Blended Learning Shift

Unit shift
By: Chris Terranova
2/11/17
For: Edtech554 Integrating Technology in the Classroom
SUBJECT: Archaeology
TOPIC: Dinosaurs
GRADE LEVEL: Early Elementary
CREATORS: Lisa Campbell, Christina DeLong, Josephine Gaglio, Jennifer Morris, Andrea Smith
*NOTE: I am assuming this is a 1:1 classroom with iPads for the purpose of this "Shift"

Current Structure
Dinosaur Discovery Bulletin Board
We chose to create an interactive bulletin board to
support the Dinosaur Discovery unit. The bulletin board
is simple to create and requires minimal supplies. The
bulletin board begins with only the outline of a dinosaur
(preferably a long neck dinosaur). The children will then
take turns speculating and creating the interior skeletal
structure of the dinosaur (rotation can be determined by
child of the day, royalty, alphabetically, etc.). The
children will create this structure by gluing toothpicks,
popsicle sticks or tongue depressors onto the bulletin
board. The students can then compare their progress by
researching the bone structure in their reference and
reading material. The children will have an opportunity
to compare their work with that of paleontologists during
the field trip.
Current Process and Assessment Components Recommend Shifted components? Shift Justification

Observe and note responses given during morning flash Move flash card review to online tool (perhaps a free The ability for the students to review the flash cards at home or during their non-classroom time
card review. product called "Brainscape". will allow for focus in the classroom on the critical thinking behind the standards associated to the
flash card information. This also has the added benefit of shifting the social aspect to the
discovery of the "why" behind the flash cards and reduces the potential for students to be either
YES! "time hogs" or "silent observers".
By moving the paper dinosaur to digital, the students can take more time to explore materials and
building collaboratively using online resources. Use a tool like "Padlet" or "Thinglinq" to create the
structure of the dinosaur and then the students can research the "parts" and digitally add them to
the Padlet.The time usually taken to build and add to the dinosaur bulletin board can be used
instead to explore why the child chose the component and allow for follow up on the
create an interactive bulletin board YES! Move interactive bulletin board to digital component. appropriateness of the thought process and choice.
Current Structure

Lesson Plan Day 1: Introduction to

Dinosaurs: Objectives
To share with students an introductory picture book on
dinosaurs. To conduct a KWL discussion with the students I
order to determine the direction/depth of the unit. To prepare a
specific dinosaur journal for students to record new dinosaur
facts.
Current Process and Assessment Components
Assemble students on the carpet area.
Advise the children that we are about to begin a unit
study on dinosaurs. Explain that we will learn all types of
information - such as time of existence,
names/pronunciation, sizes, skeletal structure, and
lifestyles of various dinosaurs. YES!
Ask the children to share what they already know about
dinosaurs. Record their responses on a large KWL chart. YES!
Read to the students the story/picture book titled
Dinosaur Days by Joyce Milton.
Ask the students to share what information form the book
was new to them. Ask them to share what they thought
was interesting. Review the picture cards to see if new
information is applied. Ask compare and contrasting
questions regarding the differences among the dinosaurs. NO
Explain to the students that our unit is going to teach us a
lot of information about various dinosaurs and that
keeping track of all the information is important. In order
to record all of our discoveries, we will make a special
journal for dinosaur facts. Provide the students with a
model.
Assist the students in assembling their journals.
As a class decide upon one new fact that we should
record in our journals. Suggest that we start as our story
did, stating that dinosaurs lived a very long time ago.
Current Structure
Dinosaurs Characteristics Lesson Plan:
Objectives:Students will recognize that dinosaurs were not
all alike. Dinosaurs can be distinguished from one another in
several ways: number of legs, size, skeletal structure and by
their diet.
Recommend Shifted components? Shift
NO
Ask students to review the website http://interactivesites.
weebly.com/dinosaurs.html at home before beginning
lesson
Use a digital KWL chart like the one at https:
//realtimeboard.com/examples/kwl-chart/. Ask the
students to complete the KWL chart in individually using
their mobile devices
Use the digital version of the book as homework and ask
students to read aloud to their parents from their mobile
YES! device before coming to class
Have the students collect five facts about dinosaurs and
add them to a digital journal. For example, Strip Designer
(read a review here: https://www.commonsensemedia.
org/app-reviews/strip-designer), allows the students to
create a comic strip out of their facts. Another tool is
Book Creator (read a review here: https://www.
commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/book-creator). This
is a tool that will allow the students (suitable for 3rd grade)
to create a digital, interactive book. They will then add a
YES! fact each day to their digital journal
NO
Put the question into Poll Everywhere (www.
polleverywhere.com). Ensure students have app on their
YES! mobile devices
Justification
By having the students review the parts of the dinosaur ahead of time, you can focus on reviewing
what they understood, what was interesting to them and how they are processing the information.
It also allows the students to engage in a fun, interactive way with the many aspects of a dinosaur
(bones, types of dinos etc)
By setting up the KWL (Know/Want/Learn) chart ahead of time and having the students work
indivdually on their mobile device will allow for ALL students to have a say in what they already
know and what they want to learn more about. It will also allow you as the teacher to see what
foundational understanding exists and provide look fors. You can then group students more
effectively by combining students with either similar or dissimilar foundational understanding
together.
The benefit of having the students read the story ahead of time are multifold: 1. They will build
their ability to read, comprehend and present by reading aload to their parent/guardian. 2. The
basics of the book are already established so more resource time is available in class 3. Allows
for deeper diving and the ability to read parts several times to discover more deeply the "look fors"
we expect the children to understand
These tools allow for more creativity and help the student learn to research and use interactive
digital tools. Once again, students now have some ownership in what they want to review and the
facts they find interesting. They will be more engaged, as they are determining what their journal
looks like (book or comic strip), while still following the model of collecting and reviewing facts.
It will still be a good idea for them to create a physical "cover" for their digital book. If so inclined,
the digital book can be printed and put inside the cover
By moving the questions to a tool like Poll Everywhere, the students will feel more inclined to
participate and you can truly get a fact that the majoirty of the students are interested in
discovering. You can base the choices for the vote on the KWL digital board responses. This
allows for students who don't typically participate feel they have a voice without worrying about the
reprocussions of saying what they really want to discover.

Current Process and Assessment Components
Review with students the difference in animals today
(pigs to giraffe - monkey to cow, etc.)
Ask the students how they eat an ice cream cone.
Ask the students how they eat a hot dog.
Ask them to compare the differences. Would you like to
only be able to like a hot dog? What if ice cream was
hard like a hot dog - would it taste as good?
Recommend Shifted components? Shift Justification
This wonderful video helps the students with CONTEXT. In the "ocean" portion of the video, a
diver is swimming past creatures of today and yesterday, allowing the students to not just see
animals related to a person but to each other. The "land" portion has a woman running past
Watch the video ALL Animals, Dinosaurs & Sea Monsters creatures of the past and present. It will allow the students to have a perspective of what the
SIZE COMPARISON (https://www.youtube.com/watch? differences are between life today and the time of dinosaurs. It also allows them have fun and
YES! v=2gFZOD3Y1Gg) visually stay engaged with the discussion.
Have the students use their new dinosaur mask (you will do this ahead of time-see below) and
their mobile device to create a video of them pretending to eat something soft (Icecream or
similar) and something harder (hot dog or similar). Ask them to then break into small groups and
share their videos with their classmates. Provide them questions to think about such as "do you
Ask the students to create a video of them eating an ice need sharp teeth to eat something soft? Hard?" and have them add their discoveries and videos
cream cone and hotdog. Explain the differences between to their digital journals. This project becomes more interactive, engaging and connected. These
the two (they can replace ice cream with yogurt and the stop being disparate actions and become a blended discovery of why teeth can impact how you
YES! hotdog with celery if there are dietary concerns) eat.
YES! See above see above
YES! see above see above
Explain to the students that we will be making models of
the mouths of meat eating dinosaurs and plant eating
dinosaurs.
Provide the students with pattern sheet of the dinosaur
heads. Ask them to trace, cut and assemble the heads
from colored paper. Then provide them with a pattern
sheet of teeth. Have the students cut out the teeth and
glue them into the mouths of the dinosaurs.
Have the students record this new dinosaur fact in their
personal dinosaur journal.
Current Structure
Field Trip Lesson Plan: Objectives:Students will
record facts obtained from the 100+ dinosaur exhibits at
Domino's Farms in Ann Arbor, MI.
Have this discussion ahead of the ice cream cone/hot dog
YES! discussion see above
Instead of a static piece of paper, ask the students to
create a mask. Have the students to go online and find
the dinosaur (meat eater or plant eater) they would like to
build a mask for. They can then create the mask based Having the students create a mask instead of a flat piece of paper with "teeth" adds a layer of
on their choice Have this discussion ahead of the ice complexity to the project. It also gives them the ability to use what they have created in a fun and
NO cream cone/hot dog discussion meanful way.
Have the students use their digital journals to collect their
YES! discoveries and videos see above

Current Process and Assessment Components Recommend Shifted components?
Prior to the field trip students will be provided with five
3x5 index cards. The students will record a dinosaur
name on the top of the card and list the statistics that they
are looking for (h,l, and w) leaving a blank space for this
information to be added. The students will decorate the
front of the trading cards by coloring photocopies of the
matching dinosaurs and pasting them to the front of the
cards. YES!
The chaperones will be provided with the dinosaur
trading cards and pencils. He/she will distribute the cards
when the children come to an exhibit that is included in
their card set. The chaperone will collect the cards and
hold them until the next exhibit. Domino's Farms
currently has over one hundred dinosaur exhibits on
display - the students are only asked to record the
statistics for 5 specific dinosaurs. NO
The students will complete the cards by reading the
exhibit information plaques on display with each
dinosaur. YES!
Current Structure
How the world has changed since the
dinosaurs: Objectives:Students will create an accurate
visual depiction of dinosaures and the environment in which
they lived
Current Process and Assessment Components Recommend Shifted components?
Explain to students that they are responsible for creating
a diorama of a dinosaur living in it's natural environment. YES!
Inform the students that this is a project that they should
complete with their parents or guardian. YES!
Show the students a sample diorama - advise the children
that bigger shoe boxes will make their work easier and
that they can use whatever types of materials they can
find at home. YES!
Shift
Use a trading card tool (http://www.readwritethink.
org/parent-afterschool-resources/games-tools/trading-
card-creator-a-30181.html) to have the students create a
set of dinosaur cards for printing and collecting at the
museum. Have them add 3 facts about the dinosaur to
the card
Have the students take their gathered information and
add it to their digital trading card upon returning to school. This allows for the opportunity to review what was information that was collected at the museum.
Add it to their digital journals
Shift
Use ThingLink to add hyperlinks and explanations to
pictures found on the web.
see above
see above
Justification
Instead of having the students hand create the trading cards, allow the students to use the trading
card tool to find 5 different dinosaurs on the web to add to their web creator. The students will
have the flexibility to own their discovery of the five dinosaurs and feel more empowered to learn
about the dinosaurs they want to learn about. By having them add 3 facts to the card, the
students will have a foundational understanding of the dinosaurs (ensure they have a list of dinos
that are on display at the Farm). With the chaperone, they can then add five additional facts they
may not already know about the dinosaur. When they return to school, have them add the five
additional facts to their digital cards. Older groups would bring their iPads with them and enter
the information digitally in real time. To avoid loss of devices or concerns about tracking, please
have the students leave their devices at the school.
It also allows the physical card to be digitally saved for review and use later in the class.
Justification
For many reasons, dioramas are a difficult and outdated mode of showing learning. Students with
varying degrees of artistic skills, parental involvement (doing it for the student, not involved at all)
and the availability of materials make dioramas less than ideal. By using a tool like ThingLink, the
ability for the students to go deeper and explain what they have learned has been created. Have
the students find a picture of a dinosaur in a natural landscape. ThingLink allows them to add
pictures and descriptions about the environment, the dinosaur and other facts they have learned
about the world of dinosaurs during the lesson. They can add the facts they discovered from their
field trip and from their trading cards. It becomes interactive and helps the teacher determine
more effectively what the students have learned and where the gaps are in the learning. The
digital tool also "levels" the playing field for the students and those who are uncomfortalbe with
creating a diorama can interact more freely with the technology. The digital diorama can then be
added as the capstone for the digital journal.
Provde students with a take home notice to parents
advising parents to have the children describe to them
what the world of a dinosaur was like and how this
representation should appear. Parents can assist, but the
work should be that of the student. YES! see above
Current Structure
Culminating Experience: Objectives:Students
will reflect upon and evaluate the information that has been
presented during the unit
Current Process and Assessment Components Recommend Shifted components? Shift Justification
Rather than "talking to the students", use the Quizlet to determine what has been learned. By
utilizing the information studied and the KWL to test how well the students have understood the
Read to the students the information they provided in the Use the KWL information and the app Quizlet to create a components of the lesson. The interactive nature of the Quizlet will engage the students and
original introductory activity (KWL chart). YES! sumnative assessment allow them to demonstrate what they have learned.
Compare the new information and ask students to share
The students have worked hard on their digital journals and it is important they feel ownership and
what they thought previously and what they now know. Have students present their digital journals to a small pride in their work. Breaking into small groups allows for the students to feel more comfortable
Ask them to share how and why their ideas changed. YES! group of peers with presenting, but also teaches them the skill of presenting to a group.
The culmination of their efforts to create a google folder where students and parents can "virtually
Create a folder in Google Docs and post all of the tour" the projects. The ability to review and share will give the students, parents and faculty a
Record on a classroom chart what we know about student's journals for parents to have a virtual tour of the chance to review what has been learned and how the process allowed for individuality, creativity
dinosaurs for display. YES! work completed and ownership in the process.