What's the Matter?

This week is all about matter.  Having fun and learning can go hand in hand.

1.  Steve Spangler:  Steve Spangler has been my go to for several years when it comes to science videos.  His website offers a variety of videos related to different science topics and experiments.  You can use the videos to show in class or you can get down and dirty and try some of the experiments with your students.  Either way it is a lot of fun and learning.  He has an entire section dealing with experiments related to the states of matter.  One of my favorites is the Ivory Soap Soufflé. 

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/cms-category/1/031

2.  States of Matter App: This is a free app.  According to the iTunes store students can discover the fundamental nature of matter and understand different kinds of matter. 
Based on classical learning, it explains three states of matter and tells you about the property of the state. 
You can read, listen and assess your learning on states of matter. Simulation tells you about the motion of atoms within the particular state. 
By using this App, A children can easily figure out solid, liquid and gas. Atom’s density clearly shows the difference of these 3 states. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/states-of-matter/id580760824?mt=8

3.   Go Animate: Anytime a student can explain his or her learning in a fun way it is a win-win for everyone.  Go animate is a web-based video- making program used to create short animated movies.  Students can use the software to express themselves through a fun, visual writing tool. They use their creativity to design characters, backgrounds and props and add text in speech bubbles to tell a story. This activity allows students to hone their skills for conveying ideas concisely, sequencing a story, and communicating and collaborating with others. In the free version you can add up to ten lines of dialogue.  There is also a limited amount of background choices in the Quick Video Maker.  My students used the Hamburger and Soda background to have the characters discuss the three states of matter.

http://goanimate.com/videomaker

4.  Path On:  This is an app that allows you to type text directly on your photos.  This would be a fun way for students to illustrate with words the states of matter.  They could take photos and use this app to write text on the photo.  The spiral writing option would look really good illustrating the gaseous state of matter.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/path-on/id596696015?mt=8

5.    Screen Cast Apps:  There are many screen cast apps available.  Some of my favorites are explain everything, screen chomp, and educreations.  Any screen casting app or software is a great way for students to explain what they have learned.  It is also a great tool to save to share with students that were absent or are struggling in class.  Let the students teach each other. 

http://www.explaineverything.com

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/screenchomp/id442415881?mt=8

http://www.educreations.com

Have a Great Weekend!!

Augmented Reality

Congratulations to the participants and winners in the Talladega County Technology Showcase.  The level of authentic learning with PBL and Technology that was showcased made me proud to be a teacher in Talladega County!

1.    Aurasma:  I’ve included this app in Friday Five several times before.  I continually find different uses for this free app.  We’ve focused on QR codes in the past.  With the Aurasma App you can do the same thing.  Rather than a bar code being the trigger, a picture becomes the trigger to showcase student work.  The picture below has an aurasma trigger.  Just follow the directions beneath the picture.  Keeping my fingers crossed that this will work. (Not sure it can be transferred through on the blog.)

Once you load Aurasma on your device, go to http://auras.ma/s/4pHjx.  This will allow you to scan Scan Me to see a video of showcase winners.

http://www.aurasma.com

2.  Animoto:  According to their website:  Animoto is a video creation service (online and mobile) that makes it easy and fun for anyone to create and share extraordinary videos using their own pictures, video clips, words and music.

Simply upload your pictures and video clips, choose your style, add words and music, and click the "produce video" button. Then, Animoto’s cinematic technology does its magic and in minutes brings it all to life with a beautifully orchestrated production you can share with family and friends. I used the Animoto app to create the video used in the Aura for the Aurasma app. You can apply for an educator account and get a 6 month free upgrade.  You can reapply every 6 months. http://animoto.com

3.   Imag-N-O-Tron:  My dream is that more publishers will follow the trend of this app and book combination.  The book The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a great book based on a short film.  With the addition of the Imag-N-O-Tron app the book comes alive.  Scan each picture in the book for additional videos and activities.  Several pages have you look around the room in the book as if you were in a 3D room.  It is a fascinating tool for kids to become engaged in the book. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imag-n-o-tron-fantastic-flying/id534396897?mt=8

http://www.amazon.com/Fantastic-Flying-Books-Morris-Lessmore/dp/1442457023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365706715&sr=8-1&keywords=fantastic+flying+books+of+mr.+morris+lessmore

4.    Let’s Tell Time:  Botta Design has an app that lets students practice telling time on a 24-hour clock.  Download the app to your ios device and print the PDF from the company’s website.  Students can cut out the app and put it around their wrist.  Hold the camera from the ios device over the paper watch to see the time on a 24-hour watch.  What a great interactive way to check for understanding throughout the day. http://www.botta-design.de/download/ar.pdf

https://itunes.apple.com/dk/app/botta-design/id557909997?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

5.  Just for Fun:  Need a break?  Try AR Basketball.  This Augmented Reality app is a print enabled basketball game.  Print out the game board. And you are ready to go.  When your camera sees the printed barcode, a 3D goal appears and you are ready to shoot.  There are several options for playing, including, single player and multiplayer. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arbasketball/id393333529?mt=8

Have a great weekend!

Hodge Podge

There is no theme in this edition of Elementary Friday Five.  Hopefully, in this random hodge podge of ideas you can find something you can use.

1. Today’s Meet:  This back channel microblogging website.  It is similar to twitter with the 140 character limit.  A Teacher has the responses set up on an interactive white board or large display.  Students type and share there thoughts and they can be seen by the rest of the class.  Each room has an unique code.  This code can be turned into a qr code that can be scanned and let students easily link to the class chat.  This can be used as a response during reading.  Students chat with each other during a read loud to show their thinking and predictions. http://todaysmeet.com

2. Infuse Learning:  This is s free student response site that works with any connected ios or android device.  Teachers use a private virtual classroom to push quizzes, questions, and prompts.  Questions can be multiple choice, true/ false and short answer.  Students can also respond with drawings.  You can also push links out to students so that can all go to the same webpage. http://teacher.infuselearning.com/register/index.lasso

3. Quizdini:  Quizdini is a multiple-choice game that lets you tailor your students' learning, adding in explanations and helpful hints (even with links and videos!) which allow them to work independently or in teams to master the material. Another popular option is our new matching game. Whether playing on a computer at home or in a computer lab, or on an iPad, tablet or interactive whiteboard in the classroom, this game allows students to drag and drop matching pairs, racing the clock to see how quickly they can make all their tiles disappear. http://www.quizdini.com

4. Story Dice:  Story Dice is a creative tool to prompt ideas for plot, character, and setting. This idea generator can be used effectively for both written and oral storytelling.

This app can be used with a wide variety of age groups ranging from preschoolers to teenagers.
The user interface is simple enough for ages 3+ to use without any additional instruction. This is available for ios devices, android devices, nook and kindle. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/story-dice-creative-storytelling/id525351988

5. Spy Tools for Kids:  This app provides lots of pretend ideas for creative play.  Students can disguise themselves, create a spy agency id,  fingerprint scanner, voice changer, and night vision goggles. This would a great beginning to a mystery unit or for a writing spark. This app is $2.99. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spy-tools-for-kids/id549990577?mt=8 

Next week will be all about the 6^th Annual Talladega County Technology Showcase. 

If you are taking pictures or tweeting about the showcase, please use hashtag #tcboe21 in twitter and instagram. Follow us at the same hashtag!

Have a great weekend!