Thursday, January 31, 2013

Peanut, Peanut Butter, Jelly


         George Washington Carver has so many aspects to his life that his story can be taught in all grades.  While looking at the K-6 courses of study, I found places that his story could be told in science, social studies, and language arts.  (Many of these tools and apps have been included before.  Now they are being presented with specific lesson ideas.)
Introduction:  Introduce George Washington Carver through the use of the Nearpod App. Nearpod is a presentation tool with a twist. The teacher will give students a code that they enter on the app on their iPad. Once they are in they enter their name. This helps the teacher keep track of how the students are doing on the quizzes. You have to create your Nearpod online. There you can drag and drop a PowerPoint turned pdf.  Then you can add interactive tools to the presentation such as video, quizzes, links to websites, polls, and a cool drawing tool. Nearpod has been updated since the last time it appeared in this newsletter.  Now it is a single app rather than the former student and teacher apps. Some cool ideas for a George Washington Carver presentation could be drawing the parts of a peanut plant, and an open ended question having students give their opinion on his greatest discovery.


2.    iFunFace:  This app is currently free.  It is in the same family as Blabberize, Face Jack, and other talking apps.  In this app the entire head will bob as the mouth talks.  This would be a great tool to use an image of George Washington Carter.  Students could make him talk about his life, his research, or the many uses of peanuts.  Students love making history come alive.  (Remember the first time you played with Voki.)


3.    Screencasting:  Using your favorite screen casting app students can record themselves giving the directions for how to create the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Some of the screencasting apps that have been included in Friday Five before are Screen Chomp, Educreations, Show Me, and Explain Everything. Show Me has several examples of creating a peanut butter sandwich in the explore section of the app.


4.    Do it all with Pictures:  What a fun way for students to share their learning.  Use PicCollage app and have students tell you what they’ve learned with just pictures.  Have students take pictures of George Washington Carver and the things that were important in his life.  Let PicCollage instantly arrange your photos into frames - or get creative with freeform collages, cutouts, filters, borders, stickers, and text.


5.    Finally for some Fun:  This fun app is great for stress relief at the end of the project.  Balance asks you to pop the colored blocks while keeping the Ninja Peanut from dropping onto the floor. You will need to pop the blocks in the right order to keep things balanced!


Bonus:  Brain Pop Jr. and Learning Games for Kids both have great videos that help tell George Washington Carver’s story.


If you are not studying George Washington Carver, I hope you can adapt these ideas to whatever person or character your class is studying.
Have a great weekend!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Random Ramblings


Quality Questioning, Formative Assessment, Project Based Learning, and Technology are all initiatives that can be found in many schools in our system.  Our challenge as a teacher is to find a way to mesh these together to help us serve our students and allow them to become the best most successful person that is possible.  This week the focus will be on technology that supports project based learning.
1.    BAM Radio:  If you are not aware of this resource you are missing out.  The educator’s channel provides broadcasts of many timely topics. Developed by early childhood professionals, BAM! Radio started out as a single online radio program called Body Mind and Child. It was created to bring parents the latest insights and wisdom from the leading experts in the fields of early childhood education, physical education/motor development, play research, child development, and the neurosciences. Recently there was a broadcast entitled:  “Project Based Learning: Integrating Technology.” http://www.bamradionetwork.com/index.php?Itemid=65&id=35&layout=blog&option=com_content&view=category


2.    Kid Blog:  Kid blog is a great blogging platform.  It has been included in Friday Five several times in the past.  It is a great way for students to talk about their learning in a closed platform.  They can also give each other feedback and ask for clarification of learning.  This is an easy way to get students thinking and collaborating.  What makes this new and exciting is that Kid Blog now has an app. http://kidblog.org/home https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kidblog/id565951433?mt=8


3.    PowToon:  This is alternative to PowerPoint.  It allows students to produce a presentation with a WOW factor.  You can get a free educators trial for 30 days.  It is priced at $27.00 a year for educators.  They also have a free version.  They free version limits the video length to 45 seconds. Even if your students do not use it for their project, it would be a great hook for teachers to create to introduce a PBL unit. http://www.powtoon.com/edu/


4.    iBooks Author:  I know this limits many readers but it is such a cool idea it need to be shared.  With this free Mac download students can create interactive books that can be shared on an iPad.  This could be a powerful presentation with an interactive, multimedia book. http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/


5.    Everybody needs a Break:  Recently I discovered an app called Mask Jumble.  In this app students take a picture of themselves with an animal mask.  The developer calls it a magic mirror mask.  It uses face recognition to follow the face until the picture is taken.  In the classroom students could write about their day spent being the animal that they choose.  They could also share research about their animal’s habitat. The full app is $1.99 but they have a free lite version. https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/mask-jumble-animals-free/id548765815?mt=8


Have a great weekend!