NTeQ LESSON, PART 2

COMPUTER ACTIVITIES
BEFORE going to the computer lab for the final assessment, the following are completed in whole-group meetings:
*Teacher reading of THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle (Visual/auditory modalities, Understanding Level). (Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 1st ed. Omaha, NE: World Publishing, 1969.)
*A motivational ‘trick’ performed by the teacher to further motivate and stimulate their curiosity about the topic (Visual/auditory, understanding, applying). (To do: Get a string, keeping one hand clutched in a ball with a paper butterfly inside. Slowly stick the string inside the balled up hand from the top. When the string is all inside, tell the children that something special is happening to the string. Ask- “What do you think is happening?” Accept several responses, then have them count slowly to three and pull out the butterfly from the bottom. While you are fluttering the butterfly in the air with one hand, slip the string into your pocket. Then ask, “What just happened? Does that remind you of a story
we read about a butterfly?” (Informally assess for recall of details from THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle about how the life cycle of a butterfly.)
*Following the trick, I asked, “Do you think caterpillars change to butterflies in real life?” “Does anybody know what we call that change?” (“The life cycle of a butterfly.” “Metamorphosis.”) “Do you think that real caterpillars eat the same things that the caterpillar in the book ate?” (Answers will vary.) “How could we learn more about real butterflies?” (“Get a butterfly egg, visit the zoo, read books, look at the computer.” etc.) (Visual, auditory, applying, analyzing,
evaluating.)
*View a video (‘Bugs Don’t Bug Us!’ (1991). Eureka: Bo Peep Productions.) showing real butterflies in the stages, alternating with footage of children doing creative movement to experience each stage of the metamorphosis (Visual, auditory, understanding, applying) After the video, students were asked to think of how they might move to show the process later in centers.

ACTIVITIES TO BE COMPLETED AT THE COMPUTER
1) DURING IN-CLASS CENTERS ROTATIONS (IN CONJUNCTION WITH SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES)
At the Computer Center, a computer-literate student should be paired with a student with weaker computer skills if possible. (Differentiation)
The first week, the teacher would pull up a link to view Eric Carle reading THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR to them at: http://www.eric-carle.com/ec reads vhc.html. Students would draw/write about what they did/did not like in their journals (Understanding/Critical Thinking/Evaluating/Visual, Auditory, Tactile). A whole-group discussion would follow about what students learned or had questions about from this reading. (i.e. “Did he look/sound like you thought he would?” etc.), (Critical Thinking/Analyzing). From questions that arose during this discussion, I would seek student input to model searching the Internet to find the answers for the whole group (Critical thinking/Analyzing/Visual Auditory).
The second week, the students would view a multimedia production of ‘THE VERY
HUNGRY CATERPILLAR’ by Eric Carle. Before centers, the teacher would open a link for students to access it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v+-goYPLtqqVk. After viewing the presentation, students would discuss with their partner what they liked best/did not like about the presentation (Critical Thinking/Analyzing/Evaluating/Visual/Auditory). Students would draw/write about the presentation in their Writing Journals (Evaluting).
In whole-group discussion, we would compare the two videos for how they were alike and how they were different using a Venn Diagram (Critical Thinking/Analyzing/Visual/Auditory). The students would participate in a whole-class graphing exercise of which version they liked best, followed by a discussion of why they chose the one they did (Evaluting, Analyzing/Visual/Auditory/Tactile).
The third week, students would complete the ‘Think Sheet’ at the classroom
computer. (See the ‘Think Sheet’ post following this one.) The teacher would prepare the sheet in advance by separating the four squares with clip art from the chart at the top. A class set of the chart and each square illustrating a stage of the life cycle would be placed in a separate box at the computer. Before centers, the teacher would prepare a link on the computers to the following site for students to use in completing their Think Sheet: http://www.kidsbutterfly.org/life-cycle as well as these other relevant sites they may visit after their Think Sheet is complete (Note: The last site would require an advanced reader!):
http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/judi/life/activities/cycles/life_cycles.html
http://www.swlauriersb.qc.ca/english/edservices/pedresources/webquest/caterpillar/caterpillar.htm

http://www.teachersnetwork.org/powertolearn/web/peterthebutterfly.htm
Students with good computer skills are paired with a less-proficient student at the computer whenever possible to collaborate during the activity (Differentiation).
While at the computers, the students would use the pictures displayed on the first website above as a guide for sequencing the squares with the clip art, then use a glue stick to secure the images (Understanding/Application/Visual/Auditory/Tactile).
Upon completion of the matching section of the Think Sheet, students would review their choices and make corrections as needed (Evaluation). Lastly, each student would choose whether to link to other websites for continued practice (Critical Thinking/Understanding/Visual/Auditory/Tactile) or take the Think Sheet to their desk to write a story and color the pictures (Application/Visual/Tactile). The completed Think Sheets would be turned in for the teacher to hold until the class visited the Computer Lab for the Assessment Activity.
2) IN THE COMPUTER LAB
The Computer Lab is equipped with one computer per student, which is essential when guiding a whole class of Kindergarten students through the process of creating an educational product like a graphic organizer, even when the students may be familiar with the program being used. I alternate seating computer-literate students between students who are less familiar with technology so that everyone has a ‘shoulder partner’ with which they can collaborate as needed to accomplish tasks assigned (Differentiation). I monitor the students closely to assure compliance, offering coaching as needed (Differentiation). The computers in the lab are arranged so that all screens are visible from the teacher’s technology station, and students are familiar with the district and school technology use standards.

The Assessment Lesson Procedure:
1) Think Sheets would be returned to each student for use as a prompt in completing the ‘Simple Cycles’ graphic organizer on ‘Kidspiration’, showing the correctly-sequenced life cycle of a butterfly (Applying/Visual Modality).
2) The teacher is to show a model of the printed product that students will create as an example, using clip art that students do not have access to so they are not tempted to copy. (See Teacher Model post following this one.)
3) Each student is to open the program and follow step-by-step teacher-led modeling of directions on the projected computer screen to get to the correct graphic(Understanding).
4) The first information students need to enter on their graphic organizer is their name.
5) Next, the teacher would guide students to open the correct search tool containing clip art relevant to the topic and model the ‘click and drag’ motion to place clip art on the desired area of the graphic. In this gallery, students can choose from several options for each stage of the life cycle (Applying/Creative and critical thinking/Visual/Auditory/Tactile).
6) Prompts such as the following may be needed: “Which picture will you choose to show what happens next on your poster?” (Remembering/Applying/Visual/Auditory/Tactile) “Why will you choose that one?” (Analyzing/Critical Thinking)? (Responses will vary, but should reflect the correct order of the cycle.)
7) Students who work quickly can add a title, labels, and/or write sentences to describe what happens at each stage of the cycle using inventive spelling or ‘spell check’ as skill-level allows (Differentiation). Shoulder partners are to work collaboratively to complete their posters, so that all students experience success (Differentiation).