Archives: iPod Touch

Plickers

Do you have a cell phone or iPad?  Do your students have limited access to online devices?  Then Plickers might be for you!  Plickers is a simple tool that lets teachers collect real-time formative assessment data without the need for student devices.

Setting Up Plickers is Easy!

Plickers Icon - Blue
Step 1: Teacher downloads the Plickers mobile app.  It is free for both iOSand Android – find them on the App Store and on Google Play. It will work on iPads too (just make sure to search for iPhone app)!

Sample Card Image
Step 2: Print Plickers cards.

Step 3: Set up Classes on Plickers Website.

Step 4: Add Questions on the Plickers Website.

Step 5: On the mobile app, choose the question you want to use.

Step 6: Have students hold up cards with the correct answer facing right-side up.  Scan the room with your phone/iPad.

Step 7: Use LiveView Tab on the Website to display results to students.

Step 8: Use Scoresheet under Reports on the Website to monitor student progress, save time on grading, and run detailed reports.

Check out this Slide Show for Help getting started or watch the video below:

How will you use Plickers in your classroom?  I can’t wait to hear about it!

 

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iPad Apptivities for All Learners

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

iPad Apptivities for All Learners

App Lists

 

 

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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!

 

 

 

 

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Safe QR Code for YouTube Videos

Want to have a video center using iPads and iPods and Youtube videos?  Want to make sure there’s no ads or other videos included?  Then use SaveShare.TV.

AND…you can even use this site in conjunction with QR Code Generator to create QR Codes that link to these safe videos.  Here’s how:

1) Find the video you want to use on YouTube.

2) Copy the link into SafeShare.TV Site.

3) Copy the link you get from SafeShare to a QR Code Generator.  Make sure you choose “website url” for this, not Youtube Video.

4) Download the QR code for that video to use.  We use QR Code Readers such as i-nigma and Scan on the iPads and iPod Touches to scan the QR codes and watch these videos.

Try it out with the QR Code below:

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4th Grade Jamestown Geocaching

A few weeks ago, a teacher came to me wanting to do a Jamestown Geocaching Activity with her students.  I had been doing a lot of work on iPads, and had enjoyed some of the quick, 1 minutes video podcasts by History is Fun.org.  I decided to incorporate both the iPads and Geocaching into one activity.  Here’s the activity I created:

1.  Download Podcasts videos to at least 6 iPod Touches/iPads from iTunes.  You can find them here: Historyisfun.org Podcasts.  You’ll need the following videos:

  • The Voyage
  • John Smith
  • Powhatan/Pocahontas
  • Hardships
  • Representative Government
  • Women
  • Slavery (I used this one as a practice example)

2.  Hide 6 Caches with the following labels on each cache: Jamestown Cache Labels.  Mark the locations of the caches with the GPS Units.

3.  Students were broken up into groups, and given a clipboard, a Jamestown Geocaching Answer Sheet, an Order Strip for 6 Caches, and an iPad with the videos (but iPod Touch would work too), a pencil, and a GPS Unit.

4.  Students worked in groups to find and answer the questions using the videos.  I suggest the following jobs for members the group:

  • Navigator (Works GPS Unit)
  • Scribe (Writes the group’s answer)
  • Governor (Keeps folks on track, carries the number strips, reads the cache questions)
  • Historian (Carries the iPad/iPod Touch and plays the appropriate video)
  • Scout (Double checks to make sure the group is at the right cache number, Re-hides the Cache in the exact location, )
  • Judge (Checks the group’s answers with the QR Codes)

5.  When students were finished, they used the app, Scan, and the following Jamestown Geocaching QR Codes to check their work.  A traditional Answer Key is located here if you do not have time for this part of the activity.  Students re-watch the videos for the questions they’ve missed.

So far I’ve had two classes complete this activity, and they loved it!  I liked using the iPads because they were big enough for the entire group to see.  I found it really important to discuss reading the questions BEFORE watching the videos…and practicing with the Slavery video was very helpful.

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Image:  Kolk, Melinda. compassrose.jpg. 1-Apr. Pics4Learning. 9 Nov 2012 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>

 

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Spelling City on the iPods and iPads

I know many of the teachers in my schools use Spelling City in their classrooms. I see the students come to the computer lab on Fridays to take their tests.  I was so excited, though, to see that the site now has an iPad/iPod Touch app!  Now students can practice in their classrooms or on their own handheld devices.  It does allow you to take the Spelling Test, but it does not allow  you to print results.   You could have students bring you their device when they are done, though, and record their score right off their screen.   If you have the premium membership, student grades area already recorded for you in a grade book  like format.

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QR Craze

You’ve seen them, right?  On the corners of mailings, on the windows of businesses, maybe even on the tags of things you buy.  You may have even used them…used your phone to scan one and get coupons or reviews for a business or more info on a product.  But did you know they are being used like crazy in classrooms?

Here’s one of my favorite videos about the use of QR codes in the classroom.

And here’s one based more for elementary school:

So basically to use QR codes, you need the following things:

  • QR Code Generator (usually a website that will easily make the code for you)
  • A device with a camera to read it(iPod touch, iPad, cell phone, or computer with webcam)
  • QR Code Reader (which you download to the device with a camera

Want to create a QR code?  It’s easy…your students can even do this!

Here’s a few QR Code generators:

Here a few QR Code Readers:

And here are some cool links to use them:

And here are some ideas for using QR Codes in the classroom:

 

 

 

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iPad and iPod Touch Handouts

Some of our special education teachers will be receiving iPads or iPod Touches over the next few weeks set up by Devlopease, a company from Radford, VA who specializes in writing apps for special needs children, setting up devices, and training people on using them.  If you are one of the teachers receiving a device, here are some handouts that might help you navigate some of the ins and outs of using your device with Roanoke County Schools’ network and computers.

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StoryRobe Digital Stories by Third Graders

Storyrobe AppThird Graders went on a trip to Apple Ridge farms this month.  Despite camera difficulties, they were able to get enough photos to use for digital stories!  The day after the field trips, we loaded the pictures into the iPod Touches, grabbed some microphones, and had students quickly create a “What we learned videos” using the StoryRobe App. Here are all their stories, together in one video.  Check it out:

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