Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: What is North America?

Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 1st

Content Standard Addressed: SS1G2 Identify and locate the student’s city, county, state, nation (country),
and continent on a simple map or a globe. (North America)

Technology Standard Addressed: 3 – Knowledge Learner

Selected Technology Tool: Popplet

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable): popplet.com

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

x Remembering x Understanding x Applying x Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

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

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Popplet allows the creation of ideas to be put into a colorful, neat display web. Students are able to add as
many bubbles as they would like to expand on their ideas and explore new topics. This helps visual learners as
they can see the difference in subtopic categories when working on or presenting the topic. As a tool for the
whole class, the teacher can lead a discussion and ask students for contributions and add them to the board
for learning for everyone.

Lesson idea implementation:

The teacher will introduce the standard and ask the students for general knowledge about the world they
live in. More specifically, the students will focus on the continent they inhabit and dive deeper in exploration
about North America. The students will then jot down what they do know about North America on a sheet of
paper and following that, they will move to the computers/personal iPads to create their own Popplet about
North America. They will do further research online and add it to their project. Because this in a new tool to
be used in the classroom, students will have about 3 days to complete the assignment.
Student learning will be assessed when I review the Popplets and ask them to give the teacher a general
understanding of what they learned and one fact they did not know before they started this project. The final
product will be a handmade graphic organizer of North America that the teacher will display in the hallway.
The class will invite other classes to view our work as they pass it in the hallway. The teacher will extend
student learning by encouraging my students to share something new they learned with their friends from
other classes. The class will conclude the lesson with this graphic organizer, too. The teacher will provide
feedback on the assignment before creating the large organizer for the hallway presentation.

Reflective Practice:
This assignment will enable children to understand the process behind grouping and categorizing their ideas
to create a piece of work. They will also become more technologically inclined when putting their ideas into
an electronic organizer. To further extend this lesson, the teacher could encourage students to also find one
new piece of information about the other 6 continents. This will further broaden the understanding of the

Spring 2018_SJB
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)
world around the students. Other technological tools could include online almanacs and maps for further
knowledge about the world.

Spring 2018_SJB