Stacey Randles

EDU - 225
October 11, 2014
John Schmauder
http://msrandles.weebly.com/










RAFT
Subject Science About Snow Digital Technology
Project
Ms. Randles Third Grade Class

Overall Objective:
Use specific types of technology, (listed in BOLD), to research, collect information, create self-
made drawings and pictures, and prepare a digital form of a presentation, to describe how snow
is formed as precipitation travels through the atmosphere, and what happens if the sun comes
out and heats up the air.

Technology Expectations: Microsoft Word / Paint, Kid Pix, IPads, PCs and Color Printers
(all technology needed is provided for all students in classroom).

Each student will use the following RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, and Topic), cards to instruct
and provide detailed instructions through the objective process. There are 3 RAFT Task Cards
following the Project Task Card below.

PROJECT RAFT CARD

ROLE (student) AUDIENCE FORMAT TOPIC
1 A weather reporter at
a local childrens
television station
giving an audio /
video broadcast
(students will not need
to provide audio
/video equipment or
media, it will be
provided by TV
station)
Your favorite
television station
watchers who are
students
An informative
weather report
about snow.

Use Microsoft
Word (or any
word processor), as
technology tool to
compose what you
will say during
your broadcast
Have you ever
wondered how
snow transforms
as its falling down
from the sky?
2 Precipitation /
Moisture in the air
Third grade
Science club
members
An informational
story told by
creating artwork
and digital pictures

Use Kid Pix to
create artwork for
telling your story.
You drift down
from the clouds
and you want to
share with your
friends your
experience.

Use Microsoft
Word /Paint
3 Snow Sun A presentation on
how to tell the sun
how its heat will
melt the snow

Use PowerPoint
and incorporate
drawings, pics, and
self-made creations
form KidPix and
copy and paste
them into
PowerPoint
You are telling the
sun how if it
comes out it can
melt the snow
away


RAFT Task Card #1 Weather Snow
TV Broadcast

Overall Objective:
Use specific types of technology, (listed in BOLD), to research, collect information, and prepare
a digital form of a presentation, to describe how snow is formed as precipitation travels through
the atmosphere
Student Role:
A weather reporter at a local childrens television station
Audience:
Favorite television station watchers who are students
Format:
An informative weather report about snow
Topic:
Have you ever wondered how snow transforms as its falling down from the sky?

Directions:

1. Use the internet for research.
2. Visit http://www.learner.org/interactives/weather/iceandsnow.html, to learn about how
snow is formed.
3. Write your findings about how snow is formed on a rough draft, and then type it out on
Microsoft Word, and print our final copy. Make sure you use spell checker to avoid
mistakes.
4. Practice reading your story for your broadcast aloud to your family and friends, until you
feel comfortable, so when you read it on your broadcast you can add excitement and
enthusiasm to your TV audience.

Resources: Websites & Computer Programs
1. World Wide Web Internet. Read: Weather. Ice and Snow
http://www.learner.org/interactives/weather/iceandsnow.html

2. Microsoft Word


RAFT Task Card #2: Weather - Snow
Digital Artwork Creations
Objective:
Be able to explain how precipitation turns into snow as it travels through atmosphere
remember, you are the precipitation
Student Role:
Precipitation / Moisture in the air
Audience:
Third grade Science club members
Format:
An informational story told by creating artwork and digital pictures

Use Kid Pix to create artwork for telling your story.

Use Microsoft Word /Paint
Topic:
You are moisture in the air (precipitation becoming a snowflake), drifting down from the sky and
you want to share with your friends your experience.

Directions:

1. Use the article on Weather. Ice and Snow to be able to describe to your 3
rd
grade
friends in your science club how it feels, as if you were moisture in the air, when you turn
into a snowflake falling through the atmosphere. The student will also need to use their
imagination and personal creativity, for this topic, as well.

Resources:
http://www.learner.org/interactives/weather/iceandsnow.html

KidPix for creating self-made drawings, pictures and animations

Microsoft Word / Paint - for creating self-made drawings, pictures and animations

RAFT Task Card #3: Weather - Snow
PowerPoint Presentation
Objective:
Create a presentation on how to explain to the sun, how its heat will melt the snow

Student Role:
Snow
Audience:
The sun
Format:
PowerPoint Presentation
KidPix

Directions:

1. Use PowerPoint and incorporate drawings, pics, and self-made creations form KidPix
and copy and paste them into PowerPoint - 5 slides total. The student will also need to
use their imagination and personal creativity, for this topic, as well.

Grading / assessment
Students will be graded on the following:
Prepare a 3 minute broadcast by reading from prepared speech from notes on Microsoft
Word to TV audience 30% = 30 points
Use creative software suggested (or any other software you like to use), to create your
own drawings to tell a story to your friends in your science club about how it feels to be
snow in the air 30% = 30 points
Use presentation software suggested (or any presentation programs you prefer), to create
a 5-slide presentation to the sun, about how it melts the snow when the atmospheres
temperature is heated 30% = 30 points
Following instructions, creativity and originality 10% = 10 points
For a grand total of 100% = 100 points

RAFT Task Cards
References

Annenberg Foundation. 2014. Weather. What Forces Our Weather? Ice and Snow. Retrieved
from http://www.learner.org/interactives/weather/iceandsnow.html on, October 8, 2014.
GreatSchools. 2014. Your Third Grader and Technology. Retrieved from
http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/215-third-grade-technology.gs on
October 11, 2014.
Tangient. 2013. Wikispaces educational software. Retrieved from
https://educationalsoftware.wikispaces.com/Kidpix, on October 3, 2014.














Differentiating Instruction through Technology
The purpose of this science project assignment about, Snow, is to teach and to
encourage students in the 3
rd
grade to research, collect information, and create a presentation,
using various types of multimedia devices and software. The term multimedia by definition
means more than one media. Multimedia incorporates a variety of elements, including text,
graphics, audio, video, and animation (Cashman & Gunter, 2011, P. 205).
This assignment uses the comprehensive tool known as RAFT Task Cards. These cards
are separated into sections based on criteria objectives, in order to provide the student with a
guided outline and specific focuses for each directive, or task. RAFT is an acronym which stands
for R - the role of the student, A the audience the student is addressing, F guides the
student as to what format they will use to gather, organize and present their findings, and T
topic, which provides the student with a precise topic, or main idea, that they need to address
and present upon. These four ideas R-A-F-T, in combination with each other, provides the
student clear directives, which are expected to be used throughout the project and to ensure the
overall outcome of the assignment is complete with all sectors, of what makes a project on a
particular subject matter thorough and complete.
Research shows that using technology in the classroom motivates students, encourages
them to become problem solvers, and creates new avenues to demonstrate creative thinking
(Cashman & Gunter, 2011, p. 219). An overall object is listed at the beginning portion of the
assignment, students explain the final outcome of the lesson. The students are assigned the
subject content of snow; how it is formed through the earths atmosphere; how it might feel if
they, (the student), were the airs moisture traveling through the earths atmosphere and
becoming a real snowflake, and lastly, how the snowflake might feel as it melts.
The overall objective for the 3
rd
grade students is to learn and to experience the
completion and success of using multimedia tools and devices, based on ISTE Standards for
Students, which includes guidelines, educational teachings and technology supported
recommendations which supports, promotes and engages in advancing excellence in learning
and teaching through the innovative and effective uses of technology in PK12 and teacher
education (ISTE, 2014).
RAFT Task Card #1 - instructs the student to focus on their role as a local weather
reporter at a local childrens television station giving an audio / video broadcast to students in
their same grade level, educating them on how snow is formed as precipitation and moisture
passes through the earths atmosphere. The audience will be the student body of the 3
rd
grade
students, watching an education program about science, the format assigned is a document
which includes the students research, typed in Microsoft Word, and edited for their television
broadcast. The topic for this portion of the assignment is have you ever wondered how snow is
transformed from precipitation as it is falling down from the sky?
RAFT Task Card #2 instructs the student to focus on their role as if they were the
precipitation, or moisture, in the atmosphere when the air is at the correct temperature to change
the moisture into snow. The audience is a group of 3
rd
grade science club members as if they are
being convinced on exactly what the student thinks it feels like to be that moisture being changed
into snowflakes, as it drops down from the clouds /sky. The format the student will use to
express their ideas is Microsoft Word / Paint, or KidPix (found on the internet), in which the
student will create self-made drawings and pictures from their imagination, and from the
research they collected. The topic for the student to address for their main idea is that they are
the moisture, and, they are to express how it feels as they drift down from the clouds, while
turning into a snowflake.
RAFT Task Card #3 instructs the student to imagine being the role as if they are a
snowflake, and how it would feel if the sun were to come out of the sky, warm up them, (as they
are snowflakes), and melt them. The audience is the sun. The format they will use to portray
their ideas and creative imagination, is PowerPoint, or another type of presentation software. The
student must complete 5 slides for this portion of the presentation. The topic the student will
focus on to complete this portion is them to talk to the sun and tell them what will happen if the
sun gets the atmosphere too warm, that they, (as snowflakes), will melt.
After combining all tasks from the RAFT Task Cards, the student will have composed
three forms of presentation. They will share with three different audiences and address three
topics all relative to snow. The conditions the weather must have for snow to be formed, what it
would feel like to be the snowflake, during creation and then how it might feel upon the
snowflake melting.
Both ISTE Standards offer suggestive ideas for teachers and students such as; facilitation
and to inspire student learning and creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration,
critical /thinking and problem solving, research and information fluency, technology operations
and concepts, promotion of digital citizenship, and engagement of professional growth and
leadership (ISTE, 2014). These type of assignments and projects allow the student to gain
knowledge, learn creativity, use their critical thinking skills and concepts, and give them a better
understanding of technology, and how they can benefit from using multimedia devices, computer
software and the internet.

References

GreatSchools. 2014. Your Third Grader and Technology. Retrieved from
http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/215-third-grade-technology.gs on
October 11, 2014.
ISTE. (2014). Connected Learning. Connected World. Retrieved from
https://www.isteconference.org/2014/glance/ on September 18, 2014.
Shelly, G. B., Cashman, T. J., Gunter, G., & Gunter, R. (2011). Teachers Discovering
Computers: Integrating Technology in a Connected World (7th Ed.). Boston, MA:
Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 9781133526551. P. 219-220.