Moon Stop Motion

Check out the Moon Stop Motion videos third graders created!  They used the app iMotion HD.

 View them all here:

Moon Stop Motion — Weikle

Moon Stop Motion — Ryder

Moon Stop Motion — Moretz

Mr. Ryder’s class also created Pic Collages to show the phases of the moon.

Cross Posted on the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

Lego iMovie Trailers

Students in Mrs. Sharp’s and Mrs. Downey’s Math and Writing classes used Legos to practice skills! First, they created lego houses based on a STEM activity created by Mrs. Downey. They found the area and perimeter of each of the rooms in their houses, and made sure to include at least one simple machine and working light.

Lego Houses:

Then, in writing class, they created Lego video trailers using the iMovie app.  I created templates for them to use here:

iMovie Trailer Script Plans

But there are many iMovie Trailer templates out there! Here’s a few more I’m considering using next time:

iMovie for iPad – Storyboard Help Sheets

iMovie for iPad Printable Storyboard Templates

Here’s what the students created.  They only had one class period to write and film their trailers!

Lego Trailers:

The Journey from elemitrt on Vimeo.

The Cabin from elemitrt on Vimeo.

Super Family from elemitrt on Vimeo.

Summer’s Here from elemitrt on Vimeo.

Creepy Connie from elemitrt on Vimeo.

Check Out their Final Lego Movie Blog Posts here!

Solar System Virtual Posters

Students in Mrs. Graves Fourth Grade Science class choose one of two apps, Pic Collage and Popplet, to create virtual posters about the Solar System.  Take a look at a few examples below!

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

 

Mouse Traps

Third Graders in Mrs. Weikle’s class created Mouse Traps during a STEM project that targeted Simple Machines and 3D shapes.

Mrs. Weikle showed a Rube Goldberg inspired video before the students started their project.

Then students broke up in groups and created their mouse traps. The traps had to contain at least one simple machine (screw, pulley, lever, wedge, inclined plane, wheel and axel). Students were prepared to explain how their mouse trap worked, and what the simple machine did to help it. They also needed to identify the 3D shapes they used when building. Most of the groups even had time to create a Pic Collage labeling the parts of their machines.

Take a look at their creations below!

Cross Posted in the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

Niche Bots

Students in Mrs. Mulvaney’s Science class created creatures using circuits and their knowledge of living systems.  They created new creatures based on a habitat and an animal type card they drew at the beginning of the activity.  The animal had to move, had to have a complete circuit, and had to have adaptations for the food it ate and the habitat it lived in.   Take a look at their creatures in action.

As a culmination to the project, students created Trading Cards (using an iPad app) about their animals.

Cross posted on the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

Bringing Famous Virginians and Documents to Life

Mrs. Mulvaney’s VA Studies class created virtual reality posters to convey key information about Famous Virgnians and Famous Documents.  They used a lot of technology to create these posters.  They used Pic Collage on the iPads to create the actual poster and green screen technology to place themselves in a historical setting.  The entire project is pulled together using an app called Aurasma.  If you download the app, follow the Oak Grove Channel, and scan the posters, they will come to life with the students’ videos.  Here are directions on how to load the app.

Aurasma Directions for Oak Grove

And just in case you can’t make it to Oak Grove to scan the posters in person, here are their videos below:

Cross posted on the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

Kicking Machines with Augmented Reality

As students in Mrs. Grave’s Science class studied force and motion, they created Kicking Machines to move a ping pong ball into a cup 12 inches away. They started with the idea from the Design Squad but added a technology twist.  Once students created their machines, they used an app called VideoPix to film their Kicking Machine in action.  This app allowed students to slow down their videos. Then, they were able to capture images from the video showing the machine and ball in action.  Using these pictures, they created a Pic Collage showing potential and kinetic energy.

Finally, using an Aurasma app, the slow motion videos were imposed on the Pic Collage.  Now, when someone scans the Pic Collage with the Aurasma app, a video will pop up and play.  It’s hard to explain without seeing the posters in action, but here are a few examples.  If you follow the Clearbrook channel on the Aurasma app, you can scan and see their videos.

They students absolutely loved this project and were amazed at the final product.  And by the time the project concluded, students were very clear on Potential and Kinetic energy.  If you’d like to try to scan the posters and see the videos, the directions are below:

aurasma

NASA Spacecraft Lands at Oak Grove

It’s easy to make it look like a spacecraft has landed near you!

NASA Spacecrafts visited Oak Grove in Mrs. Becker’s 5th Grade Science class last week.  Okay, so they didn’t actually visit for real, but virtually they did, thanks to the augmented reality iPad app called Spacecraft 3D.  This app allowed students to view 3D digital replicas of the spacecraft and explore them in the classroom environment.

Students blogged about their experience with this activity.  Check out their posts on their blogs.

Cross posted on the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

Great Ready-to-Go K-5 iPad Units on iTunes U!

Have you checked out the courses lately in iTunes University?  The teachers at Boyne City Schools have been busy.  They have created a wide variety of iTunes U Courses on subjects that are suitable for elementary schools.  If you haven’t taken a look, make sure you do!  These courses contain activities using video, audio, ibooks, and apps.  They also include project based activities.  You do need an iPad or iPod Touch to really use these courses.  Here are a few of my favorite:

And I love their course for teachers and principals on Flipping Professional Development!

Take a look at the news article about students using these courses in class.  But don’t worry, you don’t need your students to have their very own iPads (thought it would be SO nice if they did).  These lessons would still work great with the carts we have.

Boyne City is in Michigan, so they are using Common Core Standards.  That means that some of these units might work for other grade levels in Virginia than indicated.

If you are a teacher at one of my schools and would like to use any part of these courses with your students, let me know.  I’ll make sure the course is loaded on the iPads at your school!