Category: 4th Grade

Jan 04 2010 January 4, 2010 January 19, 2010 NoComment by David

4th Grade Famous People Database

Posted in 4th Grade, Social Studies

One of the technology requirements for Henrico County is to provide students with exposure to databases. To help meet this goal I’ve been searching for various free online databases and I finally found a great one called MyTaskHelper. It was the only free site I found where you could create your own forms for data entry, upload pictures, and then view all the records, including pictures, for searching and sorting. You can also embed the forms and the entire database into a website! So I created a form for 4th grade students to enter data about famous Americans. You can view the embedded form here. The form gives students experience with entering text, using drop down menus and radio buttons, and uploading pictures. After they complete the form and submit it they can click the “Sort” link at the top of the webpage to view all the records. You can take a look at this view by clicking here. In this view students can sort the data by clicking the column headings. They can also enter a search term to narrow the results (by teacher’s name, for example, since I did this in several classes). I’d be happy to set up a database for you or I can show you how to set up your own database using MyTaskHelper.


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Dec 18 2009 December 18, 2009 January 19, 2010 NoComment by David

4th Grade Famous People Videos

Posted in 4th Grade, Social Studies

Sometimes teachers ask me to come into their classrooms to teach a lesson so they can learn more about a new program or project. Other times teachers may be comfortable teaching the lesson but they need my help in gathering materials. That’s what two fourth grade teachers at Holladay asked me to do this week. They already knew how to make PhotoBooth movies, but they wanted backgrounds with the famous Americans (VS.5b) Washington, Jefferson, Henry, and Lafayette. So I created those in Keynote and took screenshots of them. You can download the backgrounds by clicking here. Then the teachers assigned each of their students one of the famous people, and they had to film themselves talking about the important facts. It’s a great way to do an oral report, and since it’s recorded, students can watch it over again for review. You can see a couple of examples by clicking here and here.


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Dec 16 2009 December 16, 2009 January 19, 2010 NoComment by David

Teacher Spotlight – Ms. Edmonds

Posted in 4th Grade, Spotlight

At mid-year and the end of the year I fill out a report to evaluate how my schools are progressing with technology and 21st century learning. In order to have some data to work with, I go back through my calendar and see what kinds of lessons I’ve taught in each classroom and I check the student folders to see what kinds of projects they have been working on with their teachers. The goal is to have a balance of both. Many teachers are doing a fantastic job, but one teacher that really shined in my mid-year report was Ms. Edmonds from Trevvett. She’s not only doing many cool projects with her students on her own, but she is having me come to her classroom to help them with new types of projects that she hasn’t tried yet. She’s been doing a lot of review for the SOLs and one of the projects she did on her own was make review vests (see photo). Each child made a paper bag vest with review facts on it from all different subjects then she took pictures of them with a digital camera. The students love looking at the photos of themselves, so it makes for a fantastic self-motivated review. One of the projects she asked me to come in and help with was making review movies. She assigned each student a SOL review topic, then we used PhotoBooth to film them. As the students watch their movies, they are having fun and reviewing at the same time! You can check out an abbreviated version by clicking here. Way to go, Ms. Edmonds!


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Dec 15 2009 December 15, 2009 January 8, 2010 NoComment by David

4th Grade Geometry & Graphing

Posted in 4th Grade, Math

Fourth graders at Trevvett were up for a math challenge! They knew all about rays, line segments, parallel lines, intersecting lines, and angles. But could they create them using only a spreadsheet?? I provided them with a Numbers template and they had enter the correct numbers into the spreadsheet to create the geometric figures in line graph form. It required some serious thinking and collaborating, but they did a fantastic job meeting the challenge! You can see an example by clicking here and you can download the template to use by clicking here.


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Nov 19 2009 November 19, 2009 November 19, 2009 NoComment by David

4th Grade Food Chains

Posted in 4th Grade, Science

foodchain2Fourth graders are currently studying food chains (SOL 4.5c) and Keynote animations are a great way to show the flow of energy from the sun to the producers, consumers, and finally to the decomposers. The fourth grade class I worked with knew a lot about Keynote already so I taught them a special feature that not many people know about, voiceovers, and it really improves the final project as you can see in this sample. I gave them a template to use along with a folder of pictures (399 pictures to be exact!) and their teacher gave them some pictures to use as well. The reason we needed so many pictures is because we wanted them to be able to choose from every element of the food chain… the sun, plants, plankton, fruits, nuts, herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, and of course the worms and mushrooms that decompose everything at the end. Plus, with such a variety to choose from, everyone’s project will look different and unique. You can download all the files by clicking here. You can take a look at a finished student sample by clicking here. I posted the students work on a writeboard so parents could view them and make comments. If you’d like to see it, click here and type the password (room6).


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Nov 11 2009 November 11, 2009 November 19, 2009 NoComment by David

4th Grade Jamestown Comics

Posted in 4th Grade, Social Studies, Trekkers

JamestownComicFourth graders at Laburnum have been creating their very own comic books about Jamestown using Comic Life. It’s a cool way to make a fun study guide. I gave them a template and a folder of pictures to use which you can download by clicking here. The students dragged the pictures they wanted from the folder into the Comic Life document. I showed them how to use the Styles button to change the look of the text and pictures. Finally they used the speech bubbles to tell important facts about each person or event. The comics look fantastic, and it’s a study guide they will definitely want to look at over and over again. You can see a finished one by clicking here. If you’re studying Jamestown, be sure to check out the Virginia Trekkers trip to Jamestown. We have a video, Flash activities, and lots of links to other interactive websites. Check out the podcast by clicking here.


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Nov 03 2009 November 3, 2009 November 19, 2009 NoComment by David

Trek to the Great Dismal Swamp

Posted in 4th Grade, Social Studies, Trekkers

VTDismalSwampOne of the new Social Studies SOLs for 4th Grade is learning about the Great Dismal Swamp and Lake Drummond (the largest of Virginia’s two natural lakes). I’ve mentioned it before in this blog and shared some resources for you. But we wanted to give you more. We wanted to take your students on a virtual field trip to the swamp. So since today was a staff development day, the Virginia Trekkers took a trip down to the Great Dismal Swamp and made a podcast. In the video, we’ll take your students to the Washington Ditch, created by George Washington himself; we’ll show them where a fire burned much of the swamp in the summer of 2008; and we’ll explain the unique properties of Lake Drummond’s water. You can watch the podcast by clicking here or download it on iTunes (just search for “Virginia Trekkers”). There is also a map activity to go along with the video and some additional links that your students can explore.


Oct 28 2009 October 28, 2009 October 30, 2009 NoComment by David

4th Grade Cloud Websites & Writeboard

Posted in 4th Grade, Science

cloudsToday in 4th grade at Laburnum each student created their own website about clouds using GoogleDocs. Students wrote about cumulus, cirrus, stratus, and cumulonimbus clouds (SOL 4.6b) and added picture links from Wikipedia. You can download the folder of the Wikipedia links by clicking here. We are sharing the students’ websites with parents via Writeboard. That way all the links are on one page and parents can leave comments. If you click here you can visit the site and leave your own comments (the password is room28), or you can click here to see a finished student sample.


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Oct 21 2009 October 21, 2009 October 23, 2009 1Comment by David

Green Screen Effect in Photo Booth

Posted in 4th Grade, Social Studies

PhotoBoothFourth grade students at Holladay and Laburnum have been working on creating movies about the regions of Virginia. They are using the Backgrounds in Photo Booth to create a green screen effect that makes it look like they are right there in the region! You can download all the photos for this project by clicking the link on my earlier post about Virginia Regions. If you’d like to do this project with your class, open up Photo Booth, click on the Effects tab, and take them to the last set of effects which just look like grey squares that say “Drag Backdrop Here.” Drag the photos onto the squares and when you click on them, you will see yourself with the photo behind you! Take a look at these students’ videos where they take you to the Appalachian Plateau, Jamestown, and Blue Ridge Mountains.


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Oct 20 2009 October 20, 2009 October 23, 2009 NoComment by David

Sharing Student Work with Writeboard

Posted in 4th Grade, Science

WriteboardA couple of weeks ago on this post I showed you how 4th grade students have been working on Weather Podcasts. What do you do with them when you are finished? How do you publish them? Post them to a Writeboard so that parents and grandparents can see them and even make comments. Using a Writeboard to share student work is great for any project, actually. Take a look at Mr. Golden’s Weather Writeboard (password = room8) and be sure to leave a comment for his students! Another way to share podcasts is to make your own podcast website using iWeb. Just choose the Podcast Template and drag your student’s podcasts into the placeholders. I’d be happy to show you how to set that up if you let me know.


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