Fourth graders at Laburnum have been studying the planets in science (SOL4.7) and they’ve been learning how to estimate and solve multiplication and division problems in math (SOL4.4). So today students in Ms. Butler’s class created their first Google docs comparing the sizes of the planets. First we logged into Google classroom, and I posted an assignment with a blank Google doc. I explained that we would be comparing the radius of Earth with the radius of another planet. The students chose the planet they wanted to compare, and I taught them how to do a quick Google search for “(name of planet) radius” to find out the length of the radius. We left that information open in a tab for our reference and went back to our Google doc to add the title. I demonstrated how to change the font, size, and color of the title text. Then we added a photo of the planet, and I encouraged them to try to match the color of their title with the color of the planet. I also explained that it would be great if they could find a photo of their planet and the Earth. Next they wrote a word problem for their classmates to solve. The general format would be to give the radius of the Earth and the radius of their planet and ask about how many times bigger or smaller the planet was in comparison with Earth. The students would have to round the numbers and divide in order to figure it out. I showed them how to share their documents on the Google classroom page, and they tried to solve each others’ problems, writing the answers in the comments section. I wanted you to be able to see them as well, so I added an interactive part to each one (we didn’t have time to do that in class), and posted them here. UPDATE 1/8/2015: I taught a similar lesson in Ms. White’s class at Davis, but we made websites instead of Google Docs.

Fourth graders at Varina Elementary have been studying the planets in science (SOL4.7) and in math, elapsed time was a topic they need to review based on their benchmark scores (SOL4.9), so today students in Ms.Burcham’s and Ms.Dixon’s classes created planet elapsed time story problems. I presented them with a situation: “You are an astronaut. You have been given the incredible opportunity to explore a planet of your choice. But you only have enough oxygen to last one complete day on the planet. How will you calculate what time you must leave the planet?” The first step was to select a planet. We used an animated 3-D view of the solar system to help us make our decision. Once we selected our planet, we discussed what factors determine the length of a day, and we conducted research to find out long a day actually lasts on our planet. We discovered that if you type “length of day on (planet)” into Google, you will get the answer quickly. Next we created word problems using Google slides and images. This was their first time making Google slideshows so I posted the assignment into Google classroom with a blank template for each student. I showed them how to add slides, text, images, and transitions. For their story problem, the students provided the length of day and the time they arrived, and their classmates had to figure out what time they must leave the planet. We posted our slideshows to Google classroom for everyone to view, and the students posted their answers in the comments section. Can you save the astronauts? Try some here. This lesson was submitted to our county’s Henrico 21 website, so if you’d like to see the complete lesson plan, click here.