ITEC Lesson Plan Format

Teacher: Kourtney Rowton Subject Area: Computer Science Grade Level: 2

and Science

Necessary Links: (Add active links to any resources needed for your lesson plan)
[Link]

Common Core Standard or Wyoming State Standard: (Choose one standard to focus this
lesson on)
Computer Science- [Link].A.01 --With guidance, identify and model daily processes by
creating and following algorithms (sets of step-by- step instructions) to complete tasks
(e.g., verbally, kinesthetically, with robot devices, or a programming language).

Science- LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

● Plants depend on water and light to grow. ([Link])

Learning Target (For the student's benefit, explain what students will be able to do by the
end of the lesson):
I can learn how to use the PBS KIDS ScratchJr. programming blocks to make animated
stories and interactive projects. I will explore coding and computational thinking practices
as they utilize technology as a tool for creativity, expression and learning with the PBS KIDS
ScratchJr. App.

Anticipatory Set (First activity to excite and focus students on the lesson for the day):
Ask the students what they know about coding. Ask them if they’ve ever gardened and
made code at the same time? Ask a focusing question and have each child answer: If you
could grow anything in your garden, what would you grow?
After the students answer, have them play the following game. First, have everyone stand
in a circle for a game of “Zip, Zap, Zop.” Have the whole group repeat those three words in
order a few times. Zip. Zap. Zop. Tell the group that you have a bolt of energy in your
hands. To start the game, send the bolt out of your hands with a strong forward motion
straight to someone else in the circle and say, “Zip.” Be sure you make eye contact with the
person you pass it to. Now it’s that person’s turn to immediately send the bolt of energy to
someone else by saying, “Zap,” using the same forward moving hand motion and eye
contact. The third person passes it on with a “Zop,” to someone else in the circle. The game
continues in that order, “Zip, Zap, Zop,” until there is a mistake. Play for as many rounds as
time allows.

Model (How will the teacher demonstrating the skill or competence):

Have the group follow along as you explore how to use the grow, shrink, start on tap, wait,
and message sending blocks within PBS KIDS ScratchJr by dragging each of them into the
programming area and discovering what they do. Additionally, make sure you give children
some free time to openly explore the app on their own for guided practice. Give children
opportunities to share any new and exciting discoveries with the group.

Guided Practice (List activities which will be used to guide student practice and include a
time frame for completing this practice.):

View the 11-minute NATURE CAT episode, “Ze Worm Whisperer,” and have the group pay
attention to how Nature Cat and his friends help prepare the garden to help Daisy’s plants
grow.

Independent Practice (How will students be applying this knowledge or practicing this skill
independently):
Now it’s time for everyone to make their own plant growing projects. Make sure everyone
has a tablet to work on and make yourself available to lend support as everyone works on
their projects. Work as a group to create a list of all the things plants need to grow. Capture
this list on the board. Encourage everyone to add a plant or tree character to their project
as well as some other objects that their plant/tree needs to grow. A slightly challenging
option would be to encourage children to use the start on green flag, grow, and wait blocks
to create projects where exposure to the sun, water, and worms helps plants grow.
Encourage children to use the concept of parallelism by using the 'Start on Green Flag block
to trigger all of their characters' programs. Encourage children to add animations for the
sun, water, and/or worm characters. Encourage children to make their plants grow after
being triggered and after waiting for other objects to complete their animations. Have
everyone swap tablets with a partner to check out each other's projects. Encourage them
to explore which programming blocks their partner used and why. Additionally, continue to
model and encourage the giving and receiving of warm and cool feedback. Is there
anything they would change about their project after seeing their partner’s project? After 5
minutes get everyone’s attention and ask them to share something awesome about their
partner’s project with the whole group.

Check for Understanding (Identify strategies to be used to determine if students have

learned the objectives.): Walk around throughout class and check on students progress and
offer help if they need it. Also, question them as they go through the process. At the end of
class, review what we learned and how everything went for them. Review the standard and
make sure they’re comfortable with their project being graded.

Closure (What method of review and evaluation will be used to complete the lesson?):
Have the students turn in their finished projects to me to review and make sure they
understood the lesson. Check to see if they have each step of the process to making their
plants and trees grow, sun shine and worms wiggle. If some students didn’t complete their
projects correctly, allow a couple days of practice before re trying.

Differentiation
High: Encourage everyone to use the Start on Tap, Send/Receive Messages, and Grow
blocks to create programs that make their plants grow when other objects are tapped
[Link] on the Sun, and the plant should grow. Tap on the water, same thing. Is there
anything that can be added and programmed that would make their plant shrink (snow,
animals, storms etc.)? If anyone gets stuck, encourage them to reach out to each other for
support.
Low: Have students focus on the main points of the project rather than either of the
challenge options. Make sure to provide them with extra help if needed.
Special Needs: Have high functioning autistic student work with a partner or an aide to
complete their assignment. Most of this lesson should be able to be done alone, and
correctly but they may need extra time which will be given. If the student is still struggling,
allow them to complete less of the requirements in order to just focus on making a plant
grow and shrink. Also, talk with them one to one on what plants need in order to grow so
they learn the purpose of this lesson.

Scratch Jr. project screenshots: