Basic Productivity Presentation Tool

Lesson Idea

Lesson Idea Name: Plants and their needs

Grade Level/Content Area: 1st Grade Science
Content Standard Addressed: S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information
about the basic needs of plants and animals.
ISTE Technology Standard Addressed:  What would you like students to know and
Creative Communicator – 1.6.a. Students be able to do by the end of this lesson:
choose the appropriate platforms and Students will be able to describe the basic
tools for meeting the desired objectives needs of plants.
of their creation or communication
What is the student learning goal for this lesson idea?
Students will use the e-book video made from PowerPoint to learn what plants need to
grow/survive. They will then create a similar story using PowerPoint.

Selected Instructional Software Tool:

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

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Level(s):

X Remembering X Understanding X Applying X Analyzing ☐ Evaluating X Creating

How will this lesson be implemented? Check all that apply.

X Teacher-directed: There is no student voice and choice in the activities. Students are guided by the
teacher's direction and expectations.

☐ Student-Led: Students are given voice and choice in the activities. They may select the topic for
presentation and/or determine the tool they will use to meet the learning goal. Products of
learning will be uniquely designed. Teacher simply facilitates the learning in a lesson like this.

X Project-based and/or Publishable: Students are completing projects to demonstrate their learning
and the projects can be shared outside of the classroom. This objective could be reached by
displaying the project on the school’s morning newscast, posting the project to the classroom
blog, presenting it to another class, or publishing it via an outside source.

Lesson idea implementation:

In a whole group discussion, the teacher will ask students what animals need to survive. Once
that conversation has come to a good stopping point the teacher will then ask students to
think about what plants need to survive. Once the students have had a moment to think the
teacher will tell students to hold onto their answers while they listen/watch the e- book. The
book describes the basic needs of plants through a story about a garden. The students will be
 Basic Productivity Presentation Tool
Lesson Idea

prompted to discuss what the basic needs are of a plant based on the e-book and how their
thought may have changed after the e-book. They will then be assigned a creative story
assignment about taking care of a plant having them use PowerPoint. Students Tmay present
their stories to the class if they wish to do so.

Managing engagement: Describe a way to use this technology in a way that gets students
actively involved in authentic tasks and contexts?
The story telling e-book and audio is designed to be engaging as it is read in a fluent, positive
reader voice and written/created by the teacher. Younger students will be engaged by this.
This relates to the UDL of engagement. Since this is a lesson for younger students, co-
engagement would need to be enforced to create the stories. This allows for teachers to
assist the students with the program.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL):
Utilizing a story that a student’s teacher has made will keep students engaged and
excited when learning about a certain topic at this younger age level. This follows the
engagement portion of the UDL framework as the story itself is above their reading level so
the audio story telling with pictures and words will keep them within the representation of
the content focus.

Reflecting on enhanced learning:

This is a great method to not only keep students engaged but to also help teachers represent
their students a bit more. Students can be characters in stories created by teachers, and it
will help students feel represented in their classroom. I’m excited to use this in my future
classroom and see how excited my students are!