Office of Instructional Technology

Troy Fischer, Director

Division of Teaching and Learning

3rd grade Mini Lessons and Activities

Multi-disciplinary Inquiry-based Projects for the 21st Century Collaborative Classroom

iSite: Fourth Grade Global Communication & Collaboration Project: About Your School's Local Community

Project Links

Overview
Pacing
Mini Lessons and Activities
Resources and Materials
Differentiated Learning
21st Century Technology
Learning Standards
Student Work Samples
Next Steps: Going Global
Professional Development and Support

Mini Lessons and Activities

Lesson 1 - Introduction to the 4th Grade Project
Objective:
To introduce students to the project
Materials: Projector, laptop
Internet: http://earth.google.com/ (Use school address)

Procedure:

Launch Google Earth type in the address of the school.

Zoom in and ask students what they notice? Chart responses.

Have students talk about what they see.
Spend some time looking at the surrounding community

Use the map view and satellite view

Discuss what makes the community special

Advise students they will be researching this community and learning interesting information that they will share with others

Suggested Activity:
Students will draw a map of their community. They should include directions, map key and labels
Compare drawn maps with actual maps

Lesson 2 - Wikispaces.com

Objective: To introduce students to Wikispaces.com

Materials: Laptops, Projector

Procedure:
Distribute Wikispaces.com passwords and usernames
Model and have students open their web browser and log into Wikispaces
Go over the set up of the site, rules for logging on and contributing information, cybersafety rules, and copyright rules
Demonstrate how to edit the student pages

Activity:
Students will log into wikispaces.com
They will edit their page by adding their names (first name only!)
Explore the tools of wikispaces.com

Lesson 3

Objective: To introduce students to their community

Materials: Projector, Laptop

Procedure:

Students will view a google map of the neighborhood surrounding the school
Take students on a walking tour of the neighborhood surrounding the community

Activity:
Students will take note of important landmarks and possible people to interview

Lesson 4
Objective:
Generate and assign topics of research to groups of 2-5 students
Materials:
Laptop
Projector
Internet
Trade books
Procedure:
Review word wall for the project
Have student work in their cooperative groups to discuss Culture includes food that people eat, clothing, holidays. Climate includes the Weather, temperature, precipitation, humidity and biome. Topography and Geography include population, waterforms, landforms, natural resources and transportation. Economy includes money, jobs, industry, education and politics.
Model how to use www.factmonster.com
Activity:
Students will use the website Factmonster and tradebooks to answer their questions and record their information

Lesson 5
Objective:
Students will post the answers to their research question on Think.com
Materials
Laptop
Internet-www.factmonster.com
Notebook where answers to questions are recorded
Procedure:
Students are in their cooperative groups
Students log into Think.com
They title the page with the name of the community
Using "Create Tools" they select write
Students type their question and the answer
Next students post the information on the project page
Click on the Project Tab
Students select the category they are researching
Students type the answer
Activity:
Populating Project Group Pages on Think.com

This page has been accessed 53 times since January 1, 2008