Students learn verified details about Josephine Baker, then write a clearly fictional meeting and adventure with her cheetah, ending with an animated friendship scene and music.
Pacing
1 class · 30 min
Grade
Grade 3
Opens a private practice project in the Studio — no account needed.
How do writers blend real facts with imagination responsibly?
Students will be able to
Learn about Josephine Baker and her achievements.
Develop creative writing skills by imagining a story about Josephine and her cheetah.
Write a story with a structured beginning, middle, and end.
Code text animations and background music to enhance their narrative.
Key vocabulary
performerfamousimagine
Assessment
Formative
Use milestone checks, organizer responses, and daily test evidence to guide feedback.
Summative
Verified details remain accurate, imagined parts are clearly framed, and the meeting, dialogue, adventure, and ending form one connected story. The text effect and music support the story, and any added interaction does not imply that fictional events are documented history.
The student journey
From reading to an interactive project
Elementari is a browser-based tool for creating illustrated, interactive stories and projects. Students plan their writing in the Student Kit, then add it to a digital project in the editor, called Studio.
1
📖
Read
The reading provides background knowledge or a model of writing for students to draw on. The lesson plan explains its connection to the project.
📖The Dancer with a Cheetah
Picture a busy street in Paris, almost one hundred years ago. People stop and stare. A famous dancer is out for a walk — and beside her, on a leash, walks a cheetah wearing a sparkling collar. The dancer was Josephine Baker. She grew up poo…
Students use the Student Kit's storyboard to plan and draft their project. Choose High Support, Guided Support, or Independent to adjust the writing scaffolds.
Student mission
Write an interactive story of Josephine meeting her cheetah.
2Student Kit · sneak peek
High Support
___ and the Cheetah: An Imagined Story
Key Words from the Passageperformerfamousimagine
Glossary a kid-friendly definition for every key term
In the studio, students bring the project to life — adding art and following the exact writing and coding steps shown below. The Studio Compass walks them through it, one step at a time.
🧭Studio CompassStep 1 / 9
Meet Josephine Baker! 🙌🏾
Josephine Baker was a remarkable woman from the 1920s. Not just a famous dancer and singer, Josephine was also known for her bravery as a spy during World War II, her role as a civ
Key words — tap to learnon page start block
Each step checks off & advances on its own
All 9 studio steps · dynamic to the project
1Meet Josephine Baker! 🙌🏾
2Imagining Chiquita's Journey 🐾
3Design your Title Page 🌟
4A First Meeting ❤️
5Their First Conversation 💬
6The Adventure 🏞️
7The End: Forever Friends 🌈
8Setting the Mood with Music 🎶
9Adding the Final Touches 🎨
4
🔁
Polish
ongoing
Teacher and peer feedback pin right onto the project — students revise until it's ready to share.
Feedback on the project2 pins
🍎
Add one more sentence here so readers get the full picture.
👍 2Teacher
A
The interaction is clear — it helps the reader follow the project!
Students finish and test their projects. Work submitted through a class goes to the teacher for review; publishing a project makes it public with a shareable link.
Open these resources as web pages, then use Print to print them or save a PDF. The Student Kit supports the writing; Studio provides the on-screen build steps.
A couple of things to gather, a few quick steps to prep — then you're ready to hand it to students.
What you need
One device per student or pair
Internet connection
Student Kit or printed organizer
A device per student or pair
Headphones or speakers
Prep before class
1Preview the designated builder story.
2Review the ordered milestones and Student Kit.
3Decide whether students work independently or in pairs.
Teacher background
What you need to know
Key terms
performer
a person who dances, sings, or acts for an audience
famous
known by very many people
imagine
to make a picture or story in your mind
Watch for these misconceptions
✕
An invented meeting or conversation is presented as something that really happened. →Add explicit fictional framing and keep verified facts in separate sentences.
✕
The adventure is a list of places rather than a problem and result. →Require one setting, one problem, one response, and one changed ending.
Standards alignment
Aligned to the standards you teach
Every task maps to a specific standard, so planning and reporting are covered.
Tracking 7 frameworks: Common Core ELA, Common Core Math, NGSS +4
Test and debug a program or algorithm to ensure it runs as intended.
1A-AP-12
Develop plans that describe a program’s sequence of events, goals, and expected outcomes.
Also addressed1B-AP-13 · 1A-AP-15 · 1B-AP-11 · 1B-AP-17
ISTE
ISTE Standards for Students
11 standards
ISTE 1.4.a
Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts, or solving authentic problems.
ISTE 1.4.c
Students develop, test, and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.
ISTE 1.6.d
Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.
ISTE 1.5.d
Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.
Also addressedISTE 1.3.a · ISTE 1.3.b · ISTE 1.1.c · ISTE 1.6.b · ISTE 1.6.c · ISTE 1.5.c · ISTE 1.3.d
AASL
AASL National School Library Standards
3 standards
AASL I.A.1
Learners display curiosity and initiative by formulating questions about a personal interest or a curricular topic.
Also addressedAASL I.B.1 · AASL I.B.3
C3
C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards
2 standards
C3 D2.His.10.K-2
Compare information provided by different historical sources about the past.
Also addressedC3 D2.His.10.3-5
Full task-by-task mapping — including Depth of Knowledge — is in the answer key.
Differentiation & accessibility
Choose the writing support
These are the three support options in the Student Kit. Choose the scaffolds students need while keeping the same project.
High Support
More writing scaffolds
Sentence frames break the response into manageable parts
Supplied words and ideas help students get started
Students still have space to write their responses
Guided Support
A starting point for writing
Task prompts and selected sentence starters
Writing cues and word banks where supplied
Space to develop each response
Independent
Less scaffolding
The same project and required writing tasks
Open response space without the support frames
Students develop their own wording
Accessibility, built inPredictable step-by-step structureOne task at a time · Studio CompassHighlighted response areasLow-stimulation printMovement-friendly pacingDesigned so every student can design, write, and code — with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia in mind.
Questions
Teacher FAQ
Do I — or my students — need to know how to code?
No prior coding knowledge is required to start. Students follow on-screen build steps in Studio. Coding difficulty describes the project's complexity; teachers may still need to help students test and revise. The lesson plan supports teaching, and the Answer Key provides sample writing responses.
How long does this lesson take?
About 60, paced into 45-minute class periods. You can spread it out or compress it — students pick up where they left off, so it doesn't have to finish in one sitting.
What devices does this lesson work on?
Use a Chromebook, laptop, desktop or tablet with a modern browser and an internet connection. The project editor does not support phones. Try the build on your class devices before teaching.
What is Studio Compass?
Studio Compass is the step-by-step guide inside the Studio. It shows students what to do next, identifies the exact coding blocks they need, and confirms completed milestones so they can keep moving independently.
How does this lesson support different learners?
The Student Kit has High Support, Guided Support and Independent writing profiles. They change the amount of scaffolding for the same project. Choose a profile in the kit before printing, and use the lesson plan's differentiation suggestions.
Ready when you are
Bring this lesson to your class
Import your class, assign in one click, and watch them build — the whole kit comes with it.
