Third Grade
Third Grade seems to be a very productive year in the Technology Lab. The students are studying topics that really lend themselves to fun projects, we meet often enough that no one loses track of the process, and we always have great fun each time we meet. While these projects are constantly evolving, this is their current status.
What we do in Third Grade
-
Creativity
Famous Latinos in History
Each year Third Grade students study a famous Latino person in American history. As a part of this unit, the kids create a poster in Microsoft Publisher to highlight a few things about their person.
View project -
Coding
Biome Project
This started life as a PowerPoint project, but by the end of Second Grade students are all pretty good at PowerPoint. So I switched the project to creating an animated biome using the Scratch programming language. This one is fun for everyone, me included!
View project -
Research
STS Field Guide for Birds
An integrated project with Art, Technology and Science. After studying a Northwest bird, then drawing and painting the bird in art, we scan in the artwork and have the students use it to create a wonderful field guide for Northwest birds. Printed in color and simply bound, the kids love the end product.
View project -
Research
South America Brochure
Another Publisher project where Third Grade students use their research information from Social Studies to create some stunning and informative brochures about their chosen country. We print these in color and display them prominently.
View project -
Creativity
Create a Wordle Poster
This is a project we do at the beginning of the year just to get back in the swing of things. It reviews word processing, cut and paste between applications, and some simple PowerPoint. Students have to save several files and really keep track of what they are saving and where they can find it. This makes a good early display of student work as well!
View project -
Creativity
Create a Fable Podcast
Another project everyone really has fun with! We start by learning the basics of Audacity. After listening to some old time radio shows and determining the key elements they all seem to include, students work in pairs to record a fable and then add sound effects, music, titles, credits and sometimes even advertising to make some really, really fun radio podcasts.
View project -
Creativity
Native American Photo Story Project
A HUGE project that students complete using their research on a Native American tribe done in their classroom Social Studies class. Students create a video that highlights key cultural components of the tribe they have chosen to study. Using the Ken Burns effect, students have made some very nice and informative videos.
View project -
Research
Country Infographic
View project
Games and practice
Extra things to try when a project is finished. Some of these open other web sites in a new tab.