Category Archives: iPads

March 10, 2013 · 8:42 pm

Too Much Fun with the iPads!

We celebrated our iPad project on Friday. This is our celebration cake! The children seemed to really like it!

We had a great time sharing our projects during our Open House. I know the children were really proud of their projects and loved sharing them with their parents! I will begin to email some of the projects to you soon! Watch for them this week!

I will also post the Photostory about our project and send out the link so you can watch it at home.

Here are some of the snowmen the parents made! The children did a great job showing their parents how to use Doodle Buddy to draw a snowman and label it. The parents and the children did a great job, don’t you think?

In the afternoon, we found a really neat new app that we have not tried before called Sparkle Music! The children really enjoyed working with it.

We will miss the iPads! We were lucky to have them! They are too much fun!

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Filed under iPads, Photostory

Tagged as ipads, sparkle music

March 5, 2013 · 8:15 pm

Telling Stories with the iPads! Comic Book Style!

Last week I discovered a new app that we had not worked with before on the iPads. It is called Strip Designer and lets the students create their own stories in a comic book style. I wish I had found it sooner! We have been having a lot of fun with it. It has a lot of potential for storytelling.

If I had more time with the iPads I can think of some really cool projects we could do! Take a look at what we have managed to do in just a few sessions.

The children have become masters at navigating around to create their masterpieces. They jump from app to app, importing files from the camera roll, recording their voices, etc with ease. Things that I would have really hesitated about introducing don’t even faze them! They find things that they can do and teach me and their classmates as we go! Today we were playing with the Strip Designer app and they were showing me how to do things! “Oh, you just do this, Mrs. Anton!”

The children created these comics with Doodle Buddy, made screen shots of their work, and then imported them from the camera roll into the comic format. They choose a balloon style and added the text to the balloon. Then they can add the Word stamps to accentuate their work. Needless to say a very popular app! If we had more time I think I would like to create multiple page comics.

The first day with this app we used just the pictures that were on the camera roll to tell a story! That worked great too!

Last Friday we did a story map. We read the story The Mitten by Jan Brett and then the children retold the story by creating a story map. They seemed to really enjoy putting it all together. I think they especially liked licking the envelope , sealing it, and then cutting it open at the end to make the secret compartment for the animals to disappear into behind the mitten picture! Hopefully, they shared it with you.

We also worked on Kid Blog during our computer time. We have been running into some glitches adding the pictures so it hasn’t worked as smoothly as I had hoped. Today we managed to get some posts up with pictures! We had some really great help from three of our Big Buddies. Thank you, Courtlynd, Emily, and Karli! We couldn’t have got in done in half an hour without you! You can find the new posts on the Kid Blog page at the top of this page. Please remember that the blogs are password protected. Your child knows their secret password! If you don’t see a new post for today, we probably had some problem with the picture. I am working on it! The children can also post from home if you like! Or you can add a comment! Please take a minute to review the procedure on the Kid Blog page. The posts are previewed by me before they go “live” ! The website sends me an email whenever there is a post or comment that needed to be previewed. I have to go into each one to approve them so it is a bit time consuming…. Thank you for your patience!

I have also added some new links on the WIKI page. There are some more links for Dolch word practise. Take a look! The ever popular Word Bingo is there! The Popcorn words are fun, too!

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Filed under Blogging, Doodle Buddy, iPads, The Mitten

Tagged as comic strip designer, Doodle Buddy projects, Kid Blog, story maps, the mitten

February 27, 2013 · 10:21 pm

Fearless Techies! Too Much Fun!

The one thing I have noticed is that children are fearless when it come to technology! They jump right in and try anything!

Today we made movie trailers! We teamed up with our big buddies and worked on movie trailers using the IMovie app. This app is awesome! It has a variety of templates that the students can use to create a wide variety of quick movie trailers.

Our buddy class have been making them in their class and when Mrs. Marshall showed them to me I was hooked!

We got together in small groups today and the students made movie trailers about friendship!

Then Mrs. Marshall and I made movie trailers about our students making movie trailers! It was TOO MUCH FUN! Now I have to figure out a way to share them with you!

These images are only screen shots from the trailer! They really don’t show you how cool they are! They have great music too!

The trailer templates let them put in photos and videos! The finished product really does look like a real movie trailer! We will try to share some of the trailers at our open house we are having next week to showcase all our projects! I will definitely have to find a way to share them with you!

The app is just under five dollars. I have downloaded it to my iPad already! I think it would be awesome to use this app at home and use it to keep track of special family times! I wish we had found out about it sooner! They are definitely something we want to do again!

We only have two weeks left with the iPads! Boy, I wish we could keep them!

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Filed under Buddies, iMovies, iPads

Tagged as buddies, iMovie trailer, ipads

February 17, 2013 · 10:34 pm

Too Much Number Fun!

We have been working with place value concepts in anticipation of our 100th Day of school!

The children had a great time being the giant hand on the projector creating numbers using the base ten materials.

The children have also been learning how to create sets of ten using a variety of materials as well as creating sets of 100 on the iPads. Last week I found a really cool app for place value called Base Ten Fun! You can find the game on the the ABCYa! Site as well! It is fun to assign math practise and have the children cheer!

We have been working hard on our Snowmen projects as well. The children have been creating books about their snowmen using the My Story app. I LOVE this app. The children have become very proficient at it. We can import files left, right, and center! We are looking forward to sharing these projects with you at an Open House day soon!

We have been creating stories about the snowmen. Here is a sample of what a snowman likes to eat!

Here are some more snowmen diagrams created with Doodle Buddy!

I never get tired of seeing the wonderful illustrations that children are willing to create for me on the iPads!

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Filed under Doodle Buddy, iPads, Math, My Story, Winter

Tagged as base ten fun, place value

February 3, 2013 · 6:19 pm

Here come the Snowmen! And the Penguins!

The snowman project is my favourite project of the year! The snowmen are absolutely fantastic! Thank you for supporting this project with such enthusiasm!

They are all so different and it looks like you had some fun making them! These are just a few of them. I hope to create a gallery online of all of them!

We are using the snowmen as a jumping off point for some writing we will be doing. We are compiling some pages together to make each snowman’s story!

We will be using My Story and Doodle Buddy to create the pages for the books!

We have already made the diagram page using Doodle Buddy! I love the detail and the colours! The children just love drawing using the iPads.

We have also been working on a small mini unit about penguins. After reading several books about penguins and watching the penguin video on Tumblebooks we working on a penguin research project.

We sorted a set of facts that I have compiled for them into four different groups. Then the children cut them out and glued them to the appropriate category page. This is the result! The children are quite proud of them!

We are starting to work on place value. We used the iPads and the app Doodle Buddy to learn about making 100 things. The children had to make ten sets of ten different stamps using the stamp tool.

They had a lot of fun and it was a great way of reinforcing the idea of ten sets of ten!

We have been learning a lot of different strategies to use to add. The most recent strategy has been using the number line. The children have learned to count on from the biggest number with counters and now they are using the number line to count on. They like that it is much quicker! I have introduced the app Math Bingo.

It is a great app that allows them to practise their number facts in a fun way. So far, we have only used the addition facts. However this app lets them practise addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. So this app could be good for big brother or sister too! You can also find it on ABCYah! You can see that they use their number line to help them figure out the answers! Eventually, they will know them by memory with enough practise!

We have also been working with some fun new counters playing Add It Up! Everyone makes a story on their workspace and then they go around and solve their friend’s stories.

Here’s another one of the snowmen! Aren’t they great!

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Filed under Doodle Buddy, iPads, My Story, Penguins, Winter

Tagged as math, Math Bingo, My Story, penguins, Snowmen, winter

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!

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Filed under Doodle Buddy, iPads, My Story, Winter

Tagged as Catching Snowflakes, My Story, Snowmen, The Monster at the End of this Book

January 8, 2013 · 8:54 pm

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!

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Filed under iPads, My Story

Tagged as My Story, writing. illustrating

January 7, 2013 · 9:24 pm

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!

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Filed under Doodle Buddy, iPads

Tagged as Dolch word lists, Doodle Cast, math, technology

December 5, 2012 · 8:22 pm

Sinterclaas and the Elf!

Today Sinterclaas left a treat for our class. I am a first generation Canadian as my parents emigrated to Canada in 1952. We brought some customs that we still celebrate today! One of my favourites is Dutch Christmas. So, today I brought my wooden shoes to school. The children learned to count to 10 in Dutch and say Merry Christmas. Sinterclaas must have noticed because when we put my wooden shoes outside our classroom door, Sinterclaas came! He brought little treats for the children along with special gingerbread cookies called speculaas, some gumdrops, and chocolate letters. Lots of fun.

The Elf and Gus built a castle out of the blocks last night and played with some of our dinosaurs! Take a look! The children brainstormed some names for the elf and the elf is going to let us know what her name will be in the morning!

We decided to take our silent reading up a notch and used the iPads and our headphones and listened to the stories on the I Like Books app again today. It is hard to tell which story is their favourite! I like this program because as it reads the story the words are also highlighted.

They look focussed, don’t they!

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Filed under Christmas, Elf on the Shelf, iPads

Tagged as Elf of the Shelf, ipads, Sinterclaas

December 4, 2012 · 10:10 pm

Elf on the Shelf and Gus!

Today when we came to school we had a new visitor! We have a little ghost named Gus who likes to write to us each day and play tricks on Mrs. Anton. He always seems to know where the stapler is even if Mrs. Anton doesn’t! Today he had a visitor to help him!

An elf on the shelf arrived from the North Pole and together they wrote the morning message backwards, went for a ride on our big life size stegosaurus, and left us a puzzle to play with today!

So, of course, we had to write about it and draw pictures! We used Doodle Buddy again for the pictures. We are making a little journal chronicling The Adventures of the Elf and Gus. I don’t have pictures of it yet but the children did some great work there too.

We also did some more spelling with word families and some Christmas words on the iPads again this morning. So easy to find the common endings and underline them or look for a little word within a big one!