Butterfly Life Cycle Books

Students in Mrs. Wiggington and Mrs. Allen’s classes created Butterfly Life Cycle Digital Books after they hatched classroom butterflies.  They used the app Book Creator.  This app allowed them to add text, pictures, and audio to their books.  They really did a very nice job! You can listen to them read their stories here:

Mrs. Allen’s Class

Mrs. Wiggington’s Class

There are two versions of each book: epub and pdf.  The epub can be downloaded and read in iBooks (on an iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch) or any other ebook reader.  The pdf can be downloaded on a computer and printed.  Check them out below!

Mrs. Allen’s Class

Mrs. Wiggington’s Class

Cross posted on the Oak Grove Digital Library.

Mrs. Bier’s Class Writes Science iBooks

Students in Mrs. Bier’s writing class researched and wrote interactive Science books on various topics like electricity, rocks and minerals, and magnets! Along the way, the took videos and pictures and even completed science experiments.

There are two versions of each book: epub and pdf. The epub contains videos and audio and can be downloaded in iBooks (on an iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch) or any other ebook reader. The pdf can be downloaded on a computer and printed but does not have interactive features. Check them out by clicking on the links below!

View all the Science eBooks here

 

ABC Digital Books

Students in Mrs. Clapper’s class used the Pic Collage app on the iPads to create an ABC book.  They were each assigned a letter (a few did two), and then they took pictures of things in the classroom that started with that letter.  They were so cute!  Here’s a few examples.

I can’t post them all because most had students names and pictures on them.  If you want to see all the letters, though, check with Mrs. Clapper or I.  We’d love to show you!

 

Second Grade Rule Posters

It’s a new school year, and 2nd graders at Clearbrook have been discussing the rules for 2nd grade, their school, and their community.  They used Pic Collage to make rule posters!

This was a great project for introducing how to use Pic Collage, for practicing working in groups, and for learning to transfer work using the dropbox app.  I’m looking forward to see what other things they create with this app in the coming months!

iPad Apptivities for All Learners

Here’s the handout from the Salem City Schools SPED Presentation:

iPad Apptivities for All Learners

App Lists

 

 

First Grade Needs and Wants

Students in Mrs. Atkin’s and Mrs. Glowenski’s classes created Needs and Wants Posters using Pic Collage on the iPads.  They used the camera feature to take pictures of items around their classroom.  Many students found creative ways to represent concepts, especially wants.  I love that most any age can use Pic Collage.  It is definitely one of my favorite apps. Check out a few examples of the First Graders’ work below:

App Spotlight: PicCollage

I absolutely LOVE  Pic-Collage because it can be used in any subject or grade level. Think virtual poster.  It’s safe (you can turn off the ability to pull pictures from the web in settings), and it’s FREE.  It’s pretty intuitive if you play around with it, but just in case, here’s a tutorial on how to use it:

Pic Collage for IPad and IPhone Tutorial from Roben-Marie Smith on Vimeo.

Check out the following posts for examples of how it has been used so far in classrooms:

Figurative Language with Second Grade

Pic Collage in 4th Grade

I would LOVE to help you and your students learn how to use this app!!  It’s so fun and easy, and the kids love it!

 

Figurative Language with Second Grade

For the past few days, I’ve had the chance to work with a reading group in Mrs. Allen’s Class.  This group of students had read the book, Punished by David Lubar.  I had never read this book, but the kids LOVED it and were so excited to tell me about it.  The main character of the story is “punished” when talking back to the reference guy in the library and has to find different types of figurative language to lift the magical punishment.  The book covers types of figurative language (oxymorons, palindromes, anagrams, and puns).  Mrs. Allen wanted her students to practice creating (or finding) these types of words.

After brainstorming with the group of students, we decided that they would make a virtual poster (using iPads) containing an example of each word.  Students used the iPads to research and take (or find) pictures of the different word types.  As they went along, they kept a list of the examples they found so they would be ready to create their poster.

On day two, students used one of my favorite apps, PicCollage, to create their figurative language posters.  They were given this sheet to help them.  Below are the posters they created.

 

They did such a great job.  I had a blast watching their excitement over the project. Way to go Mrs. Allen’s Class!

Getting Pictures from School iPads to Your Computer

Did you know you can transfer content from the school iPads right to your computer (with no plugs)?  Using the dropbox app, it’s easy and simple.

In order to have content transferred directly to your computer, you will first need to install dropbox on your computer.  Be careful, though.  Roanoke County Teachers will want to make sure  it is installed to sync to your desktop and NOT your My Documents folder.  If you need help with this part, I’ll be glad to install it for you. :)  Let me know you plan to do this, and I”ll send you an invite for our school’s student work folder.

When your students create a project on the iPads, have them save it, if possible, to the camera roll (or export as .jpg, or export to photos…it could be worded differently in different apps).  Then have the students open the dropbox app and upload the picture to their grade level’s folder.  Below are step by step directions. It’s very easy, and once you show the students, they will be able to do this on their own!

Check out How to Use Dropbox on School iPads by Tina Coffey on Snapguide.

 

By the way, for those of you who like such things, the guide above was made with a free app called Snapguide. It was so easy and quick!