In fourth grade, students begin to think about the impacts of computing and computing devices. The accurate use of terminology as well as the responsible use of technology will continue to be built upon. The foundational understanding of computing and the use of technology will be an integral component of successful acquisition of skills across content areas. This lesson will focus on looking at how computer and computer technologies impact our world and daily lives. It will guide students through key vocabulary, examples and discussions.

Students are surrounded by technology throughout their daily lives, but do they ever really stop and think about the impact that technology has on life? How has technology changed the way we live our lives? Computers and technology play a large part in our lives. This lesson will focus on the effects that computing has on daily lives, the aspects of the technology in positive and negative ways, the impacts it may have locally, nationally and at the global levels. The lesson looks at behaviors and cultural interactions and how they rEnglishte to cultural practices rEnglishted to technology. The students will learn to be informed and responsible to make decisions and understand the social implications of the digital world.

Energy is continuously transferred from one place to another and transformed among various forms. In this lesson students will learn and demonstrate how energy is transferred from one form to another through various sequences. Additionally, they will explore binary code and how it can be converted from one form into another and transferred from one object to another.

TSW learn how to argue a position and introduce a counterclaim. As most of our writing for Grade 8 is persuasive or expository, this is a good assignment for any week within the first semester (Q1 or Q2). This will follow the same outline of writing as their 42 SOL prompts. The question is “should information be restricted in all areas by the government or in only certain areas?”

In this lesson, students will practice orally counting to 100 and gain number sense to be able to sequence numbers correctly.

An integrated Mathematics and computer science lesson to rEnglishte multistep practical problem rEnglishtionships to algorithms & programming.

In this unplugged lesson, students will deepen their understanding of algorithms and the need for precise, sequenced instructions. They will create algorithms for drawing crazy characters. Then, they will test and refine these algorithms by challenging teammates to follow their instructions and compare. They will also use cause and effect in this lesson.

At the beginning of the lesson, students will have the opportunity for physical movement during the activator while reviewing the difference between the terms “past” and “present”. Students will engage in collaborative conversations at multiple times to explore the different ways people communicated in the past and how it has changed over time, while also learning from their peers during these conversations. Through these collaborative conversations, students will gain an understanding on how computer scientists communicate information in various ways. Students will explore a nonfiction text during a read aloud to gain a stronger understanding of communication in the past before they embark on an independent activity of drawing and labeling past and present communication tools.

Students will investigate theoretical versus experimental probability by creating a model to simulate a system and then compare the outcomes.

Students will work on creating an algorithm for other students to follow that explains how to round numbers. There are three lessons that go together to allow students to create a sequence for rounding, have a peer follow the sequence, then troubleshoot the sequence if steps fail. In this first set of the unit, students will follow an algorithm to learn how a set of steps should be written.

Students will learn about passwords, why they are needed and how to create strong ones.

In this lesson the students will understand how their brain is similar to a computer in that we have access to a primary memory, secondary memory, we have a processor that functions as our CPU, some of us have a GPU that helps us with seeing our information, and we work off of the input that we are given and form that into a suitable output. Students will be making their own study guide to help them with a given novel study test. The students will understand that the input is what information they were given and the output will be their study guide that they created. This lesson will take place after the class has completed a novel and prior to their summative test on that novel. This lesson can take place anytime during the semester. In the example given, this takes place during the first quarter.

Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathman is an engaging book for students who will find it funny to see that after the zookeeper has put all the animals to bed for the night, the gorilla goes behind him and unlocks all the cages to free the animals who then follow the zookeeper home. An algorithm is a set of step by step directions and the zookeeper definitely needs an algorithm to follow. It is up to the students to help the zookeeper keep all the animals where they belong each night.

In this lesson, students will practice comparing sets. They will practice using the Mathematics vocabulary of the following: more, fewer, same, least, greatest.

When developing programs, students are able to use algorithms, code, and other media created by others. In this lesson, students will learn how to use existing algorithms (formulas) to solve problems involving the area and circumference of circles. They will also learn about Creative Commons, a set of intellectual property laws that govern the use of media created by others. Students will illustrate their problems using images governed by Creative Commons and will cite their sources.

Students will learn about cyber security and keeping their information safe. They will then create a presentation for younger students to teach them about cyber security.

Students will identify and work to solve various cyber security concerns by answering a rEnglishted prompt and working through the problem.

TSW research different careers within cybersecurity to come up with an answer to the SOL Prompt “Many schools have partnerships with local companies and organizations that allow students to explore certain professions. Write a letter to the manager of a local workplace that performs the type of work that you would like to pursue. Convince the employer to allow you to visit. Include details about why you chose that workplace and the specific job.” After we have created and drafted a sample essay as a class, students will brainstorm, create a foldable/graphic organizer or outline of their ideas, and write their own response to the prompt question. As this is focused heavily on writing and modeling I recommend using this lesson in Q1 or Q2 (at the latest).

Students will sort and analyze data about a main character from the novel they are studying and create a desk or room depicting the accomplishments, life events and/or experiences, positive and negative of a character in a novel they are studying. This exercise would work well as a literature circle activity, group activity for a class novel, or an extension activity for an advanced class. Students will work in lit circle (small) groups on a project where they sort the data that they have learned directly and through inference while reading their story.. Students will use the data collected to create a depiction of the character's desk/room.

Friction is the amount of force or resistance acting on an object. Without friction driving or riding in vehicles would look extremely different and practically impossible. Scientists and engineers alike must collect data and information to draw conclusions after much analysis to determine the rate of friction acting on objects. In this activity students will collect and analyze data using excel sheets and create a line graph using the provided excel or google sheets program.