Pre-approval packet

1 · Activity

Title

Teaching the Units — Teaching Smart Machines Around Us, grades K-2

Provider

Schoolhouse

Version

v1.0 · as of 2026-08

Format

Asynchronous, self-paced, online

2 · Total contact hours

5.0 contact hours

300 contact minutes across 5 modules. Itemised in section 4; the module minutes sum to this total.

3 · Learning objectives

• Trace the K-12 throughline from noticing machines to fair and safe use, and locate the K-2 band within it.
• State what this curriculum claims about the VA CS SOL — and what it openly does not cover.
• Distinguish a supplemental AI curriculum from a full computer-science course of study.
• Run the Smart Machines sort and the Patterns Everywhere activities unplugged, start to finish.
• Name the three misconceptions these activities are designed to surface.
• Judge student work against a described standard rather than against effort.
• Answer 'is it alive?' in a way that is honest, age-appropriate, and does not close the question.
• Frame unfair guesses as consequences of examples rather than as villainy or as inevitability.
• Respond to a parent objection without conceding ground that is not yours to concede.
• Apply the provided rubrics to real student work without drifting into effort grading.
• Identify which evidence to collect during the unit and which to stop collecting.
• Set a developmentally appropriate classroom rule about AI helpers and family devices.
• Sequence the first two weeks of the K-2 band against your own pacing calendar.
• Adapt the sequence for the constraints and students you actually have.
• Produce a pacing plan specific enough that a colleague could teach from it.

4 · Module agenda

5 · Required artifact

Module 5 — Your first two weeks

A completed pacing plan for the participant’s own class: a dated day-by-day table for the first two weeks, materials and evidence per period, roster-specific adaptations, and a written classroom AI-use rule. Retained by the participant and available to the division on request.

6 · Virginia renewal note

Submitted under Option 8, Professional Development Activity, of the Virginia Licensure Renewal Manual (1 point per clock/contact hour, 5-hour minimum). Prior approval by the chief executive officer or designee of the employing educational agency is required before the activity begins.

Schoolhouse is a content provider. It awards contact hours; it is not a university and does not grant credit, and no Virginia programme exists that approves third-party professional-development courses at the state level. Approval of this activity rests with the employing division.

7 · Approval

The downloadable PDF carries a signature block for the approver’s name, title, division, date and signature, plus a line for the division’s own tracking or reference number — divisions running PowerSchool Professional Learning or Frontline need somewhere to write it.