What would be a good lesson to teach to 3rd grades on how to follow directions?

Question

I am in highschool and i want to be a teacher. I am in a program that has me go observe at elementary schools. I have to teach a 15 minute lesson how to follow directions. I kind of have an idea on what to do but i dont really know what to say to them like the "moral of the story" sort of thing . I thought of drawing symbols on a piece of paper and not letting them see it but give them directions like "put a oval in the top right hand connor". Then at the end we'd reval the picture and see who followed along the best. But my problem is i dont know what to say to them . Thanks for all of your help!

Answer 1

Hmmm... too bad you only have 15 minutes. One of the best ways to teach this age group is by getting them physically involved. There's a simple exercise I've used called "obstacles." I ask for two volunteers. One child is blindfolded and the other is not. The one with the blindfold stands at a starting place in the room. Once the blindfold is on, desks, chairs, etc are arranged to create obstacles. The other student stands on a sturdy box (or other safe structure) so they can see clearly. They proceed to give verbal directions to help their classmate maneuver safely to the finish line. It's a fun activity for all learning styles and you can followup with lots of questions to check for understanding. Students can then practice following directions as they put the room back in order.

Answer 2

Here are a few following directions activities.

1. This can be done individually or you can divide kids into teams. Either way, it can be turned into a contest, which kids usually like. Ask the students how many directions they think they can follow. Then give them a series of verbal directions. How many you give them at a time will depend on their ages, both developmentally and physcially. How many do you think they can do? With ESE middle schoolers I started with 5 or 7. Simple things like touch the window, do 3 jumping jacks, knock on the door, shake hands with someone. Add on, with the kids taking turns, and see how high they can go.

2. You can also write out a list of directions to do a common activity, like make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Cut them up and put the strips in an envelope. Tell the students to put them in order. Glue them to another paper. You can leave out a different step from each envelope. See if the students can tell you what's missing. Talk about why it's important, and what would happen if you skipped a direction. This can also be done as a whole group activity with sentence strips on a chalkboard with magnets.

3. Choose a common activity like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Bring in the things you need to actually make one. Ask the students to write directions for how to make a sandwich. Chances are they'll forget things like "Open the bag of bread. and "Take peanut butter out of the cabinet." Don't tell who wrote the directions, but follow them exactly as they're written. Talk about why it's important to follow directions, and why it's important to ask if you don't understand the directions.

Whatever activity you choose it's important to talk about why following directions is so important - how it can save you time, work, aggravation, etc. Give an example of sports teams, and how if two teams were given directions for how to play how funny the game would look. What if one soccer team thought they could touch the ball with their hands because they didn't follow directions? What if a basketball player tackled the other players like football players do?

You can also remind students that everyone, no matter who they are has to follow directions, even the President. You might also start (or end) the lesson by listing all of the times they followed directions so far that day. This can be a web, which students can make into a writing assignment if you want them to.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I actually remember one of the lessons I had in this area. We were given a paper with many questions on it, it may have been math problems but i do not remember. The instinct was to jump in and start answering questions. We were not allowed to talk to others about what we were doing. The directions read something like: Write your name on this paper and throw it in the garbage can.
You may be able to do something like this, maybe modify it so the first one who does this correctly wins a prize or something. It would be a great lead in to some other exercise as well.
Giving directions for drawing a picture using shapes is a good idea. Just be careful with your directions. Some children interpret things differently. I was in a sixth grade class and they were asked to draw a picture of a ball on top of a box. Most children had a circle on top of a square, but others had what looked like a circle in a square. The latter were looking down at the box vs. looking straight at the box.
Good Luck!

Answer 4

What you are describing is like a game they used to do on tv. It might have been called pictionary. One person would tell the other person what to draw and the second person would follow the directions and make something that either did or didn't resemble the picture. Why don't you get a pictionary game and try it.

Again with the too bad it's only fifteen minutes. The best way to teach following directions is to have a treasure hunt. Each clue takes you to another clue until you find the treasure.

Answer 5

I did something like this at school, many years ago. It was directions to make a paper aeroplane, number one was "read all instructions before you being making the aeroplane" - then 2 - 19 was making the plane, but number 20 said "Now you have read the instructions, write your name on the peice of paper and sit quietly with your arms folded" ... the whole class made the plane!

Answer 6

How about starting with a game of Simon Says. That is the ultimate direction following game- after you are done with that do the one you talked about- but i wouldn't say who followed the best because - I would just compare pictures and see how close they are to each others. Keep it positive!

Answer 7

When I learned my directions I was taught "Never Eat Soggy Waffles" Never being north Eat being east Soggy being south and Waffles being West
to follow simpler directions maybe if you have a playground you could get permission to take the class outside and do an obstacle cource just shout out directions and see if they can follow them it could just be a short obstacle course like walk to the fence and go to the slide to the west see if they can follow N E S W

Answer 8

prepare a worksheet the first instruction should be:

Read all the instructions before you begin to answer.

You can put in all sort of outrageus thing for them to do. guive at least 18 to twenty instructions, and only 2 minutes to complete the whole worksheet.

The last insruction should be:

Now that you have read all the instructions just write your name at the top of the paper and ignore the rest.

It works wonderful, students will of course ignore the first instruction and mess up the whole paper before they realize the trick, and by the time they do it will be too late.

If you still have questions about it, just email me I will be happy to send you a copy of my worksheet.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

You could have them write directions; inevitably they will forget a step or two and then you can go back through and point out where they are missing something.