Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Locating the major rivers of the United States
Content Area/Grade Level(s): third
Content Standard Addressed: SS3G1 Locate major topographical features on a physical map of the United
States.

Technology Standard Addressed: Standard 6a: Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools
for meeting the desired objectives and their creation or communication.

Guiding Question(s):
Where on the map of the United States are the major rivers located?

Selected Technology Tool:

The students will be using Padlet at the end of the lesson to pick one of the major rivers they
learned about and tell me a specific state it runs through and a more detailed location in that state
such as what region, the climate there, the terrain, etc.

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

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ☐ Understanding ☒ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐

Creating

Levels of Technology Integration:

☐ Infusion Level: Students may work at a higher Bloom’s Level, but they do not have any “Voice or
Choice” during the activity and most of the decisions are made by the teacher.

☒ Integration Level: We would like to see ALL lessons/activities reach this level. The project is
student-driven and student-led. Students should have “Voice and Choice” in the activities,
selecting the topic of study and determining the technology tool to demonstrate mastery of the
standard. The teacher becomes more of a facilitator.

☐ Expansion Level: The projects created are shared outside of the classroom, publishing student
work and promoting authorship. This could be reached by showcasing the project on the school’s
morning newscast, posting the project to the classroom blog, or publishing via an outside source.
Your student’s projects must be shared locally or globally to meet this level.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

In the activity students will be learning about the major rivers of the United States. The technology I
have chosen to use in this lesson will support all students by giving them the opportunity to reflect
on what they have learned and choose a specific river to give more detail on the location. This will
support engagements because all students will pick different places to give more detail about and

TFrazier, 2021
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

they will get to share that with their classmates. Students will get to represent their knowledge of
the lesson and have a choice in what they want to research.

Lesson idea implementation:

For this lesson the students and I will look at the location of the Mississippi, Ohio, Rio Grande,
Colorado, Hudson, and St. Lawrence river. The students will get into pairs and all have a map of the
united states. They will then draw the rivers on the map and decorate it how they would like. After
they have created their maps, they will then write a table with all the rivers and the states they flow
through. They will be assessed on if they put the rivers in the correct place and if they put the
correct states that the rivers flowed through. After they have done that their exit pass will be to go
onto Padlet and pick a river and a state in flows through. Once they have picked, they will describe
the location of where that river flows through in that state and post it on Padlet for the class to see.
Reflective Practice:
This activity will impact student learning by letting them all work together and with me to find the
locations then taking that information and creating a representation for themselves. To further
advance the lesson students could have been asked to draw the terrain surround the river in all
locations. I technology tool that could have advanced the project would be a PowerPoint
representation from me showing them all the rivers and what they look like in all states.

TFrazier, 2021