Mini Lesson 1

Opening

Kindergarten Standards / Introducing Learning Target(s):

- SKP1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to describe objects in terms of the materials they
are made of and their physical attributes. c. Plan and carry out an investigation to predict and observe whether
objects, based on their physical attributes, will sink or float.
- ISTE-Student: 1.1: Empowered Learner – a. Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop
strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning
outcomes.
- Learning Target(s):
o I am learning how to investigate what makes an object sink or float.
o I am learning how to make a prediction about sinking and floating.
o I am learning how to use technology to share what I’ve learned with other people.

Success Criteria:

- I know I have learned it when I can:

o Use tools to make an observation about what makes objects sink or float.
o Use what I see, hear, and touch to think about what makes an object sink or float.
o Make a movie to tell other people what I’ve learned about sinking and floating

- Teacher Task: Remind the students of the day we went out on a nature walk after a heavy storm passed
through the previous night. We saw a deep puddle with a student ID at the bottom and a small empty plastic
water bottle and some leaves on top. Present the students with the question: “Why do some objects stay
on top of water and other object fall inside of water?” Connect this idea to the importance of swim
safety (floating, swimming and sinking) since many students are take swim lessons. Allow the students to
share their ideas and document them before exploration. The teacher will frontload the vocabulary words
“floating and sinking” for ELL’s (Authentic Learning/Learner Success)

Work Period

Review Learning Target(s): The teacher will share the learning targets with the students in student-
friendly language

- Learning Target(s):
o I am learning how to investigate what makes an object sink or float.
o I am learning how to make a prediction about sinking and floating.
o I am learning how to use technology to share what I’ve learned with other people.

Driving Question:

- Why do some objects stay on top of water and other objects fall inside of water? (air within the
object/weight of the object)
- How can we float in the pool? (Water in our lungs)
- How can we use technology to share what we’ve learned with others.?
 Activity & Assessment:

- Activity: Divide students into small groups of 3 or 4. Provide each group with a plastic bin halfway
full of water. Allow students to select objects from around the room to determine what stays on top of
the water and what goes to the bottom. Allow students to document their observations in small groups
before coming back as a whole group to share. (Teaching for Deep Understanding)
- Formative Assessment: After students have had time to explore the concept in their small groups,
they will come to the carpet as a whole group and share observations. The teacher will pass out an iPad
to each student to play this Kahoot (Importance of Assessment). After each question the teacher will
prompt student thinking to guide them to the explaining which answer choice was correct.

- Extension Activities:

o Before breaking into small groups, students will quickly do this Nearpod as a whole group.
This Nearpod comes from my ethical use curation list and helps students understand the
importance of digital citizenship and using the internet responsibly. The teacher will also share
this graphic (also from my ethical use curation list) with students to further explain what it
means to be a 21st century digital citizen. The teacher will refer to this graphic and content
from the video throughout this lesson and the next.

o During small groups/centers students will rotate throughout 3-4 stations, one of them being the
iPad station. Students will open their iPads to the Seesaw app. There will be a formative
assignment in which students will have to sort objects on a t-chart based their understanding of
the object’s ability to sink or float. While students are working on this individually, the teacher
or paraprofessional will pull one student at a time into the hallway and ask the question: “Why
do some objects stay on top of water and other objects fall inside of water? What did you notice
about the objects that floated? What did you notice about the objects that sunk? How can you
float in the water while you’re swimming?” The teacher will record the student’s answer on
Seesaw to keep in their portfolio and upload the video to the class’s Flipgrid for this unit of
study. The Flipgrid will be shared with a swim instructor (who we will talk to in the second
lesson) (Importance of Assessment).

Closing

Review Learning Targets:

- Learning Target(s):
o I am learning how to investigate what makes an object sink or float.
o I am learning how to make a prediction about sinking and floating.
o I am learning how to use technology to share what I’ve learned with other people.

- Success Criteria:
o I know I have learned it when I can
▪ Use tools to make an observation about what makes objects sink or float.

▪ Use what I see, hear, and touch to think about what makes an object sink or float.

▪ Make a movie to tell other people what I’ve learned about sinking and floating

Assessment of Level of Mastery:

- The teacher will review the Seesaw activity that was completed during center time.
- The class will quickly share their observations of objects that sink and objects that float in a whole group
discussion. The class will come to a conclusion based on the physical attributes of objects – light objects
and those with air inside will likely float while heavy objects without air inside will likely sink.
Mini Lesson 2

Opening

Kindergarten Standards / Introducing Learning Target(s):

- SKP1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to describe objects in terms of the materials they
are made of and their physical attributes. c. Plan and carry out an investigation to predict and observe whether
objects, based on their physical attributes, will sink or float.
- ISTE-Student: 1.1: Empowered Learner – a. Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop
strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning
outcomes.
- Learning Target(s):
o I am learning how to investigate what makes an object sink or float.
o I am learning how to make a prediction about sinking and floating.
o I am learning how to use technology to share what I’ve learned with other people.

Success Criteria:

- I know I have learned it when I can:

o Use tools to make an observation about what makes objects sink or float.
o Use what I see, hear, and touch to think about what makes an object sink or float.
o Make a movie to tell other people what I’ve learned about sinking and floating

- Teacher Task: Present the students with the question: “Why do some objects stay on top of water
and other object fall inside of water?” Referring to the students’ Flipgrid videos from the previous day,
watch a few of the students, and take notes on the whiteboard in front of the whole class. Make sure to
include videos with differing ideas and opinions. After watching the videos, allow students to respond to
what their classmates had to say and add more notes to the chart to document the investigation. Next, the
teacher will prepare the interactive board for a Microsoft Teams meeting with a swim instructor.

Work Period

Review Learning Target(s): The teacher will share the learning targets with the students in student-
friendly language-

- Learning Target(s):
o I am learning how to investigate what makes an object sink or float.
o I am learning how to make a prediction about sinking and floating.
o I am learning how to use technology to share what I’ve learned with other people.

Driving Question:

- Why do some objects stay on top of water and other objects fall inside of water? (air within the
object/weight of the object)
- How can we float in the pool? (Water in our lungs)
- How can we use technology to share what we’ve learned with others.?
 Activity & Assessment:

- Activity: Students will connect with a local swim instructor from the YMCA via Microsoft Teams to
discuss the importance of swim safety and the science behind sinking, treading, swimming, and floating.
Students will watch what happens as the swim instructor takes in a deep breath of air and positions their
body correctly (float) versus what happens when they release the air (sink). The instructor will guide
them to notice the difference between what happens to an object full of air and one without in such a
way that they are NOT giving them a direct answer but guiding them. The swim instructor will continue
to demonstrate how other objects might sink or float depending on the weight they have or the amount
of air they have inside. After the demonstration, the students will have an opportunity to ask questions.
(Connecting with Experts) The teacher will help the students come to the conclusion that certain
physical properties make some objects sink and other objects float.

- Formative Assessment: As a whole group, the students will repeat the sink/float activity from
yesterday. The teacher will have 1 large bucket of water and various objects from around the room.
Students will predict if each object will float or sink based on its physical attributes. After conducting
the investigation by putting each object in the water, students will refer to their prediction to see if they
were correct.
o Before students break into small groups, the teacher will share this video to review how good
digital citizens give credit: https://learn.teachingchannel.com/video/students-acknowledging-
other-ideas. This concept of giving credit to peers will be revisited with students rotate to the
Flipgrid group (the M in the SAMR model below).

● Extension Activities: (Appropriate Use of Technology, Performances of Understanding, and

Ethical Citizenship)

- These are the activities that will occur during small group/center time. Students will rotate to 1 group at
a time.
o S – Seesaw - A variety of activities will be available for students to use to practice the skills
they’ve learned.
o A–

▪ PBS Kids Science App - Sink or Float Activity: Students will make a prediction about
different objects sinking or floating based on their physical attributes. Students will
conduct a test to determine if their predictions were correct. Lastly, students will come
to a conclusion about an object’s ability to sink or float based on physical properties.

▪ Kahoot - Students will work independently and asynchronously on a sink or float

Kahoot. Students will be presented with 1 object and must select the “sink or float”
option.
o M – With the paraprofessional, students will work in small groups to make a short “movie” to
identify and describe objects that float or sink and explain why. Students will go on to explain
the science behind people sinking and floating in pools or large bodies of water. Students will
be reminded to share what their group members said and how that influenced their
understanding of the concept. The students will be provided with sentence starters and visuals
to help them remember what to say if necessary.
o R – Use Flipgrid to share their movie with other Kindergarten classes in the district. Other
students will have the opportunity to leave video comments to ask questions or respond. To
give parents the opportunity to help their students participate out of school, the Kahoot code
will be shared on the classroom blog.
Closing

Review Learning Targets:

- Learning Target(s):
o I am learning how to investigate what makes an object sink or float.
o I am learning how to make a prediction about sinking and floating.
o I am learning how to use technology to share what I’ve learned with other people.

- Success Criteria:
o I know I have learned it when I can:
▪ Use tools to make an observation about what makes objects sink or float.

▪ Use what I see, hear, and touch to think about what makes an object sink or float.

▪ Make a movie to tell other people what I’ve learned about sinking and floating

Assessment of Level of Mastery:

- The teacher will review the Flipgrid to see each movie that the groups created during center time.
- The teacher will ensure that each student gave credit to a peer in their Flipgrid video to demonstrate basic
information fluency skills
- The class will define sinking and floating.
- Students will use Seesaw to explain the attributes of something that sinks/something that floats.
- Students will go around the classroom on a scavenger hunt. Students will take 1 picture of something that
sinks and another picture of something that floats and post it to Seesaw.
 Within my lessons I tried my best to incorporate the SAMR model. In a traditional

lesson plan, I might ask my students to write a sentence or two about what they learned about

sinking and floating. They would also be provided with sentence starters to improve their

writing. I thought it would be interesting to modify the task by recording students’ responses

on Flipgrid. To redefine the task, I decided that the Flipgrid videos should reach students

beyond our classroom. It would be available to the other Kindergarten teachers in the school

and throughout the district. Other students would be encouraged to provide input by leaving

video comments and sharing their thoughts in efforts to collaborate. Taking into account my

students’ age and stages of development at this point in the academic year, I felt that the tasks

were appropriate to their abilities.

I also included an ethical use component within the first lesson plan. The idea of

plagiarism, copyright, and fair use are too complex for Kindergarten, so I found resources that

explain the concept of the importance of digital citizenship and how to use the internet

responsibly. Understanding that this still might be a difficult concept for my students to grasp,

I included a student-friendly poster to share with them. The poster has a few short bullet

points that helps students understand exactly what it means to be a digital citizen and how to

act like one.

The peer evaluation was a beneficial experience for me. I received 11 out of 18 points.

According to my classmate’s feedback, I showed strong evidence of providing engaging

learning experiences with technology, but I needed to show improvement in being able to

enhance and extend. The evaluation helped me understand that I need to think of more

creative ways to provide meaningful learning opportunities that go beyond the classroom for

my younger students. It was also beneficial to deeply analyze someone else’s lessons and
compare it to mine. After receiving the feedback, I felt that I was able to strength both lessons

and make sure they have a more defined connection to learning through technology.

To continue, my understanding of information fluency has improved significantly.

During my undergraduate career I had a difficult time finding reliable and credible sources for

my research, but then I discovered Galileo and other library databases. Even though I was

using those resources, I didn’t quite know how to use them correctly and efficiently. Find

resources to influence my mini lessons was much easier after having done several activities in

earlier modules. In essence, this course has dramatically helped my research skills. My

understanding of technology integration has significantly changed. At the school level

technology integration is simply seen as giving students an iPad and allowing them to play on

their favorite apps. The concepts of SAMR and the Triple E framework have been the most

impactful to me. In the context of the mini-lessons, I found it hard to implement these

concepts since they are still relatively new to me. However, for the upcoming school year I

am excited to start modifying and redefining learning experiences for my students.

Submission of peer review:

 submit a copy to this assignment dropbox.