Mrs. Anton's Class!

March 12, 2014 · 10:03 pm

The Day the Dinosaurs Came to School!

We have had way too much fun with our dinosaur pictures!

I thought I would show you what else we did with the pictures!

I printed off the pictures of each child with their dinosaur on my color printer at home. Then I made up a writing sheet with the title The Day the Dinosaurs Came to School!

We looked at all the pictures together and brainstormed about the pictures and possible things that could happen if a dinosaur came to school! And we had the pictures as proof! What fun! Then the children started writing their stories! We have some amazing stories!

I also placed the trigger for the aura we made on Aurasma on the writing page as well as a special bonus! The aura is linked to the iMovie trailer we made with the pictures.

I sent the aura link home to everyone in an email already but now the picture trigger is embedded in the creative writing that the children did as well! You need the picture to trigger the Aura!

After the children finished working on their stories, we used the iPads to trigger the auras.

They all came running to see the first one!

I have put the finished products out in the hallway for everyone to see. The pictures alone are really cool and getting a lot of attention! (So glad I found this app!) The stories are amazing and fun to read.

Adding the aura with the iMovie trailer we made with the dinosaur pictures adds a fun extra! Sometimes, we have people who stop to look at the pictures and read the stories. Then if I can, I have them use my iPad and have them try our “secret code” trigger picture as well. They are always surprised to see a picture start an iMovie trailer!

Way too much fun!

Still working on another project with the dinosaur pictures on the iPads….

Takes a bit longer and still trying to figure out the best way to share them…..

Stay tuned!

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Filed under Aurasma, Dinosaurs, iMovies, iPads, Walking with Dinosaurs

Tagged as Augmented Reality, aurasma, Creative Writing, iMovie trailer, Walking with Dinosaurs

March 9, 2014 · 9:10 pm

Space Fun! AR Style!

We had some fun with this new app this week! It is called AR Flashcards Space. These cards are from the same company that made the Alphabet AR Flashcards. They are very cool! You need to print off the cards in color and then hold the device over the picture and the augmented reality image appears!

We have started a new theme about Space. So these cards are a fun place to start!

We also watched some of the videos Chris Hadfield made while he was at the Space Station! They are awesome! Ever wonder how astronauts sleep in space? Take a look!

My favorite is this one because I love chocolate cake!

We have been working with the Doodle Buddy app to work on some math concepts and story writing activities.

The children have been creating 100 stamp collections using the stamps. They had to choose 10 different stamps and create 10 sets of 10!

We also used the app to create one of the pages for our snowman books.

I finally broke down and bought the extra pages for the CoLAR app. Very glad I did!

This little guy is really cute! The children have to color him front and back and add his face details! It is amazing to see him pop up looking just like the drawing the children have just done!

We had a lot going on this week! We also had our first Skype call to the classroom! Will tell you more about that soon! Lots of fun!

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Filed under 100 Day, AR Flashcards Space, Augmented Reality, Chris Hadfield, Doodle Buddy, iPads, Snowman Project, Space

Tagged as AR Space Flashcards, Augmented Reality, Chris Hadfield, doodle buddy, ipads, Snowman Project

March 2, 2014 · 3:28 pm

Dinosaur Fun with iMovie and Augmented Reality Apps!

A little while ago we made a iMovie Trailer with our pictures that we took using the app Walking with Dinosaurs!

I am hoping my attempts to share it with you using the Aurasma app are working! The movie trailer files are too big to send via email so this is my attempt at a go around! Hopefully you have found the link to this aura in the email I sent home! You should also have the trigger picture of the dinosaur at home as well!

Follow the directions in the email to access the aura! Remember that you must open the aura within your email.

We had great fun slotting the pictures we took with the dinosaurs into an iMovie trailer slots and then figuring out what the words should say to go with the pictures!

I have to admit that we are having entirely too much fun with these three apps!

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Filed under Augmented Reality, Aurasma, Dinosaurs, iMovies, Walking with Dinosaurs

Tagged as Augmented Reality, aurasma, ipads, Walking with Dinosaurs

February 25, 2014 · 9:06 pm

100!! Too Much Fun!

On Friday, we celebrated 100 days of school! We did a lot of different things! For fun, I downloaded an app called Aging Booth that ages your picture. We had a lot of fun taking pictures and then aging the picture 100 years! I managed to print them off and the children worked with their buddies on Friday to complete an “If I were 100” page. They are great!

We had a lot of giggles seeing how we would look in 100 years! My picture was very scary!

Working together we read 106 stories! The children worked as partners to read stories to each other and then recorded the title of the story and their names on a post-it. Lots of reading!

We made fruit loop necklaces by counting 10 Fruitloops into 10 plates and then threading them on a string! We also made a trail mix with 100 things. We checked our counting!

Both snacks made it home, I hope!

We had two lovely 100 day cakes! Thank you so much to the two moms who volunteered to make them! The cakes were both gobbled up. We shared the cakes with our Big Buddy class as well. I posted pictures of the cakes on our class Twitter page!

We have also been having fun in science.

We did an experiment we call Hole in the Hand. The brain is tricked into thinking that you have a hole in your hand. We also had fun with playing tricks on the eyes with the Eric Carle book, Hello Red Fox. In the book, a little frog invites different animals to his birthday party. When he invites each animal the mother fox questions his perception of the color of the animal. He tells his Mom that she has not looked at his friend hard enough. The children look at the picture of the green fox with a small black dot in the center of the image and then after counting to 10 move their eyes to the next page and a red fox appears on the blank page! You can check out Eric Carle’s website to have him explain the exact way it works.

Hopefully, the children shared this experiment with you at home!

This post is mostly about 100 day but it is also the 100th post of this blog! Very special for me! I have learned a lot about technology and hopefully you have enjoyed seeing little snapshots of what happens in your child’s life at school.

When I started this blog, with the coaxing of my friend, Shelley, I had no idea how much I would learn and how much fun it would be! The purpose of the blog was to share our journey using the iPads during our initial project. It has evolved along the way and become a way to share what the children are doing and the different new things we are learning – including technology. The children often ask me to put their work up on the blog and it is lots of fun to see their faces in the morning when they see their hard work is there for everyone to see!

I have learned about a lot of new things along the way! Way too much fun!

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Filed under 100 Day, iPads

Tagged as 100 Day, aging booth, ipads

February 9, 2014 · 8:58 pm

Fun with AR and Gingerbread!

We have been continuing to experiment with Augmented Reality using the Aurasma app. I have been playing with this app and it’s a lot of fun!

I wanted to find a way to share a movie trailer that we made using the iMovie app about our Gingerbread house building activity we did with our buddy class in December.

Using the Aurasma app I was able to link a picture of a gingerbread house to the movie trailer. By opening the Aurasma app and then opening the link that I sent via email I have been able to share the movie trailer. We have been using the iPads at school to share this with our class and our buddy class as well.

It seems like magic!

We have also been having more fun with the CoLAR app.

I showed the children some more “magic” colouring pages! In this one the bird appears and starts walking about and eating worms.!

This is the picture of it on the big screen using the iPad and the projector so everyone can see!

This one is a merry-go-round with horses to celebrate the Year of the Horse. The merry-go-round has sound effects too!

We also discovered that if you touch the rockets on the Fireworks picture for the Happy New Year picture that they shoot off and fireworks appears! Too much fun!

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Filed under Augmented Reality, Aurasma, iMovies

Tagged as Augmented Reality, CoLAR, iMovie trailer

January 22, 2014 · 9:39 pm

More AR Fun! Twitter Too!

I couldn’t resist passing out the new CoLAR augmented reality coloring pages!

I know this is a Christmas tree but isn’t it awesome!

This is the one for Happy New Year! I wish you could see and hear the children’s responses when we hold the iPads over their coloring pages!

You can see the coloring page in the back of this picture. When you open the CoLAR app and hold it over the picture the rockets and numerals pop out at you! It is magic! Entirely too much fun!

This is our hallway “twitter board”. Each week we will be posting our classroom news!

We also have a real Twitter account that I created last year. All the blog posts are tweeted out on this page and we have started to tweet about events in our class! You can follow us on Twitter but as it is a protected account you need to put in a request to follow us.

Too much fun!

We got mail! This is just some of it!

I had forgotten how much fun it is to get mail! The old-fashioned kind! This is some of the mail we got from our Christmas card project! The children loved hearing about all the different schools and classrooms! I am trying to figure out a way to show you our mail and show where it all came from!

Lots to learn!

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Filed under Augmented Reality, Twitter

Tagged as Augmented Reality, Christmas Card Project, CoLAR, twitter

January 12, 2014 · 8:24 pm

Magnetic Math Fun!

We have been having a lot of fun with subtraction this week. First we learned about subtraction by pretending to have a donut store. The donuts were fruit loops. To understand subtraction really well it helps to really subtract something!

We would decide how many donuts could be on our plates and then subtract (eat) some and see how many were left! I think they got it!

The next day we worked with magnets and paper clips to make subtraction stories! The children each had ten paper clips. They decided how many they wanted to put in the plate. Then they waved their magnet over the plate like a magic wand to see how many they could pick up! Then they recorded their story! Lots of fun!

Please excuse the blurriness of this picture! Definitely an action shot!

Of course we had to experiment with the magnets! This is a picture of them moving the paper clips like magic by using the magnet inside their desks to move the magnets on top of their desks! Another action shot as the paper clips are blurry because they were moving when I took the picture! Cool trick!

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Tagged as math stories

January 11, 2014 · 8:09 pm

Sharing the Sunshine Fun!

A couple of mornings ago a Tweet showed up on my iPad with the amazing note that this classroom blog had been nominated for a Sunshine award! Talk about a lovely way to start off the new year! Jill Clayton nominated mrsantonsclass as one of the blogs on her list of blogs that she wanted to recognize and to “share a little sunshine my way!” I am tickled pink that this blog is on her list! Thank you so much! Her blog The Bird’s Nest is an awesome site!

The object of this award is to recognize other bloggers as well as sharing a bit about yourself! I love the recognizing other bloggers part but have to admit that sharing a bit about myself is not my strong suit! Luckily, there are rules!

While the purpose of this blog is to communicate with my parents and showcase the work of my students I hope you will bear with this diversion from the norm for this occasion! When I told my students about this treat they were very excited and happy to provide the artwork!

Here are the rules:

Acknowledge the nominating blogger. Share 11 random facts about yourself. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you. List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition! Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you.)

Here are the 11 random facts about myself!

1. I love iPads and anything to do with iPads! I love finding out about the different apps and how to use them and get kids to create with them.

2. I love anything to do with Paris! If i won the lottery I would be on the next plane back there!

3. I am addicted to Chai Tea Lattes.

4. I love to read! I read a lot!

5. I wish I was smarter!

6. I love yarn. I have a lot of it! I love to knit… Unfortunately I have started a lot of projects and need to finish at least one of them! My husband is hoping that his sweater will be finished some time this decade! In my defense, I did finish a pair of socks for him.

7. I love horseback riding! I have always loved horses and finally got my chance to ride as an adult.

8. I have a lot of cookbooks. I love looking at the pictures and reading them. I think my husband and family wish I would try making some of the recipes too!

9. I spend a lot of time reading other people’s blogs and far too much time on Pinterest! And I love blogging! I have several blogs and it is fun to figure out how things work on the different platforms!

10. I have a great family that really supports me!

11. I believe that it is okay to have too much fun!

Here are my answers to Jill’s questions!

1. If you had an entire day to spend by yourself what would you do? I think I would go and spend it at the barn! There are always lots of things to do at a barn! With a Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks!

2. My favourite animal is a horse! I started horseback riding at the ripe old age of 35! Not an easy thing to do! I love it! I have owned several horses and am currently leasing a wonderful little quarter horse named Parker! I love horses and horseback riding because they require total focus and concentration

3. What worries you about your job? I wish I could absorb more things! I love iPads and technology and I always wish I could figure things out quicker or more easily!

4. If you were a photographer, what images would you capture? I love people pictures!

5. What is your favourite children’s book? Why? No fair! How can you pick just one! I love the Stella stories especially Stella Queen of the Snow! I love the language and the pictures! Love Green Eggs and Ham! Love Sadie and the Snowman! Love Winnie the Pooh! I could go on and on!

6. What is hanging on your living room (any room) wall that you cherish the most? I have some quilts that I made that I am quite fond of…

7. Describe your most memorable road trip or vacation. A couple of years ago I went to Paris with my husband. Then we went on to a place in Portugal where I got to take horseback riding lessons at a wonderful riding school in Alcainca with friends from home! We all met in Portugal and stayed at the riding school and took lessons together!

8. What is your favourite type of cheese? Cranberry and pepper Boursin! Yummy!

9. If you cooked your best meal for your family/friends what would it be? Chicken Pot pie!

10. What do you think about t.v.? I wish there were more good things to watch! My secret vice is home renovation shows…. I love anything by Masterpiece.

11. Who is a person that you would like to get to know more about? I love people so probably the next person I meet!

These are the bloggers I would like to recognize and encourage!

Barb Leyne at GradeONEderful

Sandi at Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes

Matt Gomez at MattBGomez

Kristen Wideen at Mrs. Wideen’s Blog

Kate Lechleiter at Journey with an iPad

Pana Asavavatana at Ms Pana Says

Karen Lirenman at Learning and Sharing with Ms Lirenman

Michelle Hiebert at Kinderpals

Jenna Dixon at Techi Tikes

Liz McCaw at Crazy for Kindergarten

Leka DeGroot at Growing Apples

I hope Jill won’t mind if I ask everyone to answer her questions too!

Please take a moment and visit these blogs. I guarantee you will find something useful!

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Tagged as Sunshine award

December 31, 2013 · 11:09 pm

Fun with Elves!

We had a lot of fun with elves this month! We have Sparkles, our Elf on the Shelf who teamed up with Gus, our resident ghost mischief-maker working together to leave surprises for the children almost every day! They left messages, puzzles, stickers, suggestions for stories to read, and sometimes special treats to eat! I managed to catch them in the act using a special app called Santa Spy Cam! They built a castle using the blocks in the classroom at our Christmas center and filled it with candycanes. The video above is the evidence!

We also filled out applications to become elves. I sent them home for Christmas. Hope you enjoyed them!

We also had a surprise visit from Santa Claus!

He spent a long time visiting with the children and told us a lot about elves. Apparently their favourite food is candycanes!

There were a few elves in his sack that tried to get out but he managed to keep them hidden!

Our Polar Express day was a lot of fun! Thank you to everyone for supporting this day! We made hot chocolate and had yummy cookies. We used up the leftover graham crackers from the Gingerbread house building to make some S’mores! Very yummy!