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3rd Grade Social Studies

Social Studies TEKS		Technology TEKS
3.1	History. The student understands how individuals, events, and ideas have influenced the history of various communities.	N4	Create, name, and save files to personal directory on the network. (1B,1E)
3.9	Government. The student understands the basic structure and functions of local government.	N5	Access files in personal directory and on the student shared directory. (1E)
3.16	Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology.	B8	Use the laptops within the wireless lab, focusing on the use of the touchpad as a mouse. (2A)
Language Arts TEKS		W9	Create a new presentation or open an existing one on the student-shared directory. (1E, 7A, 7B, 7C, 11B)
3.1	Listening/speaking/purposes. The student listens attentively and engages actively in various oral language experiences.	W10	*Insert* multiple *New Slides*. (7A, 7B, 7C)
3.7	Reading/variety of texts. The student reads widely for different purposes in varied sources.	W11	Add text to slides. (2E)
3.9	Reading/comprehension. The student uses a variety of strategies to comprehend selections read aloud and selections read independently.	W12	Change the font size, type, style (bold, italicize, underline), and color. (10A, 10B )
3.10	Reading/literary response. The student responds to various texts.	W13	Use *Alignment* tools to format text (left, right, center, justify). (10A, 10B)
3.11	Reading/text structures/literary concepts. The student analyzes the characteristics of various types of texts.	W14	*Format* text by using *Bullets* and *Numbering.* (10A, 10B)
3.12	Reading/inquiry/research. The student generates questions and conducts research using information from various sources.	W15	*Insert Pictures* from *Clipart Gallery* and *From File* (digital camera, scanner, or other source). (5A, 7C, 10A, 10B)
3.13	Reading/culture. The student reads to increase knowledge of his/her own culture, the culture of others, and the common elements of culture.	W16	Edit *Slide Transitions* and *Custom Animations* to enhance presentation. (7A, 7B)
3.14	Writing/purposes. The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes and in various forms.	W17	Use the *Slide Sorter* view to organize (change sequence) and edit presentation. (9B)
3.15	Writing/penmanship/capitalization/punctuation. The student composes original texts using the conventions of written language such as capitalization and penmanship to communicate clearly.
3.17	Writing/grammar/usage. The student composes meaningful texts applying knowledge of grammar and usage.
3.20	Writing/inquiry/research. The student uses writing as a tool for learning and research

Lesson Title: San Antonio

Software Application(s): Inspiration, PowerPoint

Directions ...

Literature Connections:
Brown, Margaret Wise. The Important Book. Read aloud to initiate a discussion of main idea and to establish a pattern for writing. You'll find the students chanting along with you.

The teacher (or the students) will create an Inspiration web similar to the one shown here, and display it on the TV, as the students brainstorm general areas of importance about San Antonio (i.e., location, history, government, climate, fun places to go, historical sites, theme parks, military bases, museums, and people who live here). Then, the students will gather data about San Antonio by going to the San Antonio Hotlist in search of information. (Right click and save the hotlist into Student Share. After saving, be sure to go to the icon in Student Share and mark it as Read Only. To do this, right click on the icon, select Properties, and click next to Read Only.)

To save a picture from the Internet for future use, the students can right click on the picture and choose Save Image As (or Save Picture As), and then navigate to their personal directory to save the picture. Proper credit should be given to the website by including the address below the picture.

Now the students are ready to write their own slide show, The Important Book about San Antonio, using PowerPoint. Your students' writing will probably be more original if you do not share the example with them. (However, to view this example, right click on it, choose Open in New Window and go to Edit/Edit Slides, or you can choose Save Target As, then save it to your desktop. You can move it when you are finished looking at it.) Just help your students get started, and let them go. Emphasize the pattern and the content. This project might be created as a class, in pairs, or individually using the wireless laptops.

One way to begin the slide show creation is to use their Inspiration web and send it to PowerPoint. Click here for directions. Then each bubble (category) will be in its own slide, so that your students can use this as a guide to writing about each subtopic. They will need to adjust the title line to fit the pattern.

Another way would be to just print out their Inspiration web, and use it as a guide to writing. Open PowerPoint, choose blank slide, format the background, and insert a sufficient number of slides to create the whole slide show.

Here's the important thing to remember about the pattern: Each page should begin with "The important thing about ... is ..." and end with the same statement. Also, a circular ending is powerful. That is, make the last page the same as, or related to, the first page.

Once the students have written their content, they can add pictures:

Choose Insert Picture/From File and navigate to their personal directory to the saved picture which may have been saved from the Internet, scanned in, or taken with a digital camera. Click Open.
Draw their own picture by choosing Insert/Object. Select Bitmap Image. OK. A new window will appear that looks similar to Paint, in which they can draw their picture using the pencil tool, paint bucket, eraser, and other tools. Then click outside of the picture to set it on the page. It can be enlarged from the corner or dragged to a new position by clicking in the center and dragging it.

They can also add sounds, transitions, and custom animation if desired.

Here's another related idea for the end of the school year ... The Important Book about (Your Elementary School or Your Grade Level or Your Classroom). Any of these would make a great slide show for Back to School Open House next fall. Also, the parents would love it if you created a CD for each student with these slide shows on them.