Third Grade Library News
What have third graders been up to in the library?
Third graders have been doing a lot!
Third graders continue to be busy. Once they finished up research projects they had been working on during the second quarter, such as biographies and tall tales, we moved on to a unit on oceans. We explored "mentor texts" on oceans, which piqued our interest and showed us some different text structures; students then had to choose an ocean animal to research, and then began to fill in a graphic organizer on the animal of their choice. Students have been very excited about their ocean animals! While past projects often involved more traditional print, or databases, this time, we've had to expand our search because some of our animals are so specific (such as colossal squid, barracudas, and trench worms). We have had to explore various websites, which has involved choosing good search terms, evaluating whether or not we can trust the source (can we trust ask.com? how about National Geographic?), and how we can jot notes down in our own words. Many students have now moved on to creating a product to showcase their efforts, either through an Animoto (a commercial) or a Smore (an online poster); more will follow shortly. We are having fun with this project!
Got any apps to share?
If students have any educational apps they would like to share, let me know! Here are some educational apps that students will love.
Vocabulary/Spelling City...Math vs. Zombies...PBS Kids Play... BrainPop... PebbleGo... Vocabla...Rush Hour... Cut the Rope...Toontastic... Bluster...Scribblenauts... Duolingo
There are sooo many more than I can possibly mention here. My own kids have played Scribblenauts on their Nintendo DS devices for years. Both kids are now learning French on Duolingo. The apps/sites I listed here are just to give you a taste of what is out there. You can also Google "best apps for [name your device]" to find more. Commonsensemedia.org is one site where I found some of these apps.