Monthly Archives: May 2012

Frogs and Flutterbies??

We have been working on a mini unit on life cycles.  We started with frogs and are now moving on to butterflies.  My husband always says they should be called flutterbies.  I started looking around for apps that would relate to frogs.  I found a really cute app based on the Mercer Mayer book Where is My Frog!  It is a neat little app that allows the user to have the story read to you or the option of reading it yourself.  I like that it highlights the words that are being read too.  Like most of the iPad story apps there are “hot” buttons that animate parts of the screen.  I have also found a version that can be found online. I will put a link to it on the WIKI when I get a chance!

We are also working on the life cycle of the butterfly.  Today we started adding some math to our study by looking at symmetry.  Butterflies are awesome examples of symmetry.  It is fun to put math, science, and art together!  TMF!  The children worked in partners taking turns putting pattern blocks on each side of the butterfly.  One partner got to be “the boss” and put a block on one wing.  The other partner had to put the same block on the other side to make both sides symmetrical.  Then, of course, the other partner got a turn to be “the boss”!

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Filed under Butterflies, Frogs, iPads, Symmetry

TMF! It’s Okay to Have Too Much Fun!

I love to collect sayings and if you came to my house you would see them all over my house.  One of my favourites is “It’s Okay to Have Too Much Fun!   or   TMF!

Yesterday the children asked to watch the Monster at the End of this Book during storytime/eating time.  As I suffer from allergies I leapt at the opportunity to save my voice and set up the story.  I had the special helper of the day turn the pages as he had already gobbled up his sandwich and was eager to have the job.  It was delightful to watch the engagement of the students in the story, but especially the engagement of the page turner!!  During the story, the monster pleads with the reader to not turn the page by clasping his hands together and saying “Please, please don’t turn the page!” .  The student turning the pages on the iPad actually was so involved in the story that he was acting out the story as it happened complete with pleading hands! Magic!  Definitely TOO MUCH FUN!  Of course, then we had to listen to Another Monster at the End of this Book! Love those monsters!

I have continued to bring my iPad to school each day and when the children have completed their independent projects they have the opportunity to sit at my desk on my chair two at a time working with the apps I have downloaded onto my iPad.  Two other children sit on my other big chair at our classroom computer.  Little people in big chairs totally wrapped up in what they are doing is definitely Too Much Fun to watch!  Needless to say those chairs fill up fast.  At the end of the day I shut down my iPad and shut down the apps that have been opened and I get to do a little survey to see which apps are the most popular…  Really fun!  The Monster at the End of this Book and Peter Rabbit are really popular which tells me that I need to find more story apps!

The class WIKI is also really popular on the computer.  It is neat to see what their favourite sites are.  I need to find a way to let two children use the headphones…  There must be a gizmo for that!

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Filed under iPads, Peter Rabbit, Story Books