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Little, Medium, Big

Subjects

  • Educational Technology
  • Process Skills

Grade

  • PreK
  • K-2

Brief Description

Students love to spend time on the computer, especially in early childhood. Why not use that time to practice classroom skills? In this lesson, students use the computer mouse to order sets of clip art in a Word document.

Objectives

Students will

  • order different-sized objects from little to big.
  • click, drag, and hold objects using a computer mouse.
  • improve confidence with computer skills.

Keywords

ordering, sets, mouse skills

Materials Needed

 

Lesson Plan

Before teaching this lesson, be sure you have loaded either the Little, Medium, Big template provided onto students' computers or have created your own worksheet. Saving the file to your computer Desktop will make it easy to find.

You can choose to complete this lesson in a lab, at a set of classroom computers, or at a single computer. Walk through the following steps with the student, a small group of students, or the entire class, allowing students with advanced skills to help others. Then,

  • Demonstrate how to double-click and open the file, and watch as students open the file (If students have very basic computer skills, you might want to open the file for them.)
  • Remind students of classroom activities or discussions in which they learned about ordering objects from littlest to biggest.
  • Demonstrate how to click, hold, and drag the smallest object in a set (such as the smallest top hat out of the three on the template), and watch them follow your instructions.
  • Give students the opportunity to practice on the other three sets.
  • If time permits, ask students to change the order from biggest to littlest. Have each student write his or her name on the worksheet (or write it for younger students), print the worksheets, and send them home. Students love to share work they've done on the computer!

Extension activities:

  • Show students with advanced computer skills how to add new clip art, copy and paste additional copies of the images, and resize images. Even 5-6 year olds, given enough practice and interest, can master those skills.
  • Modify the worksheet to include images for upcoming holidays, thematic units, and so on.

Assessment

Observe and evaluate each student's

  • ability to order objects from little to big on their printed worksheet.
  • ability to use the mouse (click, hold, drag) effectively.
  • comfort level with using a computer.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Lorrie Jackson

National Standards

MATHEMATICS: Measurement
GRADES Pre-K - 2
NM-MEA.PK-2.1 Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units, Systems, and Processes of Measurement
NM-MEA.PK-2.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements

TECHNOLOGY
GRADES K - 12
NT.K-12.1 Basic Operations
NT.K-12.6 Technology Problem-Solving and Decision-Making tools