Overview

Students will be planning and creating a Pet Store by working in teams and rotating through a series of stations which requires them to create an advertisement, a presentation, plan and sort data, create a floor map, gather information, categorize and classify animals, and document their progress.

Introduction

The Pet Store provides early childhood educators with a multidisciplinary, developmentally appropriate example of integrating technology into the (Pre-K-2) curriculum. It provides a hands-on opportunity for participants to recognize, use, and understand appropriate technology use with young children through guided activities that revolve around the Pet Store theme. Students will be planning and creating a Pet Store by working in teams and rotating through a series of stations which requires them to create an advertisement, a presentation, plan and sort data, create a floor map, gather information, categorize and classify animals, and document their progress.

This module has a teacher participant and student participant module. The student module is designed to be used within a balanced curricular plan and is not intended for use in isolation. The teacher participant module is a condensed version of the Pet Store lesson, designed to expose participants to the many ways to integrate technology into curricular planning.

Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:

Materials

Technology

Preparation

You are creating and generating ideas for your Pet Store. Set up your dramatic play area as a Pet Store. Allow children to practice what it is like to take care of a pet. Display an array of different kinds of stuffed animals for children to choose. (You may include a note home to parents asking for stuffed animal donations.) Brainstorm with the children about what kind of pets they want and record it on a large sheet of paper. Talk with children about what they think pets need. Encourage children to choose a pet from the pet store, then gather books from the library about the pets. Highlight a pet each day and read about what is involved in the animal's care. Allow children to use boxes as "dog houses" or beds for their pets. Be creative! These introductory steps will set the tone for the lesson.

Print the templates, sample and station task cards. Gather animal pictures, plastic animals, blocks or linking cubes for planning the construction of the store. Make student samples for each station and post. Prepare the station task cards and organize in the classroom for easy use by the participants. (Reminder: Students will NOT complete this unit in the same time frame as adult participants. Use of these activities must be part of a balanced plan for young children-not used in isolation. This preparation is for adult participants.)

Student use of these tasks MUST be modified and completed with the assistance of a teacher, assistant, parent, or older student mentor. Reading level ability will vary for students; young children must work with someone older.

You must choose and familiarize yourself with the hardware and software that will be used before attempting this with children. DO NOT use these activities all at once. Work them into your unit, thematic planning. Decide how to use the activities to further the lesson and learning, Before the session, you must prepare all the Task Folders stating the task and organize the stations appropriately in the classroom. Utilize parent volunteers and older students to assist children with the reading and manipulation of the technology. You must decide how to group the children for the tasks and how to integrate it into your classroom schedule. Consider how to use these activities as part of the balance of the thematic centers. Classroom management is essential!

Tasks

The tasks for each station are included in the specific station document. Download stations.doc for all tasks.

If printing these tasks for students, be sure to modify them for use by young children, adding more graphics, larger font size, and simpler vocabulary.

Assessment

Use the Pet Store Rubric as a checklist of activities to be completed and an indicator of expectation and level of competency per task. Most importantly, use the Pet Store plans. Refer to them often. Observe student use of the technology in other applications.

Extension

If there is a Pet Store in town, plan a field trip to visit it.

Resources

Off-line

Online

Downloading & Printing Files

These pages can be downloaded to your computer as files. Files can then be opened and printed.

Microsoft document format opens the files in Microsoft Word. You can make changes in the pages before printing them.

Microsoft Word (.doc)

Pet Store

Station Instructions

Pet Store Rubric (.doc file)

Pet Store Idea Table (.doc file)

Sample of Student's Animals (.doc)

Guides for Trainer, Teacher, and Student (.doc file)

Sample Pet Store (.doc file)

Standards