (yellow-shaded) side of the clock. So, it is 7 minutes past the hour.
  • But it is 7 minutes past what hour? Answer: The hour hand is pointing at 11. So, it is 7 minutes past 11 O’clock.

The teacher resets the clock several times. Then, repeats the process – interactively – with the pupils until they are able to tell the time past the hour.

Half-Past & Quarter Past

Before proceeding to telling time to the hour, the teacher teaches the pupils half-past and quarter past the hour. S/he does this in the same manner as I have described above.

Telling Time to the Hour

After teaching the pupils how to tell time past the hour, the teacher teaches them how to tell time that is to the hour.

To do this, the teacher displays a clock like the ones above. After that, s/he explains that if the minute hand is in the part of the clock shaded white – left side of the clock face; then we say it is the minute to the hour – number in which the hour hand is pointing at. And we know the exact minute by counting from where the minute hand is currently at to the last minute at 12.

Clock Showing last minute
Clock Showing last minute

Examples of time to the hour

Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 - Clock showing 5 minutes to 2 O'clock
Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 – Clock showing 5 minutes to 2 O’clock

Teacher teaches the pupils to tell the time interactively by through questions and answers:

  • How many minutes does the minute hand indicates? Lead pupils to count

Clock Showing How to Count Minutes To an Hour
Clock Showing How to Count Minutes To an Hour

So, it is 5 minutes

  • Is it 5 minutes past or to? Answer: The minute hand is at the left (white-shaded) side of the clock. So, it is 5 minutes to the hour.
  • But it is 5minutes to what hour? To explain this, the teacher first of all teaches the pupils with illustration that the hands of clock move in clockwise direction – top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top.

Clock Showing Clockwise Movement
Clock Showing Clockwise Movement

Having explain that the hands of clock move from left to right, the teacher helps the pupils to understand the hour that the hour hand is currently moving to.

Answer: In the example, the hour hand is moving to 2. So, it is 5 minutes to 2 O’clock.

The teacher resets the clock several times. Then, repeats the process – interactively – with the pupils until they are able to tell the time to the hour.

Stage Evaluation Question

Before the teacher proceeds to the remaining part of the lesson, s/he assesses the pupils’ understanding of the forgoing section.

Step 3 – Telling time from Digital Wristwatch

Once the teacher ascertains that the pupils are able to tell time from the clock, s/he teaches them to tell time from digital wristwatch.

First /she reminds the pupils that digital wristwatch displays time in form of digits instead of hands. Then, the teacher shows a poster of a time on a digital wristwatch and explain the different parts of the numbers.

Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 - a Digital Wristwatch Showing hours and minutes
Lesson Note – Primary 1 Third Term Computer Studies Week 2 – a Digital Wristwatch Showing hours and minutes

Following identification of the hour and minute digits in a digital wristwatch, the teacher teaches the pupils how to tell the time.

S/he explains that telling time from a digital wristwatch is much easier than from a clock. To tell the time past the hour, we simply say the current minute past the current hour on the watch face.

For example, the time on the digital wristwatch below is 20 minutes past 4 O’clock.

Digital Wristwatch showing 20 minutes past 4 O'clock
Digital Wristwatch showing 20 minutes past 4 O’clock

The teacher resets the digital wristwatch and practice telling the time past the hour on digital wristwatch several times with the pupils.

Telling time to the hour on a digital wristwatch

Once the teacher ascertains that the pupils have understood how to tell time past the hour from the digital wristwatch, s/he teaches them how to tell time to the hour.

In doing this, the teacher first of all explains that if the minute on a digital wristwatch is more than 30; then we say it is to the hour.

And to know the exact minute to the next hour, we simply subtract the over-30 minutes from 60.

For example, in the digital clock below; the minutes (45) is more than 30. So, we say it is already to the next hour. But how many minutes to the next hour? To get this, we say 60 – 45; which 15 minutes. Hence, it is 15 minutes to the next hour.

Note that the next hour here is 6 because it is currently 5 and the next hour after 5 is 6.

Digital Wristwatch showing 15 minutes to 6 O'clock
Digital Wristwatch showing 15 minutes to 6 O’clock

Teacher carries out more exercises on this with the pupils resetting the digital wristwatch each time. S/he also makes it interactive:

  • Reset the watch
  • Ask if it is minutes to or minutes past; and why?
  • Demand to know the exact minutes to or past
  • Then as of the hour (current or next)
Stage Evaluation Questions

Before the teacher continues with the rest of the lesson, s/he asks the pupils based on what s/he has taught them so far – especially from the current section.

As part of the evaluation exercises, the teacher may carryout some time telling activities with the pupils – see references for link.

Step 4 – Setting time on digital wristwatch

In the final part of the lesson, the teacher teaches the pupils how to set time and date on digital wristwatch – by demonstration. WikiHow has a detailed guide on how to set time – see references for link.

Afterwards, the teacher also teaches the pupils how to set alarm.

SUMMARY

Before the final assessment, the teacher summarizes the lesson into a concise note which s/he writes/prints for the pupils to copy into their exercise books. Afterwards, the teacher revises the entire lesson with the pupils.

EVALUATION

After note copying and revision, the teacher evaluates the pupils’ overall understanding of the lesson by asking them questions and giving them exercises on the topic.

CONCLUSION

The teacher concludes the lesson by marking the pupils’ exercises, grading and recording their grades.

REFERENCES

Staake, J. (2021, April 21). 15 Meaningful Hands-On Ways to Teach Telling Time. Retrieved from We Are Teachers: https://www.weareteachers.com/5-hands-on-ways-to-teach-telling-time/

wikiHow. (2021, September 16). How to Set a Digital Watch. Retrieved from wikiHow: https://www.wikihow.com/Set-a-Digital-Watch

 

Lesson Note – First Term Kindergarten Social Habit Week 1

Introduction to Lesson Note – First Term Kindergarten Social Habit Week 1

I wrote this Lesson Note – First Term Kindergarten Social Habit Week 1 based on the Nigerian National Early Childhood Education Curriculum. Particularly, I used the unified Scheme of Work on Social Habit for Kindergarten class. The Unified Scheme of Work on Social Habit for Kindergarten is part of our collection of official Pre-Primary Teaching Schemes for Nigerian Schools.

All of our Schemes of Work are from official sources and are suitable for use in the 36 states. Click here to view and download Complete Schemes of Work for all classes and subjects for Pre-Nursery; Nurseries; Kindergarten; Primary; JSS and SSS. Alternatively, click here to chat with us directly. Or, click here to download the schemes from our store on paystack.

On Lesson Note – First Term Kindergarten Social Habit Week 1

We are at a point in History when violation of the rights of every child is on the increase. Parents and concerned members of the society are always afraid of the many dangers that threaten children on a daily basis. Invariably, the best and first security against these threats, is to arm every child with appropriate knowledge. And what better time to initiate this process than the time just before formal schooling begins?

According to the official definition in Nigeria, Kindergarten is the switchover class from preschool to basic education. Hence, the educational research and development arm of the ministries of education in its professional judgement; placed the topic in this lesson note to prepare ahead.

Consequently, schools and teachers must spare no effort in ensuring that pupils fully attain the objectives of this topic. Similarly, the objectives of this topic are some key foundations parents should look out for before sending their preschoolers to primary school.

We wrote this lesson note to make it easy for both school teachers and parents to easily help their Kindergarten children achieve the objectives.


Lesson Note – First Term Kindergarten Social Habit Week 1

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the pupils should be able to:

Cognitive

  • Define child rights
  • Mention at 10 rights of a child
  • Mention the rights they enjoy and those they are denied

Affective

  • Demonstrates observance of applicable rights when working with younger children

Psychomotor

  • Colour/paint sketched copies depicting child rights

PRESENTATION

The teacher presents the lesson in order of steps as follows:

Step 1 – Introduction

To introduce the lesson, the teacher paints a scenario and asks a question that depict the meaning of “human” right – preferably through story:

First Scenario: to introduce human right to children

Once upon a time, there are two children. The name of the first is Nnamdi. He is 5 years old. The name of the second child is Damilola. She is 3 years old. Their parents are Mr. & Mrs. Abubakar. The children attend Children’s Day School.

One day, their parents dropped them off at the school entrance. But since Damilola was still toddling, she couldn’t cross the door threshold.

Discussion: What do you think Nnamdi did when he saw that Damilola is unable to cross the door threshold?

Indeed, he helped Damilola to cross without been told!

DISCUSSION: Why did Nnamdi helped Damilola without been told to do so?

Yes, because she is a “child”.

Second Scenario: to introduce human right to children

Once upon a time, there are two children. The name of the first is Nnamdi. He is 5 years old. The name of the second child is Damilola. She is 3 years old. Their parents are Mr. & Mrs. Abubakar. The children attend Children’s Day School. At school, Nnamdi has a friend. The name of Nnamdi’s friend is Gbedeojo. Gbedeojo is also 5 years old.

One day at school, during the first break, Damilola and Gbedeojo ate all their food. But Nnamdi kept a little part of his food until lunch time. When it was lunch, all the children were hungry. But only Nnamdi had a little part of his food left. The little part will not be enough for neither Nnamdi alone, Nnamdi and Damilola his sister nor the three of them. The food will only be enough for Damilola because she was younger. Damilola is already crying of hunger. And she won’t stop crying until she eats to the fill.

Discussion: What do you think Nnamdi did?

No, Nnamdi did not eat all the remaining part of his food alone. Instead, he took a few bites and gave the larger remaining part to Damilola. Damilola ate and was satisfied.

DISCUSSION: Why did Nnamdi not eat the remaining part of his food alone nor give it to his but to Damilola, after all she ate all of hers alone?

Yes, because Damilola is a child.

NOTES:

Teacher should replace emphasized words (names) with those from the locality that the pupils can relate with. In addition, teacher should tell the story in a manner the pupils will understand – use local dialect, and emphasize if necessary. Particularly, sketch or source for pictorial illustrations which to show the pupils as you tell the story. This aids faster comprehension.

Concluding Introduction

Following the discussion that will ensue either of the narrations above, the teacher reiterates that Damilola enjoyed the benefits accorded her because she was a child. Further, the teacher explains that human beings instinctively knows that a child is deserve to enjoy some things – not for any reason but because s/he is a child.

Following these, teacher tells the pupils that they shall learn about the things that every child – like and including them – deserve to enjoy.

Step 2 – Meaning of Child Rights

Child Rights are the good way of living that every child is deserve to enjoy in order for them to be happy and develop well into responsible adults.

Teacher explains this definition thoroughly with the help of charts.

Good way of living

This includes what a child eats (nourishment), the environment of a child, what a child does, what a child is taught, how a child is treated, etc. The teacher displays contrasting pictures of each of these – one idea, and the other below desirable standard of living.

Every child

The teacher explains that child right is not only for some children from a particular country, race, tribe or social class. Instead, child right applies to all children all over the world. Children are people that are not up to eighteen (18) years of age – teacher stresses this.

Reason for Child Rights

Finally, the teacher explains the benefit of child rights and what will happen when there are not child rights.

1.       To be happy

Observing child rights makes all children happy (image or video of happy children). And when there are no child rights, children are sad (image or video of sad children) – doesn’t mean that every time a child is sad, there is absence of child rights though☺.

2.       Develop well

Teacher explains that develop means to grow. So, to develop well means to grow well – physically (body) and psychologically (the way they think, understand, feel and behave). Use appropriate images or videos of children to demonstrate proper and improper development.

3.        Become Responsible adults

Teacher explains that children that enjoy child rights grow up to become responsible adults. Adults are people that are eighteen years and above. Responsible is to do the good things that are expected of someone – teacher stresses meaning of adults and responsible. Thereafter, s/he emphasizes thoroughly that children who enjoy child rights grow up to become responsible adults otherwise, irresponsible – use appropriate images or videos to demonstrate responsible and irresponsible adults.

Stage Evaluation Questions

After explaining the meaning of child rights as I have written above, the teacher assesses the pupils’ understanding before proceeding to the remaining part of the lesson.

  1. The good way of living that every child deserves to enjoy is called ____________
    1. Right child
    2. Child rights
  2. A child is someone that is not up to _________________ years
    1. 14
    2. 18
  3. Child rights are for all the children in ____________
    1. Nigeria
    2. The whole world
  4. Doing the good things that is expected of someone is called ______________
    1. Responsible
    2. Adult
  5. Someone that is 16 years is a _____________
    1. Child
    2. Adult
  6. Someone that is 19 years is a ___________
    1. Child
    2. Adult
  7. Mention three things that will happen if there is no child rights

Step 3 – List of Child Rights

After the teacher ascertains that the pupils understood the meaning of child rights, s/he leads them to list out the child rights. The teacher uses appropriate charts to explain each thoroughly:

The rights of every child in Nigeria are:

1.       Right to Good birth

It is the responsibility of the parents to make sure they can provide a safe environment for their unborn child. This includes proper medical attention and care from conception, birth, and throughout childhood years in a new-born services unit or paediatric centre.

2.       Right to identity

  1. Right to family life
  2. Right to private life
  3. Right to protection from harm
  4. Right to good food and health
  5. Right to free quality education
  6. Right to government responsibility
  7. Right to freedom of thought & religion
  8. Right to freedom from discrimination
  9. Right to freedom of movement
  10. Right to freedom of association
  11. Right to leisure and cultural activities
  12. Right to dignity of the child
  13. Right to freedom from contracts

After mentioning each, the teacher explains what it means thoroughly with examples of common social experiences – refer to the Nigerian Child’s Right Act 2003 (in bibliography for explanation). S/he does this with the aid of charts, pictures and videos (where possible).

Special Notes

While explaining, teacher should communicate desirable social skills that is expected of the pupils towards each other and younger children. For example, when explaining rights to identity; charge pupils not to bully other children by labelling them with undesirable name. Also, discourage hitting other children as a way to observe the right to dignity of the child.

Others include caring for younger children as a way to observe right to protection from harm. And tolerance as a way to observe right to freedom from discrimination.

Similarly, for schools that observes it; this is also a great time to introduce activities such as Food Bank Drive for the World Children’s Day celebration – being on 20th November.

Stage Evaluation Questions

Before the teacher proceeds to the last part of the lesson, s/he assesses the pupils’ understanding of the rights of a child. S/he does this by giving them the following exercises:

Exercise 1 – Painting/Colouring Sketches of Child Rights

The teacher makes outlines/sketches of pictures depicting each of the rights of a child just as the sample below. Then, s/he leads the pupils to identify the right that the sketch represents. Afterwards, s/he leads the pupils to paint/colour the sketch.

Lesson Note – First Term Kindergarten Social Habit Week 1 - National Child Day Activity
Source: Government of Canada’s National Child Day: Activity kit

Exercise 2 – Oral /Written Test on Child Rights

The teacher prepares and asks the pupils questions towards identifying child rights within daily social circles – questions to be included when updating this note.

Exercise 3 – Observing Interaction Between Children

Finally, the teacher pays attention to how the pupils interact with one another and younger children for hints of improvement – and to encourage areas of development where necessary.

Step 4 – The Nigerian Child’s Act (Law)

In the final part of the lesson, the teacher explains to the pupils that Nigeria made Child Rights into law in 2003 – as such, the law is called The Child Right Acts 2003. S/he explains further, this means that any states that sign the law; then people in that state can be arrested and punished if they violate any of the Child Rights.

The teacher goes further and reveals that only eleven states are yet to sign the Child Right Act. These states are Bauchi, Yobe, Kano, Sokoto, Adamawa, Borno, Zamfara, Gombe, Katsina, Kebbi, and Jigawa.

SUMMARY

Before the summative assessment, the teacher summarizes the lesson into a concise note. Then, s/he writes it for the pupils to copy into their exercise books.

Child’s Right

Meaning

Child Rights are the good way of living that every child is deserve to enjoy in order for them to be happy and develop well into responsible adults.

Children are people that are not up to eighteen (18) years of age.

Reasons for Child’s Right
  1. To be happy
  2. To develop well
  3. To become responsible adults
The Rights of a Child

The rights of a child are:

  1. Right to good birth
  2. Right to identity
  3. Right to family life
  4. Right to private life
  5. Right to protection from harm
  6. Right to good food and health
  7. Right to free quality education
  8. Right to government responsibility
  9. Right to freedom of thought & religion
  10. Right to freedom from discrimination
  11. Right to freedom of movement
  12. Right to freedom of association
  13. Right to leisure and cultural activities
  14. Right to dignity of the child
  15. Right to freedom from contracts

Nigeria made the child’s rights into law in 2003. And this law is called the Child’s Rights Act 2003.

EVALUATION

Prior to concluding the lesson, the teacher assesses the pupils’ understanding of the lesson. S/he does this by giving them appropriate exercises based on the content.

CONCLUSION

The teacher concludes Lesson Note – First Term Kindergarten Social Habit Week 1 – by marking the pupils’ exercises. Then, s/he records the marks and provides appropriate feedbacks.

S/he may also lead the class to concentrate more on preparing for the World Children’s Day in November.


Please let us know what you think about this lesson guide through the feedback form below and/or in the comment box.

[qsm quiz=3]

Bibliography

Adebowale, N. (2019, May 11). UPDATED: 11 states in northern Nigeria yet to pass child rights law — UNICEF Official. Retrieved from Premium Times Nigeria: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/329511-12-states-in-northern-nigeria-yet-to-pass-child-rights-law-unicef-official.html

Federal Republic of Nigeria. (2003). CHILD’S RIGHT ACT, 2003. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj0jryvxZTzAhVt7OAKHb5JBpEQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.refworld.org%2Fpdfid%2F5568201f4.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0VZ8P1oBA_nagObSxPRsKE

Makati Medical Centre. (2019, October 30). Celebrating National Children’s Month: The 12 Rights of a Child. Retrieved from Makati Medical Centre: https://www.makatimed.net.ph/news-and-exhibits/news/celebrating-national-childrens-month

UNICEF. (2009). CHILD-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS MANUAL. New York: UNICEF. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/documents/child-friendly-schools-manual

Wikipedia. (2021, February 16). Child Rights Act in Nigeria. Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Rights_Act_in_Nigeria

 

Lesson Note – Pre-Nursery First Term Phonics Week 2 – 3

Introduction to Lesson Note – Pre-Nursery First Term Phonics Week 2 – 3

This Lesson Note – Pre-Nursery First Term Phonics Week 2 – 3 helps you starts off the journey of teaching your child to become fluent reader by age 5, be it from a school classroom or home. By the time your child is 5 years old, going to Primary 1; he or she should be able to read effortlessly.

I do not mean simple reeling off of common words from text such as in the Queen Primer series alone; but actual reading with ability to pronounce “new” or “strange” words with ease. Their pronunciation should be accurate. And they would have acquired firm foundation for spelling and vocabulary.

How Can You Teach Your Child to Read Fluently By 5?

The fastest way to teach your child to read fluently by the time he or she is five years, is through Phonics. This is a method I personally employed over a period of 10 years to teach children how to read. And the result is remarkable. Also, this is the method included as Phonics in the Early Childhood Education curriculum.

I wrote this Phonics guide based on the Scheme of Work for Pre-Nursery. The scheme contains a breakdown and progression of Phonics lesson for pre-schoolers. Private schools that run preschool and day care institutions uses the Pre-Nursery Scheme of Work to prepare children for Nursery education. In government setting however, it is recommended that parents provide this training (care). Even parents of children that attends preschool still augment with home care.

If you are interested in getting the Pre-Nursery Scheme of Work, please click here to download from our website store. Or Click here to download it from our store on Paystack.

Recommended Phonics Textbook for Nigerian Schools

In preparing this guide, I consulted one of the latest Phonics Textbooks for children between 2 -5 years; together with one or two websites – which I list in the references at the end of the post. The Phonics textbook, I Can Read With Phonics, is a systematic approach to learning to read in a fun and easy way.

Activities in the book covers Phonemic awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency and Comprehension. They were creatively presented and cognitively/developmentally appropriate for leaners between 2 -5 years. The author is an experienced teacher and reading instructor.

Published by Ahmadu Bello University Press, I personally recommend this Phonics textbook for parents and Schools in Nigeria. I reference exercises from the book in this guide. To get a copy for your child or to adopt the textbook for your school; kindly send us a request and you will get reply under 5 minutes. Or click here to Chat we us on WhatsApp

How to develop Lesson Plan from Lesson Note – Pre-Nursery First Term Phonics Week 2 -3

I wrote this Lesson Note – Pre-Nursery First Term Phonics Week 2 – 3; in outline of standard lesson plans. However, I advise teachers that want to use this note for official purpose – i.e., to create their lesson plans which they will submit to their supervisors – to follow our guideline to writing standard lesson plan. To make it faster, click here to get my lesson plan template for N300 only. Or click here to get it from paystack.

REMARK: If you find the terms lesson plan and lesson notes confusing, quickly read this article on their differences.

Lesson Note – Pre-Nursery First Term Phonics Week 2 – 3

Topic: Aa – Bb Sounds

OBJECTIVE

At the end of the lesson, the pupils should be able to:

  • produce both sounds (individually), and together
  • name objects that begin with each

PRESENTATION

The teacher teaches the topic, one step after another as I have laid out below.

Step 1: Introduction

To introduce the lesson, the teacher introduces the pupils to the concept of reading:

  • S/he reads and narrates an interesting short story from a book
  • Then the teacher asks the pupils whether the story was interesting
  • Thereafter, s/he asks the pupils if they have heard any other interesting story in the past – and if there is any, willing pupil(s) may be allowed to share their stories.
  • After the pupils’ stories, or if there is none; the teacher asks where stories come from – i.e. where people – such as their parents – get stories from.
  • Following the pupils’ responses, the teacher explains that there are a lot of interesting stories in books. And if only they could read; they would be able to learn a lot more stories. Succeeding this, the teacher asks if they would like to learn how to read.
  • The pupils should say yes. Therefore, the teacher reveals that to be able to read, they must learn about words; and to learn words, they must learn about letters and their sounds.

Finally, the teacher reiterates that each of the letters which the learned in their Letter Work lessons has unique sound. And this is the sound we make when we pronounce. Thence, the teacher reveals they are going to learn the sound of the letters so they would be able to read.

From there, the teacher revises the meaning of the keywords – read, words, letters and sounds – as s/he has taught them in Letter Work.

Step 2: Producing the Sound of Letter A – /a/

Following the introduction, the teacher teaches the pupils the basic (short) sound of letter A – /æ/ as in the following steps:

  • Write or display alphabet A. Then ask the pupils to name it – as a reminder to Letter Work class
  • Explain that the alphabet is so-called (the name) only when we write it alone – i.e., when the letter is standing alone. But if we write the alphabet together with other alphabets (to form a word), such as “An” and “At”; then we make or call the sound of the letter instead of the name. The teacher emphasizes the meaning of a word – as a (meaningful) combination of alphabets.
  • Succeeding the explanation, the teacher makes the short /æ/ sound
  • Then s/he teaches the pupils how to make the short A (/æ/) sound as follows:
    • Direct them to open their mouth so that you (the teacher) can see their tongue and lower teeth
    • Tell them to place their tongue under their lower teeth
    • Finally, let them exclaim ah! briefly

The teacher repeats this with the pupils many times in a fun manner. S/he may make the pupils do it in turns.