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Lesson Plan - How Are Emojis Made?
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Learning Objective
Students will learn about the process and basic criteria for the creation of new emojis.
Text Structure
Description, List
Content-Area Connections
Social Studies; Technology
Standards Correlations
CCSS: RI.4.1, RI.4.2, RI.4.3, RI.4.4, RI.4.5, RI.4.6, RI.4.7, RI.4.8, RI.4.10, L.4.4, SL.4.1
NCSS: Culture
TEKS: Social Studies 4.19
1. Preparing to Read
Watch a Video: A Brief History of EmojisAsk: What do ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs have to do with today’s emojis?
Preview Words to Know Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.
Set a Purpose for Reading Note the “As You Read” question, and have students think about why people keep making new emojis.
2. Close-Reading Questions
1. What does proposal mean in the text? What context clues help you figure it out? A proposal is a plan or an idea that is suggested by someone. The phrases “ideas for emojis” and “anyone can submit one” are important clues to this word’s meaning.(RI.4.4 ACADEMIC VOCABULARY)
2. Why does the article say that people should “think globally” when planning emojis? The article says that emojis are used all over the world, so they need to be as understandable to people in other countries as they are to people in the U.S.(RI.4.1 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING)
3. Based on the sidebar, “Just for Laughs,” how was the smiley face created by Scott Fahlman in 1982 different from today’s emojis? The sidebar explains that Fahlman created his smiley face by typing a series of punctuation marks. Today’s emojis are actual images designed by artists.(RI.4.3 COMPARISON)
3. Skill Building
FEATURED SKILL: Explaining IdeasUse the skill builder “Design Your Own Emoji!” to have students plan an emoji that meets the criteria outlined in the article.(W.4.2 EXPLANATORY WRITING)
Multilingual Learners Have Spanish-speaking students read the Spanish version of the article in conjunction with the English version.
Striving Readers Have students read or listen to the lower-level version of the article, noting key ideas and listing any vocabulary words that are new to them.
SEL Extension As students develop their own emoji ideas using the skill builder, have them work in pairs or small groups to give kind and constructive feedback to one another.