Yucky, Icky, and Sticky

In my 2^nd grade class we are in the middle our animal unit. This week we have been learning about amphibians. This week’s Friday Five has some of the technology used in my unit.

1.     Teacher Resources:  Do you have a go to place or website to find information for your units?  Two of my favorites are www.readworks.org and www.discoveryeducation.com.  Read Works provides many grade level texts that can be used as nonfiction reading passages during your science and social studies time.  This week we have been using a passage called Scaly or Slimy.  It is a second grade text that we have paired with the book the Salamander Room by Anne Mazer.  Discovery Education has the Reading Rainbow video of The Salamander Room that not only reads the story but also gives extra information about Salamanders.

2.    NatureTap:  My students are researching reptiles and amphibians in an app called NatureTap. This app is produced by Green Mountain Digital.  The app is free but each new classification of animals will have a cost.  The pictures are beautiful.  When you find the animal that you want to learn about, you tap and the information appears.  Each creature has a discussion, identification and a map that shows where it can be found.  This app also has several games including memory, puzzles, and photo quiz.https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/naturetap/id468496056?mt=8

3.    AmphibiaWeb:  This is a simple app that allows you to find frogs, toads, and salamanders in your area. It uses your location to find amphibians native to your area.  It gives great information but the text might be too difficult for younger children to read independently.http://amphibiaweb.org

4.    National Geographic for Kids and the San Diego Zoo Kids.  Both of the websites are great for student research.  NG for Kids allows students to search for their animal.  Usually there are pictures, video, and other cool facts about their animal.  Some content will not work on an iPad but there is an app for that.:)  San Diego Zoo-Kids allows students to search by classification.  Research is kid friendly.  They also offer animal cams to take a peek into some animal habitats live.http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

http://kids.sandiegozoo.org

5.    Haiku Deck:  This is one of my favorite apps to teach.  It is a great first step app when it comes to research.  Students can find pictures through your favorite search engine and save them to the photos folder.  They can use research they have found from books, websites, or apps.  They easily add the pictures to the deck and write words or a sentence to describe the picture and Haiku deck does the rest.  You can save their beautiful presentations on the ipad or send it through email.  I have mine save their work through another app called Showbie.

http://www.haikudeck.com

http://www.showbie.com

Bonus Fun:  Two of my all time favorite things to do with animals is to let students create their own animal.  One of the first websites I wrote about in Friday Five was Build Your Wild Self.  It is still a favorite as a fun way to introduce a writing activity. Another fun way to do this is through the Animal Creator app.  Some other fun animal apps are National Geographic Geo Dash and Mask Jumble.http://www.buildyourwildself.com

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/animal-creator/id386452574?mt=8

http://www.piikeastreet.com/apps/mask-jumble/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geodash-wild-animal-adventure/id573679651?mt=8

Have a great Week!  

Welcome Back

I hope everyone has had a successful first three weeks of school.  It is hard to believe that we have completed three weeks already.  Maybe now the "back to school" rush will slow down and you can sit back and enjoy the little minds that walk through your door each day.

This week Friday Five will be devoted to tools that are new and totally cool!

1.   Three Ring: This is a portfolio app that helps the teacher document classroom projects and work.  It let’s you build a digital file that you can access for authentic assessment.  Students can record their work as pictures, video, or audio.  Three Ring has online access and an app.  The work can be recorded on an iPhone, ipad, or android device.  The work is automatically synced to your online account.  Many times in an elementary math class students may use manipulatives to solve a problem.  In the past, I have rushed around with a clipboard writing notes.  I spent more time writing than talking to the student.  With this I can snap a picture or record a video of the student describing their thinking as they solved the problem.  This gives the teacher more time for conversation and correction.  There is also a record of the work that can be used for parent conferences or RTI meetings.  (RTI documentation will still be necessary but this authentic record of work can be beneficial in finding ways to best meet a student’s needs.)http://threering.com

2.                      Board Cam Standard-The standard version lets you turn your ipad into a document camera and an interactive whiteboard.  Connect your ipad to a projector or TV using apple TV or ipad connector cord.  You can use this to show an experiment or demonstration.  As you are showing this you can annotate on the screen.  You can record 20- second videos in this free version.  The paid version ($4.99) has many more options.  With the pro version you can use photos from you photo library to annotate. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/board-cam-standard-live-exhibitions/id443410754?mt=8

3.  Class Messenger:  (Formerly know as What Did We Do Today?)  This is a private messaging service for teachers, parents, and students (when appropriate).  The website describes it as:  It's like if you took all the good parts of Twitter, texting, email, blogging, newsletters, permission slips, Survey Monkey and Instagram and rolled it into one application specifically for education. Once a class has been created, parents are invited to join and the sharing can begin. http://www.wdwdt.com/home

4.   ColAR Mix:  Sometimes you just need the wow factor to impress your students.  This is the app to do it! You print 2D coloring pages from the ColAR Mix website.  Let students color the page.  Scan the page with the ColAR Mix app and let the magic happen.  The colored page becomes 3D on the screen.  This could be a great grabber for a writing assignment.  With the variety of color sheets, there are endless possibilities for stories. http://colarapp.com

5.  As you begin the new  school year, don’t be afraid of integrating technology in your classroom.  It will definitely support common core standards.  It’s OK to FAIL.

Tiny Books

I am an avid instagram user.  I've been thinking about ways to use it in the classroom.  I know it can be used to document the year and share it the daily photos with parents.  However, I wanted more.  Recently, I discovered the website Printstagram.  I fell in love with their tiny books.  These little bitty books are 3 for $10.00 and the hold 24 prints each.  The backs of these books are magnetic, so they attach to each other.
If you have a classroom instagram account you can have students upload the steps in a science experiment, make a tour of the room in pictures, or identify real life geometry vocabulary in pictures.  These would all make great tiny books.  I think that I will also use instagram in my phonics lessons and have students to take pictures of words that have the weekly phonics skill.  Wouldn't it be cool to have a book of pictures that all have a r-controlled vowel?  I think it would be neat to have a tiny alphabet book with pictures taken for each letter of the alphabet by your students.
How would you use these tiny books in your classroom?