Pic Collage

This week Mrs. Prater came to kindergarten and taught the kids how to use Pic Collage for Kids.  She used a Storybots opening video in Pic Collage for Kids to grab their attention about the number 6.  Then she talked to the students about all the ways they can make six using their fingers.  Once they were put into groups, Mrs. Prater discussed rules and procedures about using the iPads.  She then took the students step by step on how to create a collage pertaining to the number six using stickers, a ten frame, and text spelling the number word six.  The students were very engaged and you can see their final products below.  We plan to continue this lesson with the numbers 7-10 next week.

#kahootrocks

#kahootrocks


Hey there fellow iPad pilot people!  The first app that came to mind when I realized it was my week to blog was the kahoot app.  It was so much fun when we played it as a staff before school started and, now, my class is having so much fun practicing their skills, reviewing, and investigating new learning with the kahoot games!  We have played Math kahoots, Social Studies, and there was even a kahoot about rules/good choices!  I love that you can make your own or use one of the hundreds that have already been created!  The students get SO excited when we play and are so engaged and motivated, it's completely AWESOME!  I have to shut my door to make sure we are not disturbing the other classes!  They love inventing their team names each time we play as well.  If you haven't used this app in your class yet, you should give it a try.  The only problem I've come across is that the game will freeze up from time to time and we have to start over, but other than that it's been a breeze!


#Epicisepic


Another of our big app successes has been the Epic app.  It gives you instant access to hundreds of children's books!  In second grade, we have been reading fairy tales, fables, and tall tales and there have been books on Epic for each of these genres! It's easy to set up a teacher account, search the book you need, and then it gives you the age range for the book and about how long it will take for the student to read it!  Students can rate the book on a 5 star system and mark it as one of their favorites! I have used it for daily 5/literacy station activities and we have used it for group reading during our reading mini-lessons.  I am really excited for all the possibilities in using this app for teaching literacy!

#whydoihavetobeafterKoder

In all seriousness, I have loved reading everyone's post and I am glad we are all in this together. I love having the Ipads because they are very user friendly and most of the time very dependable. I love trying new types of technology in the classroom. To be honest I have lots of failures and flops on the way to success. Each experience teaches me something new, then I typically have to go back and tweak. Anyways, enough about that and onto what's cool that we are using.


We started out using 30Hands and it is a very cool app but I was frustrated with it because I  could not find a way to share the products that they made with the free version. I am now using ShowMe for students to create products. ShowMe would also be an awesome App to use for a flipped classroom.


Go to this link to check it out
http://www.showme.com/


Download ShowMe on the App store. I created one account and signed all of my Ipads into it. After kids created the presentations they can save it to our ShowMe account or they can share it to our Facebook page or Twitter page.


My other favorite App I am using is Nearpod. With Nearpod you can create a presentation and the kids will follow along with you on the Ipad. You can ask them questions during the presentation. You can take a poll, ask for a short answer, multiple choice answer or have them draw an answer. At the end of the presentation it will send you the data of how the students performed on the questions. I have done this whole group but I am loving it in Small Groups. I run the presentation on my laptop and let the kids at my small group each have an Ipad to follow along with. You can create your own Nearpods and you also can turn previous PowerPoints into Nearpod presentations and add an interactive component to your old Powerpoints. I know that is a lot of words but just trust me that this is one you definitely want to get in there and play with.


Go to this link to check it out
http://www.nearpod.com/

Okay so that's the fancy stuff here is what we are using on a daily basis
Xtramath
SumDog
ThinkThroughMath
Stemscopes
Epic

For anything that does not have an App I just add the websites to the Home screen and the kids can just click on it and go.

Please forgive me for not having any interesting pictures. I wrestled with my computer for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to add them to this and I finally gave up. Hopefully, this post will help you not be scared to try this #firsttimeblogging
Good Luck in your technology adventures! If I can ever help, don't hesitate to ask me:)

Katie

Ready, Set, PebbleGO!!!

 

One of the Websites that I enjoy using in the Computer Lab and on the iPads is PebbleGo.com.

•It is a research website

•Targeted for elementary (K-2)

•It contains 4 databases: Animals, Science, Biographies, Social Studies

•Students can independently research

•It is interactive (games, images, video, audio)

•It follows the national standards

•Teachers can integrate it in their lesson plans

•It’s awesome! Kids LOVE IT!

Here are the features that make this  a swell site that kiddos can easily navigate that help to supplement social studies and science!!!  It is a great resource for biographies too!

 

I hope this helps you to READY! SET! PEBBLEGO!!!!

 

 

#oops

Do you ever feel like you say "oops!" more than anything!? Gosh, some days I can't win for losing. I was SUPPOSE to blog last week, but a stomach bug from you-know-where hit. It first took down my four year old, then me, then the baby, and finally, the husband. Between sick kids, and sick men (who are worse than sick kids) and myself, I missed my blogging deadline! Forgive me!!!

All that to say, I'm back, I'm healthy(-ish) and I'm ready to talk iPads!!!

So, before the Sickness Armageddon hit, I introduced iPads into the classroom. One small procedural thing that I've had the kids do is to always turn them in with the plug outlet up- it makes it so much easier to charge!

Also, I took the time to put a cute, colored piece of tape on the back of each iPad, around the charging cord, AND the iPad base with my name on it. I look a wee bit possessive, but it will save me a lot of headache in the future

ALSO, we're getting more power strips, but Miss Nicklas and I saw these at TJ Maxx for $10, and they fit all 6 chargers, and are super sassy with their bendiness, Love this!

 So once I got everything labeled, and introduced the iPads, and shared class rules... I actually started using them!

One app that I highly recommend is Story Creator (Free).

It allows students to take pictures, draw on the pictures, write (either typing or pointer finger), and more. Reviewing nouns should be quick and easy for 4th graders, and it's hard to get higher level blooms activities. So, what I had the students do was take pictures around the classroom, and then write sentences, highlighting the nouns. I also took the time to review capitalization, punctuation, and a very early introduction to what makes a complete sentence. 

Techy Tip: We found out during the activity that you should take your pictures FIRST using the plain ol' Apple camera, and then add pictures to the story by using "existing photos". We were having a hard time adding pictures to 2nd+ pgs, and could only add to the first. Weird, but still, an easy work around. :) 

One of the great things: You can have a lot of different stories from different groups on the app. Students will just scroll through, and select theirs before starting to work. Very easy, very user friendly. 

Looking forward to all the learning opportunities ahead, while realizing "oops" is just a part of life & learning. :) 

-Emily Koder 

Kelley's Kids in 203

What an incredible start to a new school year!! We have been having such a wonderful time in room 203. Kelley's Bulldogs have been using Kahoot in our classroom and it has been a huge success. I love that you can go to Kahoot and find quizzes already made up for you. I will try to figure out how to create my own at some point. Instagram and our classroom Facebook page have been a big hit as well. One thing I tried with my class that needs some tweaking was musical writing. The kids started writing in their journal and then when music started they got up and walked the room. When music stopped they had to sit in another friends seat and pick up where they left off. It was interesting and look forward to trying it again with a general topic for everyone to be writing about when we start. I am looking forward to an amazing year with some wonderful kids. I will keep you posted on our successes and thing we need to work on throughout the year.

A Day of KULEANA!

I loved seeing all the posts in your closed FB groups today!  The kids were excited to be a part of today's activities because of YOU!!  Our specialists did a great job laying out fun, purposeful activities and you did a great job putting your own personal touch on them!