Ben & Jerry's Website: A Cool Way to Reinforce Language Arts Skills and Work Toward Computer Proficiency by Julie
Vitulano, New York City Public Schools.
Lesson 3 >>
Lesson 2: Redesigning a Time Line
Aim: How can we simplify Ben & Jerry's Time Line?
Materials: Computers with Internet access, Paintbrush or other computer graphics program, notebooks.
Instructional Objectives: Students will be able to read with understanding factual information presented in chronological sequence; students will be able to summarize and list
important facts from their reading; students will be able to use the Paintbrush program to draw a simple ice cream cone and color it; they will be able to make up names for their cones;
they will be able to change the Ben & Jerry's Time Line to a linear time line with information presented in the form of key phrases.
Do Now: Students are asked to go to the Ben & Jerry's Time Line http://benjerry.com/company/history/ and rewrite the
following events in chronological order on a time line bar:
Haagen-Dazs tries to limit distribution of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
$12,000 investment
Sales $32 million
Time magazine article
Answer:
1978 $12,000 Investment
1982 Time magazine article
1983 Haagen-Dazs tries to limit distribution of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
1987 Sales of $32 million
Homework Review: In pairs students read their homework paragraphs to each other.
Motivation: The teacher asks the students which is easier to review, the textual time line or the bar time lines?
Development:
- There are 21 years to the Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. time line. Some sections are very short and others very long. The teacher will have to divide up the sections equitably. If
the sections are given to pairs of students, the numbers should work out well. Each pair reads its section and notes the important events for its year(s). A wall of the classroom may
be used for a very long time line bar.
- The pairs prepare their notes, create an ice cream cone, and write an oral presentation about their section.
- As each pair makes its presentation, students post their notes on the large time line and display their cones. Then they make the oral presentations.
Homework: Students receive copies of the entire time line from the site to read for homework. They are asked to write two paragraphs tracing the financial growth of the company.
Lesson 3>> |