Lesson Plans & Collaborative Projects

Hyperdocs for Classroom Novel Unit.

Novel: Poppy

Chapters 7 & 8

Chapters 11 & 12

Chapters 18, 19 & 20

The Little Prince and Robot Dreams Unit (ELA):

RL.5.1, RL.5.2, RL.5.3, RL.5.7

Multiplication and Division :

5.NF.B.5, 5.NF.B.6, 5.NF.B.7:

Students fold paper and use color pencils to create fractions models. Then they observe that the area both fractions have in common is the product to our problem.

Once students practice with models and gather a deeper understanding of the concept, we move on to the mathematical way of completing this problem - the algorithm. We call it "the pursuit of laziness". Students learn the algorithm and synthesize all their learning by solving word problems.

Best Part of Me Unit

(ELA & Art):

W.5.4

Explorers Unit (ELA and Social Studies):

RI.5.6, SL.5.1, SL.5.2, SL.5.4

The class reads the book Best Part of Me. It is a collection of black and white photos and short essays written by elementary school children. Inspired by the book, we set out to recreate it.

My students decide on their “favorite part” and we start the writing process for the creative writing essay. Students also decide on how their photos will be framed, posed, and which props they want to use to create an esthetically pleasing photo.

Long Division

(Math):

Hyperdoc Unit

1) Concrete Phase - Division with Ten-Base Blocks

2. Iconic Phase - Division with Modified Area Models

3. Abstract Phase - Traditional Algorithm

This math unit constructed using the TPACK framework. The TPACK framework, based on Shulman's (1987) Pedagogical Content Knowledge theory, instructs teachers to use technology in a way that combines their “knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn and how technology can help redress some of the problems that students face” (Koehler et al., 2013, p. 16). With regards to pedagogical content knowledge, Bruner’s (1960) modes of representation have been selected to allow the students to construct their own math understanding moving from the concrete stage, into the iconic stage, and finally landing in the abstract stage. All the while, taking into consideration my technological knowledge to provide a lesson design using activities that will guide the students towards discovery.

Novel Unit (ELA):

Part 1 - The class reads articles and texts about life in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans. We separate the class into tribes. Each group learns about their tribe’s way of life. Then, they prepare a foldable codex that they decorate with typical illustrations and complete with information they learned about their tribes. Finally, the groups present their information gathered to the entire class.

Part 2 - The class reads articles and texts about life in Europe and why Europeans were curious about exploration. Students find out about the arduous journeys Europeans made to the Americas. The students also use an iPad app to run a simulation of a journey by sea. Based on the simulation and the texts read, each student writes a sailor letter - they imagine they are a sailor on a ship and must write home.

Part 3 - Students are partnered up and assigned one explorer to research. Students then create trading cards using an iPad app, filled with the information they discovered. Once the trading cards are ready, students share them amongst themselves so they have cards for all of the explorers. The class reads articles and texts about how the explorers affected/treated the Natives. Finally, students take part in a culminating activity called The Grand Encounter, where they role play either the natives or the explorers and have the chance to retell history through their own point of view.

Students read The Little Prince while learning about symbolism and figurative language. We analyze quotes and symbols from the book. Students then pick their favorite quote to analyze.

As a class, we come up with a list of our own symbols, and students decide which ones they must have in their planet.

Once students finish The Little Prince and the first project, the class reads Robot Dreams. Robot Dreams is a wordless graphic novel that has a very similar theme to The Little Price: both books focus on losing a friendship and the feeling of being left behind.

During Robot Dreams, we focus on comparing both books' themes and also on noting how visual elements contribute to the meaning, tone, and beauty of the text. Since this is a wordless book, the students can only rely in the visual elements to derive meaning from the story - making this the perfect book to teach this concept.