The Coolest Inventions Lesson Plan

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Academic Standards

 

Reading Objective:

Children will identify several Black inventors and explain how their inventions solved problems.

 

Social Studies Focus:

Black History Month

 

Science Focus:

inventors 

 

ELA Skills:

details, vocabulary, problem/solution

 

Page 4 Skill:

read a timeline

 

Vocabulary:

invented, inventors, bristles

 

CCSS:

SL.2.3, RI.2.1, RI.2.3, RI.2.4, RI.2.10

 

Guided Reading Level: 

K

 

Lexile Level:

470L

Download TEKS Standards
Download Common Core Standards

Provide students with some background on problem-solving.

Build background knowledge (10 min.)

Watch our video “Problem and Solution." After children have finished watching the video, discuss the following question:

  • Can a problem have more than one solution?

Preview vocabulary (3 min.)

Next, play the online vocabulary slideshow. This issue’s featured words are invented, inventors, and bristles.

Set a purpose for reading (5 min.)

  • Pass out the issue and discuss the cover. Talk about how the ice cream scooper helps to get ice cream on top of a cone. It’s a handy invention!
  • Next, read the As You Read prompt on page 3: “Think about how each invention solved a problem.” Encourage children to think about this prompt as they read.

Read together (20 min.)

Pass out the Read and Think printable. Use it to check comprehension as you read the issue together, pausing to ask the questions. 

Assessment: Reading Quiz

Pass out the Reading Quiz to review key concepts from the issue and assess students’ proficiency on key nonfiction reading skills.

  • Use the online game show to gauge comprehension and reinforce the issue’s content. Students can play by themselves or in teams. For each question they answer correctly, they win a point.

You can use our printable worksheets to focus on important ELA skills. Here’s how.

ELA Focus: Vocabulary (15 min.)

  • Use the Word Work printable to deepen students’ understanding of the words invented, inventor, and bristles.

Editor’s Pick: Solve a Problem (15 min.)

  • The Be an Inventor! skill sheet presents three problems to students, inviting them to choose one and create an invention to solve it! Children name their invention, draw it, and describe how it works.

ELA Focus: Problem/Solution (15 min.)

  • The Inventing Solutions skill sheet provides kids with a scaffolded graphic organizer to summarize what they learned in the issue.

 Here are two past issues you can use to extend your lesson on Black history:

  • “Escape to Freedom,” March 2020. This issue explains how Harriet Tubman helped enslaved people get free.
  • “Ruby the Brave,” February 2018. This issue tells how Ruby Bridges helped change education in America.

You can find a higher-Lexile-level and a lower-Lexile-level version of the article online here:

  • Higher-Lexile level: 530L
  • Lower-Lexile level: 450L