Story Me

Today I introduced Story Me to the students.  This free app is a comic strip creator app.  Comic strips in the classroom? You might ask. Yes, comic strips in the classroom.  This lesson ended up being part history and part language arts.  First I had to discuss and introduce the students to comic strips! I was shocked to find out that they had no idea what a comic strip was! Really you say!! Really!!! So I showed them Peanuts and my personnel favorite, Calvin and Hobbes.  Then I explained how you read a comic strip and finally talked about cells.  Then the students took some pictures of their classmates to use in their comic strips.  I also had them brainstorm to come up with ideas for their strip.  Next the lesson moved into the language arts portion when we discussed dialogue and the correct way to write dialogue.  We talked about flow.  The students enjoyed the lesson and many of them said that they downloaded the app on their iPads at home.  Below is a comic strip that I created using images that I got off the Internet.  It is just an example of what we did. Enjoy!!

Snowman Keynote presentation...

I saved it as a Power point so everyone could see the final product.  This lesson was intended to show the students how to add shapes, lines, and, color to a keynote slide. The students really enjoyed making their snowman appear!
Snowman lesson

Ideas for before and during Christmas Break

As Christmas break looms upon us I have a few suggestions for quick lessons to do with your students.

1. QR generators - I have found that the easiest way to ensure your students are going to the correct website is the create a QR code and have them scan it.  This works especially well with younger students or students who have difficulty typing.  I did a "webquest" using FactMonster.com recently.  These are easy to create.  My topic was Winter Holidays.  First I went to Fact Monster and looked up facts about winter holidays.  Then I wrote questions to go along with the facts.  I had the students scan my FactMonster QR code and then search for the answers to the questions.
2. Anytime is a good time for some Toontastic!!! And with all the new updates this app never gets old. If you do not have Toontastic on your classroom ipad you need to get it now.  The entire tool box is a steal at $9.99.  With this purchase you get all characters past, present and future! Best 10 bucks you will ever spend. Around the holidays you can assign a historical Toontastic or make them work in pairs or small groups to create cartoons. It is important to explain what you want the end product to resemble..length, number of characters, amount of dialog.  
3. Yesterday my students and I created animated Snowmen using Keynote. I started by adding one slide with a simple circle on it.  Then I copied the slide and added another circle, as so on until I had created a snowman.  I then added a Christmas tree. The students loved it and  enjoyed making their own snowmen.  It was a great way to show the students some of the features of keynote and then have them practice using them.  
4.  Free Tech 4 Teachers  - this site has so many great resources I don't know where to start. Check it out!

Stopping the Summer Slump..

         
Summer is almost here and while everyone enjoys some down time it is important to not shut down all the way.  Our students need to continue to exercise their brains as well as their bodies.  The below link has some great ideas on how we can help our kids to stay mentally active this summer.

Technology Activities for Summer Vacation


As teachers we too need to stay mentally active this summer.  I know that I will be looking for new ways to engage my students in the Technology Lab as well as in the gym.  A great way to find new apps is to check out AppsGoneFree everyday.  This app lists paid apps that are being offered free of charge for a limited time.  I have found tons of educational and organizational apps using this site.

AppsGoneFree




I also suggest reading AppAdvice...These are the smarty pants behind AppsGoneFree.  You can subscribe to the daily feed. Check it out, they have great info about new apps.  

Here is a great article from Oklahoma about stopping the summer slump..Stop the Summer slump
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 And finally here is a link to an educational blog that has a great article on..Reducing the Summer slump

I hope you find these links helpful in stopping the slump! Have a great Summer and remember don't shut off all the way!

Happy Apping,
Ms. Adderley

Testing Week....

Yup...it is testing week.... Need I say more...  :)

Italian Vacation

Here is one of my Animoto Videos...enjoy

Italian Vacation

My new obsession...Animoto

I have rediscovered a movie making program that is now available as an app..Animoto. It is an iPhone app, but works beautifully on the iPad as well. With a couple pushes of a button you can create professional looking movies/slide shows with your own images and music! The free version allows you to us 12 images to create a 30 sec. video. For a mere $4.99 you can create videos with up to 300 images and save them onto your iPad or home computer. Theses videos can also be shared on Facebook. Try it out! I know you will be amazed at your results. I know I am.