3rd Grade Crew // Creating and Publishing High-Quality Work
Third grade writing standards begin with the purpose or prompt and extend to the tools we use to publish and share our work. In ELA Module 4, students learned about Water Issues Around the World, studying access to fresh water from a global and local perspective. Our final product addressed one of the more advanced third grade writing standards: With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
Curiosity & Creativity has been a major area of growth for students this year, and they got to show off their skills by creating a public service announcement to educate others on issues of water access and environmentalism. Instead of a standard skit or poster presentation, I leveraged student interests in Youtube and TikTok and tasked them with customizing a video PSA using the rich content editing tools offered by Canva.
After developing research questions, reading texts and articles about connected issues, and determining key details to support their main ideas, students developed their video “essays”. Not only did they need to include the correct content and express themselves according to English spelling and grammar conventions, students also needed to ensure that their visual elements were eye-catching and on-topic. This was a challenging task that took support from adults and peers to help each student strike the right balance. After multiple weeks of research, brainstorming, drafting, editing, revising, and peer feedback, third graders were able to create high-quality work that they are extremely proud of!
Here are three examples from our students for you to listen, learn, and enjoy!