Grade+4+Projects

Trimester 1
Our Grade Four team likes to change things up each year. Here are some examples of projects and lessons.

Introduction to Mac/naming documents/photobooth/saving/printing/Pages Portfolio Cover - each teacher picks a template, chooses a title and what information they want on the page. Students take pics in Photobooth and put on page. 2012 - students included their "I am" poem and their "What's in a Name".
 * Portfolio Cover/Intro to Mac** (2 sessions - 1 hour, 30 minutes)



Divide students into groups and look through a variety of blogs (create a list for students) and come up with a list of what we know about blog, what items blogs can have, what makes a blog different than a writer's notebook, etc. How do I stay safe online? How do I create a positive digital footprint? How do I treat others online? Find or create video... Brainstorm guidelines for posting and commenting on the school blog. Lesson 1 (45 minutes +): Basic setup, write first post. Give blog planning sheet before this lesson. Lesson 2 (45 minutes+): Delete page, add widgets (archives, links), link to classmates. Add links to teacher blog before this lesson Lesson 3 (45 minutes): Commenting and moderating comments. . Perhaps do with personal narrative. Other Options: Adding video, documents, images, widgets (as necessary)
 * Blogs**
 * Introduction**
 * Part 1: What is a Blog?**
 * Part 2: Digital Safety/Online Presence**
 * Part 3: Class Posting/Commenting Guidelines**
 * Part 4 Blogging**

Use iMovie or Garageband to record personal narrative for blogs. Add to video portal and blogs and share with classmates.
 * Personal Narrative**

Lesson 1 (1 hour): Create the chart - Asian Countries Visited from the teacher data Lesson 2 (1 hour): Searching for pictures on the internet. Use Britannica ImageQuest. Citing image sources. Adding image to Pages. Finishing other information.
 * Geography of Asia** - Pages Template

Lesson - navigating Google Earth to visit China's major landforms. Show how to screenshot and add to iPhoto for project. Tech Options for project. Work with teacher to select options for the classroom: Keynote - Create a keynote of the different types of landforms that are in Asia. Start with a map of China perhaps. Landforms can include: ComicLife to create a similar document. Pages template
 * Landforms Project (see examples in grade 4 folder)**
 * Himalaya Mountains (Mt. Everest - Nepal)
 * Gobi Desert 42.59 N 103.43 E
 * Yangtze River [|__Cháng Jiāng__]
 * Tibetan Plateau (Qing Zang Gaoyuan, Golmud, Haixi, China)
 * Tarim Basin

Lesson 1 (45 minutes): Students take digital images of top and bottom of crawfish. Import the images from the camera into iPhoto. Add images to keynote.
 * Crayfish Project** - Keynote Template

Lesson 2 (45 minutes) Resize and add labels. Include the following labels:
 * Long antenna
 * short antenna
 * pincer
 * eye
 * mouth
 * walking leg
 * carapace
 * short swimmeret
 * modified swimmeret
 * egg pore
 * long swimmeret

Lesson 3 (1 hour): Teach kids how to safely search the internet using keywords -- see keynote and handout. Find 3 - 5 facts for each topic on Keynote (food, habitat, predators).