Teachers complete a short Elementari build as learners, explore the front and back sides of a page, and connect that experience to assigning and supporting future lessons.
Pacing
1 class · 30 min
Opens a private practice project in the Studio — no account needed.
Why does experiencing a lesson from the learner's seat reveal what expertise conceals?
Students will be able to
Experience Elementari from a student's viewpoint by following a structured lesson.
Develop familiarity with designing a story and implementing basic coding of animations.
Key vocabulary
usability testcurse of knowledgescaffold
Assessment
Formative
Use milestone checks, organizer responses, and daily test evidence to guide feedback.
Summative
The participant can explain the student workflow and identify where writing, design, and coding decisions occur. The practice text animation and character animation work, and the participant can locate the submit/publish and lesson-assignment workflow.
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.
📖Test With Five Users — Starting With Yourself
In 2000, usability researcher Jakob Nielsen published a finding that quietly changed how software gets built: you do not need a laboratory or a hundred test subjects to find what is wrong with a design. Watching just five real users try to …
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
Experience and publish an interactive story the way your students will build theirs.
2Student Kit · sneak peek
High Support
[Character] enters [setting] and discovers ___ — the very first thing they'll need to figure out before anything else can begin.
Key Words from the Passageusability testcurse of knowledgescaffold
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 / 8
Welcome to Elementari!
Try out and learn how writing and coding on Elementari works through this lesson geared for teachers. No coding experience needed! Don't worry - often students will explore coding
Key words — tap to learnon page start block
Each step checks off & advances on its own
All 8 studio steps · dynamic to the project
1Welcome to Elementari!
2Front Side Design 🎨
3Back Side Code - Intro 💻
4Back Side Code - Text Animation 📝
5Front Side Design - Advanced ✨
6Back Side Code - Animate 🚶♂️
7Last Step - Publish!
8Starting My Students - Assign a Lesson
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
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
usability test
watching real users attempt a task to discover where a design fails them
curse of knowledge
the difficulty of imagining what not-knowing feels like once you know
scaffold
temporary support placed where learners predictably struggle
Watch for these misconceptions
✕
Participants evaluate the platform only from the teacher dashboard. →Return to the student build and complete the next milestone before discussing classroom use.
✕
Participants assume every student needs the same amount of coding explanation. →Identify which validation, template, peer, or read-aloud support could let students proceed independently.
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
Educators set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness.
ISTE-E 2.5.a
Educators use technology to create, adapt, and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
ISTE-E 2.5.b
Educators design authentic learning activities that align with content-area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.
ISTE-E 2.6.c
Educators create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and computational thinking to innovate and solve problems.
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 35, 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.
