Sunday, November 3, 2013

iMovie!



Check out iMovie here!
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to produce, publish, and edit your own video.  With iMovie students are now able to create and produce their very own videos. Students can take products created through pic collage, educreations, and explain everything (listed below) and use them in iMovie to develop their thoughts and ideas.

iMovie has two very unique and interesting features. The first feature is the product feature.  This allows students to import videos, sound, voice, and pictures to develop their own individual work of art.  The second aspect is the trailer feature.  This walks students through a story board in which they video tape different events.  Once they have developed their own videos, the videos are compiled into a short movie clip! 

Tips for use at home:
  • After student finishes reading a story, have them create a movie trailer encouraging other students to read the story. 
  • Have students video tape or interview family members about their favorite holiday and/or tradition.  Students could then compile videos into a project.
  • Use iMovie to have students focus on different reading skills.  For example: have them use the trailer feature to create a problem/solution video.  
We hope that this provides some great ideas for you to utilize this fun app at home! 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Educreations and Explain Everything


Are you looking for a way to encourage your child to tell you about what they have learned?  These two apps might just be the perfect fix.  Using Educreations or Explain Everything, students can become teachers by creating a video explaining what they know or are learning.  Both apps are powerful tools to engage students and allow them to talk their way through math problems, charts and diagrams, or presentations.  There are some subtle differences between the two.

Click the picture above to visit the Educreations site and learn more.

Educreations is an app available for iOS.  However, if you are using Android technology the Educreations app is also available in a web-based format on their website (click the picture above to visit it).  This technology is free.  Anyone can make an educreation and share it online.  Using the tools available, students can write, insert pictures, and record themselves explaining what they are doing.  The one drawback is that if you make a mistake, you have to re-record everything.

If you are interested in learning more about Explain Everything, the pic above links to their website.
Explain Everything is available for both iOS and Android devices, for a cost of $2.99.  While it is not free, it has some features that go beyond the capabilities of educreations.  There are more tools to use while creating slideshows.  Also, if you make a mistake while recording, you can edit the recording for one slide at a time, without deleting the sound for the entire slideshow/movie.

We will be using both apps throughout the school year.  Whether you choose Educreations, Explain Everything, both provide several powerful learning opportunities for students.

Tips for use at home:

  • Give your child a multi-step math problem.  Have them record themselves solving it and explaining each step.
  • Have your student retell (summarize) a story using their own words and pictures.
  • Take a picture of a non-fiction article.  Have your child insert the picture into a slide show and tell the main idea while illustrating/circling the important details.
  • Insert a map, have your child practice step-by-step directions to get from one place to another through words and drawings.
  • Use one of the apps to tell the story of a family event or outing.
We hope you find these two educational apps educational and fun.  Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Trading Cards





I'm sure you remember a time in your life when you had a fascination with some type of trading card. Maybe you had an entire collection of baseball or basketball cards. This free app allows students to create version of a trading card on people, places, or events. Although the app version is only for the iPad, there is also a website you can visit to make these cards on your computer.

Mrs. Young's class recently used the fictional person card to create a trading card based on a character they had read about recently. The card has you fill in the "stats" on your character; including things like setting of the story, character traits, and the problem and solution of the story. You are even able to add a picture of your character using the camera of your device. What makes this app great for use at home is that each box has a guiding question that gives your child a clue to help them answer the question for that box.

Check out a great example from Mrs. Young's class below.


Great ideas to try out at home include:
  • Create a fictional or real person card based on someone you have read about. There is a guiding question for each box that gives your child a clue to help them answer the question.
  • Review vocabulary for a unit or story by creating a vocabulary card. This would also be a great card for discovering synonyms and antonyms.
  • Create a card for a significant event  we are studying or a holiday that is coming up.
Give it a try. I am sure your child will love it!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Popplet


Popplet is a valuable app for making graphic organizers.  It is especially great for making webs or flowcharts.  Students have used it to make webs about types of sentences, character traits, and many other things at our school.

To use Popplet you tap in the screen to make a "popple".  You can use text to type or even insert a picture.  Then, you touch the small circles next to your popple to make a connection line to a new popple.  (The popples are bubbles that contain the words or pictures you are using.)  Then you insert your words or picture into the new popple and repeat the process as needed.

Ideas for use at home:

  • Have your child make a web about a character in his or her favorite book.
  • Use popplet to show the sequence of events in a story or process.
  • Create a web to brainstorm ideas for writing.
  • After completing a multi-step math problem, your child can create a popplet showing the steps he or she used to solve the problem.
  • Use popplet to organize notes about a project.
Popplet is available in the iTunes store for $4.99, but at school we use Popplet Lite which is free and works just as well for our purposes.  Popplet is not currently available in Google Play, but it is available on the web.  Visit popplet.com for more details or click the logo above.

Have ideas for how to use popplet?  We would love to share them.  Leave us a message in the comments below!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Padlet



Click here to access website!
                                    
         When you are running errands, reminding yourself of meetings or taking a phone message, what do you typically use to jot your thoughts:  a Post-it!  Padlet serves the same purpose but is interactive and allows for collaboration.  This internet application is a great resource for people to express their thoughts on a common topic instantly and easily.  It works just like a sheet of paper, or a post –it note.  Online, people can add content, (videos, documents, text), anywhere on the page, together with anyone, from ANY device! Amazing right?
         Over the last few weeks, students at the Elementary School have been using padlet to track their thinking on their independent reading books.  Students tracked different story elements such as characters and their character traits, or the setting of their story and a clue that helped them know this was true.  We hope to continue using this website as constant communication in cooperative groups within classrooms and even possibly with other classrooms.

         Padlet is not an app, however this website is available on all internet based devices, computers, tablets, ipads, etc.  Students and/or parents are welcome to create a login, however, logins are not necessary to use the program. 

Tips for Parents: 



  •  Create a page for your child to track independent reading story elements.  Students can use padlet to track their characters, setting, beginning, middle and end. This page can be ongoing and students can include all the books they read throughout the year.

  • Create a page and write letters to your child and allow them to respond.  This would allow them to work on their writing skills.  Take this a step further and allow your child to respond with a relative out of state.

  • Have your student search out pictures of their weekly vocabulary on the internet, students can post pictures to their padlet page, then have them define their word.  You can also do this activity with spelling words.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Pic Collage

Click the Pic Collage logo to visit the official app website.
We are sure that you remember, just like we do, making a collage in school using pictures you cut out and pasted from a magazine.  Now you can do that in one handy app.

Pic Collage might be one app that you find yourself using even more than your kids!  It is a great way to fuse together a few pictures describing an idea, event, or person.  You can use pictures you have taken or pictures from the internet.  Then you can add text to your collage.

Last week, third graders in Miss Cattron's room created this collage about their new classroom.


Pic Collage is available for Apple or Android products.

Tips for Parents

  • Ask your child to make a pic collage of what he or she did at school today.
  • Make a pic collage of a family vacation.  Ask your student to write a story about what he or she did there.
  • Use pic collage to retell a story using only pictures.
  • Use pic collage to practice sequencing - the order in which events happen in a passage.
  • Make a collage of items that belong together.  Have your child defend their groups of items.
  • Use pic collage to practice vocabulary or spelling words.  Have your student type in the word and then use pictures that represent the word.

Skitch

Click on this image to visit the official Skitch website.
Skitch is an app which is available on both Android and Apple markets.  Here at Pleasant Hill Elementary we use Skitch for several different activities.  Perhaps the most powerful one is to annotate the text.  Skitch allows you to take a photo of a page from a book, a letter, or any selection of words.  Then you can load that picture into Skitch and use the tools provided in the program to highlight, circle, underline, and even write thoughts about the text.  These are important skills for students to learn.  Beginning in 3rd and 4th grade, we focus on getting students to give us details from the text to support their answer.  Skitch allows you to take a picture of your child's current independent reading book, ask her or him a question about it, and give the opportunity to highlight the exact words that helped answer the question.

Skitch also allows you to create a blank drawing using different shapes, pens, and text styles.  Last week, 3rd graders used this to create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting their hobbies and interests with a partner.

Tips for Parents:

  • Take a picture of a page in a book, a letter, or other passage of text.  Ask your child to read it and tell you what it is mostly about (main idea).  Then have your child underline or highlight three details that support her/his answer.
  • Write a letter to your child using a "boring" word (think:  good, bad, cool, fun, hot, nice, etc.) over and over.  Have your student take a picture of the letter, highlight the words, and replace them with better, more interesting words.  This hits the important writing traits of word choice and voice.
  • Using a blank Skitch, use t-charts or Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast objects around the home, characters in a book, or even two different books your child or family has read.
  • Upload a photo of a map, then have your child outline or circle different geometric shapes found on the map and explain how he or she knows what shape it is. 
  • Also using a map, give your child directions and have him or her trace the route on the map.  This practices grids and cardinal directions.
These are just a few activities possible with this powerful app by Evernote.  One quick note:  you do not have to have a Evernote account to use Skitch.  Simply touch "maybe later" and go about using the app.  Once you have created your Skitch, then you can either email it to yourself for later or take a screenshot by pressing the "home" and "sleep" buttons simultaneously.  This will save your screenshot to the camera roll.