3rd Grade Google Presentations

3rd graders have been working on creating Google Presentations in Drive.

The theme, and title, is "What History Means to Me" which is essentially an extension of a previously written essay created as a Google Document.

The original Document was an introduction to using Google Drive; comparing and contrasting to Microsoft Word, and so forth. The actual writing was fairly self directed. I gave students a prompt: "to me history means..." and then it was up to them to define "history." For some students history is all about family. For others it is all about learning in school. History is the past, but the aspects of the past that stand out for each student vary child to child.

Once the essay was finished I introduced them to Presentations. We talked about slides as opposed to paragraphs, bullet points as opposed to sentences, the different style and voice used to convey the same content. They then began to turn their "History" documents into Presentations, able to edit, update, and alter in any way they saw fit.

The overall project is a few months in the making because we cover:

3rd Grade - Spring Break 4/2014 - Building the biggest

Have you ever seen a very large boat? How about a big cruise ship? Often, out in New York harbor you can see very large ships carrying containers. They are shipping goods throughout the world.

Have you ever seen one of those giant container ships being built....?

Grade 3 - New York Day

3rd graders.
Since Mr. Casal is absent you will be watching a short video and answering a few questions related to it as comments. You must answer all of the questions.

Remember, you will not be watching the video on your computer, only on the Smartboard. Mr. Waisome will play the video a few times as you read the questions and post your answers to the questions.

3rd Grade - February 2/2014 - Which Olympic sport is for you?

The Olympic Winter Games are currently happening. They started on February 7th and go until the closing ceremony on February 23rd.

Below is a video of celebrities and athletes (not Winter Olympic athletes) answering the question: "In which Winter Olympic Sport would you want to compete?" 

Grade 3 - History of Typography

3rd Graders,
I am out of school at an educational technology conference. I am being a student, learning from other teachers about new tools, ideas, and how I can be a better computer teacher. Learning never stops, even if you're a teacher.

When we are typing we are entering our text using a particular font, or style of writing. But fonts aren't just fonts, they are "typography" or the art or technique of arranging type in order to make language visible.

Before computers there were typewriters and before that, handwriting. In order to make writing universally legible there needed to be typography.

Watch the video below and answer the questions as comments...

3rd Grade - Christmas 12/2013 - Technology & You

3rd graders, please answer these 2 questions over the Christmas Vacation....


(click "Read More" to see the questions)

3rd Grade - Thanksgiving 11/2013 - What is Thanksgiving?

What is Thanksgiving? Do you know where the holiday came from? Do you know some of the myths of thanksgiving?

For me Thanksgiving is about remembering how we got to where we are. Remembering those who came before us to help us get where we are. It is a chance to get together with family and friends and think about our history as well as look to the future. And honestly, for me, it's also a little bit about football. Eating and watching football has always been a big part of Thanksgiving in my family. We have a football tradition, every year we play the "Turkey Bowl". The Turkey Bowl is a 1 hour touch-football game where we split the family into 2 teams and play before we eat. It's all in fun, and it works up an appetite.

Your assignment: