Category: 3rd Grade

Jan 16 2014 January 16, 2014 March 21, 2014 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Google Research Tools

Posted in 3rd Grade, Language Arts

Screen shot 2014-03-21 at 12.22.46 PMAll Henrico students now have their own Google accounts, so I’ve been going to different classes, showing them how to log in and use the research tools. There are two really nice features that stand out. The first feature is the sharing feature, where you can share your document with others, facilitating collaboration. The other is the research tool that lets you find information and photos right in the same window where you are typing. If you include a fact or photo in your document, Google creates an automatic citation. Today I was showing Ms. Remley’s 3rd graders at Davis Elementary how to use their new accounts. They chose a famous American they have been learning about and created a short “report.” I showed them how to change the font, size, and color of the text, how to check their spelling, how to add photos, and how to use the citation feature. I also showed them how to share their documents with Ms. Remley and how to publish them as a webpage. I uploaded all the links to one Google Doc that you can check out here. If you’d like me to help your class get set up with their new Google accounts, let me know!


Tags:

Jan 14 2014 January 14, 2014 March 21, 2014 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Create-Your-Own Calculator

Posted in 3rd Grade, Math

Screen shot 2014-03-21 at 11.09.28 AMThe Mac spreadsheet program, Numbers, is most often used by students to make graphs, but it’s also a great program to teach students how to create formulas to solve problems. As students troubleshoot their formulas, they gain a better understanding of the underlying math concepts and practice logical thinking. Third graders in Ms. Middleton’s class at Holladay have been learning about multiplication and division (SOL3.5) so today I showed them how to create their own calculators with Numbers. First I gave them a template that you can download by clicking here. I told them that these calculators were going to be a little different. Instead of giving the right answer, they would let you know if your answer is correct. So we made two columns for the factors or divisors and a column for people to write their answers. In the fourth column we wrote our formulas. I showed them how to write the first formula for checking multiplication and I let them write the division formulas on their own. Spreadsheet formulas are also helpful for reviewing map grids (SOL3.5e) since they use the same basic principle of identification. You can see all the formulas in the sample that comes with the template, but here’s the multiplication formula: =IF(D2=B2*C2,”Right!”,”Wrong!”). It checks if the answer in cell D2 equals the product of the numbers in B2 and C2, and let’s the user know if they are correct. The students wrote their own feedback messages (and some were rather creative 🙂 After writing the formulas, students switched seats and tested each others’ calculators. Similar formulas can be written for almost every mathematical concept you teach. Go ahead and try it with your class!


Tags:

Dec 18 2013 December 18, 2013 March 21, 2014 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Quadrats

Posted in 3rd Grade, Math, Science

Screen shot 2014-03-17 at 1.41.18 PMThird graders in Ms. Ford’s class at Laburnum Elementary have been learning about multiplication in math (SOL 3.5) and animals in science (SOL 3.4 & 3.5) so today we showed how real life scientists use those skills to calculate animal populations. Many scientists use a tool called a quadrat to figure out how many animals live in a certain area. A quadrat is basically a large square that they place in a habitat and count the creatures in the square. Then they multiply the amount of total squares that would fill the area by the number of animals they counted to get an estimated population for the total area. In order to demonstrate this, the students first drew an animal in Pixie. We exported it as a PNG file and dragged it into a Keynote template that you can download here. Then they made several copies of their animal to place in the quadrat. They also colored the grid to match the animal’s habitat (green for woods, yellow for grasslands, blue for water, etc). Next they made a text box with the multiplication problem and solution (Example: 4 electric eels in the quadrat x 9 total quadrats in the area = Est. population of 36 electric eels). Finally they recorded their voices like they were giving a report to their “boss” and we exported their Keynotes as QuickTime videos. I posted them all to a Google doc that you can take a look at here.


Tags:

Dec 11 2013 December 11, 2013 May 21, 2014 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Moon Animations

Posted in 3rd Grade, Science

moonMs. Robinson’s 3rd graders at Laburnum Elementary have been learning about the simple phases of the moon (SOL3.8). In a previous post I showed how we used Flipbook to make animations of the moon’s movements and phases in a 4th grade class. It worked well for them, but third graders only study the simple phases (new, 1st quarter, full, and 3rd quarter) so I wanted to try something different. Flipbook doesn’t have a text feature, and I thought it would be easier and neater for the students to type the names of the phases, so we used ABCYa! Animate. First we discussed how the moon moves around the Earth and how, even though the sun was always shining on it from the same direction, it looks like different parts are illuminated from our viewpoint here on Earth. That’s important for them to understand because as we draw the moon going around the Earth in our animation, it will look the same (half light, half dark). So I explained that we will also need to add an animation of how the moon appears from Earth up in the corner. Once the students understood what they would need to draw, they began their animations. They were grouped with a partner so they could take turns drawing each frame. They used the circle tool to draw the Earth, sun, and moon. Then they used the drawing tool to add the details. We copied each picture using the Copy Cat button and then moved the moon and adjusted the phase image for each one. The students also typed a complete sentence (with capitals, periods, and correct spelling) identifying each phase of the moon. Take a look at a couple of examples: Marthaline & Keon, Joseph & Kimberleigh (the jittering on certain frames happened when we tried duplicating frames to slow down the animation).


Tags:

Dec 06 2013 December 6, 2013 December 9, 2013 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Greek Multiplication

Posted in 3rd Grade, Math, Social Studies

adityarThird graders in Ms. Dickey’s class at Davis Elementary have been learning about the ancient Greeks in social studies (SOL3.4) and multiplication in math (SOL3.2). So today we made Greek multiplication problems using Pixie and Keynote. First the students opened a blank Pixie document and used a combination of the painting tools and stickers to create a picture of one group of items that would be found in ancient Greece: like a ship with 7 jugs of olive oil, or a row of 8 grapevines, or a Medusa with 6 snakes coming out of her head. We exported the pictures as PNG files with transparency (so there wasn’t a background). Then we opened a blank Keynote, added a title and our name, and dragged the PNG file onto the slide. We shrunk it down and copied and pasted it as many times as we needed. Next the students made text boxes to write out the multiplication problem and its solution. I showed them how to click on each object in the order they want it to appear and add a build in animation using the Inspector. Finally the students recorded their voices telling about the multiplication problem and skip counting until they got their answer. I exported the Keynotes as QuickTime videos and posted them on this page.


Tags:

Nov 25 2013 November 25, 2013 December 9, 2013 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Ancient Greece Math

Posted in 3rd Grade, Social Studies

greecemathThird graders in Ms. Leo’s class at Varina Elementary have just started learning about ancient Greece (SOL3.4) so I wanted to take them on a tour of Greece using Google Earth. I created a .kmz file with placemarks on important sites like Olympia, where the first Olympics were held (you can still see the track they ran on), the Parthenon (if you turn on 3-D Buildings you will see it), and Mount Olympus (the highest mountain in Greece where they believed the gods lived). But since my focus this year is on math and writing, I had them to measure the distances between the sites using the ruler tool and write some word problems about those distances. I created a Numbers spreadsheet with a lot of the information pre-loaded, that you can download by clicking here. First the students entered the distances into the spreadsheet. Then they came up with questions about the distances. We talked about clue words for addition (“all together” or “in all”) and subtraction (“how much further” or “how many more”). They made up word problems about Greek characters traveling to the different places and gave reasons why they would visit each place (in order to review what was there). Next they rounded the numbers and got an estimate. Finally they solved each other’s problems, and I had a formula that would check if they were correct when they clicked the red “Check” box.


Tags:

Nov 14 2013 November 14, 2013 December 8, 2013 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Multiplication Arrays

Posted in 3rd Grade, Math

3rd arraysThird graders in Ms. Parkinson’s class at Davis Elementary are starting to learn about multiplication, and one of the ways they learn how to multiply is by making arrays. So today I taught them how to make animated multiplication arrays using ABCYa! Animate. First the students decided what numbers they wanted to multiply together. We discussed how one of those factors is the number of objects in a group and the other factor is the number of equal groups. They used pictures from the clipart library to create one row of objects representing a group. Then they typed out a simple sentence to describe their array such as “I have 3 rows of 4 trees. How many in all?” We duplicated that picture a couple of times (so our animation wouldn’t go too fast) and then added another row. We continued duplicating pictures and adding rows until we had a complete array. One problem we encountered was that some of the pictures would automatically group together. The only way we found to ungroup them was to delete them and start over. On our last picture we typed out the multiplication sentence and the answer, like “3 x 4 = 12.” Animating the array helps students understand the concept because as each group appears they can skip count until they get the total amount. Furthermore, they can review their multiplication facts by viewing each others’ animations (which they are always eager to show off to each other… and since they are online, they can show off and review at home too). If an animation ends up being too fast, I found a site called GifBob that will slow down a .gif file. You can see all the students’ multiplication arrays here.


Tags:

Nov 11 2013 November 11, 2013 December 8, 2013 NoComment by David

3rd Grade World Weather

Posted in 3rd Grade, Math, Social Studies

sampleThird grade students in Ms. Strickler’s class at Varina Elementary have been studying the continents and hemispheres in social studies (SOL3.5) and temperature in math (SOL3.13) so today we looked at the relationship between hemispheres and temperatures. I gave them a Numbers template that you can download by clicking here. First, in Column B, the students tried to figure out which season each continent was having based on which hemisphere it was in (we discussed how seasons are opposite in the northern and southern hemispheres). Next they predicted the temperature for each place in Column C. To get today’s temperature from different spots around the globe we went to this website. In my research I also found this cool weather website, but it’s not as simple as the other one. The students entered that data into Column D. Since they were learning about Celsius and Fahrenheit I instructed them to create a new Column E and title it “Convert ºC.” You can make the degree symbol by holding down Option + 0 (zero). I showed them how to write a formula for converting from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Then they dragged the little white dot in the corner of the cell down through the other cells to copy the formula into them. The students were impressed with how quickly the temperatures were converted. Our last step was to create a graph of the temperatures so we could visualize quickly which continent was hottest, coldest, etc. I told the students to come up with some questions about their data for a friend to answer (like, “How much warmer is it in Africa than North America?”). Now that it’s complete, the students can open this spreadsheet during a different season, enter new temperatures, and the formulas and graphs would change according to the data.


Tags:

Oct 31 2013 October 31, 2013 December 8, 2013 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Life Cycle Animations

Posted in 3rd Grade, Science

lifecycleThird grade students in Ms. Dickey’s class at Davis Elementary have been learning about animal life cycles (SOL3.8). Animations are a great way to show life cycles (or any type of cycle) because each step can be illustrated and appear in sequence. Today I taught them how to make life cycle animations using Pixie and Keynote. First the students decided if they wanted to illustrate a frog or a butterfly life cycle. They used Pixie to illustrate the four stages then exported it as a PNG file (with transparency) so the background wouldn’t come through. Next we opened a Keynote template (that you can download by clicking here) and dragged our picture into the Keynote. We copied and pasted it three times and masked the picture so only one stage was showing for each picture. Looking back, we should have probably just drawn four separate Pixie pictures because masking was difficult for some students. After arranging their pictures in order, the students changed the them and added some transitions and builds using the Inspector. Finally they recorded their voices explaining each stage of the life cycle. Check out some of the students’ projects: Josie, Elena, Zoe, Owen, Isabella, and Alex (as you can see, most students picked the butterfly).


Tags:

Oct 23 2013 October 23, 2013 December 8, 2013 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Pirate Maps

Posted in 3rd Grade, Math, Social Studies

piratemapThird grade students in Ms. Ford’s class at Laburnum Elementary have been learning about the continents, oceans, and hemispheres (SOL3.5). So today we practiced finding and burying pirate treasures on various continents and oceans based on their hemispheres (really, using latitude and longitude lines). I gave them a template with a map and some questions that you can download by clicking here. First they had to label the continents and oceans on the map. Next we labeled the hemispheres by breaking them up into 4 quadrants: northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest. Now, using latitude and longitude coordinates we could figure out which quadrant we were in. I gave the students three treasures to find first. They entered the coordinates on iTouchMap and found where the treasures were located. Then they put a big red X on the spot. The next task was a little harder. I gave them coordinates that put the treasure in the ocean, but they had to adjust them to move the treasure to land. After testing a few numbers, the students figured out that the numbers get larger the farther away they are from the Equator or Prime Meridian and were finally able to place the treasure on land. For the last task, students could place the treasure anywhere they wanted, but they had to find the coordinates for the site and write it out as a question for a friend to solve. This activity adds a bit of math and problem solving to the continents, oceans, and hemispheres topic. Let me know if you’d like to try it out with your class!


Tags: