Grade3_2007

__September 4-September 10__ Students were introduced to the computer lab. They participated in the creation of rules for working with the computers and when going online. Students also completed a KWL chart, which assessed their prior knowledge of computers and created goals for their learning during the coming year.



__September 11-September 17__ Students check out an AlphaSmarts to use for the year. These AlphaSmarts can go home, but MUST come back to school by May 12 or earlier as requested by their teacher. Students are given an overview of the AlphaSmarts and an introduction to correct typing skills.

__September 18-September 28__ All students were given their AlphaSmarts. In their regular classroom, students are working on the unit It Doesn't Have to Rhyme. To go along with this unit, students created shape poems and writing poetry. To begin with, they used the [|Read Write Think website] to create the shape for them. Afterwards, they were given an introduction to Microsoft Word and allowed to type and format their own poetry.

__October 1-October 12__ Students continued their work with poetry by writing Acrostic poems in Microsoft Word, with an emphasis on correct formating. Some students also used the [|Acrostic tool] at Read Write Think to gather their thoughts.

__October 15-November 9__ Students were given an introduction to the concept-mapping software Kidspiration. In their language classrooms, as part of the Healthy Living unit, students began sorting food into groups that made sense to them. In the computer lab, students expanded their groups and turned them into a concept map of food in [|Kidspiration]. Students worked on these maps solely in their language; no English is used in this project! When students finished their work, they received a refresher lesson on keyboarding skills and worked with typing programs found at freetypinggames.net.

__November 12-November 20__ Students will revise their Kidspiration maps to reflect what they have learned during their unit on Healthy Living. Afterwards, they continued to work on their typing by choosing a game from freetypinggames.net or by using [|Dance Mat Typing].

__November 26-November 30__ Students continued working on their keyboarding skills. They were also introduced to [|free online map puzzles by Owl & Mouse]. These puzzles challenged students to locate states, countries, continents, and monuments on maps.

__December 3-December 14__ Students will work in Microsoft Paint to create visual representations of mathematics problems that they have created. These math problems focus on multiplication, and will be shared with the rest of the class. Once they have finished, students will be given an introduction to the website [|Math Playground] and will explore the games that deal with multiplication, so that the students will have a strong foundation for the coming weeks.

__January 7-January 11__ Students were given a review of the basics of coordinates and then were taught about the entire coordinate plane (including negative numbers). Students then used the skills they learned to explore three online activities that varied in difficulty; [|Simple Coordinates], [|Billy Bug and his Quest for Grub], and [|Locate the Aliens].

__January 14-January 25__ Students were given an introduction to the program Graph Club. They then used Graph Club to graph the results of a class survey about family origins and moving.

__January 28-February 15__ Students were given an introduction to the program Scratch. They then used this program to create animations that showed their knowledge of coordinates.

__February 19-March 14__ Students will be given an overview of how two-dimensional shapes change into three-dimensional shapes, focusing on nets (patterns) using the Cyberchase website [|2D to 3D Morphing]. Students then used this knowledge to take a scavenger hunt through Google Earth, identifying different two and three dimensional shapes.

__March 19-March 21__ Students reflected on what they have done in IT during the year, including their strengths and weaknesses with the technology as well as what they would like to continue working on.

__April 1-May 23__ Students were given a review of how to use Microsoft Word for note taking. Students were also taught how to create folders on the computer and how to store their work effectively (including image saving and the different folder view options). Students were then given an introduction to PowerPoint. They used this knowledge to create a PowerPoint presentation about their specific animal adaptation topic, which will be shared with the class and their parents.

__May 27-June 10__ Students will explore websites dealing with money, which allows them to interact with currency in a meaningful way that supports their Money unit. One activity involves students choosing a career, expenditures, and a savings goal and seeing how long it takes for them to meet that goal.