Any ideas for at home projects for my 2nd & 3rd graders? Help!

lovemymaddy

I have a great group of kiddos this year that are really advanced and I'm looking for some at home projects for them to do. They can be a little researched based but mostly some fun projects that they can do at home. Any ideas?  Anything that your kids have done at home?

Thanks!

whitney3

With thanksgiving coming up they could do a project where they research an indian tribe and then create a model of one of their homes using things they find outside.

CubbyMama

Do their parents want them doing a bunch of projects at home? Once you have older kids and realize how time-consuming and stressful at-home projects are for many families, you get a new perspective on anything you assign as homework! I would lean more toward making sure they have books at their level to read at home, and making modifications to their classwork so that they're not bored but also aren't overwhelmed with busywork. If the kids and their parents are really chomping at the bit for assignments to do at home, maybe an ABC book on a topic of the student's choice would be good...but again, I'm wary of assigning at-home projects when reading and playing are truly the best things a kid can be doing outside of school. Good luck!

samp42

I agree with pp about not having too many at home projects.  It is really hard to get them done on top of homework and after school activities and other life functions.  My son had to do about every other month last year in 3rd grade and we ended up having to spend a lot of money at Michael's too. 

The teaher did have one student a week make a poster of things about themselves what they like to do for fun, any pets they may have pictures of their families, etc... and then the student would share it with the class.  This one was a pretty good one.  My son also had to the Indian thing last year.  He also had to make a diorama about wildlife and some others that I can't think of right now. They had to share each project with their class to practice oral presentation skills.  This year in 4th grade he is having to do oral book reports and the teacher is having them tell the summary from the point of view of one of the characters in their books.

Joenali

I do optional "expert" projects. I gave a few broad categories to choose from and really want the creativity to fly!! I really don't care who does it or who doesn't.

neverblushed

Joenali:

I do optional "expert" projects. I gave a few broad categories to choose from and really want the creativity to fly!! I really don't care who does it or who doesn't.

I do this for my big kids (9th and 10th grade) in English.  For example, we're about to start Macbeth in 9th, and they had the option to do research on witches and share what they learned with the class the next day.  The kids loved it.  Every kid did it, and they found WAY more information than I expected!

I would also be wary of assigning "art" projects like posters, dioramas, etc., because what you will probably get will be mostly the parents' work.  My DD had to make a model butterfly in 2nd grade.  Honestly, it was not something a 7 y/o could really do independently.  I wound up making most of it.

My sense from raising a gt kid and seeing her and her friends in action is that really bright kids love to do research and they love experiments.  They love making observations and recording data.  They love messing around on the computer. 

You might use Power Point or an art program like Pixie as a way of giving kids challenges that don't provoke too much parent involvement.  For example, you could do the assignment mentioned above about researching a Native American tribe and have the kids show ALL the info they've learned in a single slide or picture.  You could require certain elements (a map, text, an image, a graph or chart).  What they decide to do with the elements is up to them.

And best of all, it won't require you a zillion hours to grade because it's one page.

HTH!

altodd

I am a third grade teacher, and I assign 1 at-home project each marking period (4). 

1st quarter:  Create and Build a Model of an Insect (includes descriptive writing)

2nd quarter:  Design an animal habitat diorama (during this quarter I teach researching skills and practices, then how to turn research into a report...so we do all of the report writing for this at school so I can monitor carefully)

3rd quarter:  Our state standards have 19 famous people all 3rd graders have to know for their tests in the spring.  They way my team has tackled this, is to tie it into our biography unit.  Each student is assigned one famous person. They research and make a book about that person with illustrations.  Then, they come to school dressed as their person, and teach the other students about why they are on the famous people list.

4th quarter:  Teach the Teacher Day-each student can teach me about something, do a how-to demonstration, showcase his or her talent, etc.  I give them a "lesson plan" sheet to complete, and they create a quiz for me to take.

 I have been doing in-class projects frequently, especially those involving technology because some of my students have limited/no access to certain resources.  Along with following the standards for my project planning, I also like to see where the class takes me.  That is, one year everyone wanted to write reader's theater scripts, another year they were fascinated by the pioneers and the Oregon Trail...I would hate to miss those opportunities because they didn't make the standards "cut."

HTH,

Amy