Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETS•S—Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Lauren Thomason

Position First Grade Teacher

School/District Paulding County School System

E-mail lthomason@paulding.k12.ga.us

Phone 678-910-3451

Grade Level(s) First Grade

Content Area Science

Time line One week Science Unit

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.

Page 1 of 8
 S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the basic needs of
plants.
a. Develop models to identify the parts of a plant—root, stem, leaf, and flower.
b. Ask questions to compare and contrast the basic needs of plants (air, water,
Content light, and nutrients).
Standards

Page 2 of 8
 Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct
knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for
themselves and others. Students:
a. plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources
for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of
purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to
their goals. Students:
a. choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their
creation or communication.
b. create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new
creations.
c. communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of
digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.
d. publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended
audiences.
Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve
problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions. Students:
a. know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating
innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
b. select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design
constraints and calculated risks.
c. develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.
d. exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-
NETS*S ended problems.
Standards:

Page 3 of 8
Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

This lesson plan will take place over one week. Students will work in a whole group setting, small group setting,
and individually.

Days 1-2: To introduce our unit, students will be given the following items to explore: cotton, rubber, wood, and
seeds. Students will discuss with partners what items come from plants. The teacher will unpack the standard by
reading the standard to the students, circling vocabulary they might not know, writing a kid friendly standard, and
describe what they could do to meet the standard. Students will learn the parts of a plant through an interactive
Nearpod. Students will then take a quiz at the end of the Nearpod to determine if they understand the parts of the
plant. Finally, students will explore outside to find each part of a plant. Students will take an ipad outside to take
pictures of the 4 parts, root, stem, leaf, and flower. Students will them create an iMovie using the still images.

Days 3-4: Then, the teacher will read the book, From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons. While reading a book, the
teacher will create an anchor chart of the life cycle of a plant. Students will then login to Canvas and complete the
life cycle of a plant sort from the following website:
http://d3tt741pwxqwm0.cloudfront.net/KET/evlearnket/SeedToFruit/SeedToFruit_v2.html . Students will then use
their science journals to draw and label each part of the cycle. Then, students will describe the life cycle of plants
on Flipgrid.

Days 5: Students will create an adobe spark on what they learned about plants. Students will be given a checklist
to make sure they have every component required. Students will also take an end of unit assessment on Quizizz.

Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers.

Days 1-2: What are the functions of each plant part?

Day 3-4: How do plants provide for their basic needs?

Day 5: How do plants grow, live and survive in the world?

Page 4 of 8
Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

Students will use the following tools to produce and illustrate their learning:

Days 1-2: Students will be assessed in multiple ways throughout the weeklong unit. First, students will be assessed
by a quiz at the end of the Nearpod, where students identify parts of a plant. Then, students will be assessed on the
creation of their iMovie. Students will have a checklist as an informal assessment.

Days 3-4: Students will be assessed on the video of their Flipgrid describing the life cycle of plants. To differentiate
students will have a template with pictures of each cycle. They can them explain using words on Flipgrid. Students
will have a rubric as an informal assessment.

Day 5: Students will create an Adobe Spark about what they learned about plants. Students will have a checklist to
assure they have every part. Also, students will be assessed on Quizizz which will be the formative assessment will
take place at the end of the unit. Teacher can set up no timers and read aloud for differentiation. Also, students will
complete a Google Forms survey on their thoughts on the plant unit.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbcBXcwjJ2HPkUrGJjgCltxP-HMD8Q1I5OiVHtrYYGMNZ-
TQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

Quizizz-allows students to play a gamified quiz against each other. Students will use this function as a quick check as
well as formal assessment for this standard for report card purposes. Students will take the assessment at the end of the
unit found here:
Adobe Spark- is a video creation website where photos, short videos, and sound whether it be voice over or music can
be laced together to form professional looking videos for public viewing. I will use this resource to provide students
with a way to express what they learned about plants. Here is a previous example that I created to show students.
https://spark.adobe.com/video/PG04PoL5L0qpG
FlipGrid: is a website that allows video discussions. Students will create a life cycle of a plant and discuss each part on
FlipGrid. Students can also post responses to other students.
Nearpod: Nearpod is an interactive tool like PowerPoint where students can follow along with the teacher. Students
will learn about the parts of a plant.
iMovie: iMovie is a video editing software. Students can insert pictures, videos, sounds, and music to iMovie. Students
will use the pictures they took outside to create it into a slideshow/movie.
Google Forms-Google Forms will be used to survey students at the end of the unit.

Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can
you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)

Page 5 of 8
 Students will need to know the basics of operating a computer and logging into Canvas. Students have practiced accessing
Canvas, which is where the links for this unit will be stored. Students who need extra support will work with the EIP teacher
who comes in at this time. Students will also need to have the knowledge of the first-grade standard, S1L1. Obtain,
evaluate, and communicate information about the basic needs of plants to complete the culminated activity. Students will
also need background knowledge of how to operate the following websites: Nearpod, FlipGrid, iMovie, Adobe Spark, and
Quizizz. Students will be introduced to each technology tool before creating their own. Creating the iMovie is what students
may find the most challenging due to never using it before.

Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

Day 1-2: Students will work in small groups, whole groups, and individually. The setting will be in the
classroom. I will check out a class set of iPads and computers for the week from our county technology
checkout center. Students are familiar with operating both iPads and Chromebooks. First, students will work
as a whole group to unpack the standard and explore items that could be a plant to increase engagement.
Then, students will move to individual work to go through the lesson on Nearpod. An issue that could arise is
iPads not being connected to the internet. I will provide students with the login before hand to correct that
issue and I will also check iPads before beginning lesson. Nearpod is downloaded to the county iPads which
makes it easy for student navigation. Finally, students will work with a partner to take pictures of the parts of
the plant. Students will then use iMovie to create a movie explaining the parts of the plant. Uploading to
iMovie could arise issues because they have never used it before. I will make sure students understand what
the buttons

Day 3-4: Students will individually complete a Flipgrid explaining the life cycle of a plant. Students will have
access to Flipgrid on the iPads. From there they will enter the code or scan the QR code to access the
board. Students might have trouble typing in the password correctly. Before hand I will make sure to explain
the difference between capital and lowercase letters on technology.

Day 5: Students will work with a partner to complete an Adobe Spark on everything the learned about plants.
Students will have to login to Adobe Spark using their school email address. I will have those printed and
laminated for easy typing. I will also have a keyboard highlighted with the keys to push when needing the @
sign. Students could possibly need help spelling when searching for pictures. Together we will make a word
bank for words they might use.

The final problem that could arise is time management. Students often work at different paces. To encourage
everyone to stay within the time limit, I will use timers for each step. If students do not finish during that time
they have to stop and complete during morning work time.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or
creativity levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic,
relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge
and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other
and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?

Page 6 of 8
 There are many research-based instructional strategies that are being used in this lesson. To start, when
unpacking the standard, students are setting goals and objectives for the unit. Each day the teacher will review
the goal for the day to keep students on track and to have a purpose for the learning. The next learning strategy
that is being used is cooperative learning. During the use of Adobe Spark and iMovie, students are working
together to create one project. Students will be communicating with one another to help meet the goal/standard
for the day. The final strategy that I feel stands out in this lesson is modeling. Before students start creating, I will
model how to use each technology tool. When beginning each of the days, I will be using an explicit teaching
approach. When students are ready to show what they learned, I will become a facilitator and monitor for
questions. Students should be active participants in their learning and take personal accountability with their
learning. Students will be using two of the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy during this unit. First, students will
be creating. Students will use the programs, iMovie and Adobe Spark to creatively show what the learned.
Finally, students will be analyzing and evaluating. Students will analyze their work with checklists throughout the
unit. We also analyze other students work using the same checklist. Students will also be participating in group
discussions daily. Anytime I incorporate technology tools into my lesson student’s engagement increases. They
are eager to share what they learned. Students will also be learning 21 st century skills and how to apply them to
their learning.

Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

To differentiate instruction, students will have access to the Read and Write extension that is provided by the
county. For students who are unable to read they will be paired with a partner who is able to read and when
working individually they will be provided with picture directions. I will also allow groups to have extra time in
the morning, if needed. For my extension students, I will encourage them to go beyond the requirements for the
rubric and encourage creativity. I will also allow them to complete research before hand to learn about the topic
of plants themselves.

Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
• Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
• In what ways was this lesson effective?
• What went well and why?
• What did not go well and why?
• How would you teach this lesson differently?)

The closing event at the end of this unit is the creation of the Adobe Spark video. Students will be assessed
multiple ways throughout the unit.
 At the end of the unit, I will give students a Google Survey where they can express if they like the lessons
or did not like the lessons. This will allow me to know if students found the lesson meaningful.
 I feel this lesson is effective because students are using technology every day. Students are still learning a
Georgia science standard, but they can showcase what they learned through creative outlets.
 Overall, the unit went well. Students were familiar with most tools being used which allows them to really
showcase their learning.
 One thing that did not go well during the lesson was iMovie. Students had no proficiency in using that tool.
They had more questions and time went over that day.
 I would first take out iMovie and just allow them to create an Adobe Spark, students seem to understand
the program better. Finally, I would also like to have them create their own research about plants and allow
the teacher to completely become the facilitator.

Page 7 of 8
Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
Overall, the unit went very well, and students were able to master the first-grade science standard. If I were
giving advice to other teachers, I would make sure to emphasize modeling to students with every technology
tool available. I would also make sure to have resources for them to problem solve what to do next if a problem
arises. One problem that I had was students having questions. When students needed help, they often just
paused what they were doing and would wait on me to come help them. I feel this could have been reduced
with more explicit modeling and pictures/steps for them to follow.

Page 8 of 8