PLANNING TOOL

Project Planner
How to use the document: This planner offers guidance on how you might plan your daily lessons in the project calendar. Pick and choose what feels necessary to
achieve the learning outcome and advance product development for all students.

1. Project Overview
Project Title Helping the environment

Driving Question What are you going to do in order to help create a better environment? How is this going to help?

Grade Level/ Subject First grade

Time Frame Five days

Project Summary This specific project is going to help students focus in on details of prior knowledge, apply them, then persuade their audience on
how/why it will be effective. This allows the students to generate ideas, focus in on a topic, and use their persuasion skills to show
how this way/thing will help the environment.

Public Product(s) Individual products will be generating ideas and persuading the audience with what they have learned and believe will be the best
Individual and Team way. Team products will be the prior knowledge part of this project with learning about the different ways we were hurting the earth
and generating ideas on how we can fix these problems.

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PLANNING TOOL Project Planner

2. Learning Goals
Standards Work on their persuasive writing skills. They will focus in on first grade VA SOL writing 1.13. That part of the writing SOL is
focused on “The student will write to communicate ideas for a variety of purposes”.

Key Vocabulary Collaborate, argument, logical reasoning, persuasive paragraph.

Literacy Skills Expository writing, presentation of ideas with evidence, engage in collaborative conversation.

Success Skills Critical thinking, collaboration, self-management

Rubric(s) VA SOL Rubric 1st Grade

Writing

1.12 The student will print legibly.

a) Form letters accurately.
b) Space words within sentences.
c) Use the alphabetic code to write unknown words phonetically.

1.13 The student will write to communicate ideas for a variety of purposes.
a) Generate ideas.
b) Focus on one topic.
c) Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people, places, things, and events.
d) Use complete sentences in final copies.
e) Begin each sentence with a capital letter and use ending punctuation in final copies.
f) Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words and phonetically regular words in final copies.
g) Share writing with others.

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PLANNING TOOL Project Planner

1.14 The student will use available technology for reading and writing.

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PLANNING TOOL Project Planner

3. Project Milestones
Directions: Use this section to create a high-level overview of your project. Think of this as the broad outline of the story of your project, with the milestones
representing the significant ‘moments’ or ‘stages’ within the story. As you develop these, consider how the inquiry process is unfolding and what learning will take
place. The Project Calendar (Section 4) will allow you to build out the milestones in greater detail.

Milestone #1 Milestone #2 Milestone #3 Milestone #4 Milestone #5 Milestone #6

Consider indicating if this is Public Product
tied to team or individual
learning/products

As a class, the students
will learn what we all do
that negatively affects the
environment.
Students will break up in
groups and create a tool
that will help them
change/solve the
problems that we
subconsciously do to hurt
the environment.
The groups will share
their creations and
explain why and how
they created their tool.
Students will focus on
one way they are going to
change the environment
and explain why they
chose this will be most
effective.
Each student will present Each group will present
their persuasive their “tool” to the school
paragraph to the class. and each individual
Answer any questions persuasive paragraph by
their peers may have. it all being posted on a
bulletin board outside of
the classroom. The peers
and teacher walking by
will be able to view and
read about how we can
make a change.

Key Student Question Key Student Question Key Student Question Key Student Question Key Student Question Key Student Question

How often do we do What are some things we How can we improve our What is the “worst” Do any students have the Will the peers and
these things in our all collectively do to hurt tool? thing/things do we same problems and are students attempt to make
everyday lives? the environment? specifically do to hurt the they getting the same the change as well?
environment? solutions?

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PLANNING TOOL Project Planner

Formative Formative Formative Formative Formative Formative

Assessment(s) Assessment(s) Assessment(s) Assessment(s) Assessment(s) Assessment(s)

Students will decide if
they’ve done any of these
actions being discussed.
Teachers will make sure
that everyone is actively
listening and
participating.
The teacher will observe
and take note of the
completion and accuracy
of explanation.
Teacher will observe and Teacher would assess if Teacher will grade each
judge whether they came the students fully paragraph and give
up with a new idea or got understood the feedback to each
confused and used a past assignment or not. Based individual.
idea. off of evidence they will
intervene and speak to
the students individually.

4. Project Calendar

Driving Question What are you going to do in order to help create a better environment? How is this going to help?

Week # 5

Project Milestone 1. As a class, the students will learn what we all do that negatively affects the environment.
2. Students will break up in groups and create a tool that will help them change/solve the problems that we subconsciously do to hurt
the environment.
3. The groups will share their creations and explain why and how they created their tool.
4. Students will focus on one way they are going to change the environment and explain why they chose this will be most effective.
5. Each student will present their persuasive paragraph to the class. Answer any questions their peers may have.
6. Each group will present their “tool” to the school and each individual persuasive paragraph by it all being posted on a bulletin
board outside of the classroom. The peers and teacher walking by will be able to view and read about how we can make a change.

Key Student Question(s) 1. Students will decide if they’ve done any of these actions being discussed.
2. Teachers will make sure that everyone is actively listening and participating.
3. The teacher will observe and take note of the completion and accuracy of explanation.
4. Teacher will observe and judge whether they came up with a new idea or got confused and used a past idea.

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PLANNING TOOL Project Planner

5. Teacher would assess if the students fully understood the assignment or not. Based off of evidence they will intervene and speak to
the students individually.
6. Teacher will grade each paragraph and give feedback to each individual.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Students will learn about all of
the subconsciously negative
things we do to hurt the
environment.
Students will break up into
groups and discuss what they
do to negatively affect the
environment and come up with
some solutions.
The groups will use their
solutions to create tools in
order to fix the environment
problems. They will also
present these tools in class.
Each individual will create a
persuasive paragraph using
prior knowledge to express
what they are going to do to
help and why they chose this
way.
Students will present their
tools in groups and then
individually share their
paragraphs. At the end of
sharing, we will all come
together and post the papers
on a bulletin board outside
the class.

Additional Notes: Include any notes that will help you with the implementation of this project milestone (e.g., resources, notes to self, etc.)

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PLANNING TOOL Project Planner

Lesson Planner: Supporting Resource

1. Checking Prior Knowledge

The day before I present the information, I will give the students an exit ticket. On the ticket, I will ask what types of things they think hurt our plant.

2. Learning Outcome

My students will learn how to create a persuasive paragraph and complete it with lots of details from context clues and previous knowledge.

3. Key Vocabulary

Collaborate, argument, logical reasoning, persuasive paragraph.

4. Formative Assessment

First, the students will complete and exit ticket asking what types of things they think hurt our plant. After reading their tickets and lecturing
them about the negative affects we have on the environment, they will complete a group project and eventually an individual assessment
discussing the same types of topics. My role will be walking around and observing to make sure all students are actively participating and
understanding. My formative assessment and final assessments will be observing and reading/listening to my students group project
presentation and individual presentation. To get more of an idea if they understand the material or not would be rereading the paragraphs
each individual has written about the specific topic.

5. Major Instructional Activities

Students will come together to participate in group discussion about the problem. After they have come together to create their tool and
explanation as to why they created it. After the group work, they will complete an individual activity using prior knowledge and context clues
about the previous topic. In the end, they we all explain their group projects to the class and their individual assignment. After all of the
presentations, the projects and assignment will be posted outside for the whole school to see and read.

6. Scaffolds

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PLANNING TOOL Project Planner

Since the majority of the project will be based on group work and discussion, I will be observing answering any questions the students may have. For
the individual assignment, since the students are only first graders, spelling can be a bit difficult. I will write the more challenging common words on
the board. Any other questions my students might have about spelling or general questions, they are more than welcome to ask me. Some students get
scared to ask questions, so I will also walk around the class while they work and ask if there’s anything they need from me or ask if they have
questions, I might be able to answer.

7. Reflection

My students will be able to walk by the classroom every day and reflect on their work, since it will be posted where were all able to see it. Being able
to see their work and suggestions will remind them what to do and not to do every day in order to help the environment.

8. Student Need to Know Questions Addresses

I am aiming to answer any questions about what negative things we do to affect the environment and why we do these without knowing. Also being
able to inform my students that there are plenty of good things we can collectively do to make our environment cleaner.

9. Tools/Resources

I will be a resource/tool to help my students, but this activity has a lot to do with creativity and imagination. The way that I can be a resource is
answering any questions they might have. Their peers will also be resources since they will be collaborating together. They will be using markers,
colored pencils, glue, paper, scissors, etc. be creative in those ways.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is designed
by PBLWorks to be adapted by teachers and shared with students in the classroom.
www.pblworks.org
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