TitleIII Technology Literacy Challenge Grant

Learning Unit

Overview | Content Knowledge | Essential Questions | Connection To Standards | Initiating Activity | Learning Experiences | Culminating Performance | Pre-Requisite Skills | Modifications | Schedule/Time Plan | Technology Use

OVERVIEW

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

• Why is transportation important?
• How do people's needs and wants effect transportation?
• How has transportation effected our environment?
• How does transportation effect everyday life?
• What would our lives be like without the variety of transportation available today?

CONNECTIONS TO NYS LEARNING STANDARDS
List Standard # and Key Idea #: Write out related Performance Indicator(s) or Benchmark(s)

Standard ELA # 1-Students will read, write, and speak for information and understanding.

Key Idea: Speaking and writing to acquire and transmit information requires asking probing and clarifying questions, interpreting information in one's own words, applying information from one context to another, and presenting the information and interpretation clearly, concisely, and comprehensibly.

Students:

• Present information clearly in a variety of oral and written forms such as summaries, paraphrases, brief reports, stories, posters, and charts
• Use a few traditional structures for conveying information such as chronological order, cause and effect, and similarity and differences

• Use details, examples, anecdotes, or personal experiences to explain or clarify information
• Include relevant information and exclude extraneous materials
• Observe basic writing conventions, such as correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, as well as sentence and paragraph structures appropriate to written forms

Standard ELA # 4-Students well listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction.

Standard MST # 5

Standard MST # 7- Students will apply the knowledge and thinking skills of mathematics, science, and technology to address real-life problems and make informed decisions.

INITIATING ACTIVITY

  Our unit will begin with a pretend trip on various forms of transportation. The teachers will be the director of the trip and dress in a mock uniform. Students will be given play money upon arrival at school. The student will need to buy a ticket for their trip. Students will go to the various classrooms and present their tickets. Tickets will be punched, scanned, stamped, etc. The teacher will arrange seating in the room to resemble the mode of transportation he/she is directing. A video will be playing in the background corresponding to each transportation type so that sights and sounds can be incorporated. Each imaginary ride will take about 10 minutes.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES
In chronological order including acquisition experiences and extending/refining
experiences for all stated declarative and procedural knowledge.

DAY 1: INITIATING ACTIVITY

This lesson is written for involvement of two teachers but may be adapted as necessary.

Grasp your students' interest by announcing that they will be pretending to take a trip today to begin a new unit. The students will make educated guesses, at the end of the day, about what the new unit of study is based on their experiences on the imaginary trips.

Students will be given play money (a $5, $10, $20, and $100 dollar bill) in a zip lock bag in their home classroom.

Tell students they will need to buy a ticket for their trip. The teachers will be dressed in mock uniforms to be the director of the trip. The students will be riding on a boat, plane, train and bus to a predetermined destination of their choice.

In the morning, students from Classroom A will proceed to Classroom B and students from Classroom B to Classroom A. The teacher will take their money at the door and give a boarding pass, token or stamp their hand. The students will take an assigned seat or open seat, depending upon the mode of transportation. In each classroom, a video will be playing in the background corresponding to each transportation type so that sights and sounds are incorporated. The teacher will discuss safety concerns and procedures for their vehicle.

After about ten minutes, students will arrive at destination. The director says, "I hope you enjoyed our trip." Students will then go back to their classroom and buy a ticket for their next trip. They proceed to their seats and get ready to take a second pretend trip back in their home classroom.

After lunch, the teachers will have changed into another uniform to direct their next trips. Follow same procedure as above for the remaining two pretend rides.

Assessment: Teacher observation (anecdotal notes)

DAY 2

Declarative knowledge: Students will know or understand that transportation means a way of getting from one place to another.

Experiences, activities or resources:

• Discussion: What were we pretending to do on day 1?
• Initiating experience
• Prior knowledge: This is the Way We Go to School

Strategies used to construct meaning, organize and store knowledge:

• Short discussion
• Round Robin brainstorm of all forms of transportation they know of
• Add to brainstorm list any means of transportation from story that the children did not name during initial brainstorm.

Description of what will be done:

Ask students to recall the initiating activity by asking, "What did we pretend to do when we bought a ticket and went ________?" Guide their responses to reflect on train, airplane, bus, and boat rides. "What are these?" See if anyone in the group responds using language such as transportation, vehicles, things that go, things that move, things that we ride in, etc.

Teacher "What if we did not have a 'thing' to help us get there? How would we get there? Today I want each of you to tell me all the things you have used to get somewhere. Everyone tell yourself of all those ways right now in your thinking voice, inside your brain (one-minute pause). Now I am going to call on each of you to tell me one way of getting somewhere. Therefore, you need to be ready to respond and you don't need to raise your hands. If I come to your turn and someone has said what you were thinking of simply say pass then raise your hand as soon as you have thought of a new one. You need to listen carefully so you don't say something a friend has already said. I am going to write each new response on our list. Remember this is called brainstorming. If everyone gets a turn and you can still tell us more, then you can raise your hand for a second turn."

Read this is the Way We Go to School. "Now I am going to read you a story about boys and girls from all over the world who go to school. I want you to remember all the different ways the children in the story get to school."

After the story, have the children retell modes of transportation from the story. If that mode is already on the brainstorm list, highlight it. Add new types of transportation from story to original list.

Model for children how to do independent task.

• Sentence starter: Transportation means ___________. One kind of transportation is ______________.

Read first sentence starter and have children echo it. Ask one child to tell the class, in his/hers own words what goes in the blank space. Read the second sentence starter and have the children echo it. Have another child tell the class what kind of word goes in the blank. Model filling in the blanks and writing one more sentence of their own.

Assessment: Teacher observation (anecdotal notes)

Enrichment: Create a class collage of various vehicles using magazines and newspapers. 

DAY 3

Declarative knowledge: Students will know or understand that vehicles travel in different places (land, water, and air).

Experiences, activities or resources:

• Classify by grouping (photos, pictures, words) modes of transportation under category pocket chart.
• Weekly Reader Teaching Master 1994, Where do they travel? (picture sorting cut and paste)

Strategies used to construct meaning, organize and store knowledge:

• Modeling
• Think aloud
• Discussion

Description of what will be done:

Step 1:

Yesterday students brainstormed all types of transportation. Students will re-visit this chart. Review with the students their ideas and ask if there are any more that they can think of to add to the list. Review for students that transportation is a means of getting from one place to another. Then, ask them to think about all the different places they see those types of transportation. For example, "Where would you see a car?" Response: "on the road, in the parking lot, driveway, etc." Where would you see a boat? Response: on the water. Then ask the students how many different places are there that these types of transportation can travel. The teacher should chart students' response. Name all the water, land, and air places they can think of.

Step 2

Explain to the class that we are going to think about all of the types of transportation that they listed. We are going to ask, "Does a ___________ travel through the air, by land, or water?"

Step 3

Use a pocket chart with word cards. Use picture cards for different types of transportation children named on brainstorm day. Add to brainstorm list by using pictures for vehicles children had not named. Explain to students that we are going to classify each type of transportation based on whether they would see them on the land, in the air, or on the water. Review what it means to classify, grouping things that are alike in some way.

Step 4

Discuss each type of transportation orally with students and have different students place the picture of the vehicle where it belongs in the pocket chart (land, water, or air).

Step 5

Conclude and summarize the lesson: today's lesson helped us to group things based on whether they both shared something in common. To do this, we had to think about how things were alike and how they were different. We also learned that there are different ways to help us get from one place to another. We can travel on the ground, in the air, and on water.

Assessment:

Using the Weekly Reader Teaching Master and Where do they travel worksheet, children will cut out, organize, and glue pictures of various means of transportation under appropriate category (land, water, or air).

DAY 4

Procedural Knowledge: Students will be able to compare and contrast according to size, vehicle parts, where a vehicle travels, and how a vehicle is powered (its attributes).

Strategies used to help students construct models, shape and internalize knowledge:

• Lecture to compare different means of transportation, how they are the same and different
• Model how to use a Venn Diagram
• Think aloud
• Model steps needed to complete partner activity

Description of what will be done:

Connect the day's new transportation lesson with the prior lesson by asking children to close their eyes and picture the types of transportation. Tell them to think of two ways of getting somewhere and think of how they are the same and different. Have a couple of students share their thoughts.

Teacher then chooses two types of transportation to compare such as a boat and a bus. Teacher tells children, "I am going to show you how to use a learning tool that helps us organize ideas about how things can be the same and different. It is called a Venn Diagram. I make it by drawing two circles that overlap each other. One circle is labeled with boat and the other with bus. Now, I want you to think of how these are the same." Have the children dictate and say, "I write the ways they are the same in the middle where the circles overlap." Teacher continues, "We have used this learning tool already this year, so you may remember how we used it. I want you to pay extra close attention because this time you will be doing a Venn diagram of your own with a partner. But first we are going to do one together. Raise your hand if you can tell me a way that these two vehicles are the same."

Now think about how a boat and bus are different. If what you say describes just the boat, I write it in the circle that is labeled "boat". If what you say only tells about the bus, I write it in the circle labeled "bus". These will be the differences between a boat and a bus. For each things you tell us about one vehicle, someone should be able tell about that characteristic for the other vehicle. The children dictate the differences while the teacher writes them in the Venn Diagram using a think-a-loud strategy.

"Now Suzie and I are going to be partners and we are going to compare two different types of transportation and fill in the Venn Diagram together. You will be doing one with a partner that I give you." Model discussion, "which two vehicles should we compare." Suzie writes in differences for one vehicle and teacher writes differences for the other vehicle. "We tell each other what we are writing. We use our quiet voices." Then, alternate writing in the similarities.

Teacher assigns students their partners and tell them they have _ minutes to come up with two modes of transportation to compare. Then fill out the Venn diagram with at least two similarities and two or more differences.

Assessment:

Student will complete of Venn Diagram according to above requirements. Each student team must complete one Venn Diagram and be able to explain why the facts are where they are in the diagram. While students are working together the teacher will visit each group and ask each child why he/she is labeling the diagram the way he/she is to see if they understand the concept of Venn Diagrams along with similarities and differences. Teacher observation and anecdotal notes is being used at this time.

Enrichment: Take a walking field trip around the neighborhood to locate different types of vehicles and discuss their uses.

 DAY 5

Procedural Knowledge: Students will be able to write two simple sentences comparing two types of transportation using a Venn Diagram for reference.

Strategies used to construct models, shape and internalize knowledge:

• Modeling
• Think aloud
• Cooperative learning
• Monitoring

Description of what will be done:

Today we are going to take what we learned about similarities and differences and write a sentence about each. A Venn Diagram is a tool for us to use to help us put our ideas down on paper. Today we want to write one sentence on how your two vehicles are the same and how they are different.

The teacher will model, using think aloud, writing a sentence for each using the Venn Diagram created previously. Think about how my vehicles are similar. Look at where the circles come together. What do you see listed where the circles overlap? Students will give responses and the teacher will model how to put that information into a proper sentence, using capitals, punctuation, and spacing. For example, cars and trains are the same because they both travel on land. 

Now let's see what is different about cars and trains. Look at the part of the Venn Diagram that does not overlap. A student will give a way in which they are different and the teacher will model how to put it in a sentence. For example, cars and trains are different because cars travel on roads and trains run on tracks.

Explain to the students that they will use the Venn Diagram they created with their partners. However, each student is responsible for writing one similarity and one difference in a sentence. Partners cannot use the same similarity or difference in their sentence. Partners need to work together and decide which similarities and difference each will write about.

Chose two students who are partners to share with the class how they will work together to decide what each will write about. The teacher will guide the students through this process.

Assessment:

Partners will choose a quiet place to complete their sentences. The teacher will monitor their progress and choose one group at the end to share and have a class discussion

• Remind students that using a Venn Diagram is a tool to help you write down your ideas.

Enrichment: Create a bulleting board of vehicles from the past, present and future.

DAY 6

Declarative Knowledge: Students will know or understand transportation of the past and why it was practical and important.

Experiences, activities or resources that will be used:

• Revisit the brainstorming chart from Day 2. Students will identify modes of transportation primarily used in the past by highlighting them.
• Video: "Away We Go." After viewing the video, use a 3-minute pause and have students whisper to their partners something they learned from the video.
• Invite a grandparent to come in as a guest speaker to discuss transportation of the past (optional).
• Visit an antique car web site.

Description of what will be done:

 So far we have learned about different types of transportation and where they are used. We have also learned similarities and differences among different vehicles. But, why do you think it is important to have different vehicles to get us from one place to another today? And in the past? For example, how would we get to the hospital if we were hurt? How would food get to our stores? How would we get rid of all of our garbage?

As students are answering these questions, chart their answers in a T cart form. On one side chart their answers before watching the video. Then, explain to the students that they will be watching a movie on types of transportation that people used a long, long time ago or in the past. But, before we watch the movie, lets revisit our brainstorming chart and try to guess what types of transportation we already mentioned that may have been used in the past. The teacher will put a "P" by the types of transportation that the students guess, explaining that this will represent transportation of the past. Explain to the students that they will now be watching a video on types of transportation used in the past. Explain that their job will be to think and listen for reasons why people need various types of transportation in the past.

Show the video. Use the 3-minute pause strategy. Stop the video at key points and have students whisper to a friend something they just learned. Then continue the video. Stop and pause as needed.

When the video is over, re-visit the brainstorming chart and see if we need to add more "P's" or add any new vehicles of the past that we hadn't already thought of.

Then, re-visit the T chart, go over the students responses before the video about "Why we need transportation" and continue with the right side of the chart- why we need transportation in the past. Many of the before and after responses may correspond.

Explain to the students that today we have learned about the different types of transportation people used a long time ago and why it was important. We also learned some new types of transportation of the past that we did not think of. Tomorrow we will re-visit our T-chart and discuss in more detail why we need transportation and why are there so many different types of transportation today and not as many in the past.

Assessment: Verbal- each student will tell about a mode of transportation from the past that was on the chart or in the video.

Enrichment: Take your class on a field trip to the Erie Canal Village to discover hands-on transportation in the past.

DAY 7

Procedural Knowledge: Students will be able to compare reasons why people needed transportation in the past to why we need certain types of transportation now. They will also be able to compare and contrast information using the T-chart.

Strategies used to construct models, shape and internalize knowledge:

• Brainstorming
• Modeling
• Working backward starting with why we use transportation now.
• Questioning prior knowledge. Mentally re-visit the video from day 6 and tell why the transportation was being used in the past.
• Think aloud-using vocabulary of same, different, alike, not alike.
• Discussion of National Geographic Video: "Transportation."

Description of what will be done:

Last time we worked on our transportation theme we thought about how people used to get around and why they needed to get from one place to another. We made a chart of reasons why you thought people needed transportation. Then you said what it told us about why people need transportation. What is the very first type of transportation people used to get somewhere? (Walking, running, climbing, swimming, etc.) Do we still use these methods? What are the things humans/people need to live (food, water, shelter, etc.)? How did people acquire these things (hunt, walk, carry, run, gather, and build)? What things did they use to (gather, hunt, build, etc) with? Tools.

Now imagine you lived in caveman days. You live in a cave near a stream. You hunt animals and gather plants for food. You make tools to help you do these things. You have made spears from wood, knives from stone, clothes from animal skins, and more. It is summer and it is hot. It has not rained in a very long time. What might happen? The streams dry up. What would that mean for you and your family? We would have to move. How would you know where to move? What about all of your belongings? How would you take them with you if there was too much to carry with your hands? Would you leave it behind? How do you know where to go to look for water?

This need for moving and taking "necessities" with you is the reason why the wheel was invented?

Review the previous T-chart and review responses. Today you are going to watch a video that will review some of the things we have already learned and help us learn more about transportation of the past and present and why we need all the different types.

The teacher will stop the video about every five minutes and ask the children about the need for transportation and fill out the T-chart.

Conclusion: What can we tell by looking at our T-chart? The reasons why people needed transportation in the past and present are the same. Now to get to places faster and easier we have more specialized vehicles.

Assessment:

Each student will tell a vehicle of the present and tell it's specialized use. The original vehicle-brainstorming chart will be coded with "N" for modes of transportation used in our society now. The teacher will observe students and take anecdotal notes.

DAY 8

Declarative Knowledge: Students will know and understand:

• Three basic needs for all humans.
• Transportation will change based on out needs.
• How to predict types of transportation for the future.

Activities and resources:

• Video: "Hard Hat Harry, Real Life Shuttle Adventures for Kids"

Strategies used to construct meaning, organize and store knowledge:

• Semantic map

Description of what will be done:

So far we have discussed ways of getting around in the past and in the present. Now we are going to think of ways we can get around in the future.

Show the video, "Hard Hat Harry, Real Life Shuttle Adventures for Kids."

Your job is to think about ways we may get around in the future depending on our different needs.

What types of transportation may be used in the future? The teacher will give silly examples to get the students thinking. For example, rocket powered roller blades, flying backpacks, etc.

How do you think our needs might be different in the future? Will there be enough food on this planet for us to live? Will there be enough food? Where will it be grown? Etc.

Assessment:

Discuss the video and draw a semantic map.

DAY 9

Declarative Knowledge: Students will know different types of transportation from the past, present and future.

Experiences, activities, and resources used:

• Big Book: Here We Go from the BOCES resource center with a class set of small books.

Strategies used to construct meaning, organize and store knowledge:

• Graphic organizer
• Group discussion

Description of what will be done:

Students and the teacher will read Here We Go together. Each student will have his/her own small book.

Do a three-minute pause after the past modes of transportation are discussed. Fill in the past modes on the graphic organizer in appropriate places. Continue in the same way for the present and future. Tomorrow we well start our own book on the past, present and future transportation similar to the book we just read. You will be writing your own words and drawing your own pictures. You will even get a chance to read your finished book to a kindergarten student.

CULMINATING PERFORMANCE
Include rubric(s)

Task Title: Transportation: Past, Present, and Future Book

Approximate time frame: Five days

Description of what will be done:

Day 1: (recommended to be done in the morning. Depending on the group, both pages could be modeled in one sitting and both independent pages could be completed at that time).

Model steps of choosing one mode of transportation picture from the past for page one of the transportation booklet. Text: "In the past people used ______."

Second, model writing the transportation word in the blank to match its illustration.

Third, add a sentence of your own to tell why people in the past used that type of transportation.

Children complete page 1.

(Second half of day 1 lesson, recommended to be completed in the afternoon)

Use the same modeling procedure for page 2.

First, choose a vehicle picture to go along with the text, "In the past I have used _______."

Second, model writing the transportation word in the blank to match its illustration.

Third, add a sentence that tells why that vehicle was used in the past.

Children complete page 2.

Day 2:

Use the same instructional format as Day 1.

"Now people use _______." (page 3)

"Now I use __________." (page 4)

Day 3:

Use the same instructional format as Day 1.

"In the future people will use ________." (page 5)

"In the future I will use __________." (page 6)

Day 4:

(The first half of the lesson, recommended to be done in the morning)

Model illustrating the cover titled, "Transportation: Past, Present, and Future." If this is a book about some different types of transportation, what kinds of illustrations should be on the cover? Children will create their own illustrations on the cover.

(The second half of the lesson, recommended to be done in the afternoon)

Model completing page 7. "My favorite kind of transportation is _________ because ____________." Write the name of the mode of transportation in the first blank and tell why it is your favorite in the second blank.

Children complete page 7.

Day 5:

Model how to use a pattern block program, on the computer, to design a vehicle for page 7 completed on day 4. The pattern vehicle created should reflect their favorite vehicle chosen for page 7. Print picture, cut and glue onto page 7. Children then design their vehicle.

Day 6:

In class, practice reading completed books to a partner in preparation to reading them to a kindergarten class. The teacher will model this first.

Day 7:

Read completed transportation books to a kindergarten class. Pair a first grade author/illustrator with a kindergarten listener.

Assessment:

To determine students understanding of transportation in the past, present, and future, we will assess students on whether or not their illustrations match their text, content and mechanics in text (sentence begins with a capitol letter and ends with a punctuation mark, space between words, and penmanship).

 WRITING RUBRIC

VENN DIAGRAM RUBRIC

 CULMINATING PROJECT RUBRIC

PRE-REQUISITE SKILLS

• Classifying and sorting according to a given attribute
• Working in cooperative groups
• Writing complete sentences
• Exposure to use of Venn Diagram: Will have seen its use in group instruction and have dictated information to be included on a Venn Diagram and tell where the information gets recorded on the diagram while the teacher writes the information
• Has knowledge that living things have basic needs for life: Unit on Living and Non-living things has already been taught
• Use of Exploring Math With Manipulatives: Pattern Blocks program on the computer

MODIFICATIONS

• Although the initiating activity was designed for two teachers to deliver the lesson as a team, it would be easily adapted to one teacher to deliver over two days if the same four pretend experiences were to be provided. A teacher could choose to do only two to three of the pretend experiences thus shortening the time needed for this lesson.
• For the more needy student, support personnel can be used to provide more one to one assistance. The adult could act as a scribe on any lesson that involves a written response. (In our district the reading teacher pushes in to every first grade classroom three times a week for a half an hour. Parent volunteers, resource, and/or speech teachers that work in the classroom could also be utilized in this way).
• Word banks can be provided for any or all days where a written response is required and a student is identified as needing this support.
• Sentence starters could be eliminated on any or all the days they are used to bring the activity to a higher and more creative level. Directions would need to be modified if this were done.

UNIT SCHEDULE/TIME PLAN

This unit was developed to be taught during the last half of the first grade year in order to allow enough time to teach all the pre-requisite skills. It could be taught in sixteen consecutive days or spread out across a longer time frame if a lesson is not taught each day (for example, if scheduling only allows 2,3 or 4 lessons per week). The first nine days for actual teaching, the following seven for work on the culminating activity. Each lesson was designed to be taught in approximately 40 minutes.

TECHNOLOGY USE

 The culminating activity utilizes the computer program Exploring Math with Manipulatives: Level 1: Pattern blocks for a student designed illustration. In our district each classroom has 3 computers networked within the district. The program is available through this network. As we do not have the availability of a computer lab where all children could be on a computer at the same time, we did not include word processing. Word processing could be taught and used by the children during this unit to so the sentence writing activities. The sentence starters could be saved under the Children's Writing and Publishing Center program, which is on our network. The written work could be done on paper first, then typed and printed using this program. In our setting this would extend the length of time needed for all children to complete the task. It would also mean an extra adult be available to supervise and assist the children on the computer while the classroom teacher works with the rest of the class.

ENRICHMENT

The possibilities of enriching this unit have been considered and discussed. A field trip to one or more of the following in our area, the train station in Utica with or without a train ride to Rome, the Oneida County Airport, Syracuse Airport for a tour, or the Erie Canal Village could all be taken to provide background experiences and motivation to begin this unit. Stories for enjoyment and enrichment would be read daily during class read aloud time. During reading instruction, any books that are at the first grade reading level, could be echo and choral read, vocabulary taught, and even compared. Formal lessons using the Venn Diagram and comparative sentence writing to compare stories with a transportation theme could easily be inserted after Day 5. Sentence starters could be used, "The stories are the same because ___________,"etc. Those children at the same reading level can be assigned buddy reading tasks, being sure that all get and opportunity with the books. A walking trip around the school's neighborhood with the purpose of looking for various types of transportation and why it is being used. Make a class picture collage with transportation modes included from magazines, newspapers and/or the children's own drawings (these last 2 enrichment ideas were taken from a learning unit written by a teacher in the Stockbridge Early Childhood Team, shared through the early childhood teacher in our building.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Away We Go: All About Transportation", 22049 VHS color, 22 min PI, Rainbow Educational Video, 1996 (from Madison Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services Center for Instructional Services, 1999-2000).

"Hard Hat Harry, Real Life Shuttle Adventures for Kids," National Syndication, Inc., 1995.

On the Go, BOCES, Ann Morris, New York: Scholastic, 1990. (Call # 45009 BBK in Madison Oneida BOCES 1999-2000 catalog).

This is the Way We Go To School, Edith Baer, New York: Scholastic, 1990.

"Transportation," 22695, VHS color, 15 min P, National Geographic Society, 1992 (From Madison Oneida BOCES 1999-2000 catalog).

www.antiqecars.com (antique car website)