Patricia Dianto-Ucciferri

Reflection for Life Science Lesson

Constructing a model of a plant cell: 5th grade self-contained

The self-contained classroom teacher was able to pre-teach all the vocabulary
before coming to the STEM lab. Only two fifth graders came to the lab to construct
a plant cell using playdough. I reviewed the parts and their functions of the plant
cell using an anchor chart. The students struggled with the vocabulary. The next
step was for to create their model. After the students constructed their model, they
used toothpicks and labels to label the parts of the cell. Some of the parts were
already labeled for them by the teachers.
The students struggled to read the words and recall the parts of the cell. They
needed a lot of prompting. I felt as if this concept might be very challenging for
them. They enjoyed using the playdough.
The next time I do this lesson, I will spend more time on the vocabulary even
though the classroom teacher had taught the content ahead of time. They needed
more help with vocabulary.
Student data from performance on a task with recommendations for next
steps
For this assessment, students were asked to label the parts of the animal and plant
cell. They struggled to label them without prompting. In order to aid students with
mastery, more time spent on vocabulary ahead of time is needed. Ideas were given
to the classroom teacher as how to move forward because they did not return to the
STEM lab. Examples are using an interactive vocabulary foldable, for the ipad with

interactive cell models iCell, and using the foam model of the cells in order to show
the parts.