Luck O' the iPads

St. Patrick's Day was a great day to try our luck with PicCollage.  In past years, I would have students make a class book of green things, such as "Some grapes are green." and "All peas are green."  It was a great brainstorming session, reinforcing some sight words.  Actually, I did still have students write a list of a few green ideas in their journals that day.  But you may recall that I'm trying to find ways to use the iPad instead of paper.... so then we got creative and produced some fantastic photo collages.

Students were sent around the school to take photos of green things - backpacks, hats, artwork, signs, and more.  Then they made a collage of the photos they collected, and used their phonetic spelling to label their photos.  I was so impressed! Here you see one of my students with his "hall pass" around his neck, that read "I'm looking for 5 green things", and another boy labeling and arranging his photos back in the computer lab.   NOTE: it worked best to turn off Spell Checker (in the general iPad settings area, in "keyboard"), otherwise their phonetic spelling changed into something that didn't make sense at all. . . .

 This activity was done in 2 - forty minute periods, during my computer lab time on Thursday and Friday.  I borrowed some iPads from the teacher next door, but still only had 7 devices.  Before students set off through the school, I set the timer on the iPad for 10 minutes so that they'd come back to work on their typing, and let the next students get started.  Students chose a green background, and took a "selfie" so I'd know whose work was whose!  Take a look at student work below:

I loaded all collages from devices into my Dropbox account so I could share them here, as well as with parents.  I look forward to students doing more scavenger hunts around the school, such as:

• 3D shape hunt
• Things that start with a certain letter
• Photos of students following rules
• Favorite Books in the library
• Different ways to show a number 
• More colors!

The green idea was found when I was looking for ideas to share with my district colleagues the day I shared my favorite creation apps.  You can see other PicCollage ideas on that post.  What other ideas do you have?  Will you please share?

By the way, here's a great article about the benefits of phonetic (or inventive) spelling.  It's an important part of the developmental process of learning to write.  Parents often wonder if their child will ever learn to spell correctly.  YES, they will!  My students' writing is becoming so much easier to read these days, which is awesome!  "Single instruments first, then the whole orchestra."

Reading with QR code readers

I had been wanting to find ways to use QR codes (Quick response codes) in our learning.  I must admit, I had seen QR codes before but never really knew why or how to use them.  After my success with teen numbers around the room, I wanted to make more!

I use this activity in my word work center. Students use an iPad (or my iPhone, if needed), scan the code, and a sight word appears in their browser!  Each card they scan has a number, and students write the word in the corresponding numbered box on their recording sheet.

I was fortunate to find the cute iPad template on Teachers Pay Teachers, and I created the codes using http://www.qrstuff.com.  The site is easy to use!  I found the images online for some of our Journeys sight words, saved the link to the image, and pasted it in the QR code maker.  An image is created for each code, which I then inserted into the template.

If your iPads or phones don't have a QR code reader, try Kutar QR Reader.  It's free, and really easy for students to use, because the entire screen can scan, and kids don't have to hold super still.  There are other great free code readers, too.

Click HERE to download my sight word center from my Dropbox folder.  The words included are:  all, and, are, can, come, down, for, go, good, have, help, how, like, look, make, me, off, play, said, she, the, what, with, you.  The QR codes can be changed for words you want to use, if you make your own codes.  Please see the last page for credit for the original template.  

I know your kids will love using these codes!  Please comment if you use them and let me know how it went.  Enjoy!

Love Letters with PicCollage

My students had fun working on an iPad activity today!  They opened the PicCollage app, and I took their picture saying "I love you" in sign language.  After they added their picture to the layout, they used the text function to type a love note.  They also chose a cool holiday background, changed the font style or color, if they wanted to, then saved to the camera roll. I loaded all the finished messages into Google Drive, then sent each parent an email with the attachment.  I heard back from a few parents saying how much they loved the project.

This is another project I used to do on paper.  I decided to save some trees and do the work on the iPad instead.  I can't wait to try this electronic writing idea more often!

One of my students offered to take my photo so I could send a love message too.  She asked if I wanted to send it to my mom or my dad.  I said I'd send it to my husband.  

This is what she came back to show me.  Then I emailed it to him.  <3

100 Days and Counting

One of my goals with integrating technology is to think about the things I usually do on paper, and decide if I can do them on iPads, instead.

For our 100th day, one of my math stations is to roll a die, and color that many boxes on a paper hundreds chart.



Last  year, I discovered the app "Counting Board", and used that instead of paper.  Students rolled a die, and tapped the boxes.  This is a cool app because it speaks the numbers as they are tapped.  You can start with the numbers hidden, then tap to reveal, or have the numbers showing, then hide them.

This year, though, I decided to use "Doodle Buddy", an app my students are very familiar with.   The kids did a great job, and we saved paper. Here's how it went:

1. Find a hundreds chart image online, and save it to your Google Drive
2. Open Drive on each iPad and save the hundreds chart image
3. Kids open Doodle Buddy and change the background, selecting the hundreds chart image
4. Kids roll the die, and choose a stamp to mark the boxes.  Change the stamp image for reach roll.
5. Count how many rolls it took to get to 100!
6. Use the text or pen tool to write their name, then SAVE to the camera roll.
7. Email to families, if desired.

Note:  the stampers are kind of loud, so headphones would be useful so you don't hear lots of barking dogs and musical stars. Also, point out that there are some inappropriate stamps that should not be used!  You'll see what I mean :)

Winter Little Bird Tales

In January, I teamed up with my Innovation Specialist to use "Little Bird Tales" to create a class book about winter.

With Little Bird Tales you can capture a child's voice and imagination with a creative story building tool, and share them with friends and family.

• Encourages creativity and self expression
• Helps reinforce reading and writing skills
• A GREEN alternative to books
• NO ads, NO merchandising, NO external links
• Made with kids in mind!
• It's Fun and it's FREE for everyone!

Step 1: Create or upload your artwork to each page.

Step 2: Record your voice and add text to each page.

Step 3: Email friends and family your finished book.

Downloads of the book are available in a pdf if you choose to print it, as well as an mp4.

Students were asked to digitally draw something they love about winter.  Then the adults typed a sentence that the child dictated about their drawing.  Later, one-on-one, students worked with me to record what they said.  

It required a bit of set-up before we went to the lab.  Mrs. Ferraro logged all the computers into her account, and created a blank page for each child.  Students sat down, found their page, and started drawing.  Adults were ready to type their idea and click "SAVE" when students finished.  All the pages look great!  

Enjoy our winter tale!

• Click to view my tale.
• 

Holiday QR Codes

QR codes can help students become self-directed learners.  I added QR codes to an existing "Read the Room" counting activity, because I wanted to integrate technology and iPad use into math somehow.   I was able to find a similar counting activity with teen number QR codes, so I just used the pre-made codes for this.  I taped the code on my already-made holiday number cards, then I taped them around the room for my little detectives to find. This was a station, so each table took a turn on a different day of the week.

First, students took a clipboard and recording sheet around the room, to find where I had taped numbers on the wall.  They had to count the dots in the ten frames (teen numbers) and record their answer.  When all the numbers were done, they could get an iPad and use the QR code reader to scan the code to check their answer.  They had a lot of fun, and I'm proud of how independent they were.  

This video shows how students were finishing a counting activity and practicing teen numbers, then could check the accuracy of their work independently, by scanning a code. It was great for self assessment, because if they had reversals (41 instead of 14), or if they miscounted, then they could erase and fix their answer.  It was wonderful to watch them walk around the room and stay engaged.    

I hope I can find more fun activities like this in the future, or else make my own!

Dear Santa Doodle PicCollage

Today my students and I tried some more app smashing!  I always have the students brainstorm what they want for Christmas, and we write a quick little letter to Santa.  Instead of doing the work on paper this year, my colleague suggested I try the iPad.  Genius!  Here's how we did it!

(Half the class had an iPad, the other half was working on another literacy activity)
1.  Draw a picture of what they want, using Doodle Buddy.  Save to camera roll.
2.  Open Pic Collage and import their picture.
3.  Choose some holiday or festive "wrapping paper" from the background choices.
4.  Add text,  using sight words and phonetic spelling, "Can I have ________?"
5  I typed "Dear Santa" for each student, and they typed "Love," and their name.
6. Students could change fonts and move the text around until they liked how it looked.
7.  Save to camera roll.

I later uploaded all the work to Google Drive, then opened them on my desktop computer and sent them to the color printer to hang up for parents and others to see.  I will also share them via email to parents.

Some of their phonetic spelling is awesome!  Sometimes the iPad used auto-correct, and then their sentences were kind of weird.  So next time, I would turn off auto-correct if possible!  I plan to write the "adult spelling" on their papers that are hanging in the hall.  About 60% asked for Xbox.  Hmmmm... go figure.

Another suggestion would be to get PicCollage open ahead of time, and type the "Dear Santa" and set up the template, so they just have to open the app and add their own sentence with the picture.  Either way, I had to touch each iPad to finish the text and then help them save, before uploading to Drive.

Now I can email their letters to Santa!  How slick is that!?!  Happy Holidays!

UPDATE 12/17:  Now that students use Seesaw, we added voice to each project, too!  Students uploaded the PicCollage item into Seesaw and pressed the record button to read their message to Santa.  With Seesaw, you can print their project with a QR code that can be scanned to access their recording.  I skipped the Google Drive step listed above because Seesaw makes it so easy to print.  It's a great way to share with families.