Educators Hall · for the adult at the front of the room
A 45-minute media-literacy lesson, ready whenever.
Free. No login. Runs on any browser, including Chromebooks. CCSS and ISTE aligned. Built so a 4th or 5th grade teacher with ninety seconds of prep can hand the class a real lateral-reading practice, then send a printable field-notes assignment home with the kids.
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i.
Pull up the game on the projector
Open onlit.riverdale.edu/dino-party-patrol/play.html in your browser. Click Play.
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ii.
Pre-load on student devices
Push the same URL to the class's Chromebooks or iPads ahead of the lesson. The game is about 46MB; loading it during a transition keeps the lesson on time. No login required.
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iii.
Print the field-notes handout
Print one copy per kid of the Dino Party Patrol field-notes PDF. Single page, ink-on-white, intentionally easy on the toner.
II The lesson
A 45-minute flow.
Six segments. The kids play, talk, play again, and write one honest sentence about what they noticed. Adjust the timing for your class, the flow is the part that matters.
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i.
Whole classWarm-up question (5 min)
Ask the whole class: "When you see something online, how do you decide if it's true?" Take three or four answers. Don't correct any of them. Let the room hear what the room already thinks.
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ii.
IndividualSolo play, Levels 1 and 2 (10 min)
Kids open the pre-loaded game and play Level 1 (Party Patrol) and Level 2 (Spot the Fakes). Each level is about 5 minutes. They check dinosaur ID cards against a reference book.
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iii.
PairsPartner share (5 min)
Kids turn to a neighbor: "What tricks did you use to tell a real dino from a fake one?" Listen as you walk the room. You will hear actual lateral-reading vocabulary appear, unprompted.
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iv.
Whole classWhole-class Level 3 (15 min)
Project Level 3 (Testimonial Detective) on the front board. The class votes on each guest. When the class is wrong, replay the testimony together. Naming the wrong move out loud is where the learning lives.
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v.
Individual writingOne-sentence reflection (5 min)
Each kid writes one sentence on the field-notes handout: "A time I had to check whether something online was true." Real example, not the game. This is the bridge from the game to their life.
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vi.
Family extensionTake-home for an adult (5 min)
Send the field-notes handout home. Bottom half is a conversation prompt for a parent or guardian. The point of media literacy is the conversation; we are just the excuse for it.
Shorter period? Drop step iv (whole-class Level 3) and step v (one-sentence reflection). The lesson lands in 25 minutes.
Double period or extension day? Add Levels 4–6 between steps iii and iv. Allow 60 minutes total.
III Standards alignment
What this lesson counts for.
The five standards a 4th or 5th grade teacher most often needs to point to when this comes up in an evaluation. Twenty-five US states now have media-literacy mandates of their own; this lesson aligns to the most common patterns across those mandates as well.
| Code | Source | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| W.4.7 | CCSS · ELA | Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic. |
| W.4.8 | CCSS · ELA | Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources. |
| W.5.9 | CCSS · ELA | Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. |
| 3.b | ISTE · Knowledge Constructor | Evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility, and relevance of information, media, data, or other resources. |
| 3.c | ISTE · Knowledge Constructor | Curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions. |
IV The printable
Field-notes handout, single page.
One sheet, two sides. The first side is the kid's reflection. The second side is a conversation prompt for a parent or guardian. Designed to print in black on white, intentionally easy on the toner.
Dino Party Patrol · Field Notes
Need it in another language, with larger print, or as a fillable PDF? Email us, just say so.