Monthly Archives: January 2013

January 20, 2013 · 9:06 pm

Counting Snowmen and Snowflakes!

Over the past week or so we have been continuing to work on our Winter theme. We have really been having fun with snowmen! Some of the snowmen for our snowmen project have been coming in and they are fabulous! We will be incorporating them into a writing project that we are creating with the iPads. One of the first things we have done is to draw diagrams of snowmen using Doodle Buddy on the iPads!

The children first have to draw the snowmen and then learn how to use text boxes to label them. Quite an operation! The children have to learn how to create text boxes, add text, and then move the text box to the correct spot to label the picture. Then we take a screen shot of their product so that we can use it in our book project!

The children have also been working on the app My Story to create a “how to” book on How to Make a Snowman. We learned how to create a story board to show what we wanted to create and what needed to be incorporated into each page. Almost all of the children have completed the books and I hope to email them to you this week as soon as they are done! We had some help figuring out why we couldn’t email them which was really appreciated! Thanks, Ryan!

We also created a snowman flip book that is in the final stages of completion and should make it home to you shortly! They did a fabulous job! Four snowmen turn into many, many snowmen with three cuts! They had a good giggle at all the different snowmen they could create!

We also made a little mini book about snowflakes to practise learning about plurals!

During silent reading time we have been using the iPads! On Friday, the children used the app The Monster at the End of this Book which is a fantastic little app. I never get tired of it and it was a treat to listen to all the giggles when the children were viewing the book. I like this app because it highlights each word as it is being read to the child. We use our headphones during silent reading time so all I can hear is the giggles! You can see that they are spellbound by the story!

Meet our New Authors!

Today I introduced a new story writing app to the class and I have to say it was awesome! The app is called My Story. This app allows the children to draw pictures for each page, add text to the picture, and then record themselves reading the text on the page. Too cool! There is also the option to take a picture with the ipad or import a picture to use. When it is complete you can choose an option to read your book. But that’s not all! You also have the option to email the book to someone or export it to your iBook library. It comes up as a real book on your digital bookshelf! Too much fun!

I had played around with it at home and created a little book for a demo. I showed the students my little book and then showed them how to create their own. Well! Off they went! The pictures are amazing! I love the drawings on the ipads because they are so vibrant! For some reason, the children really go the extra mile on their pictures when they draw on the ipad and are often willing to make numerous revisions of their work.

Take a look at this picture!

They wrote their own sentences to go with the pictures with a little help from their dictionaries and some key words on the whiteboard. Not bad for a first effort. Their little voices narrating their stories is the icing on the cake.

The completed stories were saved to the iBook library. For some reason I was not able to email the stories today but I was able to email my story to myself at home so I imagine it is a little glitch that I will have to overcome at school. Hopefully I will be able to email you a copy of one of your child’s books soon!

When the children had completed their stories we put them up on the big screen for everyone to see and hear! Love the projectors we have in the classrooms now. Just a great way to share work!

I have to say that their books were much, much better than mine! Can’t wait to see what they create next time!

Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic Ipad Style!

Today we tried out a few new apps on the iPads. One of the goals we have this term is to master the Primer Dolch Word lists. There is a cool app called Sight Word Bingo that lets the children practise the words in a fun way. They also get a chance to practise spelling these words too so that they “stick”. The children worked in partners and practised the words for a little while. No trouble staying focussed and they appeared to be having fun practising! Better than flash cards! You can also find this program at the ABC Yah site. There is a link to ABCYah on the WIKI page. Check it out! If you have an iPad you might want to download the app! It has all the levels we need to focus on this year. Not too expensive either…

Then we did some work with a neat program called DoodleCast. I love this app. It provides a picture prompt for the children to get started drawing. Then it records all their drawing AND it records them talking about their drawing. Then they can play it back and listen to themselves. The look on their faces was priceless! I really like how it helps the students build their oral language especially when describing their work. They realized that they had to organize their thoughts and explain themselves when they listened to their efforts! Then they tried again. Each effort improved and it was fun to listen to their efforts. Mr. Brick came by and listened to a few too! The work is saved to the camera roll on the iPad and can be sent as an email too! The intermediate equivalent of this app is a program called Explain Everything. If you have ever taken a look at the Khan Academy they use a similar idea! We are using the junior version!

In the afternoon the children created their own math practise with Doodle Buddy. Using the stamps they created a addition story and recorded the equation. They copied down their story and then went on to copy down all their friend’s stories. Lots of counting practise and adding practise mixed up together with fun!