Basic Productivity Tools (BPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Animal Life Cycles

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 2nd grade
Content Standard Addressed: S2L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the life cycles
of different living organisms.

Technology Standard Addressed: S6A Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the
desired objectives of their creation or communication.

Selected Technology Tool: Microsoft PowerPoint

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

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/powerpoint

https://web.seesaw.me/

https://www.ecosystemforkids.com/life-cycle-diagrams-of-animals.html

Bloom’s Digital 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. Students 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.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

During my lesson using Microsoft PowerPoint, UDL will be used through the students being able to complete
their Seesaw post in any way that they choose. Students have many posting options in Seesaw that allow for
differentiation. Students can upload using notes, voice recordings, images, drawings, and so much more. UDL
is also being supported through Microsoft PowerPoint. Students are able to use this tool to create and design
a story book in any way that they wish. Students have the chance to use subtitles, voice recordings, make
changes to design elements, and so much more. Many different learning experiences will be able to take
place as well as many different learning styles

Lesson idea implementation:

I will start the lesson by taking a pre-assessment. I will start by asking students if they know what a life cycle
is. After, I will share images of animals with the students and ask them if they can identify any of the life
cycles. I will then introduce the content in the standard. Students will learn about why it is important to be
SBooker, 2020
 Basic Productivity Tools (BPT)
able to obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the life cycles of different living organisms. We
will start the lesson by watching a life cycle video on BrainPOP. Then, I will have students go into Seesaw and
answer the prompt: “Tell me about a life cycle of an animal of your choice.” Students will be allowed to
decide how they want to share their answers to the prompt in Seesaw. Then, as a class, we will share out
some of our responses from Seesaw. After this activity is completed, I will introduce Microsoft PowerPoint to
the students. I will walk through how to use the application and how you can use the different tools inside of
it. I will then have students create a story book that helps explain the life cycle of a living animal of their
choice. Students will have full creativity in the making of their story book and will be allowed to create it any
way they would like in Microsoft PowerPoint.

After students have completed this project, they will upload it into Seesaw so that every student will have
access to them. I will then make comments to the post via Seesaw. I will then have the students share the
stories with the class. After every story has been shared and the lesson is complete, I will print the books and
place them into the class library for students to read to become more familiar with life cycles of animals they
did not complete the project over. If students need more time with the assignment, they will be allowed to
work on it at home, in free time, during after school programs, etc.

Reflective Practice:

This lesson could be used as an introduction to 2nd grade life science. This is a component on obtaining,
evaluating, communicating communicate information about the life cycles of different living organisms. I feel
like this lesson and the activities incorporated could impact student engagement and allow for independent
creativity and thinking to flow. To further extend this lesson, I could allow for students to learn about the
different animals students completed the story book on and use this to create compare and contrast
diagrams of different life cycles. I could provide assignments in BrainPOP and Seesaw to further go into life
cycles of other living organisms that the students may not have touched on. U could also use interactive life
cycle diagrams of animals and plants as a technology tool to expand on this lesson. I could allow this tool to
also help students in developing their story books.

SBooker, 2020