ALEX Learning Activity

  

Proud to be an American

A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.

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  This learning activity provided by:  
Author: S Hulon
System:Informal Education Partner
School:Informal Education Partner
  General Activity Information  
Activity ID: 1546
Title:
Proud to be an American
Digital Tool/Resource:
Popplet
Web Address – URL:
Overview:

Popplet is a tool for creating digital graphic organizers. Research tells us that students can only process about 5-9 bits of information at a time.  Graphic organizers help our students chunk large amounts of information into more manageable pieces for processing.  

In this learning asset, Popplet will be used in the closing activity to help students organize symbols of our nation.   
  Associated Standards and Objectives  
Content Standard(s):
Social Studies
SS2010 (2010)
Grade: K
Living and Working Together in Family and Community
11 ) Identify symbols, customs, famous individuals, and celebrations representative of our state and nation. (Alabama)

Examples: symbols—United States flag, Alabama flag, bald eagle (Alabama)

customs—pledging allegiance to the United States flag, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner"

individuals—George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Squanto; Martin Luther King, Jr.

celebrations—Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day

Unpacked Content
Strand: History, Civics and Government
Course Title: Living and Working Together in Family and Community
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Recognize our country's important symbols and customs.
  • Identify famous national and state individuals.
  • Recognize the "Pledge of Allegiance" and "The Star Spangled Banner" and demonstrate appropriate etiquette for each.
  • Recognize the importance of various national and state holidays.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • symbol
  • custom
  • famous
  • celebrations
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Our state and nation has certain symbols that represent it and its people.
  • There are certain customs common to citizens of our state and nation.
  • There are celebrations common to the citizens of our state and nation.
  • There are certain individuals who are widely recognized as representatives of our state and nation.
  • Vocabulary: symbol, custom, celebrate, celebration, represent, representative, state, nation, Alabama, United States, pledge, allegiance
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Identify various symbols of our state and nation, including the American flag, Alabama flag, bald eagle, etc.
  • Identify various customs of our state and nation, including reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance," singing the "Star Spangled Banner," etc.
  • Identify various famous individuals of our state and nation, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., etc.
  • Identify various celebrations of our state and nation, including The Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, etc.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • There are certain symbols, customs, celebrations, and famous individuals recognized by most citizens of our state and nation.
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SS.AAS.K.11- Identify and recognize the symbols, customs, individuals, and celebrations for our state and nation.
Digital Literacy and Computer Science
DLIT (2018)
Grade: K
8) Present information from a variety of digital resources.

Unpacked Content
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • will show and/or tell what I have learned from digital resources.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • digital
  • ebook
  • website
  • audio
  • onine
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • information can be found in ebooks, websites, videos, audio files, and online articles.
  • how to share information they learned from digital resources.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • talk about a specific topic in which they gathered information from many different resources such as a digital book, website, video, and/or ebook.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • there are many different places to learn about ideas and topics such as the internet, books, videos, etc.
Digital Literacy and Computer Science
DLIT (2018)
Grade: K
10) Collect data and organize it in a chart or graph collaboratively.

Unpacked Content
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • will work collaboratively to collect data and create graphs or charts.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • graph
  • spreadsheet
  • data
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • data can be collected in various ways.
  • results of data can be depicted in various ways.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • collect data using simple methods such as tally sheets, paper squares, voting.
  • as a group build simple graphs on paper.
  • as a group enter simple data into a spreadsheet.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • data can be collected in various ways.
  • results of data can be shared in various ways such as graphs, picture charts.
Learning Objectives:

After a unit on American symbols, the student will be able to identify four symbols of the United States of America. 
  Strategies, Preparations and Variations  
Phase:
During/Explore/Explain
Activity:

This learning asset will be used as the culminating activity in a unit on symbols of the United States of America.  This unit would be taught in November around Veteran's Day.  

1. Read the book, "Oh Say Can You See? America's Symbols, Landmarks, and Important Words" by Sheila Keenan.

2. Review the symbols of America discussed throughout the week (United States Flag, Statue of Liberty, Bald Eagle, Liberty Bell, Uncle Sam, National Anthem) by asking students to provide the symbols. 

3. Use Popplet to create a graphic organizer during the class discussion.  The words, Symbols of the United States, will be listed in the center.  When a student provides a symbol in the discussion, the student can come to the interactive whiteboard and add the symbol to the graphic organizer (the images can be inserted and the text can typed using the keyboard). 

4. After the class discussion, students will individually create a foldable with four squares.  In each square, students will draw one symbol of the United States and write the name of the symbol.  
Assessment Strategies:

The foldable will be used as a method of assessment.  The student will need to draw and write the name of at least 4 symbols of the United States in order to master the objective.  
Advanced Preparation:

Before the lesson, the teacher will need to

  • Locate the book, Oh Say Can You See? America's Symbols, Landmarks, and Important Words by Sheila Keenan.

  • Create a free Popplet account

  • Create the center box of the graphic organizer

  • Find images for the symbols of the United States discussed in the unit and save the images to the computer where the students will be creating the graphic organizer (United States flag, bald eagle, liberty bell, Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam)
Variation Tips (optional):

If there is a one to one initiative in the school or a computer lab accessible, then the students can create an individual graphic organizer using Popplet instead of a foldable.  There is a drawing feature in Popplet.  Students could type the name of the symbol and draw the symbol using Popplet.    
Notes or Recommendations (optional):
 
  Keywords and Search Tags  
Keywords and Search Tags: