We have been having some Halloween fun using a new app for us called Popplet!. The children have been working in partners to create an idea web about Halloween.
I created a folder of Halloween clipart for the students to choose from on my iPad. Then they created their Popplet by importing the images from the camera roll into their popplets and adding text to the pooplet using the words on the word walls and pocket charts in the classroom.
The children are making them in partners and we will post more of their efforts as soon as they are ready! I love how fearless they are when it comes to technology!
We have also been having more fun with the CoLAR app and the pumpkin trigger picture.
I incorporated the image into a writing exercise. We brainstormed some ideas about the dancing pumpkins and the children chose their favorites to add to the story prompt.
After the students wrote down their ideas and colored the pictures we used the iPads to activiate the trigger picture. Lots of giggles and fun!
We also received another really cool prize in the mail that we are really keen to try out! A GO PRO camera which was sponsored by Mind Share Learning! I can’t wait to try it out! I have been wishing for one ever since I saw a program about them on television. So you can imagine my excitement when we received the mail from Robert Martellacci that it was on its way! And it is here! Our school will really have a lot of fun with this very cool tool!
I have been doing a lot of happy dances in the classroom lately! Too Much Fun!
I think that the GoPro should go with us on a hayride, don’t you? Way too much fun!
I think this camera is going to be going on a lot of trips!
We have an exciting new addition to our classroom! Our Promethean board has been installed and is up and running! Soooo exciting!
A lot of people helped get it operational and we would like to thank them for all their hard work!
We would especially like to thank the people from Promethean who sponsored this wonderful prize! The board was one of the prizes in the Mindshare Learning Digital Video Learning Challenge contest that we won in the spring! It is an amazing prize and WE LOVE IT! It is going to be very well used!
We have been working with some Augmented Reality apps in the classroom over the last few weeks. The newest one is AR Flashcards Shapes and Colors.
This is a really neat app that introduces colors and shapes in a fun way. The children hold the iPad over the trigger images and these lovely augmented images appear. You can change the color of the shape by tapping the color icons at the top of the screen. Lots of fun practice learning about colors and shapes.
There is a story in one of our beginning readers that talks about shapes. We decided to make our own book using these augmented images as a starting point!
The students searched our classroom for the different shapes and then we arranged our collections around the trigger image picture. Then we took a picture of the shapes within the app with the trigger image engaged. Next, we opened up the Strip Designer app, imported the picture and added a sentence about the shape to the page.
Then we opened up the Explain Everything app and imported our pages to make a book. The students volunteered to narrate the pages. We saved our book to the camera roll and uploaded our book to YouTube. This is the result!
This was a fun project! They had a great time searching for the shapes we needed and arranging them around the trigger image! Great practice and fun, too!
Over the past few weeks, the children have been experimenting with a variety of augmented reality apps. The first one I introduced is a favourite of mine called AR Alphabet Flashcards. I love this app. When the students hover the iPads over the trigger images, an augmented image of an animal appears as if by magic! The app is still free. You need to print off the trigger images on a color printer. You can find these images at the AR Flashcards website.
The children like to see if they can pick up the animals by putting their hand underneath the image. If you tap on the screen you can hear a child say the name of the letter and the animal. Too cute. We will be using these images later this year to create an augmented reality alphabet book. You can see the one we created last year here.
This app also includes some dinosaur images!
We have also been doing a little with the CoLAR app. This is an awesome little app. I gave the students a special coloring sheet about pumpkins that has an augmented image embedded in the page. When they hold the iPad over the image within the app the trigger engages and the pumpkins begin to dance around! It also picks up the exact colors that the student used to color their page. Lots of fun.
We have also started our science experiments. I hope the children remembered their promise to do this one over the sink!
A couple of the students had to hold onto their cups for a long time before the force of gravity exerted itself! Lots of fun! Wet, too!
We have been having a lot of fun during the first few weeks of this school year! We have had a lot of fun creating a book using the iPad based on a story we have been working on in one of our readers.
The story focuses on introducing the school in the story. We decided to create our own book about our own school using the iPads.
We had a great time travelling all around the school taking pictures of the important sites in the school according to the children! Then we imported the pictures into an app called Strip Designer and added the text. Then we imported these pages into another app called Explain Everything to create our book. Then we recorded our voices reading the text. We saved our book to the camera roll and exported it to Youtube. We hope you enjoy our efforts!
I have also been experimenting with Aurasma again this year. This app allows us to attach files to a trigger image such as a picture. When you view the picture within the Aurasma app it triggers the attached file to display. You need to follow our class on the Aurasma app to see the Aura.
To see our auras, please follow the following steps.
1.Download the app Aurasma on your device. It works on iPads, and iPhones. I believe there is also an android version. The app is free. It will ask you if you want to register. You do not need to register to see the auras.
2. Search for our channel and follow it. Our site is
mrsantonsclass or mrsantonsgradeone
You can do this by choosing the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen. Type in either site name. Our channel should come up! (I have tried it on every device in my house and had my family try it so it should work!) Then choose the Follow button. The text will change to Following.
(image from KPM Doodles)
You should then see a little snapshot of the picture above.
3. You can then trigger the aura by choosing the option at the bottom of your screen that has the four corners (the one in the middle).
Aim your device at the trigger image above on this screen on your computer and you will see the aura activate with a purple swirl. The attached file should then display. The attached file is the book that we created above. It is pretty cool! Now you have two ways of viewing the same book!.
We tried it out this morning in our classroom with my iPad and the pictures! Lots of fun!
As we create other auras this year we will share them to this channel.
You can share the aura by choosing the share button. You can share it via email or twitter.
I have also shared the book on our Twitter site. Our twitter address is @mrsantonsclass.
I have added the twitter feed to the blog on the right hand side! You can see some of our tweets.
Today we tweeted about the Global Read Aloud 2014. We have joined with a large group of teachers worldwide who are completing an author study of the Peter Reynolds stories. This week’s book is I’m Here. We watched the trailer about the book. Then we posted about it using the Global Read Aloud hashtag. You can see our tweet in the twitter feed on the side of the blog. We are hoping to connect with other classrooms in the world and find out what they think about the books too!
Isaak’s Mom has voluteered to help us with our Twitter page. We have started sharing our news on the twitter board and will soon be posting our tweets on our Twitter page on the computer!
Having lots of fun with technology! Definitely something to tweet about!
This is a picture of me with Mobey from the BrainPop booth at the ISTE conference! I had a great time at the ISTE conference in Atlanta, Georgia during the summer! This conference is a huge conference for teachers using technology. This year there were over 18,000 participants! The conference registration was one of the prizes included in the Mindshare Learning Digital Learning Challenge contest that we won this year! It was an amazing conference and I tried to take in as much as I could! I am hoping to add some of the concepts I was introduced to in our classroom this year!
I got to see some of the latest technology!
This guy was really cool!
This is Fintastic from Discovery Education trying to take a bite!
I managed to visit the aquarium in Atlanta during some break time and met some amazing animals!
Can you see the cute little penguins in the background? I think these are the penguins we watched on the webcam in our classroom!
I even got a chance to pet a stingray!
I got a chance to share all of the great work that our classroom has been doing with augmented reality and creative writing at the conference!
I presented a short talk about the stories we have been writing using the augmented reality apps using pictures of the work we had done!
Everyone seemed to really enjoy what they saw!
This is a view of part of the room where I shared our project just before the people came!
It was the first time I had ever spoken to such a large group.
Pretty scary, but fun too!
There was a reception at the Canadian embassy in Atlanta. This is where we received our awards! That was definitely too much fun!
Everyone was so nice!
Wouldn’t you like to play with this guy? Too much fun!!
Mrs. Anton's Class! 