Tech Camp 2013... WOW

Picture this! Thirty kids in a classroom. Each kid has a iPad Mini in hand and anxiously awaiting what the day will bring!

Our school district provides an annual tech camp each year. With tuition or scholarship, students in our district are given an an iPad Mini, a t shirt, and themed activities to conquer within the week. This year our students also received a purchased copy of iMovie. Rachel and I were privileged to join the amazing tech staff for this year's camp. 

Now, one would ask, what could we possibly do with an iPad Mini besides show the kids apps to use and play. Well, my friend, you would be amazed at the projects these children where able to accomplish on a hand held device. I was truly baffled myself at the brilliant and creative minds within my lab. 

With a Monster U theme, I worked with fourth and fifth graders. Campers were provided with FREE apps to download each day for the projects we planned. In all honesty these projects were NOT easy, but the campers sure made it look like it was simple. 

Each day our campers were required to download, play with, and journal an app of their choice. To journal their app of choice, the kids used two great apps:

Story by Disney 

Although this app is an iPhone app, it works great on iPad as well. Story by Disney is like an interactive picture book which allows you to load pictures and video from your camera roll. It also allows you to add title pages and unfolds as you narrate your way through the created "story". 

Our kiddos used the app to archive their daily app of choice. They were required to add a title page, a couple of screen shots, and a video explaining the app. At the end of the week, each camper had two stories to show their parents. Initially, we thought they would have one story; however, we learned that the app only allows the user to embed to videos. As teachers do, we quickly had to explain to the kiddos that we were making two stories. Of course, they had no problem with the change.  

If you are looking to download the app, remember to look in the iPhone tab. 

Tellagami

In order to video their description of their app of choice, our campers used this easy app. Tellagami allows you to customize your avatar, record your own voice right on your device, and embed it to your blog or web page. 

Our campers loved creating a Gami each day and routinely produce the requirement each day with instruction. 

I use Tellagami as my introduction to my Blackboard page. It's a great app to have in your classroom as another means for students to communicate their information they have learned. 

With Monster U in mind, our campers created sororities, fraternities, and something that we called "sofrenities" because we had a combination of boys and girls in the group. As a project, they were asked to created a "poster of their group. We gave them a website to develop a motto in Latin. We also gave them a website that helped them create a crest. We ensured pictures were taken of each member and a picture of their group was taken. To put it all together, we used an amazing app called Master FX by Dropico.

Master FX

Think Photoshop! This app is amazing! During the week of camp, the app was free. If you want to get your hands on this app, it will cost you $5.99 for the basic package. With Master FX, students can put themselves in a scene or create a setting with text.

Once we gave the instruction, I was blown away by the utter creativity coming out of these little minds. We had one little boy place himself in the desert. To place himself in the desert, he needed a picture. So he walked up to me and ask for me to perform the task. As I prepared to take his picture, he bent down as if he were tired and thirsty. I had to laugh out of sheer enjoyment of his thought process. We had some kiddos swimming in the ocean, flying in the air, hiding in the forest. It was truly a sight to see. We, as teachers, could only look up and smile at each other.

Many thanks to Ozzy for posing for this picture. His the only one in the family willing to pose for me. 

As we finished up the week, we had our little brains using iMovie to create both a trailer and a little movie. And they truly did not disappoint. Their trailer task was based on a game app they love. It required lots of screen shots while they played which is really difficult. Especially with action packed game apps, but they did it. 

iMovie

iMovie is priced at $4.99. There are NOT many apps I will purchase, but after seeing this app in the hands of the kids and the ease in which they manipulated it, I was sold.

After watching the magic, I came home and created a trailer with the pictures I took during the week. It gives you so much ability to be creative. I can not wait to add this to the line up of  possible tools to use as a means create reading projects.


All in all, I had the best week! With the start of school mere weeks away, I really shifted the gears into teacher mode. I loved watching our little campers show off during parent visitation Friday afternoon. It reminded me that we have to meet our kids at their level. We are teaching Digital Natives. I know I don't want my natives to be restless!

Wanna check out the magic! Visit the Tech Camp web site.

Thanks Ellen DeGeneres

So I have been spending quite a bit of time on the couch. More than I wish to be, but it has been necessary and required. I had me a little surgery last Wednesday which limits me for the next few weeks. A great deal of the time has been spent sleeping. When I am not sleeping, I have so many things to do.... NOT! Let's see.. I read, I check email, I respond to my wonderful friends via text, I read some more, and I indulge in the entertainment that is day time television.

I am so very embarrassed to admit that I am a horrible creature of habit. For five days a week of nine months of my life, I am dictated by a schedule. Of course that dictation has bled into my summer of recovery. I discovered I have developed a television watching schedule. Shamefully, I must start my day with People's Court. It then leads to one of my most favorite people in the entire world.... ELLEN DEGENERES! I love her humor, her love of life , and her generosity. She's a Louisiana girl!!!! What's not to love?

OK... so I digress! I was watching Ellen during one of my wakeful moments. At that time, she was playing a game called Heads Up. She has played the game thousands of times, but this time I saw her playing the game on a tablet!!!! I was so very excited. They made an APP.... oh my goodness.... an APP!

The techie teacher that I am immediately began thinking of ways to use the app in my classroom. How cool could it be to have my students develop ways to express themselves verbally and using description to play. I grabbed my iPad to look for the app. I have to admit it was a little difficult to find the app at first. The key to finding the app is placing an exclamation mark at the end Heads Up or go to Ellen's website.

With the app, there are 18 themes, "decks", to choose from. It even records the person who is giving the clues. It's a $0.99 app, but I think it can be well worth it. I haven't gotten my family involved in testing it yet.... YET!!!! But I can not wait to try it.

Just goes to show you, you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can NEVER take the classroom out of the teacher. That's just what we do... finding the fun for the fundamentals of learning. It just doesn't stop.

APPy Summer my teacher friends

Root Words

Let's just face it...there are not that many apps out there for the ELA (English Language Arts) teacher. When I taught math, I could find just about anything I needed for my students in an app. And then I came across this little app on Apps Gone Free a week ago. 

From TaptoLearn, Root Words is a FREE app that allows the user to build a stronger vocabulary. Knowing the root and its meaning can help a student grow tremendously in his or her reading. Whether it for a great novel, the science textbook, or math terminology, vocabulary is essential for growth.   

The app gives the user 14 categories to practice. The next screens give the user a meaning and the user an attempt to develop the root.

Once the user has accomplished learning the roots, the app provides three activities of creating words with your new knowledge and definitions. I really loved figuring out what the words were. I found myself commenting on how the word made sense when it was "chunked". I was truly using some high order thinking as a tried. 

As the user accomplishes these activities, the app tracks progress with a pie chart. 

I think the app could be used more in the upper grades due to the complexity of the words that are being developed. I know it would sure come in handy for those students taking the SAT and ACT. 

APPy Weekend ,

 

I Love Drawing Monsters

iLuv Drawing Monsters

Cost: $1.99

iPad

I ran across this app on Apps Gone Free one day. With a monster themed classroom, I downloaded this app while it was free. It is a simple how to draw app that also allows students to customize their monsters and save them into the camera roll, drawing book, print them, or even email them.

 I liked that this app had a lot of outputs for it's use. As I do with any app, I played around with it myself. I created a monster and showed it to my 6th graders who got very excited about creating their own. They begged me to download it on the class iPads. Not everyone of my students liked it, but it is a nice easy how to draw monsters app. 

The interface is simple. You can choose to watch the how to video, step by step drawing, or check out the portfolio of saved artwork. 

There's a how to use this app tutorial video. 

 The portfolio houses all the saved created monsters.

 Once you click on the drawing monsters section, it will give you the 3 page index of monsters you can draw.

 Select your monster and draw each section step by step. When the body parts are drawn in blue that signifies the step you are to draw yourself. You can use pencil colors, markers, or special patterns to draw your monster. You select these by holding down your finger over the medium you want to use. It will then pop up a window that allows for you to select your color.

 Begin drawing the parts of your monster.

 You click the arrow each time you are ready to advance to the next part to draw. You can always adjust the size of your pencil colors or markers on the drawing or coloring process.

When you've completed the drawing a smiley face will appear in the place of the arrow to advance to the next section.

Once you've completed your monster, you'll have options to color it. I recommend saving it to your portfolio and coloring from there. That way you have an original drawing of the monster and don't have to re-draw it each time. Unless of course you want to.

After visiting your portfolio with your saved monster, you can edit the monster,color it and give it a background. Then you can save it to your camera roll, print, or email the image. 

This app is just a fun little "how to draw" kind of app. It allows for a great deal of creativity for children. Techie drawing and coloring! You gotta love it!!!

Happy Creating!!!

Interactive Literature

I have recently become very interested in the interactive children's literature that I stumbled upon on Apps Gone Free.  My first "book" was written by Jamie Lee Curtis called "Where Do Balloons Go?". With it being free for the day, I didn't mind downloading the book and giving it a test drive. That's what I love about free apps! If it isn't for you, just delete it!

So I open the "book" and was greeted by Jamie Lee's voice, a beautiful illustration and a cute little song that just encouraged me to "turn the page". The very first page had me hooked! Jamie Lee read the story and each page had a wonderful interactive page to explore with just a touch of a finger. I followed along as each word lit up with her voice. I was able to make the balloons blow in the breeze. As I swiped my finger across the screen, all sorts of things happened and voices of the people in the pictures came alive. I also loved that I had the option to turn off the read aloud.

The story truly did come alive! I was completely inspired to search for more "books" and provide my students with something new to explore during their free iPad time or even to make it as a station activity with a little journaling thrown in there.

When I returned to Apps Gone Free the next day, I found another "book" to download. And, of course, I downloaded that one, as well.  I started a folder for literature on my iPad because the "book" is not purchased through iBooks.  In this new quest to play with these stories, I looked into the Auryn company that provides the stories. They have quite a few books for students of all ages. Most of the stories can be purchased for $1.99 to $3.99, which I don't think is a bad price for a lovely interactive experience with literature. Auryn also has "lite" versions of some of their books.

I am quite sure this interactive approach to reading will move our children into a different form of comprehension. There are so many companies that assist our children in the early stages of reading development. With these types of new approaches, I can see the effect this will have on how our children enjoy literature in the future. I know I have moved into the digital age of reading with my Nook.  Although my books do not come alive with interaction like these stories do, I do enjoy the idea that reading is as quick as downloading my next book. 'Reading is Fundamental' just takes on a whole new meaning now.

APPy Reading everyone,

Numbler

Numbler - Math Game 

By: Braining Camp

Cost: $0.99

Requires: IOS 5.0 or higher

Compatible with Ipad

This app was one of those I ran across from the Apps Gone Free app. See this link if you missed that app review. Anyway I'm always in the market for math games that my kids can play. This app is like the beloved word forming Scrabble game only with equations! The same rules for Scrabble apply to this particular app, but you have to make number sentences instead of words. After downloading, I had to test drive it and decided to try it with one of my students during the end of  classes. 

To play a new game, you can use the game center (which I don't use in my classroom), play against the computer, or pass and play with the person next to you.

I have my students paper, rock, scissors to see who goes first. Players begin by using the equal sign in the middle of the board to create their first number sentence.

After the first player makes their number sentence and hits play, it tallies up the points for them. You'll notice when it is the second players turn, they have an equal sign in their usable tiles. The only time an equal sign is not present is on the very first round as they are forcing you to use the one in the middle to start the game.

If the player makes a sentence that is not true, it will pop up and give them an error message. Even though the player gets an error message, he or she can still fix their mistake before finishing the round.

Players continue to play back and forth until no one can make a move. After both players take a turn passing, it signifies the end of the game and a winner is declared.

My students LOVED this game once they got the hang of it. It was a little tricky for them at first, but once they understood what was required of them it was all good from there. They beg me to play "that number game" in class. They like the challenge and the ability to play against their friends. I would highly recommend this app for use in a math classroom.

Never Use Paper Again

Ghostwriter
Productivity app created by Majorspot, Inc.
$2.99






I am a note taker. In order to be more productive I have to write things down. From my teacher notes to my  personal things, I can have note pad after note pad of things to remember or do. I found the Ghostwriter app on Apps Gone Free a few months ago and decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did.

Ghostwriter allows me to categorize and separate by notes into individual custom notebooks. It has four ink colors, 3 styles of writing utensils, highlighters, and the ability to type. The app provides you with 9 styles of paper including graph paper and blank music writing paper.

 

 

 

I started using my stylus to "write" my notes, but I just use my index finger now. It may take some practice, but it does become natural to "write" with your finger.

One of the best features of this app is the ability to import and export items easily. 

                                         

 

I really do love my Ghostwriter app. It has freed me up from paper and pen. The app also allows me to have my notes with me in a more portable version.