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Lesson Plan
Masters of the Universe!
2 week plan for learning geometric concepts and creating a digital city
All Notes
Teacher Notes
Student Notes
1 Shape City
Start the conversation by introducing the concept of designing a city. Use some prompting questions such as:
- What things to city planners need to keep in mind when they design a city?
- What kinds of lines need to be drawn
Introduce the idea that students will be creating a digital city using the geometric concepts of the unit. Set the criteria consistent with the grade outcomes (ie; your city must have 3 parallel lines, 2 perpendicular lines, contain 2 rhombuses, etc...)
*students can use technology like popplet to record their ideas of what a city should contain, later they will be able to reorganize their thoughts to structure their city
Student Instructions
Masters of the Universe!
You will demonstrate your understanding of the geometric concepts and create a digital city!
2 Understandings
Present the outcomes clearly to the students - posting them as I can statements - ie: I can identify a perpendicular line. *as much of this is vocabulary instruction many students will know the concepts or will use their curiosity to discover the answers using the guided math in the next step
Using Google forms create a pre-test students can test their knowledge.
Based on the information collected, you can structure a guided math scenario where you can provide some direct instruction of misconceptions or introduce concepts not known by many.
Student Instructions
Test your knowledge!
I know you already know a lot about shapes, lines and geometric concepts. Lets test your knowledge!
3 Guided Math Ideas
The Land of Venn - Geometric Defense Guided Math - have students rotate through stations to discover some of the math concepts they are missing (previously discovered in the pretest)
Station ideas: Using the app The Land of Venn, Crafty Cut, your school resources and a station where you can clear up/teach any concepts not understood. Have students rotate through.
Give students a Google Doc with all the outcomes of the grade written as I can statements - you can use this as a self assessment , then as they learn the concepts they can check off their understandings on the doc.
Student Instructions
Look at the Google Doc - self assess what you think you already know
| I Can | I Got It | I'm Not Sure | I Need to Learn |
| identify perpendicular lines | |||
Then, as you learn the concepts, put a date in the box when you think you've mastered the idea.
4 Build a City
SketchUp
Free, Paid
Have students work in groups to develop their city. They can use Google Sketch Up to create a 3-D model or Google Drawing canvas to draw a 2-D model or just a piece of poster paper to create their city. Then students will create a presentation (either written, or spoken) describing their city's features including the geometric concepts presented.
Student Instructions
Build your city! You may use Google sketch-up, Google draw, another drawing tool of your choice, or poster paper to draw a map of your city. You will be presenting your city to the class.
5 Presentation
iMovie Have students present their cities. You could choose to record their presentation using ipad camera, or a program like voice thread where students can add mp3's to the screen capture so you can save it all as a movie and view later, or save to share with parents!
*you can also set this up as a challenge and have the "best" city win and do a vote with students
Student Instructions
This is your planning team's chance to shine. Present your city to your classmates, remembering to include all of your learned information.