Lesson: Making The Mandalorian

 Instruct students to draw a map of the classroom or room they are currently in on a blank sheet of paper. Tell them to include furniture within the room, such as desks, bookcases, and chairs. Ask students to describe where on their maps some of these objects are. Then tell students to fold their maps into 16ths by folding the paper twice horizontally and twice vertically. Have students unfold the map and now describe where on their maps some of the various objects are. Then ask: Did the folding help you more easily describe the location of the objects in the room? Explain why or why not.

Have volunteers read paragraphs of the article aloud. Ask students the following comprehension questions during or after the reading:

• Where were scenes on Tatooine filmed before? (Tunisia)

• Why are they able to change the filming location? (The scenes are being filmed in a hemispherical room in a filming studio in Southern California. The walls and ceiling of the room are covered in LED screens, which allows them to film elsewhere.)

• What was the biggest problem that Industrial Light and Magic had to solve while trying to make the show? (They needed to create the fantastic worlds of Star Wars quickly and on a smaller budget.) How does the Volume help with this? (Multiple different worlds can be created within the same LED-screen-covered room.)

• How does the Volume help visual effects teams, camera crews, and actors? (Visual effects teams don’t need to add in things such as light reflection after filming since the reflections are already there from the LED screens. Camera crews compose shots more easily. Actors find the sets they are working within more believable.)

Play the instructional video “Coordinate Planes.” Then read through the introduction and the example of the “Using a Coordinate Plane” box on pages 10 and 11. For Steps 2 and 3, model how to begin at the origin and move to the right and down to find the coordinates. As you do this, have students do the same in their individual issues. Remind them that the labels at the end of the axes can help them determine if the coordinate is positive or negative. Model how to plot point A on the larger coordinate plane on page 11 by starting at the origin, counting right 4 units, and then down 2 units. Then have students work on the “Your Turn” questions individually.

As you check students’ work, look for the following common misconceptions:

• Incorrectly identifying the positive and negative directions: Point out the labels on either side of each axis to remind students which quadrants include positive coordinates, negative coordinates, or both.

• Misidentifying the origin as (1, 1) instead of (0, 0): Have students write (0, 0) next to the origin.

• Confusing the x- and y-coordinates: Have students think of visual or verbal cues to help them remember the order. For example, kids can crawl (move horizontally) before they can climb (move up and down).

Digitally share the blank “Coordinate Plane” template. Have students print out the page or use the digital version to create a map of a fictitious world on the coordinate plane. Have students write coordinate plane questions about important spots on the map and create an answer key for their questions.