Group Two Begins: Inner planets in Outer space?

As one group finishes, another is right on their heals ready to go. 

Group two did an amazing job with both of their lessons. So far, Group Two has been my favorite to watch. Everyone in Group Two talked to the children in such enthusiastic voices and you couldn't help but be drawn in, looking for more information. The direct instruction lesson plan was called, "The Universe and Everything in it." During this lesson, the students learned about galaxies, the sun, and the inner planets. I think the trick group two taught the students was very helpful in getting them to remember the order and the names of the planets. The trick involved using their hands to create the first letter of each of the planets. The students would then remember that Venus was the second from the Sun because to form a V, they had to hold up two fingers. Then they would know the Earth was the third from the Sun because they would have to hold up three fingers. For Mercury and Mars, the students would just have to remember which came first in the order. 

I really liked Group Two's use of the Smart Board. There were several opportunities for the students to get up out of their seats and interact with the board. I thought that was a great way to keep the students engaged in the lesson. Group Two was also the first group to use videos in their presentation. I thought this was a great idea. The students were all really excited too because they watch YouTube at home and thought it was very cool to be able to watch it in school. The use of cartoon characters on the slides also really captured the students' attention and got them excited to learn. Yet another example of how Group Two captured the students' full attention and engagement during their lesson was the use of the Kahoot. The students were all very competitive during the game and despite being a bit loud during this activity, I believe the teachers were able to gauge the students' understanding.  
Group Two's downfall was their note-taking sheet. The students were given the sheet at the beginning of the lesson and were told that they would have to fill it out during the lesson. However, the students did not remember to actually fill out the blanks as the lesson went on. By the time the teachers in group two had noticed what happened, it was too late to correct the mistake. However, they were able to push through to the end of the lesson and learned from their mistake. My group will be using a note sheet for the students to follow along as well. We made sure to add a star on the slides to indicate that something needs to be written and underlined the specific word that should be written in. I hope the students will be able to follow along efficiently writing our notes.