Classroom Resource

PBS KIDS Scratch Jr.: Creature Powers Lesson Plan

Subject Area

Digital Literacy and Computer Science
Science

Grade(s)

1, 2, 3

Overview

Activate Creature Powers! Inspired by the WILD KRATTS, in this activity children will be challenged to create PBS KIDS ScratchJr projects that explore different animals and their unique behaviors and traits.

Children will learn how to create projects, add characters, and how to use the programming blocks to make their characters animate and move on the screen. They will explore coding and computational thinking practices as they utilize technology as a tool for creativity, expression, and learning with the PBS KIDS ScratchJr app.

Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2018) Grade(s): 1

DLCS18.1.3

Construct elements of a simple computer program in collaboration with others.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.1.3

Knowledge

Students know:
  • blocks of programs associate with an action.
  • blocks of programs can be combined to create a set of actions or a task.
  • robotic devices can respond to blocks of programs.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • determine the order of paper/pencil pieces for a tasks.
  • understand that blocks of code represent an action.
  • drag and drop blocks of programming in online activities to complete tasks.
  • use blocks of programming to control robotic/digital devices.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • pieces of a task can be represented in parts by words or pictures.
  • code can be put together into blocks that can be manipulated.
  • blocks of code together create a task.
  • blocks of code can be used to operate robotic/digital devices.
Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2018) Grade(s): 2

DLCS18.2.3

Construct elements of a simple computer program using basic commands.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.2.3

Vocabulary

  • program
  • code

Knowledge

Students know:
  • programming blocks represent a set of codes.
  • block based programs can be used to design a task.
  • block based programs can be interpreted by machines.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • drag and drop blocks of code.
  • drag and drop blocks of code to complete a tasks.
  • run a block based program after sequencing tasks to complete a desired process.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • blocks of code can be moved around and combined into an order that completes a task or process.
  • sets of block coding can be run to perform the task/process.
Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2018) Grade(s): 3

DLCS18.3.7

Test and debug a given program in a block-based visual programming environment using arithmetic operators, conditionals, and repetition in programs, in collaboration with others.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.3.7

Vocabulary

  • test
  • debug
  • program
  • block-based visual programming environment
  • arithmetic operators
  • conditionals
  • repetition

Knowledge

Students know:
  • strategies for debugging a given program.
  • arithmetic operators create a single numerical solution from multiple oprations.
  • conditionals are "if, then" statements that direct the program.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • test a given program in a block-based visual programming environment using arithmetic operators, conditionals, and repetition in programs, in collaboration with others.
  • debug a given program in a block-based visual programming environment using arithmetic operators, conditionals, and repetition in programs, in collaboration with others.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • a given program must be tested and debugged to run correctly.
  • block-based visual programming uses arithemetic operators, conditionals, and repetition to function.
Science (2015) Grade(s): 3

SC15.3.11

Construct an argument from evidence to explain the likelihood of an organism’s ability to survive when compared to the resources in a certain habitat (e.g., freshwater organisms survive well, less well, or not at all in saltwater; desert organisms survive well, less well, or not at all in woodlands).

Unpacked Content

UP:SC15.3.11

Vocabulary

  • Construct
  • Argument
  • Evidence
  • Likelihood
  • Organism
  • Survive
  • Resources
  • Habitat
  • Explanations
  • Groups
  • Populations
  • Communities
  • Niche
  • Illustrate
  • Models
  • System
  • Depend (on each other)
  • Categorize
  • Basic needs (examples: sunlight, air, fresh water, & soil)
  • Produced materials (examples: food, fuel, shelter)
  • Nonmaterial (examples: safety, instinct, nature-learned behaviors)

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all in a certain habitat.
  • If an environment fully meets the needs of an organism, that organism can survive well within that environment.
  • If an environment partially meets the needs of an organism, that organism can survive less well (lower survival rate, increased sickliness, shorter lifespan) than organisms whose needs are met within that environment.
  • If an environment does not meet the needs of that organism, that organism cannot survive within that environment.
  • Characteristics of a given environment (Examples: soft earth, trees, and shrubs, seasonal flowering plants).
  • Characteristics of a given organism (plants with long, sharp, leaves; rabbit coloration) .
  • Needs of a given organism (shelter from predators, food, water).
  • Characteristics of organisms that might affect survival.
  • How and what features of the habitat meet or do not meet the needs of each of the organisms.
  • Being a part of a group helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with changes.
  • Members of groups may serve different functions and different groups may vary dramatically in size.
  • Habitats and organisms make up a system in which the parts depend upon each other.
  • Resources and can categorize them as basic materials, produced materials or nonmaterials as resources in various habitats.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Make a claim supported by evidence about an organism's likelihood of survival in a given habitat.
  • Use reasoning to construct an argument.
  • Evaluate and connect relevant and appropriate evidence to support a claim.
  • Construct explanations that forming groups helps some organisms survive.
  • Articulate a statement describing evidence necessary to support the explanation that forming groups helps some organisms survive.
  • Create a model that illustrates how organisms and habitats make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.
  • Describe relationships between components of the model.
  • Categorize resources in various habitats as basic materials, produced material, or nonmaterial.
  • Organize data from the categorization to reveal patterns that suggest relationships.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change.
  • Evidence suggests a causal relationship within the system between the characteristics of a habitat and the survival of organisms within it.
  • The cause and effect relationship between being part of a group and being more successful in obtaining food, defending themselves, and coping with change.
  • That the relationship between organisms and their habitats is a system of related parts that make up a whole in which the individual parts depend on each other.
  • Resources in various habitats have different structures that are related to their function.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Engaging in Argument from Evidence; Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions; Developing and Using Models; Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect; Systems and System Models; Structure and Function
Link to Resource
https://aptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/d84dd6a1-14bd-44a7-883f-bd266c397d2a…

CR Resource Type

Lesson/Unit Plan

Resource Provider

PBS
Accessibility
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/help/terms-of-use/

Comments or Notes

PBS KIDS Scratch Jr. app is now available for free from the App Store on iPad and from the Google Play store on Android tablets.

Approved Date

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