Extending States and Capitals

Our third graders learned their states and capitals in Social Studies and I wanted to build upon this in the computer lab.  To help get the students excited about geography, they typed friendly letters to a particular state requesting maps, brochures, and postcards.  (What an easy way to blend Social Studies, Language Arts, and keyboarding!)

Their efforts have paid off and we are starting to receive informational packets back from many states.  Students use the maps, brochures, and postcards to give a short oral presentation about their state.

So far we've received mail from:

Alabama

Arkansas

Colorado

Idaho

Illinois

Mississippi

Montana

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Carolina

Utah

Vermont

Wyoming

Foldify App

If you haven't used Foldify you are missing out on creative fun!

Our third graders researched different state symbols and then created three dimensional visual representations.  After completing a short research worksheet students used the ipads to find pictures of their state symbols.  (FREE research worksheet can be found here.)

Foldify makes creating three dimensional shapes easy.  Students choose a shape, drag and drop pictures, and print.  I printed on cardstock, but regular paper would be fine.

Connecting with our Grads

What a wonderful morning spent with our new friends in North Carolina.  We connected via Google Hangout and took turns asking each other yes/no questions to try and determine our schools' locations.  This was a great way to reinforce our knowledge of states/capitals, national landmarks, and geography.

The best surprise was when the North Carolina students learned their teacher actually graduated from our school.  It's such a small world, and we are proud of our graduates.  Thank you for making a difference in the lives of the next generation.

Mystery Skype

Want an interactive, engaging, and exciting way to brush up on geography?  What about participating in a Mystery Skype session?

That's exactly what our fourth grade class did today. We connected with another fourth grade class on Skype and took turns with them asking yes/no questions to help determine each other's location.  Not only did we use our mapping skills but also deductive reasoning. 

Everyone in our class was assigned specific responsibilities during the Mystery Skype, and we took these duties seriously.  Some of our jobs were photographers, recorders, tweeters, question leader, mappers, welcomer, and closer. 

During the Mystery Skype two students recorded all the questions we asked and the questions that the other class asked us.  The recorders wrote these questions on the whiteboards so they were visible to everyone in our classroom.  This helped prevent us from repeating questions by accident. 

Questions the Other Class Asked Us

 

 

 

Questions We Asked the Other Class

Students were highly engaged during our Skype session and worked well together.  The students were able to determine the other school was in Iowa.  The Mystery Skype session lasted approximately 25 minutes.

We are already looking forward to our next Mystery Skype.

Mrs. Lynch