Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Battles of the Civil War

Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 4th grade

Content Standard Addressed: SS4H5 Explain the causes, major events, and consequences of the Civil War.

Technology Standard Addressed: 3 – Knowledge Constructor

Selected Technology Tool: Timeline on readwritethink

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable): http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-

resources/games-tools/timeline-a-30246.html

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☐ Applying ☐ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☒ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): This tool is great for all learners. They are making the timeline to help
themselves, they can write in any language they want to, whichever helps them the most. Students who don’t
have internet at home can take home the print out. For students who do have internet at home, they can
access the timeline feature at any time and use it for any subject they want.

Lesson idea implementation: This lesson will be at the end of the unit on Civil War. Students will be taken to
the computer lab and go to readwritethink.org and use the timeline feature. Students will make a timeline of
battles during the Civil War we discussed throughout the unit. Each battle we discussed in class needs to be
on the timeline with a picture and a description with cause and effect. Students will have 40 minutes to
complete.

After everyone has created their timelines the teacher will go over each battle with the class to make sure
everyone recalls and has a correct description and cause and effect of each battle. Anyone who didn’t finish
during the 40-minute period can fill in bits and pieces they didn’t have. Students can then print out their
timelines and take them home to study for their unit test. This assignment is purely to help the student recall
information already taught, not to introduce new information.

Reflective Practice: This activity should help students outside the classroom. Students can take home their
timeline and share it with their parents to help them study and maybe teach something to their parents that
they didn’t already know. Maybe instead of making the timeline after the class has learned everything in the
unit, make it periodically threw the unit and add on to it every time they learn about a new battle. To let
students dig deeper, I could allow more time and let students search each battle online and find a fact about
each battle that why did not learn as a class. Then each student gets to share one fact they found with the
whole class.

Spring 2018_SJB
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Spring 2018_SJB