I now get to teach three lessons in Mrs. Thomas's fifth grade classroom! Since they are learning about ecosystems right now, I thought it would be wonderful to create 3D mini biomes based on what they are learning. After reviewing information about biomes, I showed the students how to make a pyramid-shaped diorama out of a piece of paper and how to add pop-up elements to their biome.
After that, each student selected a biome to focus on and added drawings of plants, animals, and weather from that biome to their diorama. It was fun to see what they came up with. My favorite part was during the review, when students shared information they had learned.
One student just wanted to create a Minecraft scene instead of a biome, so I talked to him about the weather in the game. Since it is similar to a desert, I suggested he make a desert biome and add Minecraft characters later, but he still struggled to complete the project. This made me consider ways to engage unmotivated students and how I want to approach that in my own classroom. I'm really excited to implement student-centered learning and open-ended projects, to see how these strategies in my future classroom to see how they affect engagement.