Lesson Five, 

Classroom Mini Museum, Showcasing our Collections     

• Students demonstrate a working knowledge for alternative criteria when sorting and describing their collections.

• Students begin to discriminate and refine their collections to meet their specific criteria.

• Third Grade Speaking Standards: "Make descriptive presentations that use concrete sensory details to set forth and support unified impressions of people places thing, and experiences"

Time Required

• One class period for investigating student collections and discovering how they might be sorted and described.

Advance Preparation

• Send home parent letter, Creating our Classroom Museum describing how to participate with collections from home..
• Creating classroom space for displays

Materials / Resources Required  

• Students' collecting boxes, field logs and/or collections from home
• One large sheet, desk top size, display paper for mapping out individual display floor plans
• Markers and paper for labeling displays and sectioning off table top display rooms
• Display space for students to set up their individual museums
• Invitations to invite families and others to the mini museum's "grand opening"
• Internet access to exhibit museum created in: Virtual Museum Canada, www.virtualmuseum.ca/English/index_flash.html

Vocabulary

• review previous vocabulary for describing the attributes of objects: manmade, from nature, shape, color, texture, soft, round, hard, flat, rough, smooth, metallic, plastic, fragile, ceramic, plant material, valuable, things found at school, things found at home, shiny, bumpy, smooth, etc...

Concepts

• Developing and asking meaningful questions
• Collecting data
• Analyzing to identify relationships and logical conclusions
• Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information
• Sequencing and prioritizing information
• Observing patterns

Focus Questions (and responses)

• ? What are some ways my treasures can be sorted... (things found at school, things found at home etc.)

• ? What is my criteria for sorting groups the ways I chose to sort them... (shiny rocks, bumpy rocks, smooth rocks, rocks with holes, flat rocks)

• ? How do I feel about some of my items...    ? Is there a value I can assign to each item...

• ? Are some of my items less interesting to me than others... 

• ?  Which items belong in my collection and which ones should I discard or save for later consideration...

• ? Would I be interested in trading some items with another student...

• ? What are some other objects that could fit in my collection that I don't have yet, that I have yet to find...

Procedures

• Anything brought from home must be approved of  by a parent using the permission form in the letter, Creating our Classroom Museum.
• If students wish to include collected items from home that are of value or family significance, students are encouraged to substitute the item for a drawing or a photo.

Activities

Day Five

1. Give each student a large sheet of (desk sized) paper for displaying and labeling their collection.

2. Ask students to label, by writing directly on their paper, each of their categories and to be prepared to defend their classification criteria.

3. Give each student approximately 15 seconds to share their categories with the class if they have made any changes or additions from Day Four.

4. Students are given the opportunity to "carousel" and look at the items other students have collected and categorized..

5. On your signal, ask students to move from desk to desk, show their respect for others' items by not handling the displays while they view their peers' collections.

6. This classroom fieldtrip will be a preview to the culminating unit activity, creating your Classroom Mini Museum, Lesson 4.

7. As students return to their own collections, use Focus Questions five through nine, listed above, to stimulate further evaluation of collections.

8. Replace and store items  in student collection boxes.  Roll large paper and save for Mini Museum "Grand Opening"

9. Set up a date for a "grand opening" and send out invitations.

Extensions or Follow-up

• Researching an established collection the students or a family member may already have at home.
• Using field guides from the library or from on-line, (birds, sea shells, plants) students should further identify items listed in their field logs for accurate labeling.
• Students may also exhibit their on-line museum created during their visit  to: Virtual Museum Canada, www.virtualmuseum.ca/English/index_flash.html

Illustrative Materials: parent letter, Creating our Classroom Museum, 

Evaluation:

Teacher Observation Evaluation of Ability to Sort and Classify Items in a Collection:

IF STUDENT EXHIBITS THIS BEHAVIOR...	THEN...
Creates two groups and offers little or no justification for the collection.	Re-Teach grouping objective
Creates three to four groups yet offers minimal selection criteria	Re-teach generation of criteria
Creates three or more groups and is able to name two or more attributes for each group to justify selection.	Continue with creating a second set of groups based on a different criteria.
Creates multiple groups, using explicit attributes, and can re-arrange the collection to fit a different criteria given new attributes.	Mastery of grouping objective

Collector's Field Log

Evaluation*:

Complete Collector's Field Log, complete page for each  item in collection box, detailed illustrations and descriptions.	Exceeds Expectations	50-46 Points	A+
Complete Collector's Field Log, page for each item collected, basic illustrations and descriptions, no evidence of detail.	Meets Expectations	41-45 Points 40-36 Points	A B
Partially completed Collector's Field Log, missing information on log sheets, all objects represented in log.	Minimal Effort	31-35 Points	C
Incomplete Collector's Field Log, log pages incomplete, pages do not match items in collection box.	Needs Improvement	30  Points or less	D

                        *(Points are suggested, may be modified as necessary)

  

	Outline Time Line		Introductory Lesson "My Gatherings" Creating a Collection
Lesson Two Vocabulary Treasure Hunt Digital Reference Desk		Lesson Three  Organizing My Collection Sort and Classify
	Lesson Four "Virtual Museum Tour" On-Line Dig		Lesson Five Classroom Mini Museum Showcasing Collections

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