Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Follow Your Train of Thought

Content Area/Grade Level(s): 1st Grade
Content Standard Addressed: S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the basic
needs of plants and animals.
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, light, and nutrients) and
animals (air, water, food, and shelter).
c. Design a solution to ensure that a plant or animal has all of its needs met

Technology Standard Addressed: 6c: Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively

by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.

Guiding Question(s): How can I visualize (model) the plant life cycle or the basic needs of plants
and animals for myself and others to understand?

Selected Technology Tool: Popplet is a way for students to create their own creative visualization
of the plant life cycle and understanding the basic needs of plants in a way they understand it and
then can explain it to others.

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): Students get the choice of which standard they want to
engage with from the explanation of the plant life cycle to the comparison of animal and plant basic
needs using the Popplet platform to create their own unique “train of thought”. They will get to be
TFrazier, 2021
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

engaged in a way they choose as well as have their needs be represent with teacher guidance and
extra assistance available, and finally express their individual learning process using all the gadgets
the website has to offer to engage the students.

Lesson idea implementation: Teacher will introduce the project by showing their own Popplet train
of thought to students and then students will get the chance to create their own. The guiding
question is “How can I visualize (model) the plant life cycle or the basic needs of plants and animals
for myself and others to understand?” Student learning will be assessed by examining their final
product and seeing if they successfully created a train of thought concerning the plant life cycle or
the basic needs of plants and animals. The student’s unique final product will be shared with the
class for student collaboration and thoughts to be shared and this is how the lesson will be
concluded.
Reflective Practice: In the future the lesson could be explained for children to pick their own
platform for creating their “train of thought” to include more student engagement and
representation. I think the creation of a train of thought to solidify student’s knowledge of these
standards will be incredibly impactful for their learning experience.

TFrazier, 2021