Lesson 1: Intro to World Book Students/Research Site

Start by explaining that this quarter in the classroom they will be doing some research on extreme weather, if they haven’t already started.  Today, they are going to review a google site with some resources they will be using, and then take a closer look at a newer online resource they haven’t really used before.  Project the ‘Q2 Research ELA 4th’ app in classlink. (Teachers need to add the app by going to the + sign towards the top left of classlink, students already have it). Review the homepage, showing the different types of extreme weather/natural disasters that they will be choosing from once they start researching on their own. Choose ‘Drought’ as that is the topic they will be studying in Module 1.  Point out that each page is organized in the same way (Epic books, online resources, articles, and videos)  While they may have had a lot of experience with resources like Epic, Britannica, and Brainpop already, some are going to be newer, like World Book Student.  You can tell them this is the ‘grown up’ version of Worldbook Kids that they may have used in the past.  Click on the World Book student link for droughts.  Explain that this link takes them directly to the article and that each article will be set up similarly.  Point out features such as the ‘read aloud’ icon, showing them that once they click on the ‘ear’ it will begin reading immediately.  While they can’t pick the middle of a paragraph to begin listening to, they can skip to specific paragraphs.  If they pause it, it will start up again at the beginning of the paragraph again, despite pausing in the middle. (Model for a short period).  Point out that anything with a link is another related article in World Book. Explain the tabs at the top and which ones will be more helpful.  Once you feel confident they can maneuver through an article, show how to get to the World Book homepage by clicking on ‘World Book Student’ at the top.  Scroll through the different parts of the ‘homepage’ highlighting the search bar since they will have a specific topic they will be searching for and that will be the most helpful.  Explain that today they will be exploring World Book Student, searching for information they find interesting.  To explore they can use the ‘Featured’ articles, Current Events, Biography Center, Featured Media, and/or Browse by Subject.the rest of the  Give students time to explore on their own before checking out books.  At the end of the library you could have students share articles they found that were interesting, or create an exit ticket for them to do independently.  This could be as simple as a question posted in google classroom asking the name of the article they read, or 1-2 interesting facts they learned.

Exit Slip

Lesson 2: Intro to Book Creator!

 Let students know that today they are going to be exploring another great tool they can use to create digital work - Book Creator.  For this first lesson, walk students through how  to add book creator to their classlink homepage by clicking on the + sign and searching for it if necessary.  Next, model adding a new book, discussing the different layout options as well as templates.  Give some direction on adding images, text, shapes, making sure to point out that in order to format any text or shape it must be selected and then students click on the i icon.  Give students time to join book creator library, choose a layout or template, and practice adding media.  Make sure they know this is just a ‘practice’ book and next library they will begin their actual book.