Classroom Blog and Website Creation Tools

Lesson Idea Name: Stars

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 4th
Content Standard Addressed:
S4E1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to compare and contrast the physical attributes of
stars and planets
Technology Standard Addressed:
6. Creative Communicator
Selected Technology Tool:
☐ Blog ☐ Wiki ☒ Other: Weebly Website Creation Tool (list):

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libKVRa01L8
Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):
☐ Remembering ☐ Understanding ☒ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☒ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Engagement: Using technology to look up information
Representation: Students can access many sites
Action and Expression: Letting the students use a variety of products

Lesson idea implementation:

The students will be asked to create a page about the planet’s sizes. The class will be broken into small groups
and given a planet to research. They can create the page using things like Prezi or other creation sites. Once
they finish the page they will all add it to a Weebly website for the class. It will take a few days of group work.
They will be assessed based on the rubric of if they included all the parts. At the end the whole class will look
at all of the planets and compare the sizes as well as what they are made up of. I will ask them why they think
the planets are different sizes. We will conclude with a video about the planets. I will give feedback before we
look at all of the pages as a class.
Importance of technology:
The tool is important to make one cohesive product at the end. We could go over all the parts separately but
the project works best by looking at all the planets next to each other since we are comparing the planets as
well as looking at the solar system as a whole. The students will use laptops/computers to conduct research
on their planet.
Internet Safety and Student Privacy:
The main risk of this project would be students putting their names on their page and then posting it to the
site. The site would have the school name on it and so the student’s name could be linked to the school. This
could be avoided by asking the students to put their initials, numbers or some other anonymous identifier
instead of their whole name.
Reflective Practice:
This project will help introduce students to the solar system and provide more information about the planets.
Going from here the lesson could be extended by also researching the planets composition or distances
between each other. This could also be reviewed with a video or other activity.

Summer 2017_SJB
 Classroom Blog and Website Creation Tools

Summer 2017_SJB