Third grade is sharing a cart of Chromebooks this year between the two classes! That is very exciting, for the students and for their teachers! They will be learning a lot this year!

Third grade is the year that we focus on keyboarding. They have learned about correct finger placement, and posture. We talked about how important it is to not stare at a screen, any screen, for too long. Did you know that on average we blink 12-15 times a minute, but when staring at a screen, we tend to only blink 3-4 times a minute? This causes dry eye syndrome, and eye strain. It's important for everyone to take frequent, short breaks from staring at a screen, be it computer, phone, TV, or tablet. 

5/24/18
Our third grade students completed their webpages today in school. Please ask to see them at home! They did a great job.

Now they are reviewing keyboarding skills on a new site:  https://typetastic.com/
They should remember the access code to enter to get the full games. If they forget, ask them what their favorite color panda is. Two words. One space. No caps.

5/17/18
This week our 3rd graders began a digital yearbook for 3rd grade, using Adobe Spark for Schools. Their teachers have submitted some pictures taken throughout the year to a shared folder for the students to use. Each 3rd grade student has access to that folder, and can add other pictures to it. The pictures need to be appropriate, and school-related. Parents, I urge you to share images from your phones that are of events this school year, and let your child load them into the shared folder to be used for this project. The kids will love looking back on this in years to come! Ask them to show you at home!

We will continue working on this until the end of the year.

5/11/18
Yesterday the 3rd graders worked with their sub, Mrs. Lupinski, on some new and exciting keyboarding games. The link to TypeTastic  is on the Symbaloo page above. I'm sure they would love to also play those games on a rainy day over the summer!

Next week, the students will be creating a webpage of their 3rd grade memories, using Adobe Spark for Education. Parents, if you have pictures of some school event this year, please email them to me prior to their class on 5/17. I will put them in a folder so all 3rd graders can use them in their webpages.


5/3/18
Today our 3rd graders were introduced to spreadsheets. After filling out a survey to choose their favorite pizza topping, they used the data collected to create a spreadsheet, and a pie chart. They also learned to format their pie chart. Many have told me they intend to make more spreadsheets and pie charts at home tonight. If they request pizza for dinner, now you know why!

Next week they will play some keyboarding games to keep their skills sharp. They will have a sub, as I will be at a meeting. 

But the following week, we will resume learning about spreadsheets!

4/20/18
The third grade students continued learning about cyberbullying, staying safe online, creating safe passwords, and maintaining a safe digital footprint yesterday in class. We will finish this unit next week in class.

4/12/18
Today our 3rd graders enjoyed learning about staying safe online, using a curriculum from Google called Be Internet Awesome. After talking about what kinds of information should never be shared online, and why we should never, ever talk to a stranger online, the students had a chance to apply what they learned through a game in Interland called Mindful Mountain. 

Next week they will learn about Cyber Bullying, and follow up with 2 more games in Interland!

3/16/18
This week the students put the finishing touches on their Inventor Slide Shows. Those who were already finished spent time learning some keyboarding skills through online game-based sites.

After Easter break, the students will begin learning about their Digital Footprint, and how to keep themselves safe online. Google offers an online Cyber Safety curriculum called Be Internet Awesome, and the information learned is reinforced when the students play the game Interland. I expect that they may come home talking about it next week! Parents, if you would like me to share some information with you, just shoot me an email, and I can send you parent links that tie into what your child is learning.

3/1/18
Happy March! Some 3rd graders completed their slide shows today. Those who aren't finished will be able to continue working on them next week - no worries.

I wanted to mention that a student from 3B asked what would happen if we had a "Code Red" while they were in the Tech Lab. What a great question! We went over all the procedures, and Mr. Hart was walking down the hall so he joined in also. The kids had great questions, and we did our best to answer their questions and reassure them that we (teachers and admin) have on-going training to keep them safe. The biggest take-aways were:

1. The students should remain quiet and calm.
2. They should look to the teacher for signals or directions, and follow them.
3. If they are in the bathroom when there is a Code Red, they should return to the classroom right away, once they determine that nothing is going on in the hall. If they feel something is not safe in the hall, they should hide in the bathroom. Mr. Hart reminded them that they have to think of the best thing to do in this situation, and use their eyes and ears to help their brain make a good decision.
4. We reassured them that our #1 priority is THEM! No exceptions.

2/22/18
Today the 3rd graders began their slide shows, and were having SO. MUCH. FUN!
We will continue to work on these next week. They are attached to their assignment in Google classroom, which you can access at home if you would like to take a look.

To access Google Classroom at home:

• go to https://classroom.google.com
• enter your child's username. If your child is named Peter Rabbit, their username would be 23prabbit@sjbdel.org
• enter your child's password (they know it)
• Once logged in, your child knows how to access their work to show you.

2/15/18
Both 3rd grade classes continued researching for their inventors project. Next week, all should bring their graphic organizers with them to Tech class so they can begin creating their slide shows. We were supposed to start this week, but many students either hadn't finished the research, or did not have their graphic organizers with them.

2/9/18
This week the students in 3A did some research for their inventors project. What fun! And students in 3B had already finished their research in their classroom on the Chromebooks, so they worked on some educational games instead.

Next week, all 3rd graders will use their graphic organizers to begin creating a slide show about their inventor, complete with images.

2/2/18
I was so sorry to miss 3rd grade this week, but when the stomach bug hits, it's best not to share it with all of you. Next week we will learn to use the Google Drawing Tool to create images, and edit existing images, as we were supposed to do yesterday.

1/19/18
This week the 3rd grade students finished typing their stories, and had the opportunity to add images. They have also been practicing this in homeroom on the Chromebooks. I again observed to make sure they are typing with the correct fingers. We don't want them to lose the skills they've worked so hard to gain. Next week, they will review how to use the Google Drawing tool to create their own images. They learned this last year, but many have forgotten. They will also learn how to use the Google Drawing tool to edit images from the internet.
AND...we played Kahoot this week during the last 10 minutes of class to review some of the technology skills learned this year. We will do this again during the final 10 minutes next week.

1/11/18
Welcome back! Today the 3rd graders opened and named a new Google Doc. They began writing stories about their choice of:

• what they did on snow days
• what they did on Christmas break
• an exciting experience they have had some time this past year
• a made up adventure story

12/6/17
Our 3rd graders will log into their Code.org accounts again this week to continue coding lessons. We are very proud to be participating in the Hour of Code for the 5th year, and are actually once again turning it into a Month of Code. All students from K-7 will be participating in coding activities for the month of December. They will be graded only on their participation in class. There are many, many options offered on the Code.org site, or they can choose to continue on the tutorial lessons for the rest of December. Students who are interested may continue work at home, as well. 

11/30/17
WooHoo!!! No more keyboarding homework! But please keep an eye out when your child is on a keyboard, and make sure they are not regressing. If they go back to the old hunt and peck, and they lose the muscle memory they have worked so hard to build.

Today the students logged into their Code.org accounts to do some coding lessons. Next week is the official Hour Of Code Week, but we code for the entire month of December for all students in K-7. The students will work with a partner next week on these lessons, as they become a little more complicated. Pair Programming is a good way for students to collaborate while using their problem solving skills.
At the request of many of our students, here is the link to the 3rd grade Symbaloo page. From there they can click on code.org for various coding-related activities, or they can click to go to their accounts.
https://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/3rdgradestartpage




11/21/17
For information about typing homework, please see the post from 11/16 below. I am posting this in response to some questions from parents and students. If your child did the typing homework for the week ending on Thanksgiving, forgetting that they had that week off from typing homework, they can take next week off instead. When I am entering typing homework grades on 11/30, I will look at how many times and for how long each child practiced from the evening of 11/16 until the morning before school on 11/30. They only need to have 3 different days, for at least 15 minutes each, to earn the full 10 points.


11/16/17
Our 3rd grade students have once again amazed me with their keyboarding progress. Did you know the average accuracy, by the END of 3rd grade, is 85%? Well our students are well above average. Each and every one of them has an accuracy rate of 95% or higher. The average WPM for 3rd graders by the end of the year is 15 WPM. A couple of our students are getting very close to that already, and the others are progressing weekly. And we are less than a third of the way through the school year! 

From today until Thanksgiving, there is NO KEYBOARDING HOMEWORK!!! Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, and ending on 11/29, the students need to type their usual 15 minutes at least 3 different days. And then, we are finished with keyboarding homework!! Thank you parents for working with me on this so your children can develop this important skill.

Beginning in Tech class on 11/30, and extending through the month of December, the 3rd graders will be working on different activities on Code.org for Computer Science month. Even at this age, they are capable of learning computational thinking and basic coding skills. They will have an account to log into here at school, but feel free to check out the Code.org site at home as well.

11/10/17
The keyboarding skills of our 3rd graders continue to grow by leaps and bounds! Please remember to do the homework 3 times this week (from Thursday to Wednesday), and then there will be NO TYPING HOMEWORK Thanksgiving week. Once we return from Thanksgiving break, there will be one last week of typing homework. Yay! I know it is a lot of work on your parents, and I appreciate your support. Your children are really benefiting from the practice.

11/3/17
Most of the 3rd grade students are doing their keyboarding homework three times a week, and really showing improvement! Parents, if you are having difficulty accessing this at home, please email me so we can find a solution. In class, the students are now earning three different 10 point grades each week: 10 points for homework, 10 points for participation in class (conduct, effort, attention), and 10 points for correct keyboarding "form" (using the home keys, sitting up straight, thumbs on the space bar). I am amazed every week at the improvement I am seeing in them!

10/26/17
The students and I were amazed at how much their keyboarding has improved by doing their homework 3 times in the past week. The new week starts tonight! Each 3rd grader needs to do their typing homework, according to the document that was sent home last week, and is also available at the link in the bottom left corner of this page (scroll down). When you check Power School, you will see that your child earned 3 different 10 point grades today: 10 pts for doing their keyboarding homework, 10 pts for their participation in class (being on task, not being disruptive, etc.), and 10 pts for "good keyboarding form" (are they using the homekeys consistently?). This will continue for our weeks of homework. Remember...NO keyboarding homework Thanksgiving week. And we will be finished all keyboarding homework by December 6th. Please email me with questions.

10/19/17
An information sheet about keyboarding homework went home to all 3rd grade parents today, via their homeroom teacher. I am also posting a copy here. Please see the bottom left corner of this page for the link.  When observing your child doing his/her keyboarding homework, please don't let them revert to the old hunt and peck. This will erase the muscle memory they are working so hard to develop. Thanks!

10/12/17
This week the 3rd graders logged into their typing.com account to continue learning to touch type. But this time they did it with the keyboard covers on! Most found it very difficult to type without looking down at the keys, but this is how we build muscle memory, which will help them be quick, accurate typists for life.

We will begin keyboarding homework soon. From late-October to mid-December, they will have homework 3 times a week. More info will be communicated to you before we start. Typing multiple times throughout the week, with the correct finger placement and posture, will help your child build muscle memory, and become adept at keyboarding.

Next week, the students will be graded on participation (as they are most weeks), and also on their keyboarding technique. Speed and accuracy will NOT be graded at this point. I will be looking to see if they are using correct posture and finger placement, as we have been working on for over month.