OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

In this lesson kindergarten students practice identifying and matching uppercase and lowercase letters along with given the corresponding primary sound for both consonants and vowels (short vowel sounds). Bee-bots and bowling pins are used to create an engaging activity in which students have to collaborate to program how they will get their Bee-bot to complete the task and knock down the correct bowling pin.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Mathematics, Reading/Language Arts, Technology
• Grade Level : K-2
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Algorithms and Programming
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Collaborating Around Computing, Communicating About Computing
• Materials:
  • Bee-bots, Bee-bot mats, Plastic Bowling Pins
• Considerations:
  • It would be helpful to have support staff available for each group. This would make a great teacher/para guided center activity.

Lesson Plan

Overview

In this lesson kindergarten students practice identifying and matching uppercase and lowercase letters along with given the corresponding primary sound for both consonants and vowels (short vowel sounds). Bee-bots and bowling pins are used to create an engaging activity in which students have to collaborate to program how they will get their Bee-bot to complete the task and knock down the correct bowling pin.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

1. Is the student able to correctly identify and match uppercase and lower case letters?
2. Is the student able to produce the corresponding sound for each letter?
3. Is the student able to work collaboratively to create an algorithm for the Bee-bot to reach the appropriate destination on the Bee-bot mat?
4. Does the student demonstrate one-to-one correspondence when counting as they program the Bee-bot?

OBJECTIVES

1. Students will recognize and name uppercase and lowercase letters.

2. Students will produce the corresponding primary sound for consonants and short vowels.

3. Students will use a Bee-bot to create an algorithm to reach the appropriate destination on the Bee-bot mat.

CATCH/HOOK

Ask students if they have ever been bowling before and if necessary explain/show what bowling is. This is a great time to take a couple of minutes to have students share an experience or two that they have had bowling.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

Activity Steps: Pre-activity prep: label 5-10 bowling pins with uppercase OR lowercase letters or a combination of both. There should be one letter per bowling pin. Then, create corresponding cards for students to draw from with either the matching uppercase or lowercase letter. Ex: If you put an “A” on a bowling pin, put an “a” on the card. Before beginning the activity have the Bee-bot mat(s) set up with the bowling pins in place and the card stack ready to go. Hook: Ask students if they have ever been bowling before and if necessary explain/show what bowling is. Explain to students that they are going to be working on letter identification and letter sounds using Bee-Bots to “bowl” in collaborative groups. Go over learning targets with students. (Ex: I can identify upper and lowercase letters. I can say the correct letter sound. I can follow group work expectations). Model for students how to play the game. Draw a card from the stack. If there is a letter “r” on it, locate the bowling pin with the “R” on it. Then think aloud for the students as you decide how you need to program the Bee-bot to reach the intended destination. Students need to keep in mind that they will also need to program the Bee-bot to go around any bowling pins in their way. Hitting other bowling pins is NOT okay :). If students are struggling with the programming, it might be helpful to have them draw or map their sequence first on a whiteboard. Once you have the Bee-bot programmed, click the start button and see if it ends up where it needs to be. If it does, it should knock over the bowling pin with the corresponding uppercase or lowercase letter. Model how to problem solve if the Bee-bot does NOT end up where it was intended. Once the bowling pin is knocked over, remove it from the mat and say the corresponding letter sound (if you use Fundations, have students say corresponding letter name, picture, sound…ex: a, apple, /a/). Keep playing until all bowling pins have been knocked over (you don’t need to model the entire game). Put students into groups of 2-4. Review how to work collaboratively if necessary. Provide whiteboards and markers for students to use if they need to map out the path. Allow students to play for 10-15 minutes or until they have completed the activity.

Supplements

Any items in this section are the property & under the license of their respective owners.

REVIEW

Reflection: Pull students back together whole group and reflect on the activity. Ask students to share (either in pairs or whole group) what went well, what was hard, what could I do differently next time, etc…Return attention to learning targets. Go through them and discuss whether or not they met the targets and what next steps should be.

STANDARDS

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.1.D Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.A Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.B Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.6 Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly. |