Beanie Baby Lesson Plan

PLANNING
Formal Plan – Page A

Intern Name: Iryna Chernitska

Day/Date/Time: February 8th, 2018

Grade & Subject Area(s): 1st Grade/Science

Curriculum content Standards:

Link with Academic Content Standards (Preschool/Elementary)
 LS.K2.1a Sort living and nonliving things. This content builds to
understanding that living things use the environment to acquire what they
need in order to survive.
 RL/RI.X.6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a
text.
Goal(s)

During this lesson, students will:

 Compare and contrast a variety of living animals and their environments.
 Students will be we able to talk about the creative techniques that were used in the
creation of Beanie Babies to attract their attention and the different purposes of
the message (pleasure vs. learning).
 Distinguish between “real” and “imaginary”/non-realistic features of Beanie
Babies.

Group Dynamics: Students get to work in a whole classroom setting (read aloud &
discussion) as well as individually (animal stories).

Instructional materials: iPad, T-chart paper, whiteboard, Beanie Babies, PowerPoint

Activities for Day 1: (15-25 min)

Step 1:
Read Aloud: Invite students to come to the carpet and sit in their assigned spot. Read the
book, Arthur’s TV Trouble written by Marc Brown. Before we read the story, I want
everyone to be on the lookout for the words and pictures that are used in the commercial
to get Arthur to buy the treat timer for his dog.
Questions to ask the students:
“What made Arthur buy the treat timer for his dog”?
Ask the students to share a time with their buddy about a time where they saw a toy that
they wanted to buy? Why did you want to buy that toy?
Where did you see the toy? Was it on TV, radio, billboard, newspaper, or a friend told
you about the toy?
What happens after the treat timer was put together? Did Arthur learn a lesson about TV
advertisements?
• Have students note the “lesson” that they believe Arthur learned or did not learn from
buying the treat timer. Have students share their idea with their buddy. (1-2 min)

Step 2: https://youtu.be/u6HmMZ9B3EA
Model a Venn diagram for compare and contrast concepts. Show with the help of the
students how a Clifford dog is similar or different to a dog in their neighborhood. Pre-
teach the words compare and contrast. What is similar between them and what is
different?

Neighbors Dog
Brown Fur
Black Fur Clifford
White Fur Both are Red Fur
Spots animals Talks
(dogs) Has Ears
Black Eyes
Brown Eyes Is really big
Barks
Has ears

Show the students this YouTube video of a McDonald’s Beanie Baby commercial.
Prompt the students to focus on how the toys look in the McDonald’s commercial. Allow
students to write down their observations and/or draw a picture of the animals in the
writing journals. Encourage the students to compare and contrast the toy animals that
they saw in the video to living animals that they might see at the zoo or out in the real
world. What about the toys in the commercial did you like? After seeing this video do
you want a Beanie Baby toy? What makes you want a Beanie Baby toy? This activity
will help students see the message and the purpose that McDonald’s commercial is trying
to send. Students will compare the pleasure purposeful toys and the toys that helps us
learn about the world.

Activities for Day Two/Instructional Sequence & Approximate Timing:

Step 1: (45-60 min)

Show students a PowerPoint of the different Beanie Babies. *Show the actual toys if
available.
Teacher models what observations you see of the Monkey Beanie Baby from the
PowerPoint, “I saw that one monkey has purple fur, blue eyes, red ears and tail. I don’t
think I have ever seen a purple monkey at the zoo. I don’t think that’s realistic because
we don’t see purple Monkeys at the zoo”. Now you try...
Step 2: Ask the students to share their observations of each individual toy they see on the
PowerPoint, write down the students’ observations of the Beanie Babies on the
whiteboard. (colors, size, names of animals, purple ears, etc.)
Step 3: Create a class T-chart of the observations that the students have found regarding
the beanie animals shown on the PowerPoint. The animals should be categorized under
two headers “real features” and “imaginary(for pleasure/non-realistic (learning
purposes)” features. Encourage students to figure out which of their observations would
go under which category for each particular animal. EX: (Pink Dolphin would go under
non-realistic)
Step 4: Discuss. Why might someone make these toys that don’t look like the real
animals we see? What are the pros of having toys that don’t look like the real animals?
What are the cons? Which animals would you want to buy/have at home? Why? Why
would you not want buy a certain Beanie Baby? Why is the pink Dolphin not realistic?
Does the pink dolphin help us learn about real animals or is it just for us to play with the
animal? What makes one of these Beanie Babies look like the animals we see at the zoo?
This discussion is a great formative assessment, you can tell based on the students’
responses which students are getting the connection between realistic (learning) and non-
realistic toys (pleasure).

Activities for Day Three: (2 hours) (Allow extra time the next day if needed)
Step 1: Have students research a Beanie Baby animal of their choice. Students should
have an animal approved by the teacher at the end of day two. The students will be able
to bring a toy animal from home that they can research. If students do not have a toy
animal at home they can borrow one from the classroom bin that has a variety of toy
animals. Allow students to use the non-fiction classroom library books, the National
Geographic Website, and Science Kids to do research. Guide students to focus their
research on the environment that the animal lives in, what are the things that they need to
survive in that environment, and two interesting facts they found about their animal.
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals.html

Step 2: If students are done researching allow students to move on to the next step which
is creating a story on their animal using the Little Bird Tale App. This App allows
students to use a variety of images such as pictures or clip art, audio (they can talk about
their animal), and writing to describe and write a story on their specific animal.
Step 3: Presentation time!!! Have students share their creative work with their classmates.
Pick a popsicle stick for the order of presentations, it is okay if students do not want to
share their work with the class just move on to the next student. Looking at the students
contribution to the discussions, their journal entries, and their Little Bird App
presentation. I will use the 4 point rubric attached to decide if the students have gotten the
learning goals or not.
Learning Connections:
How is the lesson connected to other content areas? How does it strengthen student
learning? Explain how you will help students to access background knowledge. Explain
your thinking on how this lesson is culturally responsive.

 Integrates first grade standards about living and non-living things

 Helps students become aware of the 21st century media literacies and how it
affects them as individuals
 Assess students background knowledge based on their contribution to the
discussion of the Beanie Baby toys, their understanding of advertisements and
their knowledge of living animals on this earth.
 Culturally responsive by allowing the students to bring their own toy animal to
analyze and research their own choice of living animal
Key Vocabulary/Academic Language:
Living animals: an animal that breathes and can move on its own
Non-living: inanimate, no longer alive
Realistic: representing familiar things in a way that is accurate or true to life
Non-realistic: not representing something in a way that is true to life
Pro: an advantage or argument in favor of something
Con: a disadvantage to something
Advertisement: a notice or announcement in a public space promoting a product, service,
or event
Compare: estimate, measure, or note the similarity or dissimilarity between two things
Contrast: dissimilarity between two things
Assessment Plan:
Learning Goal(s) Description of Assessment* Adaptations and/or
Accommodations
distinguish between “real” Students will be assessed on their Have students write
(learning) and “imaginary” understanding by creating a T-chart down the
(pleasurable toys)/ non-realistic and analyzing their own toy that characteristics/features
features of Beanie Babies they bring from home based on the of their toy animal
animal’s realistic and non-realistic they brought from
features. Ex. (Non-Realistic feature- home in comparison to
a monkey has purple ears or fur) a living animal in the
real world.
Creative techniques of the toys will
How did these creative be discussed after the video with
techniques grasp their attention? questions like, “What about the toy
in the commercial made you want
the toy”?
Compare and contrast a variety Students have created a story using Compare and contrast the
of living animals and their the Little Bird Tales app on an living animals to the
Beanie Baby animal toys
environments. animal of their choice. Students will provided on the
share their research with the entire PowerPoint. Provide actual
class. toys if necessary.
Summary of Procedures:
This lesson plan applies to the needs of my students by integrating 21st century media
tools, media literacy questions and concepts, and students interest in toys to educate
students on the importance of creative techniques that are found in advertisements. 21st
century media tools include technology and other forms of literacy such commercials, TV
shows, and movies. Students will be able to understand the idea that advertisements use
creative tools such as color to grab the attention of the viewer in order for them to buy the
product. It is important that students can use such information to think critically and
make logical decisions. It is important for students to learn the difference between the
realistic and non-realistic features that are presented in living animals. It also important
for students to be able to distinguish between the purpose of the message being sent. It
also teaches the students about the power and reasoning of creative techniques that are
used in advertisements. My authentic assessment, giving students the opportunity to
create a story using Little Bird Tale on the animal of their choice, allows students to use
their critical thinking and reasoning skills to analyze their own toys at home based on
realistic and non-realistic features. Students further their learning by researching the
living animals’ environment and connecting how the portrayal of a particular animal can
be shown in a non-realistic way through commercials such as the McDonald’s one.

Citations:
“Fun Animal Facts for Kids - Crazy, Cool, Funny, Amazing, Interesting”(2016). Science
Kids -Fun Science & Technology for Kids!
“Kids’ Games, Animals, Photos, Stories, and More— National Geographic Kids” (1995-
2016). Kids' Games, Animals, Photos, Stories, and More -- National Geographic
Kids.
“McDonald's Happy Meal Commercial 2017 Teenie Beanie Boo” (2017). YouTube.
YouTube.

“Ohio's Learning Standards Extended.” Ohio Department of Education

education.ohio.govTopics/Special-Education/Ohios-Learning-Standards
Extended.